Like any good nerd, we’ve been experimenting with a little Ruby and Rails development – it is always good to try new things …
One thing we have noticed is that simple Ruby web apps (running on the same server,) are noticeably slower than PHP.
We installed fastcgi with apache 1.3 (took an hour to do) and are running simple web applications.
I will get into more detail in other post / articles.
Another great book from O’Reilly.
This book targets beginners to PHP but NOT total beginners to code and programming – I think that certain explanations of the basic programming concepts, may confuse a some people.
Doesn’t matter though, once you’ve done my free video tutorials (found on this site,) you will be able to breeze through this book.
Besides the basics of PHP programming, the book does a good job teaching basic database theory and concepts – but not so much to bore you to death.
Instead (like the rest of the book,) the coverage of database theory is just enough to get you going with MySQL.
A little of topic but I feel that I should warn people about this terrible product.
If your looking to print labels for mailings etc … don’t get the Avery Personal Label printer. It simply does not work well to begin with … and after a few days, not at all.
HOW ABOUT TECH SUPPORT FROM AVERY?
Avery has 800 numbers, but nobody answers, all you get is an automated message.
TO SUM IT UP
After printing a few labels, the printer started to become flaky, where it needed constant restarts and force feeding of labels.
… It got to the point that the printer simply would refuse to print anything! After an hour of messing with it, I gave up.
NERD RULE: If you are an experienced nerd and a computer related product or software does not work relatively easily, the product is badly built.
Good luck,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
I have a nasty habit that is born out of my petty and self destructive instinct for revenge: I spam spammers.
I’ve (like many of you,) have been and still am subject to constant spam attack. But not just one ‘style’, I actually get spammed on all fronts:
… it seems that the spam world considers me to be a ‘spam-licious’ target.
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WITH PHP
Being an ubernerd … I got me some options to reflect the pain back to my assailants: php mail() and a for loop!
Check it out:
$str = “Automated response From: Killersites.com – you (spammer@some_domain.com) have sent us spam messages … not nice.”;
for($i=0; $i < 250; $i++) { $did_send_mail = mail('spammer@some_domain.com','Automated Response From: Killersites.com System', $str); } - Nothing special in the php code here. But it holds a special place in my heart. 🙂 Now whenever I see it as required, I fire off this script to the lil' bastard that spammed me. Their lucky I don't slap another zero or two in the loop count: 250 -> 2500 or even 25000!
DOES IT WORK
Well I tend to get much fewer repeat offenders since I’ve been doing this.
A quick podcast where I explain the basics behind what database driven websites are.
This podcast targets total beginners.
It has been a couple of years since I moved (from in-house hosting) my Java based web applications to using an outside company.
When I was hosting my little apps from my Windows 2000 server (using Caucho Resin,) on a DSL connection, I never had a problem … probably because it was so small.
Since growing and moving to Tomcat on Linux, I’ve found that Java is not the most stable thing … it is not uncommon for Tomcat to lock up.
Contrast this to my PHP based applications (WordPress for example) and I have yet to experience a problem.
THE JAVA FACADE
The Java community loves design patterns (they need them with that overly engineered Frankenstein of a language …) so I’m sure they’ll understand this -> Java is heavy, whenever you start a Java process it like putting on 50 pounds – it slows you down.
The Java facade is the claim that Java is a light nimble thing … the JVM that is. It is not anymore. It once was say back in 1997.
I always wondered why Sun (a billion dollar company) could not get Java Applets to work whereas the relatively tiny company Macromedia, could with the Flash player?
… I’m ranting, so sorry.
CPANEL IS SCARED OF JAVA
Funny, when you activate Tomcat to work with a domain on CPANEL, it gives you a warning about how much juice Java swallows up … and warns against enabling too many Java based websites. It doesn’t say jack about PHP …
JAVA’S FUTURE IS IN LEGACY
It seems a contradiction, but I think that’s where it’s at. Java will become (strictly) a technology of the Enterprise (and legacy integration) while nimble languages like PHP and Ruby will be used to create the new innovative software.
Why?
PHP and Ruby programmers can (and do) code circles around Java developers. You can’t blame the Java developers: the Titanic couldn’t turn on a dime either!
Zing!
I’ve seen this confusion come up from time to time – is HTML a scripting language?
Short answer: no.
Yes a nerd detail, but nonetheless, this is something that should be made clear.
THE DETAILS:
HTML is actually a markup language and not a scripting language.
Scripting implies decision making capabilities (the code can actually evaluate and take an action based on what it finds) – PHP, PERL, Ruby, Javascript are examples of scripting languages.
Markup languages create structure for a document … they only describe data. For example:
… but you knew that already.
[;)]
Stefan Mischook
I just a released a new video (in a larger format) on forms and PHP at www.killerphp.com
You can check out the details (and the video) at www.killerphp.com
Part 2 (coming out soon) we will get into practical PHP code.
CIAO,
Stefan Mischook
I wrote my first script back in 1996 – some really simple JavaScript that validated HTML forms and presented users with ugly ‘alert’ boxes when errors occurred.
I always wondered why on Windows, ‘alert’ boxes looked so ugly?
… they probably looked good on Macs though.
Since then, I’ve written software for business purposes in perhaps 8-9 languages. Over the years, I’ve come across many ways in which people classify languages:
… and many more.
Recently a more practical way of classifying languages has come to my attention – classifying languages by problem-domain or in other words, context.
I like this list, because it really conveys a sense of practical use for a language. I’ve hammered out the details below:
System Languages
… best used to build operating systems, hardware drivers etc. Fast and gives you low level (close to the core) access to the computer. These languages are used when speed is critical.
These languages include:
Architectural Languages
… best used to build frameworks that support (make easy) application building. Not as fast (at run-time) as system level languages, but they provide a higher level of abstraction that makes writing software quicker and more productive.
These languages include:
Application Languages
… best used to build the actual business applications like web shopping carts/stores, connecting to databases and creating the screens for users to interact with the database.
These languages include:
These language all allow for extremely fast development.
Programmers are freed from the low-level details that you have to contend with when working with architectural and system level languages.
The fact that they’re all scripting languages (that don’t need to be compiled,) adds to the ease of use and speed of development.
MY POINT
It makes for an interesting way to look at languages … and our choice of what language(s) to use for a given project.
Stefan Mischook
This book is a mirror image of the book Web Design with Dreamweaver 8 by the same author – except this book is for hand coders.
A good title for people new to modern web design practices that include:
The topics are covered within the context of small usable projects, that can easily be adapted to your own web design work.
Though published in 2005, the material is still relevant and still is a pretty good buy.
