[ic] Before You Begin

[Jim Balcom]

On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, john j wrote:

jj>>I've been trying to learn IC for almost 2 weeks, but I
jj>>still don't know where to start and how to program it.
jj>> Compared to when I first learned Perl for 2 week, I
jj>>could write almost all any perl scripts.
jj>>

jj>>Well, I agree that IC has poor documentation.  I read
jj>>all 4 books and still has no idea how to develop it.

IC has a very steep learning curve. It is NOT a 'plug-n-play' piece of
software. And, unless you are running an on-line hardware store, it is
useless right out of the box without you making some personalizing changes
to it.

It's not like going to the store and buying Excel and going home and
installing it and setting up your bookeeping on it.

This is like someone handing you Excel along with the source code for free
(legally) and allowing you to go in and make changes to Excel's fundamental
methods of operating. Like, perhaps making it be able to import a Nintendo
game file, allowing you to change it, and then writing it back out to the
Game Boy (I think that it's called).

IC is not something that you are going to learn overnight, or even in 2
weeks. If you are looking for that kind of instant gratification, then this
is not the right place.


jj>>What do you think?  How long did it take you to learn
jj>>IC, ITL tag, etc?  How much experience of Perl do you
jj>>need for IC?

You don't need any Perl experience. IC does not require Perl knowledge. It
requires Perl to run, but you can build a store and run it with no knowledge
of Perl.

It DOES require knowledge of HTML, as well as ITL.

I spent 6 months getting my store up and running and on-line. In a previous
life I was a computer programmer. In this life and for what I need the store
for I am a retailer, a merchant. I'm busy processing orders and shipping
them out. So, building my IC store was something that I did when business
slowed down a bit. Even at that, all that I did was to take the 'Construct
Something' demo and make a few changes here and there so that I could sell
diapers out of it.

If you need some instant gratification and something that will run out of
the box, there are e-commerce solutions that are much easier to install and
to configure and to get up and running to make money for you. Richie Carey
has his commerce.cgi which is an excellent store operation, and it is also
free. The only other e-commerce package that I have found that will even
come close to this package costs $5,000.00.

An alternative is that there are several people on this list that hire out
to do this type of consulting work. You've gotten the software for free, so
spending some money on assistance still makes a good deal economically.
(This is not a plug for hiring me. I don't know enough yet about this to
hire out, nor do I have the time, nor the patience, to to the work!)

jj>>Do You Yahoo!?

I tried that once and got thrown in jail for the weekend!

-= Jim =-

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Tagline for Wednesday, January 02, 2002 at 18:45 PM:
Eleven tons of hair stolen. Police combing area.

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