Programming

I started learning HTML in 1997 by doing what a lot of people did in those days – bought some books and began writing code. Since then, HTML has become second nature, along with CSS which I have been heavily immersed in for 6 or 7 years, as well as JavaScript and Flash ActionScript. I chose to work in Dreamweaver early on in my web design career and I continue to use it to this day for front-end coding.

On the backend side of things, I started out with SQL Server and Classic ASP about 10 years ago. Once ASP.NET came out, I moved to that platform, again along with SQL Server. Primarily, I program in VB.NET, though I can work in C# when needed. And of course, I do all of my .NET programming in Visual Studio, though I coded an early ASP.NET website entirely by hand. Needless to say, that was tough, but it gave me both a high level of respect for Visual Studio and also a deeper understanding of ASP.NET. I currently use Visual Studio 2008.

Last but not least, one markup language that I use a lot these days is XML. A majority of the projects I work on involve XML to one degree or another.

As far as programming goes in general, I think it has helped me greatly that I also design as well as plan and manage website projects. These other facets of my job give me a perspective on coding, architecture and usability that pure programmers often lack. I especially bring this perspective to bear when I am developing the overall architecture of a large and complicated web application, which is the area of programming that I probably like the most.