motowater
Feb 19, 2011
Undergraduate / "Not just programming languages for the web" - Transfer Statement of Purpose [NEW]
Please let me know what I can do better on my essay, or simply what you like.
Thanks!
______
Starting my freshman year of high school I was a typical high school student. I had a huge interest in computers; I suppose it was my interest in video games that brought my attention to them. My family had one computer, and since my brother and I always wanted to use it we would fight over who gets the computer at what time. I realized that for my birthday, at the end of my freshman year, that I wanted a computer for myself. I had heard from people at school that it was possible to buy the parts of a computer yourself, and you can then build it yourself. I began to read all sorts of things on the internet for hours on end each day on how to build a computer. Eventually I convinced my parents that I knew what I was doing and they let me build it myself. After completing my build, realized that I had done something that very few had done. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment that I have done something others haven't. It was a great feeling and I'm sure it was this that kept fueling me to learn more. After actually building it I wanted to learn more. I started reading how the parts in the computer communicate, and all the details related.
Eventually I became bored of just learning about the hardware and physical parts. I decided to look up how to create websites. I remember having read that I needed web hosting in order to build a website. It seemed to me that everything I had read about this was too simple. I didn't understand what these web hosting companies were doing that allowed them to give web space out to people like me. I couldn't help but ask "why?" to just about everything I read. This led to me finding out that these hosts were just running servers, and anyone could do this, not just them. I started reading more about the client-server relationship and picked up a book on networks. I now understood how the internet really works. Knowing this information I started reading up on how to actually build websites. As a high school student the websites I made were very plain and simple, usually just a white background while learning how to format the page. Through experience I slowly learned better how to format pages to my liking, but then I once again hit a wall in progress. I wanted to know how all these big websites were able to change dynamically. I wanted to know how people could actually log into a website, and their page was different than everyone else's. This is when I first started to program. I found out there are scripting languages that would allow you to dynamically change a page. To describe how it works in simplest form, a website would figure out something like "If this user is on the website, then send this data to that computer." It was then that I realized the possibilities are endless. The first language I read up on was called PHP. The amount of documentation online for PHP is mind boggling. I had no idea where to even start, so I picked up another book on it. I eventually bought a website. I started finding out that databases were used as a storage means for PHP. I then started reading about databases and saw how powerful they are. I now know that I had only scratched the surface of what is possible. I still continued with my PHP and learned it to the point it almost became like a second language of mine.
After learning everything there was about the web, I had yet another curiosity lurking on my conscious. I felt like the web was just shielding me from the even larger world below. I wanted to learn how to truly program. Not just programming languages for the web, but the difficult stuff. The kind of programming that was used to create windows, and the web browser itself that I was using. At this point in time I was probably a junior in high school and I had more freedom. I noticed I was going out a whole lot more than I was before and I didn't seem to have as much time on my hands. As a freshman and sophomore my parents would keep me inside on school nights, so I really had nothing better to do than to continue learning. Unfortunately, I ended up reading nothing compared to what I had hoped. It wasn't until my Java class at school senior year that things finally started taking off for me again. Most of the things I had learned in that class I had already known and it wasn't until college that I truly started learning about computers. I was learning things I had only dreamed of learning in high school. To this day I appreciate knowing what a binary tree is.
What once started as a curiosity has grown to a passion. The world of computers continues to amaze me; all of my accomplishments make me look forward to the future. So far, university is proving to be a challenge, but I feel that I can handle whatever is thrown at me. With over half of my college career already exhausted, I am sure to enjoy the latter years with an online education. The fact that I keep learning more of this unknown world is overall what keeps me going. If I am to succeed through life I must first succeed through college. I am actually excited to learn more about computers and one day I hope to get a masters degree in computer science. One day I hope my online degree will help propel me to my goals.
Please let me know what I can do better on my essay, or simply what you like.
Thanks!
______
Starting my freshman year of high school I was a typical high school student. I had a huge interest in computers; I suppose it was my interest in video games that brought my attention to them. My family had one computer, and since my brother and I always wanted to use it we would fight over who gets the computer at what time. I realized that for my birthday, at the end of my freshman year, that I wanted a computer for myself. I had heard from people at school that it was possible to buy the parts of a computer yourself, and you can then build it yourself. I began to read all sorts of things on the internet for hours on end each day on how to build a computer. Eventually I convinced my parents that I knew what I was doing and they let me build it myself. After completing my build, realized that I had done something that very few had done. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment that I have done something others haven't. It was a great feeling and I'm sure it was this that kept fueling me to learn more. After actually building it I wanted to learn more. I started reading how the parts in the computer communicate, and all the details related.
Eventually I became bored of just learning about the hardware and physical parts. I decided to look up how to create websites. I remember having read that I needed web hosting in order to build a website. It seemed to me that everything I had read about this was too simple. I didn't understand what these web hosting companies were doing that allowed them to give web space out to people like me. I couldn't help but ask "why?" to just about everything I read. This led to me finding out that these hosts were just running servers, and anyone could do this, not just them. I started reading more about the client-server relationship and picked up a book on networks. I now understood how the internet really works. Knowing this information I started reading up on how to actually build websites. As a high school student the websites I made were very plain and simple, usually just a white background while learning how to format the page. Through experience I slowly learned better how to format pages to my liking, but then I once again hit a wall in progress. I wanted to know how all these big websites were able to change dynamically. I wanted to know how people could actually log into a website, and their page was different than everyone else's. This is when I first started to program. I found out there are scripting languages that would allow you to dynamically change a page. To describe how it works in simplest form, a website would figure out something like "If this user is on the website, then send this data to that computer." It was then that I realized the possibilities are endless. The first language I read up on was called PHP. The amount of documentation online for PHP is mind boggling. I had no idea where to even start, so I picked up another book on it. I eventually bought a website. I started finding out that databases were used as a storage means for PHP. I then started reading about databases and saw how powerful they are. I now know that I had only scratched the surface of what is possible. I still continued with my PHP and learned it to the point it almost became like a second language of mine.
After learning everything there was about the web, I had yet another curiosity lurking on my conscious. I felt like the web was just shielding me from the even larger world below. I wanted to learn how to truly program. Not just programming languages for the web, but the difficult stuff. The kind of programming that was used to create windows, and the web browser itself that I was using. At this point in time I was probably a junior in high school and I had more freedom. I noticed I was going out a whole lot more than I was before and I didn't seem to have as much time on my hands. As a freshman and sophomore my parents would keep me inside on school nights, so I really had nothing better to do than to continue learning. Unfortunately, I ended up reading nothing compared to what I had hoped. It wasn't until my Java class at school senior year that things finally started taking off for me again. Most of the things I had learned in that class I had already known and it wasn't until college that I truly started learning about computers. I was learning things I had only dreamed of learning in high school. To this day I appreciate knowing what a binary tree is.
What once started as a curiosity has grown to a passion. The world of computers continues to amaze me; all of my accomplishments make me look forward to the future. So far, university is proving to be a challenge, but I feel that I can handle whatever is thrown at me. With over half of my college career already exhausted, I am sure to enjoy the latter years with an online education. The fact that I keep learning more of this unknown world is overall what keeps me going. If I am to succeed through life I must first succeed through college. I am actually excited to learn more about computers and one day I hope to get a masters degree in computer science. One day I hope my online degree will help propel me to my goals.
