Throughout the weeks . . .

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Dear mentor,

    I have learned much from the past 13 weeks of ENGLCOM classes. It may not seem like it, but I know I have improved a lot since the beginning of our ENGLCOM classes. My writing skills were really enhanced by the various writing and grammar lessons and activities held throughout the past 13 weeks.

    Throughout the whole ENGLCOM course, I have to say that the desired learning result (DLR) I found most difficult to achieve was the “critical thinker”. I’m not really a very deep thinker, I just go with what I already know and have, and ignoring more possibilities for things I do.  I’m more of a free writer; I don’t really double check and revise my essays or paragraphs. With ENGLCOM, I became really critical with the details of my essays, often researching about certain things even if it’s not necessary. I hadn’t even noticed that I have improved until I started writing this letter. The process was gradual; you won’t notice sudden improvements in yourself.

    At first, I was shocked and overwhelmed by the number of essays our teacher told us. I didn’t expect that I could make all those, but in the end, I managed to make them. Of all the essays I wrote, my favorite one is my extended definition essay, the one entitle “Behind the Face of the Web”. I was just starting to study JavaScript when we were told to make our very first major essay. Without hesitation, I chose to make one about web programming languages. I did so because, like I said, I was just starting to study JavaScript when the task was given. I thought that if I made an essay about those stuff, I would not only contribute to my ENGLCOM class but also to my knowledge in web programming. That essay was probably my best since I was really interested in making it, I don’t think my other essays could top that one.

    Making essays was just one of the things that made me realize that I had much to improve on. I realized that some of my blog posts had wrong tenses in them, although they are not really obvious to laymen. With this in mind, I started to focus more on this aspect of my writing. I treasured every important idea I think I needed for me to improve. I listened very carefully to our grammar lessons, although I couldn’t understand or comprehend some topics, and applied what I learned to our writing activities. We were even asked to check for mistakes in the essays of our classmates. I was hesitant in placing comments so I just marked which part is wrong. The whole experience was very fruitful, not only did it help my grade in ENGLCOM, it also helped in my regular activities, like blogging.

    The hardest experience I had in ENGLCOM was the revision of the essays. We had to revise our essay two times before we could submit it. If you miss one revision, you’re in for a lot of trouble. Hopefully, I was able to make each and every one of those revisions. Some of my revisions are barely noticeable while some, on the other hand, seem like they were completely replaced by new details. An example I remember was in my extended definition essay. In my first draft, I had no sources and I just based my essay on my stock knowledge. In my second draft, I revised the first and second paragraphs, a change that was hardly noticed. When it came to our final draft, I changed almost everything in the essay, especially from the third paragraph to the last one. It was a pretty abrupt change but I had no choice but to do it, and as I have mentioned earlier, that essay was my favorite one.

    To sum it all up, ENGLCOM was of really great value to me. It helped me improve my writing and grammar skills. My expectations for the subject didn’t even reach half of what I really learned from the subject. It was a fruitful and knowledgeable experience all throughout, and I’m confident enough to say, thanks to our ENGLCOM professors, that I’m a better writer now than I was before.

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Behind the Face of the Web

      Visiting websites is a common thing nowadays. Almost everyone does it and even gets used to the different features a website has to offer. But what many do not know is what actually transpires behind every click, every press of a button, or every hover on a link they do. They do not know the thousands of lines of codes and scripts that are written just to make things easier for the users. The process in which the code is written is called “web programming” or “web development”. There are many programming languages out there; however, some languages are used more often than other languages, depending on their purpose. When it comes to designing basic web pages, HTML and CSS are frequently used. If dynamic web pages are the main objective, JavaScript and AJAX are good languages to start from. Sometimes, even dynamic pages aren’t enough for a website, that’s where PHP and MySQL come in; they handle server-side processing and data manipulation.

     Good websites not only provide good features, they also offer decent user interfaces. These interfaces are handled by HTML and CSS. According to National Institute of Open Schooling (n.d.), the creation of a web page on the internet is achieved using HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Tags make up this particular language and serve as helpers in the creation of the web page. The web page is then presented, depending on the code written, by the browser. HTML is the most fundamental of all web programming languages (Wikipedia, n.d.). However, with HTML alone, one does not simply create a web page that has various designs. Hopefully, CSS(Cascading Style Sheets) is there to make up for the task HTML cannot do. As said by Abrus (n.d.), the perspective towards web designing has been totally reshaped with the emergence of CSS. CSS allows programmers to break up the contents of a web page, namely, information and design. The information presented on the web page is handled by HTML while the design is handled by CSS. Additional capabilities were presented with the use of CSS, not only that but it also made web design a lot easier.

    HTML and CSS cover the basic part of web programming, which is designing the actual interface of a page. In reality, HTML can be used alone. CSS is just there to improve the look of the actual output.  However, these pages are only static, meaning the information on the page doesn’t change at all; they are just placed there for the users to view. The task of building dynamic pages can’t be done with only HTML and CSS, hopefully, JavaScript and AJAX are there to clean up the mess.  According to Harris (2009), JavaScript is a language for programming web pages that is, by default, installed in every internet browser today. This programming language was particularly created to deal with communication between users and the web page itself. The functions of the language include getting data from the user, with the help of different forms and buttons in a web page, and changing the contents of a web page in an instant. In spite of their relatively identical names, JavaScript and Java are two totally distinct programming languages. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) is more of an improvement to JavaScript rather than a totally different language. With the help of AJAX, more and more possibilities and potential in JavaScript are being discovered and unlocked. Despite the improvements and upgrades from JavaScript, AJAX still uses the basic JavaScript functions and code for extracting data and information through web pages. It is often used for linking and creating an improved flow of data between client-side languages (e.g. JavaScript) and server-side languages (e.g. PHP). AJAX also includes many collections of resources to further ease the use of different web programming languages, especially JavaScript.

     JavaScript and AJAX, along with HTML and CSS, make the creation of interactive web pages possible. Although AJAX also involves server-side programming and data manipulation, it’s not really built for that purpose. When it comes to handling information and data, and also server-side processing, PHP and MySQL are usually used. In the simplest terms, PHP requests for data or information from the user and MySQL collects or manages this information. PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server-side programming language built for creating dynamic, data-driven websites, much like JavaScript. As stated by Ullman (2011), PHP is a language that allows the alteration of a current web page in real-time. Events usually trigger the activation of these PHP scripts. In addition to this, PHP is a language that only runs on the server of the website and can be used on almost all the operating systems of computers today. MySQL is a language used to create and manipulate relational databases. In the most fundamental terms, databases are collections of information, and are under control of the DBMS (Database Management System). Information is stored in their respective parts and tables when using relational databases. This type of database allows better storage of information despite the harder processes involved in the creation of this particular type of database. In addition, these databases are easier to find information in and can be manipulated by two different people at the same time.

     These languages and all the other languages around the world have revolutionized the whole use and purpose of the web. Without them, the internet would just be a lump of text and a collection of images with buttons that do not even do anything.

References: Abrus, E. (n.d.). Introduction to CSS. Retrieved from http://www.timothywebdesign.com/tutorial-handouts/msdn-css-introduction.pdf

Harris, A. (2009). JavaScript and AJAX for Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

HTML. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2012, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia website, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

Introduction to HTML. (n.d.). National Institute of Open Schooling website, http://www.nios.ac.in/webdesign/html.pdf

Ullman, L. (2011). PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites (4th ed.). Berkeley, California: Peachpit Press.

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SOPA: Why It Should Be Stopped

     The internet has always been a place where people are free to do almost anything they want. People can share their thoughts, innovations, and almost anything. But recently, a bill was passed that could threaten this freedom. This bill is called “Stop Online Piracy Act”, or more commonly known as “SOPA”. SOPA aims to get rid of websites on the internet that are guilty of copyright infringement and online piracy. It is something that has been attempted before but hasn’t really become successful, but SOPA supporters think that SOPA is the answer to this. Although SOPA has good intentions for the internet, I believe that it goes against the very reason why people use the internet in the first place. It could reduce ways the internet can be used, dismantle famous websites, and most importantly, limit the freedom of internet users.

     The internet’s security has been an issue for a long time. With SOPA, this security would supposedly be enhanced and improved. However, the fact that SOPA is a bill made for copyright violators makes it a huge threat to the functionality of websites on the internet; in addition to that it could even pose as a threat to internet security itself rather than an aide to it. Like what was stated before, SOPA aims to get rid of copyright violators on the internet, blocking the website in the process. With the websites blocked, its users are forced to use less secure connections and ways to access these blocked websites, not only that but SOPA can also contribute to problems in implementing a new system for internet security, DNSSEC. With regards to the internet’s functionality, a lot of people are concerned that SOPA can cripple the internet. Suppose a user, without the intention of violating copyrights, uploads a video with a song under a record label or company, that action alone could be accused of as copyright infringement. As stated by Heald(2012), SOPA targets websites that allow copyright infringement, not only websites that are actually made for the sole intention of piracy. Everyone can violate copyright laws; even a simple post of a comment or picture can, even in its simplicity, lead to copyright infringement, but it won’t be accused on the user. The one accused for the user’s actions is the owner of the website since it’s his responsibility to secure his site. If a site is held responsible for copyright infringement under SOPA, that site will be banned from its owners and users in 5 days. That site will also be removed or excluded from search engines like Google, and lastly, advertisements on the site will also be removed, along with payment providers like PayPal.

     In the simplest sense, websites that are accused of copyright infringement under SOPA are blocked or worse, shut down, preventing any user to access the site. Unfortunately, famous websites nowadays are user-based and, considering the definition of SOPA, promoters of copyright infringement. If they were to be shut down, functionality of the internet will be critically reduced.

     There are millions of websites out there, and it seems inevitable that a percentage of users in those sites post or upload copyrighted content; simply put, they violate copyright laws and potentially promote online piracy. SOPA was made to reduce this, if not, put it to a complete stop. This is the reason why some companies have chosen to support SOPA, but most internet users think otherwise. If SOPA is totally passed, it could cripple famous websites like YouTube or Tumblr. As stated by The Washington Post(n.d), the protection of many companies in the recording industry is a concern of SOPA. With SOPA, free downloads would eventually be removed, forcing users, namely music or movie lovers, to buy the original product in the process. However, non-professional compositions of people are still covered by SOPA. Examples of these are various editions of original pieces that are posted on the internet. Copyright infringement will be charged to these compositions and their composers, not only them but also the website in which they posted their work. Famous search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, can also be accused of accused of copyright violations.

     If the SOPA bill is completely implemented, it has the potential to really get rid of websites that promote online piracy and copyright infringement, especially considering how strict it really is. It would eventually clear the internet of illegal websites, and only allow certain websites that qualifies under SOPA. Although it can get rid of those websites that it claims to be infringing copyrights, it can do more harm than good in the process. A major concern of many is the concept of free speech. According to Gattuso(2011), the reputation of search engines as dependable sources of data and would be ruined if they are forced to block out certain websites. However, search engines have the right to exclude some websites under the proper conditions, like for example, the blockage of pornography by Google. However, blocking certain data from search engines has never really become an order of the authorities. If this kind of rule is made possible, it would result in more unintended consequences due to the unthought-of decisions of the authorities. SOPA’s rule of blocking out information on search engines and reducing functionality in other websites are considered as violations of the right of freedom of speech. After critical deliberation and when the need is there only should the implementation of these limitations and undermining of websites be legitimate.

     SOPA, indeed, has promising and good plans for the internet, copyrights-wise, that is. However, when it comes to the status quo of the internet, everything seems to fall out of place. With SOPA’s extensive reach, it could have the potential of doing more harm than good. Not only will it affect the internet, it will surely affect all the users of the internet, causing more problems than the good things it intended the internet to have. To conclude everything stated here, SOPA has unimaginable consequences to the development and innovation of the internet, it could maim and cripple the internet of its capabilities of growing into a more powerful tool, with those said, SOPA should not, in any way, be passed.

References: Gattuso, J. (2011). Online Piracy and SOPA: Beware of Unintended Consequences. The heritage foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/12/online-piracy-and-sopa-beware-of-unintended-consequences

Heald, C. (2012). Why SOPA Is Dangerous. Mashable. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://mashable.com/

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) debate: Why are Google and Facebook against it?.(n.d.). The washington post. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sopa-stop-online-piracy-act-debate-why-are-google-and-facebook-against-it/2011/11/17/gIQAvLubVN_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop

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High school and College

     To those who think otherwise, there are a lot of things that set high school and college apart. I may still be a college student, but based on my experiences, the differences of high school and college are already clear. In high school, the schedule is unchanging. It includes around 8 subjects per day and only one hour per subject throughout the whole school year. Most of the activities in the school are actively attended by the students, and not only that, but also almost all students attend them. Like the schedule, the subjects are also unchanging, and in one school year, an average student takes up only 10 subjects. The faculty in high school are very considerate and kind. I barely attended my first class everyday because I always woke up late, but still I got good grades in them and I didn’t know why. We had this Physics class during our Senior year and I never passed a single exam but somehow, maybe out of luck, I passed the subject. Those examples just show how considerate teachers are in high school. My friends in high school were many. Almost all of the students in our batch were my friends. We also hang out a lot since we weren’t too busy doing academic stuff.

     As for college, it’s a whole different story. The number of friends I have in college is far less compared to my friends in high school. Not only that but I also can’t even hang out that much with them since everyday is a busy day. The faculty here in college are very strict with their rules. When a paper needs to be passed, it should be passed on time. I had this programming subject during the first term and I never passed a single exam in that subject, and, obviously, I failed. No consideration was given, when you fail, you really fail. Unlike in high school, the subjects here are dynamic. It’s a never ending barrage of subjects every term, not unless you keep on failing and retaking a certain subject. Most activities here are exclusive only to certain courses and colleges. There are only few activities held for the whole university. The schedule in college is very hectic, especially considering that there are many requirements in each subject, but you can choose your own schedule in college. That’s pretty much the best thing in college that you don’t have in high school, freedom to choose your schedule and subjects.

     There really are a lot of differences between high school and college. It doesn’t matter what school or university you’re in, those differences will always be there.

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Listening To Music

     A lot of people listen to a lot of music of different genres, but why? Why listen to music when you can watch movies or hang out with other people? There are many reasons why people listen to music. Some are personal, while some are just for the sake of killing one's boredom and time.

     People constantly search for something that can brighten up their day or something that can ease their heavy hearts. There are many ways to achieve this but listening to music seems the easiest and simplest one, especially if one is alone. Emotions also play a role in one's interest or need to listen to music. Every song has a different emotion in it, where it is sad, cheerful, or even angry. People channel their emotions through music itself, they let their emotions flow with it. This is one important and fundamental reason why people listen to music. Another reason is that some people just want to make time seem fast in their own perspective. A typical song is about three to four minutes long and a typical playlist is composed of about fifteen to twenty songs, so if you complete one full playlist, you've used up about one hour of our time, and you probably won't even notice.

     The effects of listening to music is as important as the reasons why people listen to them in the first place. Music can have positive or negative effects to people listening to it. It can even influence a person. Music has ways of getting into one's head, one of which is the emotion of the music. If a sad person listens to sad music, there are tendencies that this person will become even more sad, whereas if he listens to cheerful music, he'll become, even just a little bit, happier. This shows how much a factor music is when it comes to people's emotions. Listening to music can also provide people with inspiration or motivation. Music gives them the feeling of optimism and hope even when they are in hard and difficult situations.

     Music has diverse effects on people, be it positive or negative, and mostly, it has something to do with one's emotions and feelings. Why people listen to it is something people answer differently, people have different perspectives toward music, making music unique to every person listening to it.

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Within a Forest

      There’s this television show that features the different things you can see and experience in a forest. I’m fond of watching it, especially when I’m coding a program or website. The TV program show how dangerous a forest and everything in it can be. Many people really think that a forest is harmless, that a forest is just a bunch of trees residing in one big patch of land, but in reality, it can prove to be your worst nightmare. From the outside, a forest may seem nice and looks safe, but not many know about the things that live and linger inside. It’s a maze of infinite trees, bushes and darkness, and the chances of getting lost are very high. Getting lost is just the beginning, soon, animals and other creatures will get to your mind. This is one of the reasons why people panic when they get lost. Animals almost hunt anything for food, even humans. They especially do so at night, when they are less visible to other creatures. Insects also make things worse, they crawl everywhere, even in the places where you least expect them to be. Some are venomous and can prove fatal, while some are pretty much harmless. You’re a lucky one if you don’t get bitten by even a single one. Plants can also be dangerous. Others contain poison, some of which can cause really irritating itches, and to the unlucky ones, can kill. Everything in a forest can be dangerous if you’re not careful. Even the best hikers or campers get lost, get hurt or get killed because of of a little carelessness. That is one thing you should avoid when you’re in a forest, you’ll never know what dangers might be there.

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Social Networking Sites

     Everyone nowadays has an account in at least one social network. Social networking has become a very important part of everyone’s lives to the extent that it’s common for a person to be a part of one. With the continuing improvements and updates in social networking, people around the world will most likely resort to social networking as a mainstream mode of communication. Even children, regardless of their age, have profiles of their own. This just shows how much impact social networking has had on the lives of many people. People usually join social networks mainly for communication purposes or just because it’s a current trend and they feel left out when they aren’t a part of one. There are many kinds of social networking sites; blogging, micro blogging, art community, sharing, etc. I personally prefer blogging over other social networks since blogging is one of the oldest types of social networking. Compared to micro blogs, you can share as much as you want in blogs. Some micro blogging sites have a limit per post and are frequently used by people who prefer “updating their statuses” rather than talk about a certain topic. Personally, I think that micro blogging is more of a community when compared to blogging. A lot of social networks nowadays are under the micro blogging category since not everyone likes to blog that much. Anyway, the type of social network people use is subjective to every person, it’s up to them to decide what social network they want. There are a lot of social networks out there but what people like the most is Facebook. It’s just my opinion but I think that it’s pretty obvious already. You don’t need to do a lot of research to figure that one out; Facebook has about 800,000,000 million users. That fact alone already says that Facebook is the best social network out there, it has even more users than the overall population of our country. Just to describe Facebook briefly; Facebook is a social network that allows users to share their thoughts via text posts, photos, videos or notes. That’s pretty much what Facebook is, what makes it stand out from the other social networks is that it’s so organized and easy to use that even old people don’t have a hard time getting used to it. Another social network is Twitter. Unlike Facebook, Twitter is more of an “on-the-fly” network. It allows users to post “tweets” with a limit of 140 characters each post. In my opinion, people who use this are frequent of sharing things they do in a minute to hourly basis. I also use Twitter and I post quite often especially when I’m just coding. There are a lot of famous social networks but I’ll just go with Facebook and Twitter since they are one of the mainstream networks being used today. These two social networks make it easy for people far away from each other to communicate. Instead of having to subscribe to an international phone service provider, you’ll just have to log in to a social network and you’ll probably be able to do more in a social network than in a phone call or text message. That’s the most important use of social networks. Another use is making flow of information faster in a very large scope. Instead of just relying on radio broadcasts or TV coverage, with the help of social networking, you can view news and other information faster in social networks. Not only that but you can also help in sharing this information; you can either pass it on to another person or just highlight it in your profile, as simple as that. Even if just one small story or source is leaked, it will be only a matter of time before it’s in the home page or trending section of every network. Social networks have had a really big impact in society, be it positive or negative. It’s no surprise that almost everyone is a member of a social networks, it’s either because of pop culture or just for communication. It’s already hard to imagine a world where social networks are absent; it’s almost as if something really big is missing from the whole picture.