That's pretty cool man, congratulations.

Learning the basics of programming is no easy task, so it's great to see that you're diving into it, giving it a try, and putting something out there. That takes a ton of work, but also guts. Way to go.

Good luck as you move forward, and enjoy the ride!

Thanks Cscotta.

Woah, you took the time to learn how to code??? I wouldn't expect that of a lot of marketing guys. Congratulations.

I like the really simple, minimalist design of your site. You may want to use a higher resolution image for the background though.

Thanks for motivation.

I will definitely fix that design. Actually the background will give place to something different.

Didn't work for a pdf I uploaded

http://doxela.com/view/1214130930.php

Good start, though it's not working quite right yet.

Looks good from here...

I just tried your link and saw the document: The linear Algebra. Can you explain how you were expecting it to work?

I just get a white box on the page and it spins forever spewing out JS errors. The status bar says "completed 4 out of 5 items"

Web inspector in safari 4 shows:

Unsafe JavaScript attempt to access frame with URL http://doxela.com/view/1214130930.php from frame with URL https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely.... Domains, protocols and ports must match.

You are trying to do XSS?

This brings up another tip that every developer should know: Make it easy for users to report bugs.

Thank you very much for the report.

That is related to the embed code I am using.

Will try and fix it.

Well done my friend, you made a really good job. As for me, although I am an engineer and can program (however my skills are far below the average ones on HN) and have ideas I would like to get into, I'm just too lazy to start. It looks like a deep fear inside me (failure ? "give-up-ness" ?) prevents me to try.

PS : sorry for my english, french I am

I don't know a programming language but want to learn. I have a specific goal (write a simulation) but it seems overwhelmingly ambitious/broad. Can you share more about the process you went through to go from nothing to a minimal viable app in 11 days and 23 hours of learning?

What sort of simulation?

I want to create a simulation for my health site to more effectively share the mental model and process for how I have gotten myself well when doctors (and most of the rest of the world) don't think it can be done. I have a compromised immune system and I have made drastic dietary and lifestyle changes over the course of the last 8 1/2 years. I routinely get strong negative reactions when I try to share that information on email lists and forums for other people with my diagnosis. Many people react like I am a loon, a charlatan, a snake oil salesman, suffering from Munchausen...etc. Even those people who feel it makes sense have difficulty implementing the ideas I present. The written word is just not information-dense enough to convey the necessary paradigm shift and level of detail. So, earlier this year, I concluded that I needed to be able to walk people through a virtual experience of the process.

My sons have suggested I need to make a rogue-like. I would want to present the normal obstacles of an ordinary day and track information about germ load, PH, and probably a few other things (to be added later).

Hi Mz,

I had in mind what I wanted to create as the first application, but I wasn't sure how to.

Day 1,2,3. I went to w3schools and read basic PHP lessons. For each lesson I would read and do a quick search for a similar lesson somewhere else. This allowed me to have at least 2 different explanations. The next step would be to try the examples myself.

Day 4 (I believe), I learned how uploading works, not just the code, but the process allowed me to upload the document (post, get, document types, filesize, temp name etc...). I created a simple a few forms etc. I knew to stay clear from DBs in the beginning because I did not want to have too much too soon.

The following day I spent the entire time learning about upload security. There just is not enough documentation online about uploads and folder security, so a sys admin friend of mine gave me a few good tips and I combined those with what I found online to add some security to the app.

From then on until Day 11, I learned how to create a new file, and append/change its content, and also delete files. This allowed me to create the view/manage/delete.

I spent a few days trying to improve the code. Every time I learn something new, I change part of the code and this allows me to see how things really work.

To be quite frank the application is quite easy for any new programmer. All it does is to host a file and use the Google doc viewer embed code to display the file again.

I plan to add more functionality and also document the whole process.

Thank you. I'm very encouraged, though, that you did something so quickly. It's a data point to help me clarify that first step which I hope to get to work on in the near future.

PS: Can someone give me a link to the original discussion where the app was reviewed? Thx.

Your site is still ugly. If you're interested, I can make it prettier, NSA. I want to try working on my graphic design skillz. araneae@gmail.com