Developing a Graphic Design Company's Web Site

Abstract

In the three years that I have been studying at Kalamazoo College I have learned many things about programming computers. I was able to first test my skills during my internship with Nationwide Insurance in the summer of 2001. While working for Nationwide I had to learn how to write CGI scripts in Microsoft's ASP in order to write web-based software for their company. For my SIP I decided to continue in this field by teaching myself Perl, and using Perl to make a web site for a graphic design company called Evilolive Initiative. Although I approached this project as a computer science project at first, there was much more than just programming involved in the project. I had to design the site, learn Perl, write the code for the site, and get the site hosted. Although a large amount of time was spent designing the site, the majority of the work that I did for this project consisted of learning to program in Perl, learning how to use Linux, and then using these skills to create the web site. Since the main purpose of the site was to provide the viewer with information about Evilolive Initiative, it was not necessary to use a CGI scripting language like PerL However, Perl was chosen because it is a widely used CGI scripting language that would offer more possibilities in terms of the design of the site. Additionally, if the company were to expand and desire to sell things through the site, this could be done without having to rewrite any of the site in a different language.