Hacking Magic

Mundane dragons envy mystic dragons their magic. Well, this one does. Fortunately, a type of magic does exist in the mundane world. It's root isn't primeval power, crystals, or the blood of sacrifice. Well, maybe a little of the last one. It's root is creativity and imagination. When it happens, it's joyous!

This is the thrall I'm in now, for I have created magic. A minor magic, but wholly mine. My (other) web site is now dynamic! The data flow comes not from a static page but from a small program of my design.

I haven't updated my (other) web site in over a year. It's grown large enough that even relatively small changes are more work than they should be. During my two year work hiatus, when I would seemingly have the maximum amount of time for me, I worked on four other web sites leaving mine to languish. Something snapped, and it was time to look after the shoe maker's children.

As of this morning the web site now boasts both a link and menu bar management module. It doesn't look any different at this point, but that wasn't the point. Changes and updates will be much easier.

True to form, it took much longer than I anticipated. Creating the scripted pages was as easy as I thought, but I hadn't counted on the time creating the content management interface. That was easily 90% of the work.

I also feel privileged. The God of Demos honoured me with a visit when I was showing the interface to a friend. In spite of much previous playing and testing a bug revealed itself during the demo. Thus the work was bestowed the mantel of Legitimate Software Project.

Perhaps the best part is this has been better in many ways than taking a course. Using the 6 Java courses as a comparison, I can reasonably say I've learned as much as I would in one or two basic PHP courses. This is as it should be. After all, when was the last time you saw a Dragon attending class?

Movies:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Shrek 2

Books:
No Phule Like an Old Phule - Robert Aspirin with Peter J. Heck
Shadow Puppets - Orson Scott Card
Red Thunder - John Varley