my first attempt at a simple guestbook.

just one thing before we start here. asp files are server-side applications, which means you've gotta be running a web server that has an asp engine to view them. examples of the aforementioned would be microsoft's personal web server and MIIS. so although you won't be able to view the asp output using your web browser, you'll still be able to download the source code and view it; and hopefully (hopefully!) learn something from my experiences, if you're so inclined. =P *grins*

the crush guestbook was my first foray into the long-neglected world of asp programming since my maiden xlab voyage in sec3, this project didn't seem too daunting when i took it up initially. after all, database access and odbc operations are the bread and butter of integrated asp programming; what else could be simpler than this? i remember then i had just started creating webpages again, after my long hiatus, and one of the prequisites for any good webpage would be a guestbook. so i put two and two together - why not create my own? little did i know tis was harder than it looked - suffice to say that much blood, sweat and curses were expended during the creation of this guestbook. i'm proud to say, though, that it remains with us till this very day; you can even access it from the main page! do leave your name, and while you do so, marvel at the piece of technical ingenuity it is =P (being egoistic here, mwahaha =P)

but seriously, though, i'm very proud of this one =)

after that first successful attempt at creating a guestbook for crush, it only seemed natural to take things one step further and convert the the very webpage itself to an asp-enabled application. this was done for pure amusement, though i'll have to admit that the prospect of ditching blogger and striking out on my own had a certain appealing flair to it. it was a little more complicated than the last attempt; primarily because the operations involved were more complicated in nature. for example; a guestbook only requires the user to read and write notes to the database, but a full-fledged blogging system, which allows posts to be entered, edited and deleted using the same interface - that's significantly more complicated.

but i managed it all the same. in that light, it's quite a pity i had to discontinue the project after only a few weeks of operation - i figured i was running out of disk space on my provider; and anyway it's not easy trying to find a reliable provider which runs MIIS on their servers... =X *sighs* another example of creativity and genius stifled by the treacherous twin quagmires of reality and economy? perhaps =)

YACCS emulator, which allowed a reader to leave notes in the crush blog. had to fiddle with the existing system to manage the integration; since obviously it would be silly to have the two systems (notes and blogs) running separately when in reality their functions are interlinked; agonized a little over this aspect of the coding. did this after the first two projects. it's kinda strange, if you take the time to think about it. i never seem to be able to come up with new ideas of my own, but instead i'm surprisingly good at emulating what's already in existence. hmmm =P

penpal was a foray into the unknown, as i departed from the tried formula (think : blog, comments, notes) of static input and attempted to code more dynamic applications using asp. my stated goal at the outset was to code an icq emulator and chat system, which was somewhat puzzling - in light of the fact that http is a stateless proctocol. managed to create a very rudimentary chat system, using a time-based javascript snippet to simulate state (realtime), but i never got around to coding the icq emulator. it seemed too much work back then, and i was still facing problems in finding a suitable asp host - thus i left the entire project unfinished. i guess the fire had burnt out by then and i needed a break.

not that it was too much of a loss, anyway - i finally managed to code the icq emulator during my webpj last year; so all's well that ends well =P