NEWS

PHP 5.3.0 Released

The PHP project has released the next major version of the popular web programming language, which includes many new features listed here:

PHP 5.3.0 Release Announcement

Perhaps one of the more unusual additions is the inclusion of an old-school goto statement for flow control:

(check out the inclusion of an XCKD cartoon on the bottom of the manual!)

goto

Added: 2009-07-01 13:45:57

OWASP Ireland AppSec 2009 Conference

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is an open community dedicated to spreading knowledge on designing secure computer applications. On the 10th of September 2009 in Trinity College in Dublin, they will be holding their first Irish Application Security conference:

OWASP Ireland AppSec 2009 Conference

While at their site, please have a browse of their excellent guide to Web Application Penetration Testing:

Web Application Penetration Testing

Their full application security testing guide (~350 pages worth) in PDF format is available for free download here:

OWASP Testing Guide v3

Should be an interesting event!

Added: 2009-07-01 11:50:19

PENTAX K-7 Introduction

The last Pentax I owned was a K1000 (I still have it, great camera). The new Pentax K-7 has me looking seriously at Pentax again, mainly due to the superior weather proofing when compared to other cameras from different manufacturers in this price range:

PENTAX K-7 Introduction

And it shoots video :-)

Added: 2009-06-15 09:11:03

Sundry MySQL Scripts and Docs

Matthew Montgomery of MySQL has released a group of shell scripts that are very useful for those administrating MySQL instances. I was particularly impressed with a useful script for checking the configuration of your database for known performance bottle necks, which produces very clear output with advice on how to tune your MySQL server:

Sundry MySQL Scripts and Docs

Added: 2009-05-07 15:53:20

Yoxos OnDemand - EclipseSource

I have pretty specific requirements for an Eclipse IDE. Firstly it needs to support Java, along with Ant, Tomcat, and JUnit by default. Secondly, it needs to support PHP5, which is what I do most of my web development in. I also use Subversion as my source control system, so an interface to that is required. Finally, it needs to support Ruby as I write all of my test and utility scripts in that language.

The difficulty is that as my requirements are diverse, it is hard to get an "all-in-one" build that has all of these features in place, so I end up spending ages installing separate Eclipse plugins from different providers which is painful.

To avoid this pain, Yoxos have a nice online system that allows you to define your specific set of Eclipse plugins, then download your bespoke all-in-one build in a single click:

Yoxos OnDemand - EclipseSource

Added: 2009-05-06 10:07:05

Learning from StackOverflow.com

Joel Spolsky gives a presentation to Google on StackOverflow.com:

Learning from StackOverflow.com

Added: 2009-04-29 21:00:51

Watching a project in Jira

This issue is now over four years old, and still has not had anyone assigned to it :-(

JRA-5006

Every now and again while working with Jira in my day job, I come across a project that another department is working on which I would like to keep an eye on, then I remember that Jira does not support the ability to watch a project without using a messy work around.

Come on Atlassian, fix it please!

Added: 2009-04-23 14:05:43

LAMP stack usage at Facebook

Aditya Agarwal, Director of Engineering at Facebook, gives an excellent presentation on the architecture of Facebook with a focus on the LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) based components:

Facebook: Science and the Social Graph

The numbers are very impressive!

Added: 2009-04-12 10:34:19

Search as a service

Lately I have been doing a lot of work with Lucene search engines and related search indexes. I came to the conclusion that for large high-volume deployments, you really need to separate out search from the main website. My main reason for this conclusion was that for the project I was working on, Lucene was taking up so much resources that it was actually impacting on the the main website of the application in a dramatic fashion.

The best way to separate out search is to think of search as a service: by placing our search functionality onto a separate server, wrapped in a REST or SOAP API (take your pick), we then have our main website act as a consumer of that service by issuing search requests and awaiting search result responses, which the website can then present to the user in a nice manner.

Luckily a lot of other people have already come to the same conclusion. For Java, if you want to stick with Lucene as the underlying technology, the Solr project looks interesting:

Introduction to The Solr Enterprise Search Server

For PHP, there is Majory:

How Marjory works

Majory is also using Lucene indexes, but uses the PHP implementation from Zend. Solr is the more mature project, but Majory might be a good option for those on shared hosting where PHP is always a better option than Java, so it is worth keeping an eye on Majory to see how it develops.

Added: 2009-04-10 15:39:20

"and we just went bananas, it was brilliant"

Definitely the most entertaining (and inspiring) interview I've heard this year!

Paul O'Connell's Grand Slam Winning Interview. By Ian Benjamin Kenny

Added: 2009-03-27 18:48:42

BUSINESS

1. A Case Study in not Dealing wi...
2. Understanding the Need for New...
3. Defining the Knowledge-based E...
4. Sun and Microsoft Settle Out o...
5. Google Ranking Tips Part 1, by...
6. Google Ranking Tips Part 3, by...
7. Sun Microsystems set to Divers...
8. Google Ranking Tips Part 2, by...
9. The Benefits of Click-Wrap Con...
10. Overture is Coming to Ireland
X. Show All

A Case Study in not Dealing with Legacy Software

A case study in not dealing effectively with legacy software, were staff have continued to use an application fit for purpose without the support of their organization.

Added: 2009-02-18
Understanding the Need for New Computer Technologies

In this opinion piece, an argument is presented in favour of embracing technology innovations in order to gain from any possible competitive advantages.

Added: 2005-07-31
Defining the Knowledge-based Economy

This article looks at knowledge in the wider economy, and how it is likely to affect firms and individuals alike.

Added: 2004-10-29
Sun and Microsoft Settle Out of Court

Sun Microsystems received a $1.6 billion cash handout from Microsoft, on condition that it drop all long standing legal actions against the company.

Added: 2004-05-05
Google Ranking Tips Part 1, by David Callan.

In this comprehensive three-part article by David Callan of AKAMargeting.com, the workings of the World's most popular search engine are laid bare.

Added: 2004-01-23
Google Ranking Tips Part 3, by David Callan.

In this comprehensive three-part article by David Callan of AKAMargeting.com, the workings of the World's most popular search engine are laid bare.

Added: 2004-01-23
Sun Microsystems set to Diversify into the Microprocessor Market

Sun Microsystems is set to enter the PC-based microprocessor market later this year, with the first of a series of offerings based on grid processing.

Added: 2004-01-23
Google Ranking Tips Part 2, by David Callan.

In this comprehensive three-part article by David Callan of AKAMargeting.com, the workings of the World's most popular search engine are laid bare.

Added: 2004-01-23
The Benefits of Click-Wrap Contracts over Shrink-Wrap Contracts

A discussion of the benefits of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts.

Added: 2003-11-27
Overture is Coming to Ireland

A discussion on Overture locating its European hub in Ireland.

Added: 2003-04-27
DESIGN

1. Handling Content Migration wit...
2. An Introduction to Object Orie...
3. Why its good to write Your Own...
4. Scalable Web Design Part 2: Li...
5. Dynamic Force-frame Effect for...
6. Layers Part 5: Animated Clippi...
7. Scalable Web Design Part 1: In...
8. Layers Part 4: Clipping Layers
9. Layers Part 3: Animated Layer...
10. Screen Resolution
X. Show All

Handling Content Migration with 301 Re-directs from a 404 Error Page

A tutorial describing how to use 301 re-directs from a 404 error page, to ease the transition of content migration from one location to another.

Added: 2007-02-11
An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming with PHP

A basic introduction to core object oriented concepts using PHP.

Added: 2006-12-04
Why its good to write Your Own Framework

There are many top-quality web frameworks available for PHP, but sometimes you might consider writing your own framework. This article looks at the reasons why you might want to.

Added: 2006-06-16
Scalable Web Design Part 2: Liquid Design

Liquid Design: matching your browser window's inner resolution.

Added: 2002-09-20
Dynamic Force-frame Effect for Iframes

Forcing your iframe-based pages to stay framed using Javascript.

Added: 2002-06-26
Layers Part 5: Animated Clipping Layers

Animated clipping layers using JavaScript and the DOM.

Added: 2002-05-04
Scalable Web Design Part 1: Introductory Concepts

Introduction to scalable web design techniques.

Added: 2001-12-21
Layers Part 4: Clipping Layers

Introduction to clipping layers with CSS.

Added: 2001-10-21
Layers Part 3: Animated Layer Opacity

Controlling a layers opacity using JavaScript.

Added: 2001-08-08
Screen Resolution

Help on which resolution to design for.

Added: 2001-08-06
IMAGERY

1. Implementing an Image Cache fo...
2. Basic Shapes in PHP GD
3. Introduction to GD
4. Building Composite Shapes in S...
5. Basic Animation in SVG
6. Detecting the SVG Viewer
7. Basic Shapes in SVG
8. Working With PNG
9. Simulated Depth of Field
10. Dynamic Image Resizing
X. Show All

Implementing an Image Cache for PHP GD

Tutorial describing how to implement an image cache on a web server for PHP GD applications.

Added: 2004-12-24
Basic Shapes in PHP GD

A tutorial on drawing basic shapes in the GD graphics library of PHP.

Added: 2004-12-23
Introduction to GD

An introduction to the PHP GD graphics library.

Added: 2004-07-30
Building Composite Shapes in SVG

Guide to building custom shapes in SVG, composed of several primitive shapes.

Added: 2004-05-05
Basic Animation in SVG

A basic introduction to animation techniques in the SVG format.

Added: 2003-12-19
Detecting the SVG Viewer

Using client-side scripting to detect the Adobe SVG Viewer plug-in.

Added: 2003-07-27
Basic Shapes in SVG

A basic introduction to using the SVG format to draw shapes.

Added: 2003-03-01
Working With PNG

Making use of the PNG graphic format, in the latest browsers.

Added: 2002-08-24
Simulated Depth of Field

Simulated depth of field effect using JavaScript.

Added: 2001-09-08
Dynamic Image Resizing

Using JavaScript to resize images on the fly.

Added: 2001-08-13
BROWSING

1. An Introduction to Version Con...
2. An Introductory Guide to Intel...
3. Working with MySQL Connector/O...
4. Building a PHP 5 Web Server on...
5. Running Scheduled Backups with...
6. Multi-Dimensional Databases: R...
7. Comparison of Relational and M...
8. Multi-Dimensional Databases: C...
9. Introduction to Multi-Dimensio...
10. Where Not to Use a Multi-Dimen...
X. Show All

An Introduction to Version Control Using Subversion

An introduction to the benefits of source control using the open source Subversion application.

Added: 2005-10-02
An Introductory Guide to Intelligent Agents

In this article intelligent agents are introduced, as well as a discussion of the possible impacts on business organisations of their usage.

Added: 2005-01-28
Working with MySQL Connector/ODBC and Office

This tutorial provides a description of how to access MySQL databases from MS Office.

Added: 2004-10-01
Building a PHP 5 Web Server on Windows IIS

A detailed tutorial on how to build a PHP 5 web server on Windows.

Added: 2004-09-02
Running Scheduled Backups with Xcopy

A tutorial on how to set up scheduled backups with Xcopy on Windows.

Added: 2004-03-26
Multi-Dimensional Databases: References

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Added: 2003-11-27
Comparison of Relational and Multi-Dimensional Database Structures

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Added: 2003-11-27
Multi-Dimensional Databases: Conclusion

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Added: 2003-11-27
Introduction to Multi-Dimensional Databases

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Added: 2003-11-27
Where Not to Use a Multi-Dimensional Database

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Added: 2003-11-27

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