Kyle Banerjee wrote:
[snip]
Pick something that you need for a specific project. You already know how
to program, so picking up a language for its own sake will mostly be an
academic exercise for you.
[snip]
My advice would be to work on a project and if it calls for a language that
you don't know, then pick up that. If it calls for something you already
know like PHP, just use that and pick up your new language when you need to
later. In other words, learn what you need. It's dang hard to remember
anything you don't actively use.
kyle
Seconding.
I am not a programmer, but I've been able (by and large) to figure out
what I need to do when faced with a specific problem. I have never been
successful at my attempts to learn a language just for the heck of it.
A sample project that jumped to my mind given your interest in rare
books and book arts would be digital libraries. If I were in your shoes,
I might look at what's available in that area. I know of Greenstone (not
because of any experience with it on my own, but because of classmates
who were using it for their digital libraries class) but I'm sure
there's a lot more out there.
Here's one of the projects I remember being done:
http://gslis.simmons.edu/henty/team.htm
And now, back to my regularly scheduled lurking.
Ellen
--
Ellen Knowlton Wilson
Instruction Coordinator
Instructional Technology/Reference Librarian
Room 250, University Library
University of South Alabama
Mobile, AL 36688
6-2826 | (251) 460-7025
ewil...@jaguar1.usouthal.edu
