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What Is A Post Record?


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Page 126

 

Quoting from the book:

"For example, when updating a post record, the URL is something like http://www.example.com/index.php/post/update/id/23."

 

Where is the file called "post"? I have searched the entire project, using Windows Explorer, and I cannot find it. 

 

Also, I've never heard of a "post record". What is that?

 

Thanks.

 

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In the yii_cms database, there is no table called "Post".

 

I do appreciate your help, Antonio, but actually, over the years, I have done some sophisticated ecommerce programming in php -- all written procedurally, from scratch. And I have read enough about OOP to have passing familiarity with it.

 

If a person with my experience cannot readily understand certain passages in this book, then those passages should be clarified. It is to Larry Ullman's advantage to clarify any passages that puzzle readers. A book that is written clearly enough to be understood by average programmers will have a much larger market.

 

On the other hand, if the book is actually intended only for sophisticated programmers such as yourself, then the marketing materials should clearly indicate that, in fairness to all potential buyers. I bought this book because I had the impression it would be suitable for a person with my background, and in fact, I have been able to understand most of it. I also understood there was a forum for seeking assistance. This latter point is especially important, because I have bought too many programming books in the past that started clearly enough, but then abandoned the reader by racing ahead with the more complex topics. 

 

As a teacher with many years experience, I have come to believe that sometimes apparently silly questions can prove to be very useful and illuminating. And as an educational author myself -- not programming-related -- I understand how easy it is to assume the reader already knows what I know. Hence, I make a special effort to never leave readers hanging, puzzled and frustrated.

 

I do hope my many questions are welcomed in this forum, even if they reveal my ignorance. Sincere, accurate answers will help not only me, but no doubt other readers as well, who may be more reluctant to embarrass themselves by asking the kind of questions that I do. And I hope my questions will help Larry understand where improvements can be made, and that he considers the effort worthwhile.

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In the yii_cms database, there is no table called "Post".

 

 

It's just an example, as if you had a table called "post".
 

I do appreciate your help, Antonio, but actually, over the years, I have done some sophisticated ecommerce programming in php -- all written procedurally, from scratch. And I have read enough about OOP to have passing familiarity with it.

 

 
I would think you would be okay with this book, then.
 

If a person with my experience cannot readily understand certain passages in this book, then those passages should be clarified. It is to Larry Ullman's advantage to clarify any passages that puzzle readers. A book that is written clearly enough to be understood by average programmers will have a much larger market.

 

Yes and no. There's not a technical book written that isn't going to have some passages that puzzle some readers. Attempting to write a book that never has a confusing moment for any possible reader type is both impossible and would lead to a bad book. You are finding passages that are confusing to you. I may or may not feel it's warranted to clarify those in the book, based upon my sense of the target reader. And your sense of an "average" reader will differ from mine or another reader's. But that's also why I offer these forums: as a way to provide additional support.

 

I do hope my many questions are welcomed in this forum, even if they reveal my ignorance. Sincere, accurate answers will help not only me, but no doubt other readers as well, who may be more reluctant to embarrass themselves by asking the kind of questions that I do. And I hope my questions will help Larry understand where improvements can be made, and that he considers the effort worthwhile.

 

Yes, your questions are most welcome. That's what the forum is for. And, as the writer, if there's something that's confusing or worse yet, wrong, I need to get that corrected. Understand, though, that just because you found something to be confusing does not mean it warrants a change in the book. Those are the kinds of decisions I have to make as a writer. You, for example, are expressing confusion over some things, but I've also heard another person complain that I explain some things that are too basic (in that person's opinion). Focusing the content of the book too much on the one end will bother people on the other end. Again, though, this is why I have these forums and make myself available: so that I am at least considering different reader input. 

 

I should also add here that I generally don't answer forum questions on the weekends, although others like Antonio are gracious enough to help, too.

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Larry, I understand your conundrum. You can't hope to please everyone. Yet the clearer your writing, the more readers you will reach, without alienating any of them.

 

As for myself, while I am not an OOP programmer, I nonetheless do believe I am in your target market. After all, I have been able to understand most of your Yii book so far. Yet some passages in your book have indeed confused me.

 

Hence, before you assume that confusion over simple points is an indication that the reader's background is inadequate, you should consider whether your presentation of the topic was sufficiently clear.

 

You have very cleverly chosen to test-market your book while you write it. The added bonus is that the feedback you get is allowing you to crowd-source some of the editing, at your discretion. If this allows you to you make your book more readable by rephrasing a sentence, or adding a few words, or providing an example, how can your pro readers complain? They can simply skip the easy parts, and move on to whatever topics interest them.

 

 

 

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KeepLearning: A Record is not a term related to OOP nor procedural programming. It's simply a term for data returned from a function that interacts with a database. That data can be several different kinds of data structures, but are generally (not always) an associate array in procedural programming and an object in object-oriented programming. Thus, a record is a common used word to describe returned data from a database.

 

Also, I don't try to talk down on others programming skills or belittle people. The suggestion was only given as record is such normal terminology that I just assumed you had little prior experience.  Sorry about that, man. I can assure you I did only try to help. :)

 

I do agree with you, though. Larry is awesome because he has a special gift. Too many tech books describe things to advanced. A framework is a little different, though. It will be more advanced as it limits your freedom on how to code. In a framework, you need to build code as it's supposed to get a good result. Therefor, it will obviously be a lot of knowledge and best practices to explain, and some of them will be confusing.

 

Don't feel "to smart" to really understand the basics first. Understanding OOP principles and the MVC pattern is a huge part of that. To many of those that come from a procedural background feel jumping straight into coding because they know PHP! Sure they do, but object-orientation is like learning a new language - The most important part is understanding the basics. It does not mean you are a bad or inexperienced developer. OOP is just different.

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Antonio: Thanks for explaining what a record is. I knew already, but you provided a different perspective.

 

What actually confused me was "post" and "post record". I did not realize that Larry was referring to a hypothetical project containing a table called "post". I thought he was discussing the yii_cms project. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Yes, OOP seems like a different language at times -- not procedural php! It's taking patience.

 

I do appreciate your help.

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