December 2002
Dec. 2, 2002
No updates for a while
It’s coursework crunch time. Deadline is Thursday, we have an application that works but doesn’t work (if you get what I mean) and it looks like I will be spending the next few days immersed in Java. Fun fun fun.
Dec. 4, 2002
Taking a break
Coursework continues, but I’m taking a quick break to blog the fact that Tony Bowden has changed the CSS style for blockquotes on Understanding Nothing. This may not be earth shattering news, but considering Tony’s blogging technique (entries frequently consist of large blockquotes) and previous blockquote style (grey italic text) the new format makes an excellent blog a great deal more readable.
Dec. 5, 2002
Coursework complete
Coursework finished. It still has some niggling bugs but, as a group, we have agreed to stick them in a “known issues” list and forget about them.
Mark goes XFML
Mark Pilgrim has discovered XFML. He provides an excellent description of the standard, but fails to mention XFML’s most powerful ability; sharing metadata. Here’s how it works:
[... 225 words]Remembering passwords
Via Scott, an article with some great tips on remembering your passwords. It includes the following vitally important tip:
[... 273 words]YAML
I forget quite how I got there, but the other day I found myself reading about YAML—YAML Ain’t Markup Language. It looks really interesting. YAML aims to be an easily human readable format for storing and transferring structured data—so far, so XML. Where it differs from the IT world’s favourite buzzword is that YAML is specifically designed to handle the three most common data structures—scalars (single values), lists and dictionaries. Here’s a sample (taken from the official specification):
[... 288 words]Java interfaces explained
While browsing through Kasia’s Java Archives I came across this gem explaining why interfaces are such a useful feature of Java:
[... 133 words]Vampire ecologies
Via Stuart’s latest catchup, a scientific explanation of the Vampire Population Ecology of Sunnydale.
Dec. 7, 2002
Prolog links
For my future reference, here are some useful Prolog sites I found over the past few days while working on my (now complete) Prolog coursework:
The best 404 page ever
The best 404 page I have ever seen. Text reproduced here in case they ever change it:
[... 82 words]DHTML article deconstructed
Create Pop-Up Notes with DHTML is a disappointing new article on SitePoint which describes a technique for having a yellow Post-It style note appear when a link is clicked. The example given is for a link that shows the un-abbreviated form of NASA—a task better accomplished using the acronym tag. In addition, I spotted the following problems with the article:
W3C redesign
The W3C have redesigned to use CSS instead of tables (new layout explained here). About time too! It’s a shame the site still looks so, well, ugly. I know it’s a technical site and it doesn’t have to look pretty but it would be a lot easier to convince designers to try out CSS and web standards if they didn’t get instantly put off the W3C by the ugliness of the front page.
PHP for the enterprise
PHP5: Ready For The Enterprise? (via Scott) discusses forthcoming improvements in PHP5 and asks if they will lead to acceptance of PHP as a suitable language for enterprise applications. It looks like a killer factor could well be PHP’s improved Java and .NET integration abilities. Write the back-end in Java/.NET and use PHP for the front end—that way you get a powerful web-specific scripting language for the front end of your site. Then if you ever need to change technologies on the back end your front end code can be reused.
Dec. 8, 2002
Phoenix 0.5 and mouse gestures
Phoenix 0.5 has been released, and so far it’s an absolute dream. The Windows installer is a paltry 6.1 MB and it is noticable faster than Phoenix 0.4—the initial speed boost was so impressive I spent several minutes loading up large, bloated sites just to admire the speed with which they appeared. The Phoenix team are aiming for a 5 MB Windows installer for the final release—here’s hoping they manage it.
[... 224 words]The perils of semantic markup
Phil Ringnalda: The perils of good semantic markup. A throwaway comment by a blogger about some trashy manufactured band results in his (properly marked up) site ending ranked higher by Google than the official band’s site for searches on their name. This results in a barrage of moronic fan comments and apparently an even bigger barrage of moronic fan email.
Dec. 9, 2002
One time URLs with PHP
Generating One-Time URLs with PHP has some simple example code which demonstrates PHP’s file locking functions in action.
Generics in java
It looks like Java is set to get a new feature—Generics—in version 1.5. Generics are the Java equivalent of C++ templates; they severely help clear up confusions over types used with abstract data types such as lists and sets. Preparing for Generics explains this new feature and the kind of problems it solves.
Personal web proxies
Les Orchard is considering building his own web proxy. I had never thought about the possibilities of these technologies beyond caching before, but Les’s post has really got me thinking. I often find myself searching around for a web page I visited a few months ago and can only vaguely remember—a proxy generated searchable history (I never got the hang of using my browser’s) would be a very useful tool. In addition, the ability to cache local copies of useful documents to preserve them should the original ever go offline would be very handy. How about a proxy with an accompanying small GUI desktop application which shows your recent browsing history (the last 15 pages or so) and allows you to mark documents for bookmarking / preserving? The application and proxy server could communicate via XML-RPC.
Why MSN Messenger sucks
Acts of Volition: What’s wrong with MSN Messenger 5.0. I rarely load up MSN (I like to browse in peace) but I’d like to add a few points, aimed at Messenger in general rather than any particular version of the software:
[... 347 words]Dec. 11, 2002
Coursework frenzy again
Coursework frenzy is kicking in again. This time I have a large group project and two personal projects (one small, one large) due for Tuesday of next week. I’m clearing out my things-to-blog list and then I intend to knuckle down to some work.
Lambda calculus links
An Introduction to Lambda Calculus and Scheme and Wikipedia’s Lambda Calculus page have both proved useful recently.
A new source of rants
Soup is Good is a new blog by a friend of Jeremy Zawodny. It looks like one to watch—two quality rants and counting.
Google roundup
I’ve missed out on a whole bunch of Google news lately (all of which has come via the Google Weblog). Google labs have a couple of interesting new demos; Google Viewer, a weird slideshow thing that cycles through search results for you using bizzare DHTML and Google Webquotes, which annotates the results of your Google search with comments from other websites
. Google have also published their End-of-Year Zeitgeist which offers a unique overview of the year’s events based on Google search statistics.
Trade it on Trodo
Adrian Holovaty has revealed his previously hinted at secret project. Trodo.com is kind of an online bartering site
. You give away stuff you no longer have a use for to earn credits, which you can then spend on requesting free items from other people. It’s a very interesting idea, and the trading model is explained in depth in Adrian’s comments section.
Interview with Tim Perdue
OSDir: Interview with Tim Perdue. GForge and behind the scenes at SourceForge.
Dec. 12, 2002
Joe Clark interviews
On Monday, Slashdot posted an excellent in depth interview with Joe Clark, author of Building Accessible Websites. In a fantastic display of cluelessness they pasted the XHTML document which Joe sent them straight in to the Slashdot template, <html> tags and all. The good news is that there’s more Joe Clark related goodness to come, courtesy of Jonathan Delacour: