Cheat Sheets > Orientation
This page includes the following sections:
- Introduction
- Web Resources I use for technical info
- Cheatsheet file editing
- Programming Languages Directory
- Programming Ref Utils Webhosting Directory
- Software, Webware, Gmail Directory
- Summary
1) Introduction
The web is your resource, right? That's great, but many times the info on the web is incomplete, or written to achieve a specific goal that is a little different than yours, or but written in an inefficient manner, or close to what you need but not quite applicable.
My "CheatSheets" directory (60_IT_CheatSheets) represent my "lab notebook". This is the place I make notes that bridge the gap between web info and my final products. I note where I got information from, I make comments about that information, and if I need to tweak it for my use, I will make notes of various attempts and final solutions for future reference.
I've got a little over 6000 text files in my CheatSheets directory, so needless to say, using a folder structure that is logical is imperative. Attempting to word search on this would be useless as some words might show up hundreds of times in different files and directories.
The items marked with RED CIRCLES will be expanded below to give a feel for the depth of these directories.
Most of you will never need to go this deep into "Cheatsheets" or your own "Knowledge base", but it is good to see an example of what you may need to build on a mini scale if they want to pursue the creation of DIY Software.
My "CheatSheets" directory (60_IT_CheatSheets) represent my "lab notebook". This is the place I make notes that bridge the gap between web info and my final products. I note where I got information from, I make comments about that information, and if I need to tweak it for my use, I will make notes of various attempts and final solutions for future reference.
I've got a little over 6000 text files in my CheatSheets directory, so needless to say, using a folder structure that is logical is imperative. Attempting to word search on this would be useless as some words might show up hundreds of times in different files and directories.
The items marked with RED CIRCLES will be expanded below to give a feel for the depth of these directories.
Most of you will never need to go this deep into "Cheatsheets" or your own "Knowledge base", but it is good to see an example of what you may need to build on a mini scale if they want to pursue the creation of DIY Software.
2) Web Resources I use for technical info
These days the resources I use for programming are far less than they once were.
- I search in Google and I select Stack Overflow solutions.
- I search in Google and I select w3schools information for basic syntax
- I search in Google and I select support.google.com posts ( search: 'gsheets filter function' for example)
- I search in Google and I select productforums.google or developers.google or other google related tech support items for Chrome
3) CheatSheet File Editing
My Cheatsheets are stored in a Google Drive directory and I currently use CodeAnywhere.com to edit them. I finally switched to this web based setup in late 2016. I have tried about 5 different formats for them including word docs, gdocs, spreadsheets, txt files and other and I've found storing them as .js files (or .asp files) and editing with a programmers editing tool to be the best solution.
NOTE: The clone function (aka duplicate file function) in codeanywhere does not work. They've sent me an email indicating it was on the todo list but I've yet to see that work, and that makes it annoying as I typically just copy an existing file and rename instead of creating a new file as the later requires more clicks, but other than that, it's a good way to manage those files.
Prior to shifting over to the Codeanywhere and Google Drive solution, I was using Microsoft Front Page 2003 to create and edit the files. And don't laugh -- I've created over 16,000 pages of handwritten code in Front Page, so I have a little experience in this area. Front Page is by far the most powerful "text editor for programmers" ever produced, believe it or not. Over a period of 20 years I've tried many of them (notepad, notepad++, dreamweaver, and a dozen others), and I've tried all kinds of configurations and the things Microsoft got right with that tool will shock most. Most don't realize you could use the graphical portion of that editor and it would work it's way around server side code flawlessly. I never used any of the FrontPage extension stuff, as i only wanted it as a text editor and that's where most folks went wrong.
NOTE: The clone function (aka duplicate file function) in codeanywhere does not work. They've sent me an email indicating it was on the todo list but I've yet to see that work, and that makes it annoying as I typically just copy an existing file and rename instead of creating a new file as the later requires more clicks, but other than that, it's a good way to manage those files.
Prior to shifting over to the Codeanywhere and Google Drive solution, I was using Microsoft Front Page 2003 to create and edit the files. And don't laugh -- I've created over 16,000 pages of handwritten code in Front Page, so I have a little experience in this area. Front Page is by far the most powerful "text editor for programmers" ever produced, believe it or not. Over a period of 20 years I've tried many of them (notepad, notepad++, dreamweaver, and a dozen others), and I've tried all kinds of configurations and the things Microsoft got right with that tool will shock most. Most don't realize you could use the graphical portion of that editor and it would work it's way around server side code flawlessly. I never used any of the FrontPage extension stuff, as i only wanted it as a text editor and that's where most folks went wrong.
4) Programming Languages Directory
I'm posting this image to give others and idea of how I've setup my knowledge base.
My most used directory by far is my Programming Languages Directory.
Comments on the Directory Depths
My most used directory by far is my Programming Languages Directory.
- The Gscript and GSheets Directories will be the most relevant directories for the initial DIY Software Club solutions. Given GScript is Javascript with Google Centric objects, Javascript will also be very relevant.
Comments on the Directory Depths
- My Gscript and Gsheets directories cover all the information I've used in the Google Drive based solutions and most of that information will be posted in this website or it will be visible in the solutions themselves.
- My VBScript and Javascript directories are the most comprehensive as they've been in the works since around 1998.
- My HTML and CSS directories are pretty extensive
- My SQL directory is minimal as I intentionally try to keep my SQL calls relatively simple and the online resources for those are straight forward.
- My XML directories are old but good baselines information.
- MY HTML5 directory is a general resource for me. I don't use many/any of those as I don't do much in the mobile environments nor in any environments in which any of that is required (and it's not required in any browser environments)
- My PHP script is bare as I've done little to none. I can read and interpret. If I had to switch from VBscript to PHP, it is not a stretch.
- My Iphone directory has one file in it...
5) Programming_Ref_Utils_Webhosting
Whenever someone says "Web based development (programming) is complicated" I always chuckle, as that is a ginormous understatement.
Web based database solutions are the combination of a minimum of 4 programming languages, two executable environments, an operating system, a webhosting environment, a web browser, networking, security and a pile of other "stuff".
I met a guy a few years back who was trained as a programmer in the 1980s. If I recall he may have had a Master's or PhD in Computer Science. He indicated he was considering a web based database venture and he told me he felt he could come up to speed on the programming quickly but that he was going to hire out the work... and to that I just chuckled silently... some people don't know what they don't know.
The topics on the right are the topics that are relevant to anyone who is truly doing "full stack" design work. Some of these are very specific to Windows systems and some are specific to my approach to handling certain "things"; but anyone doing this type of work solo or in small group would need to have some clue how each of these things operates to even attempt to provide web based database solutions.
HOWEVER -- that is NOT the case with the Google Drive solutions -- and that is in fact what has inspired this website. The Google Drive (Google Sheets) based solutions have made much of this invisible or irrelevant, and that should enable many more to get actively involved in web based database work, and I look at that as an exciting opportunity for many.
Web based database solutions are the combination of a minimum of 4 programming languages, two executable environments, an operating system, a webhosting environment, a web browser, networking, security and a pile of other "stuff".
I met a guy a few years back who was trained as a programmer in the 1980s. If I recall he may have had a Master's or PhD in Computer Science. He indicated he was considering a web based database venture and he told me he felt he could come up to speed on the programming quickly but that he was going to hire out the work... and to that I just chuckled silently... some people don't know what they don't know.
The topics on the right are the topics that are relevant to anyone who is truly doing "full stack" design work. Some of these are very specific to Windows systems and some are specific to my approach to handling certain "things"; but anyone doing this type of work solo or in small group would need to have some clue how each of these things operates to even attempt to provide web based database solutions.
HOWEVER -- that is NOT the case with the Google Drive solutions -- and that is in fact what has inspired this website. The Google Drive (Google Sheets) based solutions have made much of this invisible or irrelevant, and that should enable many more to get actively involved in web based database work, and I look at that as an exciting opportunity for many.
6) Software, Webware, Gmail
This is a list of folders and files related to reviews and configurations of various tools that I used over the years.
7) Summary
The goal with this was to expose newby's the the breadth and nature of a personal programming library and it was to give experienced individuals an idea of my background. As you can see, I don't mess ASP.net, Ruby on Rails, Python, Pearl, nor any of the Javascript overlay libraries or development environments. Part of that has to do with the fact I have a fairly larger personal library of subroutines for both VBScript and Javascript (which have not been shown here).