[BLOG] Speaking fluent code
It was just a few weeks ago that I was poring over Wordpress code for Icrontic, when something struck me: it was easy to read.
Now, this isn't praise of the Wordpress coders (though they no doubt deserve it). It's recognition that something had changed about me. A quick glance through some vBulletin files confirmed it. I'd become fluent in PHP.
It wasn't even a year ago when wading through a vBulletin file was like visiting Spain after 3 years of Spanish. I could tell what it was doing (most of the time) but damn if it didn't take effort to figure it out. On a few occasions I cracked a manual to figure out what syntax it was using (the ternary operator, for instance). These days, I plow through Wordpress and vBulletin pretty easily.
Over the last few months, I've been working on a new forum theme which came to fruition over the past week. This is the fourth (or so) time I've developed a major vBulletin template overhaul for Icrontic/Short-Media, and the old pattern held true: when you make an update, plan to spend the next 2 days making corrections as members inundate you with bugs and problems.
Something was much different this time though. As the corrections and requests started coming in, I was actually able to keep up with them. I don't have a list anywhere and I'm not dreading some major project tonight. As each note came in, I was able to quickly (though maybe not quite effortlessly) dive into vBulletin's arcane template system and root it out with surgical precision.
Fluency is something that sneaks up on you. It happens so gradually, you barely notice it until one day you remember how you used to be. Of course, now that I have this thing down, it begs a new, horrible question.
Is hacking vBulletin's template system a skill set anyone really wants?
Now, this isn't praise of the Wordpress coders (though they no doubt deserve it). It's recognition that something had changed about me. A quick glance through some vBulletin files confirmed it. I'd become fluent in PHP.
It wasn't even a year ago when wading through a vBulletin file was like visiting Spain after 3 years of Spanish. I could tell what it was doing (most of the time) but damn if it didn't take effort to figure it out. On a few occasions I cracked a manual to figure out what syntax it was using (the ternary operator, for instance). These days, I plow through Wordpress and vBulletin pretty easily.
Over the last few months, I've been working on a new forum theme which came to fruition over the past week. This is the fourth (or so) time I've developed a major vBulletin template overhaul for Icrontic/Short-Media, and the old pattern held true: when you make an update, plan to spend the next 2 days making corrections as members inundate you with bugs and problems.
Something was much different this time though. As the corrections and requests started coming in, I was actually able to keep up with them. I don't have a list anywhere and I'm not dreading some major project tonight. As each note came in, I was able to quickly (though maybe not quite effortlessly) dive into vBulletin's arcane template system and root it out with surgical precision.
Fluency is something that sneaks up on you. It happens so gradually, you barely notice it until one day you remember how you used to be. Of course, now that I have this thing down, it begs a new, horrible question.
Is hacking vBulletin's template system a skill set anyone really wants?
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Comments
You have become the master of PHP and all things related.
Now go out there and tell the world what we at Icrontic already know and sell your skillz for double what you asking now.