|
I came across this article discussing why PHP has a bad reputation. A lot of it came down to developers using poor practices. This excerpt: "Copying internet tutorial code and not reviewing it" struck me as particularly relevant, and something I think we see a lot of in the PHP forum. Granted for any language there are the low-quality and outdated tutorials out there, but PHP seems to have an abundance of this. You're living in the past, it's a new generation.
|
|
|
|
|
"I've seen more information on a frickin' sticky note!" - Dave Kreskowiak
|
|
|
|
|
I had another look at PHP and I'm still not convinced. I think the following still applies:
http://me.veekun.com/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/[^]
Also a comment on the Dream.In.Code article sums it up for me:
"Every language has its quirks. C#, a much newer language, is horribly verbose?!"
C# is many things, but verbose it isn't. For my two cents worth it sounds like an ardent PHP advocate trying to justify using an intrinsically broken language by means of prejudice.
|
|
|
|
|
jim lahey wrote: C# is many things, but verbose it isn't.
It really is. I recently converted a C# utility to Python and was shocked by the difference in the amount of code. And I am not even very skilled with Python.
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe a little, but "horribly verbose"? That sounds more like COBOL.
|
|
|
|
|
I concur. Once you have done any amount of COBOL (and I have suffered my share) no other language can be considered verbose.
COBOL:
MULTIPLY A BY B GIVING C ROUNDED.
C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Rexx, et al:
c = a * b;
FORTRAN, PL/1, VB, etc:
c = a * b
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits.
- Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most.
- I vaguely remember having a good memory...
|
|
|
|
|
A few months ago while sitting at a Burger King (yes, I know) I recorded a video on "How to use Windows 8 in 3 minutes" and threw it up on YouTube. It's been viewed nearly a half million times. Eek. It's got poor audio, and it's WAY too fast. I did it on a goof. However, people keep showing it to family and friends.... So tonight I took a few hours and did a new video that I'm VERY happy with and I hope you enjoy it. It's clean, clear, and only 25 minutes long and it explains, I believe, Windows 8 and its changes for anyone with basic Windows experience. Here's the story, of a Metro UI, who was showing us some very lovely tiles...
|
|
|
|
|
By focusing on a simple circuit, the 6502 microprocessor chip can actually be understood at the silicon level. It's interesting to see how the complex patterns etched on the chip can be mapped onto gates, and their function understood.... In this article, I show how overflow is computed in the 6502 microprocessor at the transistor and silicon level. I've discussed the mathematics of the 6502 overflow flag earlier and thought it would be interesting to look at the actual chip-level implementation. Even though the overflow flag is a slightly obscure feature, its circuit is simple enough that it can be explained at the silicon level. A circuit's a circuit, no matter how small.
|
|
|
|
|
Dijkstra is an emminently quotable computer scientst, mostly for his famous lists of uncomfortable truths. Oft repeated is his rallying call against BASIC, most of the time without context: "It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration."... The thing people forget is that programming was substantially different in 1975. Dijkstra railed against Dartmouth Basic — a glorified assembler language. It isn’t the BASIC used today. The hardest part of growing as a programmer is unlearning old habits.
|
|
|
|
|
Programming is changing. The PC era is coming to an end, and software developers now work with an explosion of devices, job functions, and problems that need different approaches from the single machine era. In our age of exploding data, the ability to do some kind of programming is increasingly important to every job, and programming is no longer the sole preserve of an engineering priesthood.... Where am I headed with this line of inquiry? The goal is to be able to describe the essential skills that programmers need for the coming decade, the places they should focus their learning, and differentiating between short term trends and long term shifts. TPS reports, for sure... but also robots, smart devices and so much more.
|
|
|
|
|
In this episode, Robert revisits the Windows 8 line of business app he wrote. This app provides the ability for employees to create and submit expense reports—and for managers to view and approve or reject them. Robert first reviews the app as you last saw it and then discusses what changes he made to the app's user interface and why he thinks those changes resulted in a much better app. He also announces that the app is now available for your downloading pleasure on CodePlex. Does Metro make expense reports more fun? Watch and find out...
|
|
|
|
|
It’s worth considering the open source and free software movements. Does Richard Stallman fall under the banner of activist engineer? Linus Torvalds? The Ubuntu and Apache teams? Have they not changed the world? I’d argue that most open source software is about craft rather than seeking societal change. Rails and Django are terrific at improving the lives of the developers who work with them every day. But they’re ultimately tools used to build things, not outcomes in and of themselves. Ask not what your code can do for you, ask what your code can do for everyone.
|
|
|
|
|
Google, with Android, is the biggest threat to Microsoft. Apple operates on a similar principle to Microsoft – still taking a cut at the point of sale, although in Apple’s case they count hardware and software together, where Microsoft focuses on the software side of things. But Google, with their ‘free’ software, is playing a completely different game. The recurring revenue from users through advertising is the key. The more users in Google’s world, the better Mountain View’s bottom line. What would be a better way to expand their reach that claim not just the web browser, but the whole desktop? Which OS would that be? Ice Cream Sandwich? Jelly Bean? Chromium?
|
|
|
|
|
The first thing I did, which presumably all of you have already got covered, was to learn about computers, the Internet, and Internet culture. I read a bunch of books, I read enormous numbers of web pages, and I tried stuff. First I joined mailing lists and tried to understand the discussions until I felt comfortable jumping in and trying to participate for myself. Then I looked at web sites and tried to build my own. And finally I learned how to build web applications and I started building them. I was thirteen.... RIP Aaron Swartz, RSS spec contributor, Reddit co-founder, hacktivist.
|
|
|
|
|
It's really sad about his suicide. I'm really proud of that young boy who has done such a tremendous job in his early ages.
Sadly I came to know about him just 2 days back. There's lot to learn from him, Below is what I was just reading about,
Aaron Swartz is a contributor to the MusicBrainz project, especially its metadata initiative. He is also a member of the W3C's RDF Core Working Group and a co-founder of SWAG: The Semantic Web Agreement Group. You'll likely find him in the RDF IRC channel, working on some interesting new Semantic Web software. His website is at http://www.aaronsw.com/
Thanks,
Ranjan.D
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: Swartz was eulogized by his friend and sometime attorney, Lawrence Lessig, calling his prosecution an abuse of proportionality and noting, "the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a 'felon'."
Quote: Alex Stamos, CEO of Artemis Internet, is a computer forensics investigator employed by the Swartz legal defense as an expert witness. On January 12, 2013, he posted a summary of the expert testimony he was prepared to present in the JSTOR case, concluding, "I know a criminal hack when I see it, and Aaron’s downloading of journal articles from an unlocked closet is not an offense worth 35 years in jail."[48]
I agree with both of these. The Government and MIT overreacted.
Quote: The government, however, has interpreted the anti-hacking provisions to include activities such as violating a Web site's terms of service or a company's computer usage policy, a position a federal appeals court in April said means "millions of unsuspecting individuals would find that they are engaging in criminal conduct."
That is a good thing. The government went nuts. I am wondering if someone at MIT has something to do with all these allegations and things... hmm.....
I also saw earlier that the government said that only Swartz was guilty in that interpretation, which reeks of foul play. Just have to find where I saw that. (Chrome crashed and deleted my history, so I can't find it through that.)
Bob Dole The internet is a great way to get on the net.
2.0.82.7292 SP6a
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for the info.
Bob Dole The internet is a great way to get on the net.
2.0.82.7292 SP6a
|
|
|
|
|
So, during the Summer of 2002, several bloggers and tech websites speculated that Dave must be bringing Chimera to the Mac. Except that Chimera was already a Mac application and didn’t need to be ported. So what the hell was Dave doing at Apple? Building another Gecko-based Mac browser? No one knew. And none of this made much sense. Which is probably why the rumors subsided so quickly. But people would remember all of this when Safari debuted at Macworld in San Francisco on January 7, 2003... Team leader Bob Melton tells the story behind building and launching Apple's Safari browser.
|
|
|
|
|
Let me express the only feature I really desire in the next version of Visual Studio: Replace the format of all project and solution files with PowerShell scripts. I hear you groaning – just hear me out. I have many reasons for wanting this – too many to list all but the highlights here. In a nutshell they all boil down to the notion of simplicity. What new features would you like to see in the next version of Visual Studio?
|
|
|
|
|
More options in its formatting preferences, e.g. always put a SPACE before a semi-colon, don't put a SPACE before empty braces, brackets, or parentheses.
I do a lot of my development at the command line and I create files for my library in a hierarchy. I do use Visual Studio when I have to and I have a Library project that is supposed to include all the files in the hierarchy, but of course it's often missing the latest files. Finding and adding such orphan files within VS is tedious. I have written a utility to try to add them to the project file, but I forget to use it and there's always the fear that it will corrupt the project file. I would like VS to be able to find and add orphan files.
The ability to build and run (and debug) a simple console app without requiring solution and project files -- like Turbo languages and Quincy*. A year ago I finally got around to writing a simple editor that will do that (except for the debugging part); I have it configured for C, C#, and VB.net.
Trim trailing whitespace on save and load (my editor does this too).
* I assume Quincy[^] still doesn't require project files, but I haven't used it since last millenium. Hmmm... same with Turbo...
|
|
|
|
|
PIEBALDconsult wrote: The ability to build and run (and debug) a simple console app without requiring
solution and project files You do know you can run the C# compiler from the command line, right? Open one of the .NET SDK command prompts and use the CSC command.
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Powershell scripts look interesting, espeically if you can debug them. It also means that it is possible to use modules.
|
|
|
|
|
Terrence Dorsey wrote: What new features would you like to see in the next version of Visual Studio?
The performance, fast load time, and simplicity of Visual Studio 97.
Color.
Normal menus, not SHOUTING menus (yes, I know those can be changed back)
A lean & mean IDE. I don't need a server explorer. I don't need a WPF editor. I don't need ASP.NET. I don't need wizards up the wazoo for things I never do. Hell, I don't even need a form designer most of the time. I don't need all that refactoring crap. I don't need integrated unit testing. Make the IDE truly component based so it loads only what I tell it to load and not all this bloated, implemented better by third parties, functionality.
Marc
|
|
|
|
|