September 28, 2009
May 8, 2009
Computers Aren’t Books!
I’ve never liked the idea of reading e-books on a computer. I tried it once five years ago. I downloaded a classic novel from the Gutenberg Project and tried reading it on my computer. It was an awful experience.
Things haven’t gotten better. Right now I’m trying to read a PDF e-book on my computer. It’s miserable.
The computer is the worst imaginable device to read books on. My Eee’s screen is way too small, exaggerated by the PDF’s strange two-column format. I have to scroll down, then up, then down, then jump to the next page, then down, then up, then down, until I’m quite dizzy.
But worst of all, the computer’s much too powerful. When I read, I like to completely change my atmosphere, get far away from the computer, and get into a fresh state of mind. Computers make me very ADD. I read a little bit, then get something to drink. I read a litttle more, then get something to snack on. I read a little more, then check my e-mail. I read a little more, then get caught up in an article about human psychology. I read a little more, then realize how much I dislike reading e-books on my computer, so I blog about it, as if anyone cared.
Trust me, this is no idealistic scientific experiment about the usability and readability of e-books on computers. I need to read this book, but I can’t get a print copy right now. I’ve tried to convert this PDF into a more readable format with a superbly clever Python script, but I’ve wasted too much time trying that already, and it’s not worth it.
Bother.
I guess there’s nothing to do except to go back and keep reading.
January 11, 2009
Basic Web Developer Skills
The past several years at work, I’ve done a lot of HTML/JavaScript development. Last summer I handed off my work to another lead developer. During that process, my manager and I discussed the basic skills required for a good web developer, and we came up with this list.
Test cases. A good web developer turns problems into simple, reproducible test cases. When something goes wrong, it’s easy to fall into the lets-see-what-this-does rut. This solves your immediate problem, but it doesn’t leave you much smarter for next time. If you whittle down your problem to a comprehensible size, you can understand exactly what is going on, why it’s not working, and what you need to change. (Well, okay, some browser bugs are simply weird, but at least you have got a fighting chance!)
Research. A good web developer researches problems. You’re the smartest man alive, but you’re not the first to find this bug. You need to know which sites to check, such as QuirksMode, MSDN, MDC, and now Stack Overflow. But you also need to know how to use a search engine. Developers are creative creatures and can find a hundred ways to describe the same problem. You need to learn which keywords will bring the gold to the surface.
Documentation. A good web developer writes clear documentation. Once you solve a problem, it’s easy to check it in and move on. But just because you understand the problem today doesn’t mean that your team understands it or that you’ll understand it tomorrow. Write it down!
Localized Hacks. A good web developer favors localized hacks. Some problems can only be solved by ugly fixes, but you can minimize the damage by localizing the complexity. Keep the knowledge of that hack in one place–for example, hide it behind a JavaScript function, stick it into a CSS block, or fix it by adding a single element on your HTML page.
Pragmatism. A good web developer is pragmatic, neither sailing on the clouds of optimistic idealism or sinking to the depths of pessimistic despair, but somehow maintaining enthusiasm and courage in spite of the challenge.
Our conclusion? A good web developer is primarily a problem solver.
Really, it’s not complicated.
August 16, 2008
May 28, 2008
Using vim for Word Processing
I’ve recently been using vim for word processing. However, it’s very cumbersome to edit long lines of text because the up/down/home/end keys do not respect wrapping.
Of course, vimrc comes to the rescue:
imap <up> <C-O>gk
imap <down> <C-O>gj
nmap <up> gk
nmap <down> gj
vmap <up> gk
vmap <down> gj
imap <home> <C-O>g^
imap <end> <C-O>g$
nmap <home> g^
nmap <end> g$
vmap <home> g^
vmap <end> g$
And once again, I’m a happy vim user.
Update: And to get soft word wrapping, I added:
set formatoptions=l
set lbr
Now I’m really happy.
October 17, 2007
Don’t Steal My Parameters
I was perusing the source code for Dean Edwards’ base2 library when I discovered that functions can access the parameters of other functions in the call stack. My mind immediately started spinning, imagining the convoluted code this would allow.
Here’s one to get you started:
function checkArgTypes(/*expected types*/) {
var callerArgs = arguments.callee.caller;
if (callerArgs.length !== arguments.length) {
throw new Error('checkArgTypes does not have enough arguments.');
}
for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
if (typeof callerArgs[i] !== arguments[i]) {
throw new Error('Argument ' + (i+1) + ' is of type ' + typeof callerArgs[i] + ' but should be of type ' + arguments[i] + '.');
}
}
}
function run(str, num, bool) {
checkArgTypes('string', 'number', 'boolean');
}
You might want to try it out in jconsole.
And, of course, you can’t ignore the obligatory security implications:
function validateUser(username, password) {
/* accidentally call trojan function */
trojan();
}
function trojan() {
alert('Your password is ' + validateUser[1] + '.');
}
validateUser('user', 'secret');
Ahh, well. I’d best get back to writing real code.
NOTE: Edited to fix WordPress source code formatting problem.
Update: Fixed a typo in my “for” loop. (Thanks Philippe!)
October 5, 2007
Python: A Gateway to Understanding JavaScript
The past day or two I’ve been exploring Python. Although I’ve enjoyed tinkering with the language, I’ve never done any serious development with it. As I explored it more, I was surprised to find that Python’s approach to object-oriented programming provides a great foundation for understanding JavaScript’s objects and prototype chains. The two languages are conceptually similar, but Python provides object-orientation in a much cleaner, straightforward way.*
In my opinion, someone should write a tutorial that first introduces the concepts of object-oriented Python, then illustrates how the same concepts apply to JavaScript.
* To defend myself against JavaScript purists, the point is to better understand JavaScript as a language. It’s not that I’m trying to coerce JavaScript into the mold of another language.
September 20, 2007
Switching to WordPress
I’m switching from b2evolution to WordPress for one reason: WordPress can host my installation on my domain for $10 a year. My installation of b2evolution has been becoming obsolete, and you’d have to pay me more than $10 to go to the work of upgrading it!
In less than three hours of hacking, I’ve set up a WordPress blog on my domain, transferred my b2evolution posts and media, and changed all links to my old blog to redirect to my new one.
I’m impressed.
December 22, 2006
VMware on the Mac
The Fusion beta is out! And now I’m off to download it and a Kubuntu image.
October 28, 2006
Mac OS X Essentials
Yesterday I decided to reclaim the 20 GB of hard drive space I had allocated to Kubuntu. (I plan to install it on a virtual machine eventually, perhaps when VMware becomes available on the Mac.) Rather than jumping through hoops to fix up my partitions, I simply reinstalled OS X.
What does it take for me to set up my Mac so that I’m productive?
First, I must configure OS X so that it’s even usable. This includes enabling active screen corners for exposé (lower-left for all windows, lower-right for desktop), enabling trackpad gestures, and tweaking the dock (small, right side of screen, automatically hidden).
Second, I need to set up .vimrc to get use useful features such as syntax coloring in vim.
Third, I need to install the software I can’t live without:
Finally, I need to install utilities that I use infrequently but am going to need eventually (for example, BitTorrent and Skype).
What’s on your list of Mac OS X essentials?
