February 2003
Feb. 20, 2003
More Python advocacy
Intelligent Enterprise: For all of you unfamiliar with Python, get ready for the “next big thing.”
Python for Java programmers
Python and Jelly: Scripting Power for Java and XML incorporates an excellent introduction to Python and Jython for Java programmers, with a whole bunch of comparative code samples and comprehensive coverage of differences between the two languages.
SSH public key authentication
I’ve been having fun with SSH lately. Did you know you can set up SSH so you can log in to servers without having to provide a password? It’s called “public key authentication” and is apparently more secure than using a normal password. You generate a public/private key using a program called ssh-keygen, and store a copy of the public key on the server(s) you wish to authenticate with. When you attempt to log in, the server sends you a message encrypted with your public key—your machine decrypts it and sends back the original message, proving your identity.
Feb. 23, 2003
Slow professional suicide
Al Sparber makes perfect sense in article from June last year:
[... 180 words]Safe HTML checker
I’ve finally enabled a subset of HTML in my comments. In doing so, I had several requirements that needed to be fulfilled:
[... 227 words]Mail models
Matthew Thomas offers a fascinating example of usability gone horribly wrong (the explanation is provided here). Incidentally, while showing the above to my girlfriend she uncovered an interesting usability issue on Matthew’s site itself— “is this a collaborative weblog then?” she asked, having spotted the Posted by mpt on 2/24/03; 3:51:24 AM
text below the entry. Clicking on the name link provided no extra information, bringing up a screen with no useful content at all. I imagine this is an issue with the CMS powering the blog, but it does neatly demonstrate how some CMS features can detract from the unserstandibility of a site.
Feb. 24, 2003
Browser detection reconsidered
Leonard Lin on The Folly of Depending on CSS Parsing Bugs:
[... 333 words]Pingback redux
I think I’ve worked out a way of implementing Pingback (or a Pingback-like system) without any need for XML-RPC, <link> elements or custom HTTP headers.
Feb. 25, 2003
Doing forms justice
Dan Loda: Doing forms justice. A demonstration of how labels, accesskeys, fieldsets and CSS can make a form that’s usable, accessible and looks great. He even uses an optgroup in a select box, an element I’ve never seen demonstrated before.
Feb. 27, 2003
PHP5 Preview
A great preview describing the features we have to look forward to in PHP 5. Proper object reference handling is going to be sweet.
Quasar usability
I had my first ever Quasar (otherwise known as laser tag) experience last night with the Bath University Computer Science Society (BCSS). Due to various misunderstandings our booking failed to materialise, but Quasar were very nice and said we could play against another group at 7.30pm. They failed to mention that the other group had an average age of about 9. Suffice to say it was an entertaining match, which we won by a very small margin (little kids spend all day running about; lazy students don’t).
[... 424 words]Feb. 28, 2003
Blogging and journalism
I’ve been pretty much ignoring the whole “Blogging vs Journalism” thing but recently I’ve begun to understand what the big fuss is about. One of the most popular arguments put forth by journalists concerned by competition from blogs is that the information contained therein isn’t as reliable thanks to a lack of an editor to check facts. Rubbish. I can’t remember the last time I read a technology article in the main stream press about something I have more than a passing interest in that didn’t have at least a few errors. Some of the blogs I read on the other hand are written by subject matter experts—these people are not being paid to knock out 750 vaguely relevant words on a breaking story, they are voluntarily providing their insights because they are heavily involved with the topic at hand.
[... 308 words]Problems in Nirvana
Simon Phipp is Chief Technology Evangelist at Sun, and recently participated as a speaker on the “.NET Nirvana” Geek Cruise. His blog entries covering the event make interesting reading. To cut a long story short, after a couple of presentations on Java web services and open source coftware the Microsoft contingent at the event requested that he be barred from attending an evening Q & A. Simon makes the following observation:
[... 228 words]