/dev/blog

I’ve been recognized by the Business Professionals of America for having a superior understanding of the fundamentals of XHTML. Very rarely do I use the term “superior” but after placing first place at regionals I’ll be moving on to state competitions in Columbus Ohio this March. Some fellow friends and classmates (13 in all) also placed in similar competitive events such as C++, Java, and Payroll Accounting.

I’ve been working with HTML for eight years now, and PHP for almost four. Keeping up to date W3C documentation and following such standards is something I take serious pride in. But from what I’ve been told, the people who judge these events are chosen at random and are basically given a rubric to grade our work. I obviously know what I’m talking about and I can easily demonstrate my ability to follow standards, but there’s a big difference between demonstrating it and then doing it more efficiently. In such a case, they (the tests) won’t be graded accurately unless if the BPA can be serious and recruit some real web developers.

Some parts of the competitive events seem contradictive. XHTML emphasizes on standards, but what browsers will we be demonstrating our work in? You guessed it, Internet Explorer. And the editor we will be using? Notepad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I can work without syntax highlighting any day of the week, but don’t tell me it’s the only thing available. After a friendly debate with my CIS teacher, I discovered it’s because alternatives weren’t available to the BPA most likely due to licensing issues, causing unfairness for some contestants. (Ugh, I almost forgot! I should activate my copy of gedit before the 30 day trail runs out…) In addition to this; the horror stories that I’ve been told regarding the compilers made me avoid the programming events altogether.

Once again, the BPA needs to be serious about this. It’s like they are just throwing this stuff together and giving metals and plaques out at random.