Actually Coding!
So far at work I haven't done much coding. There has been training as well as other menial tasks. Since I don't really know the system all that well yet, and since there are some other more important issues at the moment, there hasn't been much to code.
Well, now that are logistics operation has started up, we are shipping stuff out more often and in large volumes. Currently we ship via fedex using their shipping manager software, totally seperate from our own software for placing/tracking orders. So, today I started the integration of fedex API functionality into our software. So far I have just been working on getting the communications with fedex stuff working. That is just about done, and I will finish it up pretty early Tuesday. Then I will start to actually integrate that into our software. Because of the way I am writing the code on the current part, the integration should be very simple and easy.
For those of you that understand software development speak, I will explain more in depth what I have done:
Fedex provides an API for sending shipment orders, tracking packages, getting shipping rates, etc. I was able to find a PHP class (what our software is written in) that uses the API. The only problem is that the class was confusing, returned hard to use data (basically returned it directly from fedex, which is in a very confusing format). So, I spent today writing my own class (which used the class I downloaded) but cut down the number of functions to just what we needed, as well as parsed the returned data into a more readable/useable format. When it comes time to integrate, it will mainly just be a case of calling those functions, as well as writing some code on the front end to handle a few tasks (like selecting which address to use after an address verification, or which shipping service to use, etc)
---END DEVELOPER STUFF---
Anyway, while I have been happy at work since I started, I really really enjoyed today. At one point as I was sitting there writing code, I thought "I love doing this, I can't believe I am getting paid to do this!" I know it wont always be this fun. In fact, when I am modifying or extending existing code, I don't find it near as enjoyable as just writing my own stuff from scratch. Sadly the majority of my work, at least at first, will be the former. Hoepfully though, when we move into actually adding new functionality to our software (like warehouse management) we can do it the same way I am doing the fedex stuff. Writing the backend from scratch, and then using that to easily integrate it into the current software.
Well, now that are logistics operation has started up, we are shipping stuff out more often and in large volumes. Currently we ship via fedex using their shipping manager software, totally seperate from our own software for placing/tracking orders. So, today I started the integration of fedex API functionality into our software. So far I have just been working on getting the communications with fedex stuff working. That is just about done, and I will finish it up pretty early Tuesday. Then I will start to actually integrate that into our software. Because of the way I am writing the code on the current part, the integration should be very simple and easy.
For those of you that understand software development speak, I will explain more in depth what I have done:
Fedex provides an API for sending shipment orders, tracking packages, getting shipping rates, etc. I was able to find a PHP class (what our software is written in) that uses the API. The only problem is that the class was confusing, returned hard to use data (basically returned it directly from fedex, which is in a very confusing format). So, I spent today writing my own class (which used the class I downloaded) but cut down the number of functions to just what we needed, as well as parsed the returned data into a more readable/useable format. When it comes time to integrate, it will mainly just be a case of calling those functions, as well as writing some code on the front end to handle a few tasks (like selecting which address to use after an address verification, or which shipping service to use, etc)
---END DEVELOPER STUFF---
Anyway, while I have been happy at work since I started, I really really enjoyed today. At one point as I was sitting there writing code, I thought "I love doing this, I can't believe I am getting paid to do this!" I know it wont always be this fun. In fact, when I am modifying or extending existing code, I don't find it near as enjoyable as just writing my own stuff from scratch. Sadly the majority of my work, at least at first, will be the former. Hoepfully though, when we move into actually adding new functionality to our software (like warehouse management) we can do it the same way I am doing the fedex stuff. Writing the backend from scratch, and then using that to easily integrate it into the current software.