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Friday, May 04, 2001
This looks like it is going to be the last entry of this log.
This is the last day that I envisage that I will be working on my project while still at university. Today is the day that I hope to print the project report and give it in to be bound. I need to do this today because there is no guarantee that if I hand it in later (Monday) that it would be done in time for my planned hand in on Tuesday.
I have put the last of the major changes into the document now and I need to read through it all to make sure that the majority of it makes sense to everyone. I am SO proud of the working shop, the report and myself and the way that I have worked on this project.
I think that I did everything right for once and what I have produced is far beyond what I thought I was able to produce at the start of the academic year. I just hope that all my hard work is evident when this thing gets marked.
posted by Tom Hickey
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Time for an update I think...
I have been "busy" working on my project report. This means that I have been trying to work on it but I have been having problems with it. I think that I have now gotten over my writers block and last night managed to type a good chunk of text, I think that I have found the direction that I was looking for and no have about 4,000 words (how many of these make sense when joined together is something that I do not know).
I will try to carry on today and see what happens. I think that my problem was that iI had the TV on while "working" and anything is more interesting than typing, so from now onwards it will just be music.
on a different note, it looks like my plans to take over the US will have to go on hold for the time being. And I think that I will be able to rent a place in London with two friends for a year. I plan to do not much for the first month or so and then go looking for a job.
After my work is done in Aber there is so much that I want to get on with..... Nomadness redesign, try to learn some C++, PLAY SOME GAMES!!!!!
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, March 26, 2001
So, everything is up and running on thickey.com. It took me about an hour to move everything across, but I wanted to make sure that all the data was in good shape
I now have the mammoth task of looking at the documentation guidelines and producing something half decent from them. I need to put a massive amount of effort into this (and the presentation). The whole major project is worth 30 out of the 120 credits this year. I have come to the conclusion that my exam technique is very poor and this is the perfect chance to make up any lost ground.
I will not go into detail about the marking system and how final marks are assessed, but a good mark in a 30-credit module would relieve the pressure on me for exams.
The presentation part of the project is the part that I am looking forward to the most, it has only taken 4 years for me to finally get marked for something that I enjoy doing and that (at lest I think) I am good at.... But I guess time will tell
I am going to send an email to Linda Thomas asking her for some information about working in the US after I graduate, she has come from the US, I am not sure of her country of origin bit I hope that she can at least point me to a web page or two.
The weeks are rushing past now faster than ever, I need to think about what to do in the short term after leaving Aber. I know that I probably end up living at home.... This scares me, but I guess that it will be a good incentive to go across the pond.
There is just SO much stuff to think about at the moment it's a nightmare, it will be nice to have a chance to sort myself out once I am done with my sentence... I mean degree. The idea of no deadlines seems very appealing at the moment.
Well I have run out of things to write about now, I did all this using a palm and my hand is starting to hurt from using the stylus. Dave has let me use his palm IIIe for the moment, the screen is so much better than my palmIII.
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, March 25, 2001
Good news everyone,
I have just put the finishing touches to the final script. So the project coding is compete.
There is still quite a lot to compete for a final public version, but as far as the project is concerned it's done.
I still have to upload the new stuff, I will do this as soon as this is complete
on another note I have dusted off my palmIII. and I am using it now to compose this blog. Last time i tried to use it I didn't have any real uses in mind, but I have my email on it and loads of games...... oh and university notes on it :o).
posted by Tom Hickey
Thursday, March 22, 2001
Coding almost complete. I have written the penultimate script, this last one allows admin staff to change the status of an order and the order details to be shown.. This can easily be changed so that customers can view previous order but I feel that my time is better spent on documentation.
The last script that I want to complete is a script that will allow admin to change product information. Again with some tweaking the process order script would automatically change quantities or go onto backorder if there is not enough stock of an item etc.. but that is not important anymore.
We had a subject meeting on Monday (9:00 am), which made me feel much better about the whole thing. The final hand in document is not going to be THAT weighty. I don’t need to submit source code etc with is a good thing, I don’t have to tidy up my code anymore :o)
I still need to upload my changes, I will try to do this today. If I don’t then it may become an imposable task to keep track of what’s new and what is old.
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, March 19, 2001
I have been working still on my project. As the semester goes on I am finding it harder and harder to devote any time towards my major project.
I have three or four subjects that have weekly or bi-weekly practical sessions that involve quite a bit of work to get complete. I feel that it is becoming harder and harder to keep my head above water.
I have decided to move away from coding by the time that Easter comes around, I could carry on coding for another year or so it seems. There always seems to be sections that I need to work on I guess it’s a 90% done thing. I don’t even want to guess as to how much is complete.
From a customer viewpoint it is almost complete, from an admin and back office point of view there is quite a bit left to do. I think I will get the customers side complete and try to get the important back office work done, things like order processing and checking the status of orders etc.
Its only about 11 weeks until the end of the academic year, This scares me quite a bit as I am not 100 % sure what or where I am going to go from here. I have told a load of people that I want to go over to America and Silicon Valley in particular and work for a year or more out there. At the moment I don’t have a clue as to where to start, I need to start worrying about this soon, where will I work, where will I live etc are big questions. I think it’s going to be hard enough getting all my belongings from one place to another.
I will probably end up living at home in Kent for a month or two. What a nightmare for my mother and myself. I guess that this would be a good incentive to get as far away from there as possible :o)
Oh yea. Before I forget, I will have to get around to uploading what is working up onto thickey.com sometime. I have a load of changes working locally and an update is long overdue.
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, February 25, 2001
I have been busy today, I have worked out how to process the orders from the checkout script.
Now all the information gets put into a tables and should (if I have thought it out correctly) be easy to retrieve the order so customers can check on the progress of the order or admin staff can use it to see what someone has ordered etc.
I do have work from another module that I so desperately need to at least start working on, I guess I will have to do this from Monday, it would be great to have that wrapped up before the deadline, but who knows.
posted by Tom Hickey
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
While I think about it I have had a good idea for some testing, to make sure its got a logical way of moving around etc..
The test I will use will be my mother.. She has trouble turning a computer on so it will be an experience to see how well the program copes with her.. I will have to make a phone call and see if she is interested..
posted by Tom Hickey
Wow… where did tonight go?
I have once again been busy. I have implemented the address functionality of the customer area. People can now create a new user, give them an address and change addresses, add addresses, change there other details or password.. The UI looks a bit hacked together, I will play with it and make it look a little nicer..
So that is almost the check out section completed. Last bit that I need to work on is sending out emails to the customer and the shop email address and workout some type of order tracking..
Once all that is done I can work on the back office stuff, so I end the day on a happy note…. I know that I have accomplished something today.. That’s twice in two days.. what’s going wrong ?
Quote of the day from my flat mate Matt “If stuff like this happens in the real world then I don’t want to be a part of it”. Trust me Matt.. you are a long way from it :o)
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, February 19, 2001
Its late… well early I guess.. in the day
I have uploaded my work on the checkout script so far…
You can do things like logging on, if you don’t have an account you can create one..
You can change you details (name, credit card details etc), you can change your password… and you can select a different delivery address to your billing address..
The multiple address things will not work yet for any created accounts.. because I have not done the add new address script.. if you want to try it out you can use the login thickey and the password foo. This account has 3 addresses to chose from and demonstrates the function well.
That’s all for tonight.. I may work on the addresses script tomorrow.
posted by Tom Hickey
Just to let you all know (does anyone read this?) that I am still working on my project.. The results can’t be seen here yet, I am working on the checkout script and all that goes with it on my local PC and should upload it once it is done (mid week I hope).
Then once all that is done I need to work on the back office stuff such as adding items to the catalogue, introduce categories etc..
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, February 11, 2001
Some more progress has been made in the past few days…
I have had the secure area setup on thickey.com for a few weeks but I was playing around with stuff like letting users login and letting users setup accounts. Now that this is there (still needs some more work) I can start worrying about getting orders checked out..
I have even scribbled a plan click it to enlarge
I have an essay for another module that has gotten in the way again.. I think I have two weeks or so to do something with it but it’s a pain that as soon as I get some motivation I have to look at a different subject… never mind
Anyway.. feel free to play with the system as much as you can.. if you have any ideas and want to share them with me the please go ahead thickey@thickey.com
And if you do setup a new user please enter in real credit card numbers… it would be cool if I could get something like a new car out of this
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, February 04, 2001
Exams are over once again, and I am now into my last semester at Aber…
I amazes me that every project that I have done so far at Aber involves handing in a computer generated document.. Why is it that I have to sit in a room with 100+ other people writing on a bit of paper about computer related subjects.. Where is the logic in that.. I haven’t written more that a page of word in the past year, what possible academic achievement is accomplished by this task? If such a skill was needed in day to day work then I would be grateful but its not and I am not.. So I guess it’s another round of bad marks for me because exams are not my talent.
Anyway I seem to have gotten of course. Since Friday I have been busy working on a few scripts, I have written a script that will let customers login and view there current addresses and other details, I need to work on this so that they can change the information held in there but that is no problem. I have also created a script for customers to create new accounts so that they can do the above. This is currently only held on my Linux box at home because I need to link them all up together so you can’t see them yet.
I am going home tomorrow (Monday), I have some things going on so I will not be able to do any work till I get back on Wednesday. There is a deadline of a progress report on Friday the 9th so I guess I will have to work on that when I come back.. I am just glad that I have something to put in it now :o)
posted by Tom Hickey
Tuesday, January 30, 2001
I have made some more updates in the past few days,
The main feature that I have been working on is that people can now change the quantity of an item on the shopping cart. They can only change it to positive numbers.
I have been setup for SSL on my server so I guess next I will work on an admin section using a secure connection.
I don’t think I will do anymore tonight, I am feeling beat and I now have my CS352 exam paper to look at until Friday, so I should be working on that.
Things seems to be moving on very fast this past week, I have managed to get the main bulk of system up and running I have a few things that need to be done/completed and a BIG whole bunch of documentation to work on, but its amazing how something a few weeks ago was looking hard/impossible after a few days work now looks like it may actually be complete and working. I astound myself
To-Do
- Secure credit ordering
- Populate the Products
- Add categories to products
- General HTML stuff
- Search facility
- Design a product/category page (the current page is just temporary)
- Admin section
- Add Products
- Remove products
- Order history
- Customer details
- Delete old session information
All of these are not that hard to complete and I am very confident that within the next two months that the shop should be working fine. I still have some cosmetic changes to work on.
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, January 29, 2001
Its late in the day (3:30 am) but I have added a few more features to the shop
You can now only have one instance of a produce on the cart per session
You can now delete items from the shopping cart, all you have to do is click on the X next to the item that you want to remove
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, January 28, 2001
In the past week I have done the following…
- Created a product database
- Created an order database
- Wrote the PHP script that displays items on the product database (just a means to an end, it will get an overhaul with categories etc).
- Wrote the PHP script that displays a single item on the product database (including an images etc).
- Wrote the shopping cart script, this shows what orders the user has placed.
That’s all, but there are some neat things going on behind
the scenes, if you look at it now (28th January 2001) then you will
see some debug info such as sessionID’s etc..
But the main thing is that I am now able to track a user session from
start to finish, this was one of the major stumbling blocks that I was worried
about, but now it’s a breeze..
SO why are you reading this, check it out on my major
project page
posted by Tom Hickey
Saturday, January 13, 2001
It has been a whole bunch of time since I have updated this.
To be honest I have been doing other things, I have exams coming up and an essay or two have been completed.
I have just updated my page and added some interface ideas, they still need a bit of work but I think that they may look ok.
posted by Tom Hickey
Thursday, November 30, 2000
Been a bit slack the past few days, I am finding it hard to get motivated at the moment. All I want to do is sleep and watch TV, oh well, only a few more months left to go.
Time is moving on VERY fast at the moment, lectures for the first semester are starting to finish, and this means that I am nearly ½ way through my final year at University.
I have been playing with some database ideas for the past few days, and I hope to put something into MySQL in the next few days. I will also be working on some DULLS DILS stuff that needs to be complete for next week.
posted by Tom Hickey
Friday, November 24, 2000
Woohoo, I got my requirement spec done and handed in on time, and I think I have managed to get my Java up and running. I am just waiting to have it signed off.
That’s it for now people..
posted by Tom Hickey
Thursday, November 23, 2000
The hand in for my requirement spec is coming close now, good job it’s almost complete. I just have to type up some references tonight and then it should be ready to rock. I also have some other stuff to do at the moment, like a Java prac and a provisional issues essay to start but I intend to start some design for the database/UI and scripts next week.
That’s about it for now….
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, November 13, 2000
I have posted stuff here after the 23rd of October but it did not save it for some reason :o( I am not sure what is up with that.. Anyway
I have made the decision not to write a Java admin interface, it was looking like it would have been two major projects in one if I were to do that and I am no Java fan so I am VERY happy that I don't have to suffer that torture anymore :o).
Its about time I start to dedicate a bit more time towards work now, the weeks are starting to fly past at an astonishing rate (they say it gets worse as you get older but I that is due more to old people not remembering what day it is...). So I am now working on my requirement specification (the latest version should be on the site typos and all).
On another note, if your name is Lisa then I recommend that you get back to work and stop wasting tax payers money :o)
I also just had the idea of attaching a photo to each posting, I have a webcam doing nothing much, I will see how easy it is to setup with Blogger.
Unlucky for you, I can just add HTML to this thing so Photos are a go...
Thickey Out.....
posted by Tom Hickey
Monday, October 23, 2000
Got SMB setup on my box now, this means that I can transfer files with greater ease from my Windows box to my Linux box.
I have been working on some requirement ideas for a while in my head, I think that today is the day when I put pen to paper and make a start on what is required for the project.
posted by Tom Hickey
Sunday, October 22, 2000
I have been playing with a few ideas over the weekend, I have worked out how to get the database information read from a text file, this makes it easy to move the script to different servers if needed. I wanted to know if I could do this before I put it in the requirements specification.
Also with the help of Mark (mch6) my local Linux box seems to be running PHP4 and MySQL without any problems. This means that I can develop scripts at home and then upload them once a day or so. I have VERY limited bandwidth at home :o( and a telnet session is strain so working remotely is not a real option.
posted by Tom Hickey
Friday, October 20, 2000
I know it looks like I havent been doing anything, but i have trust me. I have been reading my very expesive MySQL book and playing with UI ideas.
posted by Tom Hickey
Saturday, October 14, 2000
This all seems to be working well, changed that colours to suit the rest of thickey.com. I have been working on a logo for the shop, I have thought of a name for my shop also (powershop). It seems that the .com has gone but www.powershop.co.uk is available, I think I will go and register it.
I will start working on the Design spec and requirement spec on Sunday, I will also flick through my expensive software engineering book to see if I am missing anything. It cost a whole bunch and I haven't even opened it yet..
I have also ordered two new books from Amazon..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ordered Title Price Dispatched Subtotal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 MySQL 38.99 GBP 1 38.99 GBP
1 PHP 4 Bible 21.66 GBP 1 21.66 GBP
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Again, a whole bunch, I have a PHP book already but that does not cover any version 4 stuff and at the moment I know VERY little about MySQL and I figure learning more before I start to design can only make things better...
posted by Tom Hickey
I have decided that a log of what I am doing is necessary. This should make it easy for me to keep track of what I did and when, along with everyone else.
posted by Tom Hickey
