__/ [Guy Macon <http://www.guymacon.com/>] on Friday 21 October 2005 02:10
\__
>
>
>
> Big Bill wrote:
>>
>>Guy Macon <http://www.guymacon.com/> wrote:
>>
>>>Big Bill wrote:
>>>
>>>>Right now I do repetitive tasks when I validate and layout files.
>>>>I do things like change
>>>>& for &
>>>>for example, then I might change
>>>></span> for </span><br><p align="center"><p>
>>>>and, you know, stuff like that.
>>>>
>>>>Is this perl-type stuff? It seems pretty basic so that's the way I'm
>>>>thinking.
>>>
>>>There are quite a few different ways to automate that sort of thing;
>>>any programming language can do it, as can shell scripting in Linux
>>>or a full-featured text editor such as UltraEdit in Windows. The big
>>>differenes are in time-to-learn and in ability to do other things.
>>>
>>>What operating system are you running?
>>
>>98SE
>>
>>>How much programming experience do you have?
>>
>>Nada.
>>
>>>Do you just wish to automate text transformations, or would you prefer
>>>to learn a language that you can use to create other sorts of programs?
>>
>>The second option.
>>
>>>Is zero-cost important to you, or are you willing to spend a few pounds/
>>>euros/dollars for your tools?
>>
>>I can spend a few quid if I have too.
>
> I suggest that you start with QBASIC. It's on your Win98 CD in the
> \TOOLS\OLDMSDOS\ directory. It's easy to learn for beginners, will
> do your text manipulation task fairly easily, and there are a huge
> number of websites that have tutorials and programs. Note: some
> folks who don't know any better shorten QuickBasic to QBASIC, not
> realizing that there already exists a product with that name.
To learn /concepts/, QBASIC might be satisfactory. However, it is a Mi-
crosoft lock-in. Better stick to ANSI and learn C or the like. There must
be some free C compilers for Windows and there is a tonage of tutorials.
Having said that, to do what Bill has asked for, I doubt he would need ex-
perience with imperative programming. Using a Perl script might be daunt-
ing at first, but it's not rocket science.
> If QBASIC sits well with you, The PowerBASIC Console Compiler (PB/CC)
> is a modern programming language with a huge number of features and
> very few limitations, which also happens to be almost 100% compatible
> with QBASIC. http://www.powerbasic.com
I think you are going down a route that will lead Bill to taking a part-
time 'job' as a self-taught programmer. I don't think this would serve his
needs as an SEO professional. SEO is rarely about programming, albeit pro-
gramming skills always help. They can also help people automate their
lives, i.e. delegate responsibilities to cron jobs. There is also an oper-
ating system that is notorious for requiring an army of 'booters' whose
job is to run scandisk.exe, defrag.exe and patching up or booting up
servers. Drifting off topic here...
> In my opinion, of all the tools available for Win98, those two meet
> your stated needs the best.
>
> Guy Macon <http://www.guymacon.com/>
I am not sure I agree. I don't think this is the right choice for Bill to
make.
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Useless fact: Women blink twice as much as men
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 74572E8E
2:40am up 56 days 14:54, 4 users, load average: 1.63, 1.59, 1.24
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
|
|
