A Computer Programmer and Web Developer Begginning in the Industry

Hi there,

I'm Anthony Tomlinson, my friends like to call me Tone and I think it's pretty cool so I prefer it.
Anyway, this is my first in a million of blog articles I plan on posting if I stay motivated enough to continue.
For future reference, if you landed here and aren't sure why you should come back, I'm going to be posting informative/instructional blogs about computer programming and web development. Oh wow, nobodies ever done that before right? Well, MY articles are going to be about my own experiences with technology as they happen. More specifically, they will involve ( I hope :p ) sequential articles related to Java programming, HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, and PHP... or any of the various other technologies I may happen to be utilizing for some interesting projects I have in development. The technical side will tie into the literal real-world implications of various code, something I was never entitled to in college text-books. So if your a computer science student or studying programming, or just interested in web-development and you can't seem to figure out why your learning how to turn a String into an Array of Chars, hopefully I'll be able to help you figure that out.

So what do I do? I'm a constrution worker by day (in the cold cold city of, New York), and full-time student by night! I'm looking forward to finishing my last semester at Ocean County Community College where I will be graduating with an Associate's Degree in computer science. One day I hope to trade-up the ol' hammer and nails for an air-conditioned office with my own desk. Building video-games was what got me interested in the field of computer science but I didn't realize that I'd be taking all those hard classes I avoided in high school. Well, I have a 3.86 GPA and I'm making out alright, for somebody of my current occupation, I'd have to say I'm proud of myself.

I realize now that becoming a game-developer isn't so black and white. There are many paths toward getting into the video-game industry and many differnent career choices you could make. For instance, you can be an animator, texture designer, tool programmer, AI programmer, or Marketing specialist. You can't do it all yourself right? Of course, you could always take the less glorious path and work alone building Flash games or smaller applications for websites like Newgrounds.com... Or you could get smart and learn how to write Java for Android Systems and start selling your apps and games in the market place for a mere $25.00 google developer's license. That route has certainly grown in popularity over the last several years and it's proven to be quite a money maker for many talented designers.

That last idea is one that I have had my eyes on for some time, but hadn't really had the time or know-how that I needed to get started. It turns out that once you learn one programming language the other ones come easier (Trust me on this I know!). Learning the syntax or "keywords" of a language is simple memorization... understanding the concepts of Objects, Classes, Inheritance, Methods, and so forth is something you will already know!!!

So, what do I have to do to prove that I know what I'm talking about? I currently have two projects in the works. One is a twist on turning 'events' into a social networking opportunity, and another is an Android based game I'm currently building a team for. Meanwhile, all along the way, I'll be studying, researching, writing code, testing code, building websites, marketing on websites, marketing on other peoples websites and social networks, learning how to purchase licenses and copyright intellectual property, building teams, working with teams, designating who does what in a team...huff* huff* huff* and well, you get the point right?

I'm going to be writing about all of it ALONG THE WAY so it stays organized not just in my head, but on paper, err, well the closest thing to paper, THIS BLOG will help anyone, especially Web Designers, beginning Android Developers and Java Programmers, because most of the stuff your gona have to do yourself one day, I will do ahead of you and tell you all about the experience. I will even get into coding techniques and where you can go for in depth tutorials. We know there are thousands of programming tutorials on the web, and certainly a couple articles out there on how to market your applications.. but this is the only one I know of that will take you along for a plane ride you will soon be piloting yourself!

Check back in a couple day, maybe even weeks.. I'm just getting started with this blog so give me a chance to get content up. Then see for yourself if I can offer you useful information or at least teach you a few handy programming tricks... and when I say programming I am referring to any code that can be interpreted by a computer that isn't a human language... so yes, even CSS.

Tone