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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.
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]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.
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.
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.
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.
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]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.
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.
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:
The best 404 page ever
The best 404 page I have ever seen. Text reproduced here in case they ever change it:
[... 82 words]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:
Vampire ecologies
Via Stuart’s latest catchup, a scientific explanation of the Vampire Population Ecology of Sunnydale.
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]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]Remembering passwords
Via Scott, an article with some great tips on remembering your passwords. It includes the following vitally important tip:
[... 273 words]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]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.
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.
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.
This year’s Demotivators
This year’s collection of Demotivators are out (via Doc Searls). I think my favourite is Motivation.
XML security on SitePoint
Getting Started with XML Security is a SitePoint article of epic proportions. I had never really looked at any of the XML security applications but this article appears to cover the lot.
Why computer books suck
Why Computer Books Suck. The principle argument seems to be that most authors get burned by their first experience and avoid writing further books, leading to the bulk of computer books being written by newbies. One of my long term ambitions is to write a book on a geeky topic—I haven’t been put off yet, but the prospect does seem slightly less appealing.
The evolution of PHP
Via ReadingEd, an interesting article on the Object Oriented Evolution of PHP by Zeev Suraski (the Ze in Zend). As well as a history of PHP’s OO support, the article provides some tasty snippets of information as to improvement to look forward to in PHP 5. Personally I can’t wait for the objects to default to passing by reference, but the exception handling is going to be very nice as well:
[... 209 words]PostgreSQL 7.3
PostgreSQL Global Development Group Announces Version 7.3. I still haven’t had a play with PostgreSQL yet but everything I’ve heard has been positive. I’m sure PostgreSQL’s popularity would skyrocket if they made a Windows binary available—the ability to test scripts written in PHP and MySQL on a Windows desktop PC is the main reason I have stuck with MySQL rather than exploring PostgreSQL.
Blogdex spammed
Uh oh, looks like Blogdex has been spammed. At the time of writing a whole bunch of the links positioned at "12" were "PremiumDomains—www.somedomainhere.com—DOMAINS FOR SALE". This is a worrying precedent—many of the services we bloggers thrive upon such as weblogs.com, blogdex and others are easy targets for spammers thanks to the open nature of the service they provide.
rel=“bookmark”
Mental note: add the rel="bookmark" attribute to my permalinks, as recommended by Tantek. I’d never realised the rel attribute could be applied to normal hyperlinks.