You’re like a shark – you have to keep swimming or you die.

If you’re in software development, the learning should never stop.

I’ve been a software developer for over 25 years. When PCs first entered the market in ’81, I was just beginning my journey in geekdom. When Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) started to sneak into commercial software, I was at ground zero with a new language. When the World Wide Web emerged as a new platform in the 90s, I started a company to build online software using databases. And when online file sharing emerged, I worked behind the scenes building a rights management solution for the original Napster project.

Over the years, I’ve built applications using numerous languages and platforms: Pascal, DataFlex, Delphi, Java, ColdFusion, ASP, Silverlight/C#/.NET, PHP. Folks with as much experience as me have largely evolved into management, rarely touching code anymore and skipping the frequent paradigm shifts that happen in technology. I prefer to wet my big beak in programming (although I manage projects too). I’m the old grey shark, still swimming, still living.

Last summer, a fellow entrepreneur started me on a journey with a PHP framework called Laravel on our landerFLY project. Recently I’ve really started understanding the power of this Model View Controller (MVC) framework. If you’re not a geek, frameworks provide a consistent set of methods and shortcuts to build applications that are faster, more reliable and easier to maintain. Because it’s such a popular platform, the PHP community enlists many: Zend, Symfony, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Phalcon, Yii, and more. Recently Laravel has emerged as the new pretty girl at the dance, and I’m seeing why. I’m building a little system that’s been bouncing around in my head for six months. The project’s moving along quickly, proving the value of the framework and the simplicity of learning it.

Surf & Destroy: Twisted Puppy on Perpetual Learning

I’m on a deep dive with development now, and when the site is up and running, I’ll share the live product URL with you. For now, I have to get back in the water.

 

Learn More

Laravel
Best PHP Frameworks
Learning Laravel (awesome eBook)
Laracasts (online training)