I have been mangling web code since I first put my fat fingers to HTML back in 1995. My first few sites I designed on the side at my job at MicroAge La Crosse (a.k.a Solutions 2000). One of my favorite at the time was a Real Estate database for a local realtor. I taught myself some basic SQL in a few days. Wasn't long before I discovered Perl. I would continue to use that for the next 6 years or so.
At Vanguard Technology Group, I started playing with Macromedia Director. I did a few multimedia CD-ROMs. Unfortunately, I think I started to late, and the market for CDs had disappeared. Back to Perl and HTML.
Around the start of the millennium, I was hired by CodeWeavers. It was at that time I got really into PHP. This is much to the chagrin of some of my co-workers. Several of them feel that PHP is utter crap. I disagree. For the run-and-gun coding style that some web developers (such as myself) perform, it suits the bill just fine.
This website runs on a template engine in PHP that I wrote. There is no static HTML files here. Each page is generated on the fly using a simple macro language embedded into the HTML. The template engine also uses a plug-in system. The Blog and GameDB use that to do much more database driven functionality.
I don't claim to be a coding master. Far from it. While I do enjoy the challenges of website engine coding, I do not particularly enjoy some of the more mathematically challenging aspects. For example, you won't see me writing a game engine anytime soon.
Feel free to check out some of my work on GitHub and over at the WineHQ GitLab.
laxdragon@www:/home/web# cat life.php
#!/usr/bin/php -q
# life.php
include("Reality.php");
$alive = true;
while ($alive && !$rich) {
$money = work();
$taxes = 30 + rand(20);
$money -= $taxes;
pay($taxes);
}
die("Empty handed.");
laxdragon@www:/home/web# php -l life.php
Warning: The value of $rich is always false.