Depending on what it is you want to make or do, your choice might already be made up for you. Take our quiz and find out which coding language you should learn on your way to being a programming master! Do you already know a programming language? I know more than three. Why do you want to learn programming? For my kids, it's a great bonding activity. I am just interested. Which platform or field would you like to work in? Somewhere small but well established.. Are you a people person? Actually, yes. That stereotype is way out of date. Funnily enough, I hide behind the fact that I'm supposedly a nerd to justify being rude. No, but I do try! How many real world languages do you speak? One plus enough to get by in a couple others. I am practically a computer. I speak a little of this, a little of that. How are you with numbers? Do you mind long hours?
They're OK when on deadline. I leave at 5:00 PM. No, that's a fairytale. I don't, but I used to. Do you like to learn new things? From time to time. I am pretty stuck in my ways. Which would you rather make? Depends on the project. How do you feel about JavaScript? I'd rather work the back end. Maybe I should just learn CoffeeScript. It's just not what I am looking for. An equal amount of both. Can we just keep things mellow? How important is money in a job? Important, but I want to have fun during my job too! Not that important so long as I am happy. How do you plan to retire? On my own private island. As young as possible. With a diverse investment portfolio. Retirement is for the weak. Immediately complete my work. Relax. I have time. Do it tomorrow morning. Find someone to do it for me. At what age did you know your true calling?
It was decided for me. Still figuring it out. When I was a pre-teen. I can be, but I prefer not to be. I try to be. It depends what I’m up against - and why I have to be. What annoys you most? Do you trust your heart or head? Balance is needed between the two. A different part of my anatomy! What would be your budget when buying a computer? Money is no object. I'll put it on my 17 credit cards. Do you play video games? Yes, most days. Casual and triple A, love them all. Yes but only "proper" ones. Only when I have free time. You mean like when people are fluid about their identity? Do you love systems? I could make algebra out of anything. I love them but I'm not the best at them. I like them fine. Do you fear that you will one day be put out of work by artificial intelligence? Nah, we'll work together.
Please beware that as of 18th November the W3C is no longer actively working on the Web SQL Database specification. The Web SQL database API isn’t actually part of the HTML5 specification, but it is part of the suite of specifications that allows us developers to build fully fledged web applications, so it’s about time we dig in and check it out. What’s in the box? If you haven’t guessed from the overly verbose specification title, Web SQL Databases is a spec that brings SQL to the client side. If you have a back-end developer’s background, then you’ll probably be familiar with SQL and happy as a pig in muck. If not, you might want to learn some SQL before you start hacking around, Google’s your friend here. The specification is based around SQLite (3.1.19), but having come from MySQL myself, it’s all pretty much the same (sorry for the sweeping statement!). For an example of Web SQL Databases working, have a look at the Twitter HTML5 chatter demo I put together.
Support is a little patchy at the moment. Only Webkit (Safari, SafariMobile and Chrome) and Opera 10.50 (ATOW alpha on Mac) support web databases. Fellow Doctor Bruce Lawson has told me that Firefox are holding off as they feel there’s a better implementation than SQLite (though I hope it’s similar, whatever they pick). Either way, I’d definitely recommend checking out the SQLite documentation for the functions that are available. Because of this patchy support and the simple fact that Webkit had implemented the database spec some time ago, the spec on the W3C is now slightly ahead of the implementations in Safari, while Webkit is still catching up. On the other hand, since Opera has only just added support, it’s closer to the spec (I’ll mention the differences as we go along). Nonetheless, it’s fun to play with, so let’s get playing! If you try to open a database that doesn’t exist, the API will create it on the fly for you.
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