I learned a long time ago that the U of A has some computer based training that they license from SmartForce, but I’d never downloaded the player and messed with it until today. I’ve been working through a Java tutorial. And I’m again struck by the amazing similiarity of all modern programming languages. Some people who code C++ seem to want you to think it’s amazingly more complicated–different not only in complexity but in kind–from scripting in Perl, PHP, or JavaScript. It ain’t necessarily so. The more I try my hand at other languages, the more I’m glad I started off by learning s little Perl.
The cool think about this new training is that it’s organized into sensible curricula. If you want to focus on Java, there’s a “Java Programming” curriculum. If you want to work on your help desk skills, there’s a “technical support” curriculum. There’s one for most everything (though way too many Microsoft things). The U of A has rights to about 400 courses. There’s no PHP or ASP. The ones that I’m looking at are Java, Unix, Networking, and Internet Security. I might take a stroll through he C/C++ one just to remove the fear I have of that particular language. But the Java one is long and detailed. It will take me weeks to get through it if I try to retain anything (and what’s the point if I don’t).