Path 2 Developer

I learned an important lesson. Actually, I learned a few lessons. The first lesson - always back up. Have copies of files if backing up isn't easy. Next, it's a good idea to not proceed too far without checking to make sure everything still work, while you can still undo something. Third, and more specifically, apparently, renaming certain items in Visual Studio can completely erase a design. Let me explain... To recap, Visual Studio is the IDE I use to write my programs. I'm learning the VB.Net programming language because that's the language the software my company maintains was written in. It makes sense to get more familiar with that. I'm still extremely  new to Visual Studio, and I'm very new to coding and general coding principles. I'm reading tons of books (often at the same time) to get general coding practices, as well as very specific programming details for VB.Net. All this combined to say, I'm still learning, and I'm really new. No

I'm probably not done. I'm going to sit on this design for a day or two to see how it feels. I had a suggestion about adding a right triangle showing people base, slope, rise, angle, etc. I'm kind of torn on that part. In essence, this is probably about 90% done as far as the User Interface goes. I like it, I think. I'm hoping to be able to pass the keyboard strokes directly into the program, rather than have someone point and click. If I can get that done, the flow will be ten times better. I'm excited about the math involved and the fact that this will actually be functional. There are two things I'm struggling with right now. The first is the programming language. I've mentioned this before, I believe, but the programs my group works with are all programmed in VB.net. So, that's the language I'm learning right now. The problem, however, is that the system architect here at work is telling everyone that any new programs should be written in

Okay, I've got my next great idea for my pet project. It's a little more complicated, but not terribly. My biggest complaint I had when I transferred from the Detailing Department to the Customer Service department was the loss of my trusty HP48G calculator. This thing was awesome! You calculated feet and inch calculations with formulas. The format was feet.inches and sixteenths. For instance, 14.0608 = 14'-6 1/2". The formulas removed parts of the inputted number and converted them from a foot to a number to add and subtract, and then reconverted the number to a foot answer to display. I and a colleague created several excel sheets that essentially did the same thing, but it just wasn't convenient and didn't flow very well. So, I'm going to create a program that looks close to this calculator. In addition to the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of feet-inch numbers, there were formulas that calculated roof slopes, weights, and

I felt it was time to update what I've done in development lately. Sadly, it's not as much as I had hoped. My current plans are to enroll in Western Governor's University and continue my programmer education there, as well as these pet projects on the side. The requirements for enrollment are a little strict, though. I have to have either an Associate's degree already in the area of study or better, or I have to have 3 years experience in that field. I have six months in the area right now, but I worked as a tech liason for about 10 years in my customer service position. I'm hoping that will help. Here's the unusual part at the moment: I cannot reach the enrollment counselor. We've spoke, been introduced, he was going to read my resume over and discuss options, and we were supposed to get back together on the phone that Friday (two weeks ago). I missed the call due to a meeting at work, but called back an hour later. I've left three voice mails since. I

My first program!!! It works! It installs! It does everything! :) Okay, I'm excited, but yesterday was a huge day. Not only did I pass my instructor test in my pilot school with a 97, but I also finished my first program. Functionality is completely perfect. The education I got from this was huge. Google answered nearly all of my questions, but I had to get quite a bit of help from my Supervisor to troubleshoot and help me piece it all together. Some things even baffled him for a second, which made me feel better. The code is pasted down below. Again, I'm sure there are better ways to do what I've done, but for my first program, I am thrilled to death! Public Class FRMTimeSheet     Private Sub Label1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles lblMonday.Click     End Sub     Private Sub Label1_Click_1(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles lblTimeIn.Click     End Sub     Private Sub Label1_Click_2(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles lblTimeO

Progress Okay, my pet project is going okay. I'm learning the questions to ask, in any case. I have strayed exceptionally far from the book. I was hoping to do both simultaneously. That hasn't worked out at all. Here's what it's become so far: The picture on the right changes. If you've got all your hours in, it's a happy face, sad face if you don't. What I Know and Don't Know I have figured out how to use the date picker. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the up arrows in each box to correspond to 15-minute increments. I found code to do it, but it's not working for me. I probably have it in the wrong spot or something.     Private Sub DateTimePicker1_KeyDown(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles dtpTimeInSunday.KeyDown         If e.KeyCode = Keys.Up Then             dtpTimeInSunday.Value = dtpTimeInSunday.Value.AddMinutes(15)             e.Handled = True         End If         If

So, I don't have much, but I do have some. Behold my genius code for my hours calculation:     Private Sub btnCalculate_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnCalculate.Click         Dim s1 As Integer         Dim s2 As Integer         Dim s3 As Integer         Dim s4 As Integer         s1 = Val(txtTimeInSunday.Text)         s2 = Val(txtTimeOutLunchSunday.Text)         s3 = Val(txtTimeInLunchSunday.Text)         s4 = Val(txtTimeOutSunday.Text)         lblSundayHoursTotal.Text = s4 - s1 - (s3 - s2)         Dim m1 As Integer         Dim m2 As Integer         Dim m3 As Integer         Dim m4 As Integer         s1 = Val(txtTimeInMonday.Text)         s2 = Val(txtTimeOutLunchMonday.Text)         s3 = Val(txtTimeInLunchMonday.Text)         s4 = Val(txtTimeOutMonday.Text)         lblMondayHoursTotal.Text = m4 - m1 - (m3 - m2)         Dim t1 As Integer         Dim t2 As Integer         Dim t3 As Integer         Dim t4 As Integer         s1 = Val(txtTime

I've learned a big part of development since I've been a part of this team. We have meetings. Some seem long-winded, some seem unnecessary at times, but I've gotten something from all of them in every case. There's a lot of communication involved in this role. I focused on a lot of technical, but there are many soft skills involved to make it successful. Below is a summary of some of the things I've learned in just a few quick months. 1. Know When You Don't Know There's nothing wrong with not knowing. There are developers on this team that I've heard everyday say, "I"m not sure how to do that, I need to ask 'so and so'." I feel I'm part of a great team, and maybe this type of honesty isn't the norm. In any case, it's refreshing to see that type of behavior. It's also encouraging to see someone who has been here for many years not afraid to admit when he/she doesn't know something. No one is going to kn

So What Have We Learned Today, Class? Okay, I haven't progressed nearly as far as I had hoped in the textbook. Actually, I still haven't gotten past the GUI development in the 2nd chapter. This doesn't mean that I haven't been picking up what I can. Codefights has still been a great resource. Not knowing a lot of the functions has really been a hindrance. Not knowing many of the commonly known practices of developers has also slowed me down considerably. So, what have I learned? Visual Studio When I first started as a software tester in March this year, I was using TFS (Team Foundation Server) web portal. For those who don't know what this is, it's a web-based portal to let you see what your team is working on. Above is a generic screenshot of what's going on right now and things we're fixing. You can click on each task and see more specific details. This view is much easier to navigate to me, but I needed to learn how to integrate with Vi