instruction stringlengths 4 105 | output stringlengths 8 56.7k |
|---|---|
How do I go about PHP? | reazalun: Anyone here care to give some opinions about Zend PHP Certificate? |
How do I go about PHP? | sammcd: I'm just popping in because you mentioned codeigniter. Code igniter is great, if you are forced in PhP 4. However, there is http://kohanaphp.org Kohana started out as a fork of codeigniter, and is very similar, except that it uses php5's object-oriented features to create a much more elegant MVC framework. |
How do I go about PHP? | danielrhodes: You can jump into PHP quite quickly. The syntax is not very different from other languages such as C++ or Java. What takes a little while is learning the built-in functions. |
How do I go about PHP? | mlLK: Well, how familiar are you with HTML, MySQL, (or any other db lang), and CSS? In the end, a PHP file is really just parsed HTML, so anything not between <?php and ?> is just good ole markup. It also depends on what you want to get out of it, since PHP covers so much ground, but given that PHP is more attractive from the back than the front, I'll assume you wanna build some server-side applications. So for starters, in order to familiarize yourself with $_POST and $_GET (the two variables you'll be molesting the most) and the basic syntax try doing some simple HTML pages that evaluates some browser/platform condition and slowly work your way into HTML forms and attempt a feedback form. After that you'll work your way into MySQL functions and how to evaluate their output (this is back-back-end stuff [your typical db commands; creates, queries, inserts, etc]), user authentication comes next along with the global variable $_SESSION, which also considers how to handle cookies and different types of users, and lastly, after you've completed all of the following, you could attempt some sort of CMS (keep in my mind the scale since you're still learning), but by creating a basic CMS you'll slowly start seeing what an MVC pattern is in PHP. It's hardly abstract and quite hideous since you're only using MySQL and PHP, but by participating in this process you should uncover the gist of PHP and why it's so easy. After that if you're still sane, install PEAR and reiterate the process using their libraries else if unsatisfied or overwhelmed move onto something in Java and try JavaServer Pages. |
How do I go about PHP? | scorxn: Though you may find some sections rudimentary, this is actually a great primer/refresher: http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627 |
How do I go about PHP? | wbond: a) Starting with tutorials is a logical first step, however they may be some bad advice in there. Writing some simple applications or pages to accomplish stuff is good to get a handle on the breadth of built-in functionality.Please also note that PHP 5 has much better OO functionality than PHP 4. PHP 4 is end-of-lifed, however CodeIgniter is still compatible with PHP 4, thus limiting it in some respects.I wouldn't focus on too much open source PHP apps, much of them are kind of sloppy-the frameworks will probably be a better code base to look at. Just like any other language you can write sloppy code, but you can also exert some effort and make a well-organized codebase.The last thing I would recommend is to read about PHP security issues. (Disclaimer, this is my own site) http://flourishlib.com/docs/Security has an overview of security issues, however some of it is focused on using Flourish to fix issues.b) I would recommend looking at: - PHPEd (commercial, http://nusphere.com) <- I use this
- Netbeans 6.5 (open source, http://netbeans.org)
- Aptana with the PHP 1.0 plugin (open source/commercial, http://aptana.com/php)
Komodo (commercial, http://www.activestate.com/Products/komodo_ide/) was alright but I haven't tried the new 5.0 release. Eclipse PDT 1.x (http://eclipse.org/pdt/) was ok, but very much a pain to configure-I hear 2.0 is coming out soon.c) In terms of frameworks, here are a few of the big ones in addition to CodeIgniter, however if performance is a concern, please do check out http://paul-m-jones.com/?p=315. - http://cakephp.org
- http://framework.zend.com
- http://symfony-project.org
http://kohanaphp.com may be of interest since it was originally based on CodeIgniter, but has been rewritten to use PHP 5 functionality.Definitely learn to use http://php.net for lots of reference. The comments on function pages can often include a good amount of insight. All functions are accessible via http://php.net/function_name.If you are looking for less of a framework, but more of a library, I've been working on Flourish (http://flourishlib.com) for a while. I've focused a good amount on security, documentation and usability. |
force comments or attach username to downvotes? | jgrahamc: My take (without wanting to seem harsh): get over being down voted a couple of times and don't come up with a technical solution. It happens. |
force comments or attach username to downvotes? | ram1024: most of my downvotes are from me being deliberately inflammatory, so i generally know why...a few of them are wonderful mysteries though. fun! |
How do I go about PHP? | cbetta: CakePHP is a technical disaster. if you want a proper PHP framework, try Symfony |
best way to read ebooks on the computer | pasbesoin: My apology if the following is too detail oriented for HN. I've no affiliation with any of the below, just an interest in reading and researching comfortably on-screen.I was recently looking for a PDF viewer with annotation, and found the following for Mac. Unfortunately, I'm on Windows; otherwise, this looks to be what I was after:http://skim-app.sourceforge.net/index.htmlhttp://openwetware.org/wiki/Skim_-_PDF_reader_and_annotation...Skim maintains annotations in a separate file. I would imagine this also allows it to work with locked PDF's, whereas Acrobat Reader won't permit annotating such. The annotations can be merged into an updated PDF for distribution, if needed.On Windows, the two seemingly most legitimate options I've found are both commercial products with free versions:http://www.pdfxviewer.com/http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.phpThese both appear to add annotations to the PDF file, and to be limited by the Acrobat permissions assigned to that file. Foxit Reader says it adds some sort of visible component to the presentation of the annotated page, unless you upgrade to the paid version.I haven't used them, yet. (I've had some hesitation about installing them.) If anyone has better suggestions for the Windows environment, I'd love to hear them.Noting Johnny2112's comment re MS Reader blanking the background: For blanking the screen (or graying it), donationcoder has a little AutoHotKey based hack that dims all but the focused window. It's named ghoster, and is available in both AHK script and compiled format. Recently, Spyware Doctor has balked on a few things from donationcoder, but this appears (please to check for yourself) to be a false positive against AHK -- other anti-malware products find no problem.http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#Gh... |
Extreme, but workable cost-cutting measures? | mechanical_fish: reselling windows licenses and moving to UbuntuThat's almost certainly false economy, unless you've already spent the time to switch OSes for other reasons (which is perfectly possible!) and you've got multiple Windows licenses gathering dust.(I would never sell my last Windows license. There's this thing called "IE" that I need to test in. To say nothing of running Quickbooks, which reportedly stinks on the Mac.)I use Macs. They're not cheap, but we're talking a few hundred bucks over the course of two or three years. Chickenfeed.The simple cost-cutting measures are best. Power-saving light bulbs are simple. Less commuting is simple. Learning to cook is simple. Complicated tax accounting, building your own personal alternative electrical system, or switching OSes to save a couple of bucks... not so simple. |
How do I go about PHP? | oltmans: EDITED TO ADD:Most web hosts support PHP4 or PHP5? Any ideas on this one? |
force comments or attach username to downvotes? | brk: What happens when x people downvote the same comment? You have a string of at least x replies that would likely be useless ("lame", "troll", etc.) Then someone would be inclined to downvote those comments, etc.The majority of my karma has come from comments instead of submissions. One of my recent higher ranking comments ended up with 91 upvotes, but I know from watching the thread that probably 2 or 3 people downvoted the comment. In the end, why does it really matter? There are enough users here that comments and submissions will gravitate towards the correct ranking. Comments that are massively downvoted tend to have an obvious reason why, even if the reason is clear but not rational.I don't think your solution solves any real problems, and inhibits peoples ability to moderate comments in a low-effort manner.I have seen several cases where a comment is left like "I down voted your comment because..." In the other cases, forcing a comment would either add more noise to the conversation, or discourage people from downvoting and cause the comments to be falsely ranked. |
How do I go about PHP? | thorax: a) Probably start trying to write a site you want and learning from there-- with a background in other languages it's more about "I know the language can do X-- let me search for something like it". When using PHP you can often just google "PHP equivalent of " whatever function you know in C#/Java/JS and there will be some corresponding example to use.b) I like NuSphere PhpEd even though it isn't free. Some people like Netbeans IDE for PHP.c) I love CodeIgniter. Very fast, MVC, some of the best user guides for any framework, just very solid all around. Go with it initially-- I know many PHP developers who got started there and have grown to be some of the most productive web coders I've ever seen. |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | Hates_: I'd still choose Java as my bread and butter language. |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | mechanical_fish: Scheme, because of this book:http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/Why argue with the MIT folks?Followed immediately by: C, Javascript, and a scripting language (Ruby or Python are good choices).You've also got to work Java in there somewhere, just so you know where people are coming from. It could come first, or last, depending on your tastes.If you love Windows technologies you can probably substitute C# for one of those things. Maybe even for several of them. I have never seen .NET but I hear good things about it from those who have.If you can't stand SICP, or can't follow it (perhaps because you are seven years old?) then the initial choice is harder. Javascript is sitting on your desk right now, so it's an obvious possibility. Try Ruby or Python. Or just give in and learn PHP like everybody else seems to do. You'll run into problems, but you can fix them later. |
How do I go about PHP? | ryanwaggoner: I generally recommend PHP newbies start with a framework and I generally recommend they start with CakePHP over CodeIgniter, because CI is much more flexible and therefore forgiving of bad practices which can turn into bad habits. CakePHP is more strict, which probably teaches better design patterns early on.In your case, though, you sound like an experienced programmer in other languages, so you should be fine starting with a simple CRUD app and then progressing to frameworks; any of the popular ones will do fine. |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | pavelludiq: Python! Instead they tried to teach me pascal! A language that simultaneously sucks and isn't used that much! Good thing I forgot it all after I stopped learning it. Well, okay, maybe it didn't suck, I can't remember, but I tend to forget bad memories, so it probably did.Then again, technically I didn't learn that much pascal anyway, so I don't really count it as my first language(and there was logo before it, but I learned even less of it). |
force comments or attach username to downvotes? | tptacek: You are making the mistake of paying attention to your votes. Life is too short. Who cares? |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | petercooper: 5-6 years ago there were only a "couple of choices" compared to "dozens" now?Nearly all of today's practical languages were around 5 - 6 years ago.. Perl, Python, C, C++, Java, Ruby, JavaScript, etc. Of the major languages only C# wasn't particularly well developed at that point (and Ruby lacked a good usage case at the time).I doubt many here will chose a language that's come along in the last 5 years (Io, Clojure, Scala).. though I'd like to be surprised :) |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | cperciva: Assembly language.I firmly believe that people will never use high-level languages well until/unless they understand how those high-level languages translate into machine code. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | inovica: Hi thereMost of the discussion on here is about web-based apps. We create both web and desktop based software. One of our products (SourceGuardian.com) provides encryption for PHP source code. Our experience was to create something that we wanted to use ourselves, as the competition at the time was charging $6000 a license, and then we turned that into a product. We have created several other applications and are working on some backup software which links with Amazon EC2/S3 and is due for launch in Jan 2009. For this, and for the other software under this brand we'll be looking primarily at a reseller model. Finally we are also working on hybrid apps, that take the power of the internet/servers/cloud and use that for processing, bringing the data back to a desktop app/widget as well as iphone. The latest one is competitive intelligence online and my own feeling is that desktop apps still have the edge for usability right now. Why not tell us what you're working on and I'm sure some people on here will provide you with help in terms of what you are looking for. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | utnick: I made a shareware app once that received a grand total of 1 sale lol, but it was an interesting learning experience.- I used e-junkie.com for sales and distribution, it works really well, plugs in with paypal and automates everything- I offered a 4 day demo trial, 1 in 300 people that downloaded the demo went on to purchase, although my product wasnt very good the numbers for others ive read are still very low.. tons of people just download apps just to try with no real intention of buying, this makes adwords advertising hard to make economical unless you convert REALLY well or price really high- download sites never sent me very much traffic, but I was in a very crowded niche ( typing teacher programs )- if you are developing for msft, make sure you test your program an various versions of windows.- Really polish your software, I made the mistake of throwing something that wasn't very good out there. Your software has to be VERY GOOD to get people to pull out their credit cards. You really need to be the best in your niche. You cant think that 'oh photoshop makes 100 million a year, I just need to make a photoshop clone that has 1% of the features and is 1% as good, then I'll be a millionaire' It doesn't work like that. |
How do I go about PHP? | mseebach: The worst thing about PHP is how easy it is to leave SQL and HTML all over your code.Install Doctrine (ORM) and Smarty (Templating engine) or friends and use it religiously. If you do, you can use PHP for what it's best at: Cranking out business logic at high speed.http://www.doctrine-project.org/http://www.smarty.net/ |
How do I go about PHP? | debt: CakePHP. The documentation is great. Performance is great. The learning curve isn't too bad. It's a framework that will take care of you.Every negative criticism about CakePHP is about two years old and no longer relevant. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | old-gregg: Our last big desktop project was free, so I can't comment on anything regarding sales, but distribution was a pain in the ass because it was a Windows product.About 20% of those who downloaded were not able to install it due to the following reasons:* Could not find "where did it go?" after downloading (not joking)* Were running some kind of "security suite" which was crippling our installer or didn't let our product connect to the internet and users couldn't figure out which program performed the function of a firewall, let alone configure it.* Their computers were heavily modified by other installed Windows software (non-standard DLLs in /windows/system), missing/modified registry entries, rootkits+spyware+malware+adware. Windows allows this kind of thing.Technically the product was nothing fancy, an Internet Explorer plugin, but it surely knows how it feels to be a domesticated cat dropped from a comfy helicopter into amazonian jungle. [dev. machine -> an average user's machine]I spent most of my career developing Windows libraries for other developers (ActiveX controls, signal processing, industrial automation, that kind of thing) and never faced a "6-pack Joe" as a customer. Once I've tried, I got rid of all my Windows computers, forced myself to open a whole new UNIX world and yes, switched to mostly Web development, which I find extremely trivial and boring (HTMLization of DB schemas), but I'm glad I don't have to deal with "Where did it go?" anymore. |
How do I go about PHP? | showerst: The other advice here is excellent, I'd just like to throw out a vote for the editor Textpad (http://www.textpad.com/).It's much lighter than eclipse, but still has tons of features (regular expression search & replace is a favorite).Small download, so it's at least worth checking out. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | huhtenberg: I'll save myself some re-typing if you don't mind - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=322929(edit) actually that whole discussion is relevant - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=322630 |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | ejs: I started with assembly, moved to C, dabbled in C++ and some of the microsoft solutions (c#, VB), then moved to ruby for web stuff...Cant say I would want to learn in a different order, but I do wish I would have moved out of my assembly language stage faster... |
Are you working on a desktop software? | Flemlord: I'm working on desktop software for a financial services vertical. Data consolidation is one of the problems we're addressing and web apps have too many limitations for us to build a good data management tool. We're using an SOA layer so the app should work well for remote users. Think iTunes.We're using WPF and this is the operations tool which will eventually be complemented by a browser app. It's our hope that we'll be able to force enough of the WPF code into Silverlight to make it the front-end for the browser app. We're also going to try using WPF in the browser but I think the installation headaches will be too much for us. |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | run4yourlives: Python. I actually wanted to learn it in earnest around 2001-02, but never really pushed myself.Given that I'm now attempting to make it my primary language, especially since django came out, I would love to have had 6-7 years of experience behind me. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | tom_rath: For here: Networked desktop software for businesses sold at a per-user charge. Distribution is direct download through the Internet and sales are quite spiffy, thanks.You can sometimes live on eyeballs with a web app but, in desktop land, you need to make something people are willing to pay cash for. If you get to that point, you're golden. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | sanj: only as an adjunct to the web product. |
Review our PDF/Web form startup - www.doculicious.com | markets1: I'm not a fan of the name... |
Are you working on a desktop software? | dhimes: I write desktop apps with Java Swing. It's wrapped into a .exe with its own icon. I "sell" it as a download from Yahoo store. Buyers can optionally log into the web site and get free upgrades.I like distributing with Java because I want schools to use the app, and when I give it to teachers to try they don't have to have special permission to install it. As long as java has been cleared for their computer, installing my app is as easy as using a .pdf file.The sales just aren't there, though. (Many have downloaded the demo version, which (a) is good enough or, more likely (b) convinces them the app is not for them. Dang.I will launch a complementary product in Jan 2009, which will hopefully provide a synergistic lift to the whole effort! |
Review our PDF/Web form startup - www.doculicious.com | zacharye: I like it, a lot actually. And I don't mind the name at all.The site is very simple to navigate, the home page explains the service well and the examples pick up the pieces.I did browse the terms but perhaps you can elaborate quickly - how secure is the data and how long do you store it? I know an NPO (art school) that would likely love a few simple PDF registration forms on its site without having to pay a developer... |
Extreme, but workable cost-cutting measures? | HeyLaughingBoy: Instead of cost-cutting, focus on increasing income. At best you can reduce your costs to zero. Then what?There's no upside limit on income. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | sgman: I write iPhone native apps. Does that count? |
How do I go about PHP? | santacruz: After 7 years of exp I found that1. Zend Framework - best framework, CodeIgniter is next.
2. Zend Studio - best IDE
3. Smarty - don't reinvent the wheel |
Monetizing a Twitter bot? | davidhelgason: "Search for the woman": You know which packages they're sending, where to, and with what providers. Is there a way to help your users save money? And is there a way to make money off that, for example by reselling the shipping services via an affiliate deal like the previous poster suggested?d. |
Extreme, but workable cost-cutting measures? | lsc: so long as you can still make money, you need to be careful with this... it is easy to spend an hour saving $10, but if you bill out at $80/hr, that doesn't make sense, unless you can't find any work at all.Personally, looking over my personal expenses, I see I can save a lot of money eating in more. However, I think the returns diminish quite a lot when choosing cheaper raw materials over more expensive raw materials. Either way, groceries are still so cheap that it's not worth the time to optimize. (but then, I'm not really an organic/premium guy.. I guess for some people looking at that might make sense)same thing in the business... optimizing the co-lo costs makes a lot of sense... but saving a hundred bucks per server by not using hot-swap drives is a false economy. It only takes one bad drive (and the resulting downtime) to pay for a whole bunch of hot-swap bays.I think usually the easiest way to save money is to look for 'premium' services. If you are buying $15/Lb 'premium organic' beef, eh, you might want to think about switching to the normal steak at $5/lb. If you are going with rackspace.com, you might want to look at a less expensive hosting provider. (generally speaking, if you have to ask how much it costs, you are getting overcharged. If you have to talk to a sales guy to buy the product, remember that his salary is being added to the cost of your product.)Another thing to point out here is the premium for renting servers. At what I pay (that is, small business prices) I can usually build servers for what it costs to rent them for two to three months. Sure, ec2 is great if the servers are only on a few hours a day, but you can save a whole lot of money by moving your core servers to dedicated boxes you own and co-locate."Never buy from a rich salesman. Always use a rich lawyer"Remember that the confidence and good looks of the salesguy have zero correlation to the reliability of the service, and usually have a inverse correlation to the value for the dollar of a service. Good salesguys are expensive. If you like that sort of thing, during good times, it's fine to spend the extra money and get the guy to take you out to lunch. But during the hard times, that's a premium you maybe should look at giving up.Let employees work from home, if you can give up the office. If you are good at communicating over the computer, think of hiring people to work from home in the midwest or the south.Drop your recruiting firm or body shop. Hire directly through contacts, or if worst comes to worst, craigslist. Usually headhunters add little value, and they are quite expensive. (actually, my experience has been that body shops give you the resumes of mediocre people. They do cull the worst, but they also cull the best, has been my experience.) Going through resumes isn't that hard, and really it's something you can probably do better than most headhunters. The layoffs are cutting pretty deep, even people who are moderately good are getting the axe now. And fresh graduates? good god. Times are tough for them... more and more people with degrees (and even a little experience) are moving into my price range. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | hbien: I make an app for the Mac which is doing pretty decent. Not enough to replace a full time job, but almost enough to cover rent.* For distribution, I just have a website. I also put it up on the Apple downloads listing, which is where most of my traffic comes from.* A bunch of other sites pull data from Apple's listings, so I get traffic from there too.* More updates = more traffic = more sales, because each update gets you near the top of the download sites* Sales are done through PayPal, which is really easy to setup* Support email isn't bad at all, maybe 1 email every other day* The free trial limits the amount of data you can enter, rather than a time trial. That way users can try out future updates too.* When a major site did a post about it, sales AND feature request emails spiked. But after a week, it goes back to normal. |
If you were starting from scratch again, what language would you learn first? | antigravity: Python, then LISP and (SML or Ocaml), then C and assembly and compilers, then Python again.Though I like what Norvig said in http://norvig.com/21-days.html"Use your friends [...] Keep it simple. [...] Play. [...] Given these criteria, my recommendations for a first programming language would be Python or Scheme. But your circumstances may vary, and there are other good choices. If your age is a single-digit, you might prefer Alice or Squeak (older learners might also enjoy these). The important thing is that you choose and get started." |
How do I go about PHP? | juliend2: I worked with cakephp, but because of the lack of documentation i'm turning to codeigniter. It just works.Welcome to php! :) |
Are you working on a desktop software? | brl: We just released a second beta of our application which is a network security tool platform. Our distribution strategy is to release everything for free as open source and hope that people like it enough to tell other people about it. At the moment we're still not sure what we're going to sell.I should probably make my own thread about this, but if anybody wants to check it out it's available here:
http://netifera.com/downloads/ |
What is your definition of Artificial Intelligence | lacker: I know it when I see it. |
Review our PDF/Web form startup - www.doculicious.com | cera: I think it looks great, and there aren't enough good PDF editing tools. It reminds me a little bit of PDFEscape, so you might want to check them out if you haven't already. Best of luck! -Chris |
How do I go about PHP? | drathbun: I see lots of complex answers, but not the answer to actually learning a bit about PHP. My favorite book is "PHP in Easy Steps" by McGrath, published by Barnes and Noble. Very inexpensive.A good intro to the basics, which will allow you to make use of the online docs, which is the best documentation of a programming language I've ever seen.After that, the other resources come in to play. For an editor, I use notepad++ on the pc and textwrangler on the mac. With apache, mysql, and php running locally, your development platform is free. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | palish: I'm not very familiar with the language yet, but my first impressions have been favorable. Programming for the iPhone has been a breeze. Also, I really like that you can use C/C++ with it. (Not just exported functions; you can interact with a C++ object directly from within a .m file, for example.) |
What do you think of Objective-C? | pz: objective c is fine, its cocoa i find daunting. i am used to object.method() syntax so the [object message] syntax was a little hard to parse at first.... but you get used to it.i went from writing a lot of python to writing obj-c so the transition to a strongly typed, compiled-and-linked language was a bit frustrating. not surprisingly its not as fluid a language as python..... but you get used to it |
Are you working on a desktop software? | patio11: That's my business. I also blog about lots of related topics.Business: http://www.bingocardcreator.com
Blog: http://www.kalzumeus.comJust hit $20k in revenue this year does a little happy dance.Distribution: Website. I get people to the website by mostly SEO and AdWords, with an increasing word of mouth contribution (more than a thousand paying customers means that, increasingly, you hear "Oh, I was looking for JUST THIS and then Myrtle at church told me...").Sales: Web site? See blog for copious tips on the use of payment processors (I use http://www.e-junkie.com as a wrapper around Paypal/Google Checkout) and how to write sales copy.Download sites: Nearly worthless for PC software. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | sqs: I really like Objective-C. I had been using mostly Ruby before I started Obj-C (to make a quick iPhone app), and I liked it so much that I ended up going even further and doing about half of my programming in C++. Obj-C was a nice introduction to using a compiled language in real code that did stuff (as opposed to CS homework, which was my only previous C experience). When I wanted to make real stuff (servers), though, Obj-C wouldn't work since it had few libraries and relied heavily (in practice) on Apple's implementation of NS* classes.If you have programming experience, you should be able to learn 99% of Objective-C in about 5 hours. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | ohhmaagawd: In some ways it's a giant step backwards... you have to deal with pointers and header files. And it repeats itself a lot (declare the same things multiple times). String manipulation is awful in Objective C.I would say it's a hell of a lot better than C. But kind of irritating compared to Java or Ruby. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | rsayers: I enjoy it, it's my compiled language of choice. Easier to work with than plain C coming from a dynamic language background. |
How do I go about PHP? | asnyder: a)Depends on what you consider learning PHP. Depending on the framework you choose, you may or may not actually need to know much PHP, aside from basic syntax. More on this in point c.b)Until yesterday I've been using eclipse PDT, but you'll soon have a love/hate relationship with it, and start looking for alternatives from time to time. That said, I started to use Netbeans PHP yesterday, so far so good.c)With your background I recommend you check out NOLOH (Not One Line of HTML) http://www.noloh.com, it's currently in public Beta, and is slated for general release in January. One of things you'll notice from the NOLOH website and it's tutorials is that you really don't need to know PHP, other than the syntax, check out the Hello World and Threaded Comments videos to see what I mean.Full Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders of NOLOH. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | jamess: Personally, I think Objective C is a horrid and butcherous hack that really ought to have died when C++ was standardised. Trying to make C in to some kind of bastard and retarded cousin of smalltalk was never a good idea. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | jonhohle: I like how thin the Objective-C layer is above C. All of the language constructs are accessible through pure C method calls, which provide a lot of insight into how the system works.Any time I sit and think about how something is done in Objective-C, it doesn't take long to work out how I'd implement it and C and most of the time I can be pretty close (or quickly find), how various bits of "magic" are accomplished.I don't like the overloaded dot operator added in 2.0, and have yet to hear a good reason for its inclusion (attracting developers used to using dots is not a good reason, imho; reducing the number of nested braces is better, but still unnecessary). I could do without garbage collection. Reference counting really isn't that hard.The other features (namely properties and fast enumeration) are nice additions to the language.(edit: multiple ideas, one poorly written sentence) |
What do you think of Objective-C? | delackner: Objective-C + Cocoa is the most productive GUI application development kit I have ever used.If you are put off by the syntax, then you are placing a lot of meaning in the arbitrary weight of your existing habits. |
Are you working on a desktop software? | andrewf: I'm not but I have in the past - downloadable with a time-limited trial, and also available in boxed form via mail order and some distributors.The biggest difference I've noted since moving to the web is that on the desktop (Windows at least), you need beta testers.Your users are more distant and therefore disengaged (they got your app from download.com and have no idea how to contact you), older versions of your app will float around forever, and user's systems are varied enough that you can never do adequate testing inhouse.Pay attention to those users that do contact you, because for every one of them there's several that had the same issue with your trial version and walked away. At the same time, learn to recognise unique problems and fucked up Windows machines and walk away - they're just time sinks.Entice people with screenshots and a sales pitch, then make download and installation as painless as possible. Try and keep the installer size down. Definitely avoid making people download and install any sort of runtime environment separately.Tying registration codes to identity (regcode = hmac_sha256(secret + emailaddress)) will cut down on regcode sharing a bit during your early days, but keygens and cracked versions will eventually appear. There are a few turnkey anti-piracy / activation / etc solutions about these days, I never evaluated them.A retail version with a CD, box and a little printed manual will appeal to lots of people who wouldn't go for a download. Some may not have internet access at home, and most won't upgrade. Make your retail version once that's proven itself as a download for as long as is feasible :) |
What do you think of Objective-C? | BigZaphod: Objective-C is great - but Cocoa makes it even better. :) |
What do you think of Objective-C? | andrewljohnson: Does anyone use Objective C for anything but the iphone? |
What do you think of Objective-C? | sil3ntmac: I've been using obj-c for around a year now, and it's growin' on me :)I didn't like it too much at first (funky syntax, different naming conventions, generally crappy string manipulation), but once I started using it, especially in conjunction with cocoa and ib, I really started liking it.It has some cool perks, like using '+' (I forget the technical term) to add functionality to an existing class (i.e. adding a method to the NSString class by creating an NSString+Additions.m file, and all classes in your project can call that method on any NSString object). Much easier than having to create an NSString subclass just to add one method, and then having to remember to name all your NSString's something like MyString* str;I also like that I can just throw a chunk of c or c++ code in there, and call it as a method. Kinda like having native JNI (department of redundancy department). Alright that was a really bad analogy...Xcode is a decent SDK as well. |
JsCrack, an experiment in distributed computing | tlrobinson: It's been done (but for SETI, not password cracking):http://ajaxian.com/archives/massively-parallel-crowd-sourced...However, this requires the client have Gears installed, which is basically no one. There's no reason you couldn't do it in the main thread, as long as the task were easily split up into multiple chunks and you were careful not to use too much CPU time.The hard part is getting it widely distributed. The big traffic sites like YouTube would never do something like this. If you're unscrupulous you could inject the JavaScript in any site you can hack (WordPress blogs, etc...)A MapReduce type implementation would be very very cool. Make it generic, such that you could submit bits of JavaScript code and the URLs of the data to operate on, and the location to post the results too.It would surprise me if botnet owners hadn't already done something like this. Of course they can run whatever native code they want. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | Tichy: I have summarized my (negative) thoughts here: http://blog.blinker.net/2008/11/11/impressions-from-the-ipho...I haven't really used it, though, it is just the impression I took away from glancing at the tutorials and listening to the beginnings of the iPhone tech talk. |
How do I go about PHP? | floodfx: Take advantage of the object oriented features (classes, inheritence, etc) Write unit tests early and often. Re-read the docs; some of the PHP functions are inconsistently parameterized -- meaning one function expects params in one order and a simliar function expects the params in the opposite order! (Can't think of those functions off the top of my head but there I swear...) Just be careful. PHP is forgiving (almost?) to a fault |
What do you think of Objective-C? | DenisM: On the iPhone there are two main problems. First is lack of garbage collection. Not everyone can keep track of their allocations easily and the result if unstable programs for the end users. While there is some notion of allocatin pool it has problems - for once it's scoped to call stack, thus making it little more than extension of on-stack variables. Further, some standard methods that create e.g. strings add-ref strings for you, but some don't. Ther eis no consistency. It shouldn't have been that way.The second problem is that cocoa touch is very async. By contrast windows forms is very synchronized - when you create a form and pass control to it, control does not return until that form closes, and then result is returned. Even a cavement can understand that. In cocoa/touch you pass control to a form, and then it returns and then you have to return it as well before the form is drawn. If you do something like closing a form in the event where you are supposed to re-draw the form the system blows up on you. If you set background from one callback it goes into infinite requirsion. There is no way to tell upfront - you have to try. It's very unintuitive that way and hard to wrap your head around it.I'm sure a bunch of c00l haxors will tell you that they have no problem using it and therefore nobody else should have problems, but hey - some people can ride unicile, doesn't make it a good transporation choice. |
What do you think of Objective-C? | davidw: I played with it some about 10 years ago, but at that time it was really in the wilderness and didn't have much practical application, so I let it be. It seems nice in some ways, but I don't really see it making the jump out of MacOS X territory. Who knows, though. |
Working Tactics? | waleedka: A friend and I work on our own separate startups and we searched for ways to increase our productivity. We started a weekly challenge. Every week we meet in a coffee shop and set goals that we must achieve by the next meeting. If goals are not met, we commit to buying coffee and deserts for everyone else in the meeting. It worked wonders and we both got so much more done faster. |
Value of Technical/Programming certifications? | SwellJoe: IMHO, I would consider none of them to be relevant. While, in some cases, they provide minimal assurance that someone knows a very specific set of skills to a degree that allows them to pass a test, it is not indicative of the kind of person I would want to hire (I wouldn't say it is contra-indicative, though seeing the Microsoft certifications on a resume might make me throw up in my mouth a little). I want to work with people who love what they do. Certifications indicate mere competence. I'm looking for more than competence.And, I've been involved in hiring decisions in the past (mostly my replacements), and I don't believe certifications have ever played a big role on the resume of anyone who impressed me. But, I would rarely hire an employee (rather than a contractor performing one task) for a specific skill, and that's all a certification shows you. |
Value of Technical/Programming certifications? | Tichy: I took the Java Programmer Certification back in the day, and I remember thinking that it was not even that bad. I think if every programmer in that particular company I had been working for had taken the certification, it might have brought some improvements. At least you got to know some ins and outs of Java. It was very cheap, too, or so I remember (maybe 100€, could that be right)? I studied from a book, don't think taking expensive seminars for it would be necessary.That said, I certainly wouldn't expect any advantages from putting the certification on my resume, and I wouldn't use it to judge the quality of programmers (as SwellJoe says in his comment). But for an existing team that does not consist of Rockstars, why not? |
What do you think of Objective-C? | travisjeffery: I like it, very easy to get into. Obj-C and Cocoa are a killer combination. Definitely get Aaron Hillegass' "Cocoa for Programming for Mac OS X" now in 3rd edition. |
Working Tactics? | gtani: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/productivityshouldn't take more than 3 weeks to read thru 187 threads!Like ev'body else, skim/read David Allen's "Get Things DONe", my favorite tactics(not neces. from book) are daily priority lists, turning off productivity devices (email, cell phone, pager, and you don't have to read snail mail every day), controlled work environment (ambient lighting, noise-reducing headphones, good laptops, external keyboard/mouse) |
What do you think of Objective-C? | frig: Objective-C, the language: it's a nice, thin object-oriented layer on top of vanilla C.It's super-easy to use to make object-oriented wrappers around vanilla-C libraries, compared to C++, and b/c Objective-C is conceptually simpler than C++ there's fewer ways to shoot yourself in the foot.There's not much point using it for new development unless your project is very self-contained or you're targeting Mac OS X or the iphone; moreover, Apple's pushed out Objective-C 2.0 recently, and are in the driver's seat for the language's future.Personally, I prefer Java for the kinds of products Objective-C is supposed to be used for (desktop/mobile software). The tradeoffs:- objective-c is lighter-weight and very simple to code in; Java is a lot clunkier and tedious to write; winner: obj-c- java has a huge set of support infrastructure and tooling; obj-c has xcode (which is ok, but not great); winner: java- java has generics that're mostly type-safe; obj-c doesn't really have any equivalent. I like type-safety when I can get it, so winner is java.If you're learning objective-c to do Cocoa or UIKit development, you will spend much more time learning your way around Cocoa and/or UIKit than learning Objective-C; objective-c is like a week at the absolute longest, but Cocoa takes months to learn.The first commandment of Cocoa: always respect convention; there's lots of semi-documented conventions (in terms of naming methods and arguments and ivars and so forth), and you should follow any conventions you see unless you understand what you give up by not following that particular convention.There are two golden rules for Cocoa:rule 1: if you're coding up something that seems like something any realistic application would have to include, you should take another look @ the docs b/c apple probably gave it to you already.rule 2: a lot of functionality you'd expect to be in utility classes is buried in base classes (like NSObject, NSArray, NSDate, etc.). |
What do you think of Objective-C? | tritchey: Behind Lisp, Obj-C/Cocoa is the most fun I have had programming. |
Value of Technical/Programming certifications? | gaius: Certifications are contra-indicative in my experience, unless you are hiring someone to take multiple-choice tests (the answers to which are all over the web on "braindump" sites). I've often interviewed candidates with lots of certifications but when asked, so when did you use this feature/language/technology "for real"?, they come up blank. And of course, people who have been there and done that don't need to bother with certificates. |
Advertising based business | answerly: Yes- it is absolutely possible to build an ad supported business in the current economy. The key is to focus on a niche with a readily monetizable and under-served advertiser base for which you can be the best source of new customer acquisition. |
Working Tactics? | tristmegistus: I found several effective techniques to get myself working in 'The Now Habit" by Neal Fiore. It focuses more on the psychology and why we procrastinate and provides some useful tools to deal with it.An example is to schedule time for fun, instead of work. Schedule times to see a movie, see a friend, exercise, or other activities you want to do. The benefit is that when I'm sure I will get the fun things I want, it's easier for me to focus on other tasks in the meantime.He also describes a 'time boxing' technique that I've found very useful myself. A 30 minute commitment for me does the trick. Usually I'll end up working longer in a stretch and find it easier to recover from interruptions during that 30 minute commitment. |
How do I go about PHP? | DanHulton: Late to the game here, but I have to recommend Komodo Edit for your IDE - I've been using it for about a year now and it's just so solid. I've tried others (most recently Netbeans PHP, which is a CLOSE contender), but they just don't do things that Komodo does that I've grown very accustomed to. |
Working Tactics? | makecheck: A simple to-do list alongside E-mail (e.g. Lightning plug-in in Thunderbird) is really nice. Seeing lists, prioritizing them and crossing off items can be motivating.When you check E-mail, there's a tendency to want to immediately respond to whatever is said, and this can be very distracting and time-consuming. You should believe that if something is truly critical, you will receive a phone call or a personal visit. So I usually check E-mail only twice a day, around 10:00 and 4:00, which leaves just enough time that morning/afternoon to deal with requests or minor problems.I use a revision control system, and train myself to commit exactly one "feature" at a time so that my work is focused. This prevents going down ratholes, and makes the rollback "clean" (a single version is a focused change, not some random mix of whatever you were working on). It is also a useful reminder, e.g. you come back an hour later and just ask the revision control system what you changed. |
Feedback about our iPhone & facebook app Eat-a-Rama | elai: Eat-a-Rama is basically a google maps mash up that combines restaurants & bars with google maps. It also throws in a social networking component into it and slick AJAXy interface. (It also shows alot more restaurants with clustering and what not on the map than vs the lame '10 random search results' that google maps gives you) I just recently created from start to finish the iPhone twist which gives you a list of restaurants close to you and an ability to filter them by name/tag/address/whatever. You can also call the restaurants or get directions. iTunes link: http://www.tinyurl.com/eatarama |
ASK HN: How did they break in to my Gmail acct? | kqr2: Are you using https://gmail.com and/or have configured your account to always use https? There are cookie based hacks.http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/33207/108/ |
ASK HN: How did they break in to my Gmail acct? | yan: In Gmail, Settings > "Browser connection", set to "Always use https" |
What framework is best for someone with a C++ background? | aston: If your C++ fu is really, really strong, you might wanna check out OKWS (http://www.okws.org/). The performance is sick, as you might expect, but I can tell you from experience that it's not for the faint of heart. The asychronous coding makes for some really tough debugging situations, among other things. |
What are your goals for 2009? | answerly: I'd say that my overarching goal for '09 is to be a part of the solution rather than wasting time complaining about the problem. |
What are your goals for 2009? | pjharrin: My main one is to have my first web app launch |
What are your goals for 2009? | soc: make my first 1$ after 6 mos. development (1500 hours):) |
What are your goals for 2009? | gaius: To sneak some Haskell into production. |
What are your goals for 2009? | mlLK: Get a degree, get out of my parent's basement, and get a job. |
Does programming make you happy? | helveticaman: No. I'm hoping it grows on me, but I've had a lot of shitty experiences so far, and not a lot to show for them. Think spending six months trying to install Lisp on a mac, or spending 50 hours installing Linux on a PC. SICP was also quite awful. Finally, I have this nagging feeling of obligation to program. So no, I wish I did, but I don't like programming. I hope your mileage varies. |
Does programming make you happy? | mechanical_fish: Sometimes. Other times it's a tedious obligation. Then there are the times when you're not sure if it makes you happy or not, but you can't stop doing it.If you're wondering if you enjoy programming, try giving it up for a while and see if you keep coming back to it. |
Does programming make you happy? | izaidi: For me it's 99% frustration, but the other 1% is the moments when the thing that used to be an idea in my head becomes a part of reality, and those moments feel so good I'm willing to put up with the frustrating ones. |
How do I go about PHP? | paulsweatte: The way I've transitioned between languages was to first do a syntax comparison:
http://merd.sourceforge.net/pixel/language-study/syntax-acro...Then take a crash course:
http://cs.metrostate.edu/~fitzgesu/courses/ics325/summer04/C...Then learn about database interfaces:
http://www.kitebird.com/articles/php-pdo.htmlThen learn about programming patterns:
http://www.rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:Solutions_by_Progra...Then learn about security:
http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_5Then learn about error handling:
http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_error.aspThen learn about debugging:
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2004/08/12/DebuggingPHP.htmlThen learn about idioms:
http://www.cybersprocket.com/wiki/index.php/Eric's_PHP_GuideThen read a comprehensive book:
http://www.ubookcase.com/book/Sams/PHP%205%20Unleashed/Then learn about optimization:
http://progtuts.info/55/php-optimization-tips/I've used PSPad, Komodo Edit, and Aptana Studio Community Edition for PHP editing, and recommend them all.I've tried CakePHP and Drupal, but had trouble with the documentation and syntax of both compared to pure PHP. Wordpress has great documentation, community support, and readable sourcecode. |
Interesting recent developments in academic computer science. | paraschopra: Yep, on a related note I was wondering recently if there is any website which lists currently hot and buzz-worthy research papers in CS or other fields. I know faculty of 1000 does that for biology but is there any other website? |
Interesting recent developments in academic computer science. | jmtame: The Blue Waters project (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/BlueWaters/) is being done in the building across the street from me, I can see it right out the window from this CS room. It's one of those "off limits" things, although you really need to have a use for it first. |
Does programming make you happy? | IsaacSchlueter: I believe there's a quote somewhere in Stranger in a Strange Land, where Jubal Harshaw comments that an author doesn't write because he can, or likes to, or because it's the best way to pay the bills–many can't, few do, and it usually isn't. It's just something that must be done, like breathing or defecating, and it's about as glamorous.It's hard to say whether programming makes me happy, per se. I do know that I can't escape it. I can avoid putting my fingers on a keyboard for a while. But the brain, it keeps going. It's how I'm built, and you may as well ask me if I like having two hands instead of 4 or one head instead of 7; but it's the shape of the brain we're talking about. I find it hard to imagine what life would be like.I program to pay the bills, and it keeps me comfortable. I also program because I have ideas for programs that don't exist, and it's the only way to make them exist. I program because I want my computer to do something that it doesn't already know how to do. I program because it's more engaging than television and less pointless than video games.Sometimes, it's frustrating or challenging. Sometimes it feels like a lot of effort for hardly any reward. Sometimes huge amounts of work have to be scrapped because it's just wrong.But other times, things click, and it's perfect, like a symphony. And in those moments, "happy" seems like an understatement.No, programming doesn't make me happy. But programming is part of what makes me me; and, in general, I'm happy about that. |
Does programming make you happy? | gaius: Getting stuff done makes me happy. Programming is a means, not an end. |
Interesting recent developments in academic computer science. | markessien: In my opinion, it's obvious what the next big thing is going to be. Image recognition, accelerometer integration, multi-touch and so on. Basically, we're looking at the death of the mouse and keyboard a few years down the line.It's starting now, and it's starting the same way the web started - working poorly, very fragmented, cool but not yet practical. This will change soon. |
Where does consciousness come from? | eggnet: If we mechanically understood how thinking or consciousness worked, we would have AI. We don't understand, and don't have AI. I hope I was helpful :) |
Where does consciousness come from? | chris_l: Consciousness is the brain sensing the mind of the world. But that's just my speculation :) |
Interesting recent developments in academic computer science. | randomwalker: In the academic world, the semantic web is pretty much taken for granted. Curiously, it appears that people in the real world have been saying for so long that the semantic web will never happen that they have failed to notice that has already happened!Look at this diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Linking-Open-Data-diagram_...
All these datasets have already been interlinked and are available for you to use. This is the linked open data approach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_Data) The opposite approach is to use data from a single already-interlinked source through an unified API, exemplified by Freebase (http://freebase.com), which is more straightforward but perhaps offers less control. I've found these resources invaluable in more than one project that I'm working on, and every hacker should at least keep abreast of what is available so that you can use it if you need to. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.