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I must be an old-timer programmer...

by Joseph Then
6 replies
I have been a programmer since 2000 and I have done many types of programming (BASIC, ASP, JSP, Java, PHP).

It's fun for me. However, I feel that I'm an old-timer programmer.

You see, whenever I do a program, sometimes I need to:
1) Pop-up a window to complete a function
2) Go to another page to complete a function

For example, if I need to modify a text in a particular row, I need to pop-up a window to make the modifications.

But if you look at Wordpress, or even the latest web-based programs, you can actually have it as a "dropdown" from a row and modify the text and save it!

Well... how did you guys do that? Is that DHTML? Looks like it as I have done this last time and I thought that's obsolete...

Educate this old-time programmer.
#oldtimer #programmer
  • Profile picture of the author AlTheGr8
    You are probably referring to AJAX which is basically JavaScript calling a server function and changing the page. You may look into that.
    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Eddieheli
      Jquery is what you need.
      Signature

      Eddieheli -
      "Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will." ~ Dr. Robert Anthony

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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
        Originally Posted by AlTheGr8 View Post

        You are probably referring to AJAX which is basically JavaScript calling a server function and changing the page. You may look into that.
        Good luck!
        Originally Posted by Eddieheli View Post

        Jquery is what you need.
        Cool, I must go and research on that. So do you mean that almost every programmers in this world are using a similar DHTML coding?
        Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    If "been a programmer since 2000" makes you an "old timer" then I shudder to think of what I am - I started with 8080 and 6800 Assembly Language in 1977!

    From your description you must be talking about AJAX, one of the most inaccurate abbreviations around - the "X" was supposed to stand for XML but many designs make use of JSON instead!

    Essentially you use JavaScript on the front end and another language (i.e. PHP, ASP, JSP etc) on the server side. Communications with the front end is performed asynchronously, and JavaScript is used to dynamically modify the DOM instead of refreshing pages.

    The technique has actually been around since about 2002, but only in the last few years have the common web browsers supported it.

    JQuery was mentioned, it does indeed have several functions to make AJAX implementation easy, as do other common JavaScript libraries like MooTools. If you are just starting I'd recommended learning how to implement AJAX with just straight JavaScript first, it will give you a much better foundation than using a code library like MooTools or JQuery.

    Best of luck "old timer"!

    Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
      Ha ha ha.... I must clarify: Old-timer web programmer.

      And yes I did try Assembly language where a group of friends on BBS were challenging on "who can make the smallest file size possible on fire animation" running on DOS! But I didn't win.

      I searched on Google on AJAX and I find a lot of them. Where do you think I can start with? And where can I get this library?


      Originally Posted by mywebwork View Post

      If "been a programmer since 2000" makes you an "old timer" then I shudder to think of what I am - I started with 8080 and 6800 Assembly Language in 1977!

      From your description you must be talking about AJAX, one of the most inaccurate abbreviations around - the "X" was supposed to stand for XML but many designs make use of JSON instead!

      Essentially you use JavaScript on the front end and another language (i.e. PHP, ASP, JSP etc) on the server side. Communications with the front end is performed asynchronously, and JavaScript is used to dynamically modify the DOM instead of refreshing pages.

      The technique has actually been around since about 2002, but only in the last few years have the common web browsers supported it.

      JQuery was mentioned, it does indeed have several functions to make AJAX implementation easy, as do other common JavaScript libraries like MooTools. If you are just starting I'd recommended learning how to implement AJAX with just straight JavaScript first, it will give you a much better foundation than using a code library like MooTools or JQuery.

      Best of luck "old timer"!

      Bill
      Signature
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