Unit 14: Busy to the last possible minute

Although some folks had attributed a problem with running PHP script prepared in TextEdit, I switched to GEdit, which comes with the software suite in Ubuntu and I still had no luck. I was aware that TextEdit had a nasty habit of adding the ".rtf" extension to all files, but such was not the case with GEdit. I have no idea where I've gone wrong. All of this material is stuff I wanted to master and I would be satisfied even if I didn't master it so long as I could get things to run and I had a pretty good run of "luck" or "ability to follow *some* instructions" before hitting the PHP section. I do have a couple weeks over break to review everything and attempt to do the LAMP part over on my Dell laptop, running Windows. They always say that the importance of an experiment is the ability to replicate it. I will be the first to admit that there were several times this semester where I think I finally got stuff to work on a fluke. Looking back at the form of documentation I created in terms of screenshots, there were a lot of shots done when I was going well and few when I came up against challenges. I have indeed taken steps to get away from earlier, long held reactions of getting emotional when I ought to double down on being rational. The topic I would most like to explore is where on earth did I go wrong with this PHP stuff? What is it about this particular script (I have never seen before) that made it such a problem?
Still, I feel like I went far in actually using Linux, opening directories, apt-getting applications and running them, navigating with some degree of dexterity I have never had. Now on to the final and off to work.

Unit 13: Hitting a brick wall

During our work in Excel at the end of November, I had to install Yosemite to update my OS in order to run the most current versions of Office and Sigil. If I load up Yosemite, I will lose a ton of old (not free) software I use very frequently. I'm going to have to buy a whole bunch of new software to update those apps (Adobe Creative Suite, which I have delayed in updating since the end of my design career, but that I use on an almost weekly basis and I won't do the subscription versions). I'm not really budgeted to make a major software purchase until January. This is an alarming situation. I don't know what I can do for a workaround.

Regarding coding, I definitely want to learn more about PHP and using it to query our database and get it to put out answers was a very practical project. I definitely want to tame if not master PHP. So far all I've done is PHP in this class and NetBeans which seems to be Java-based, but man, generally with coding you have to cross your t's and dot your i's and if you make the slightest error, it won't run. That said, when you can compile code and it works, it's rewarding. Then you can copy and paste parts of code you know works and customize it here and there.
I was really impressed with the Excel providing those customized lines of code for each ISBN number and if my paste special function were working the right way, I could do it automatically.

Since writing and compiling code doesn't happen in a WYSIWYG environment, (like html with a nice editor where you can just about see your changes on the fly) you might be mystified for a while before identifying where you made a mistake. Yeah, a compiler is a crazy and very opaque black box and you realize how instantaneous feedback can propel a project. When you can see your changes in something like real time you can really move quickly and without that quick feedback from the system you're kind of in the dark.