Computing

Python and the Programmer

Bruce Eckel talks with Bill Venners about how Python’s minimal finger typing allows programmers to focus on the task, not the tool, generating a productivity that makes more projects feasible. In Part I: Python and the Programmer, Bruce Eckel explains why he feels Python is “about him,” how minimizing clutter improves productivity, and the relationship … Read morePython and the Programmer

Gates Provides Windows Crash Statistic

[url=http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=649&alloc_id=1487&site_id=1&request_id=6071695]Slashdot[/url] is all over this. This figure only includes the newer operating systems as the older ones didn’t have error reporting. Considering this is bound to be a conservative number, the actual one must be quite a bit higher. Also, this statistic is highly skewed because most people don’t send the crash report to Microsoft. … Read moreGates Provides Windows Crash Statistic

Larry Wall: State of the Onion 2003

bq. One of the highlights of every OSCON is Larry Wall’s annual State of the Onion address, covering Perl, philosophy, linguistics, music, theology, science, and usually a few other things thrown in for good measure. His talk from OSCON 2003, ‘State of the Onion 7’:http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/07/16/soto2003.html, is now online. >> ‘Slashdot’:http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/17/1222224&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=145&tid=156

Movable Type

Mt Resources from all over the web:

[b]Basic:[/b] [list]

[*][url=http://www.tokyoshoes.com/blogclass/]A Beginner’s Guide to Blogging with MovableType[/url] :: A comprehensive guide, aimed at the beginner and assumes little knowledge of website design/building.

[*][url=http://nslog.com/archives/2003/03/13/starting_a_blog_with_movabletype.php]Starting a Blog (with MovableType)[/url] :: A basic guide on starting a blog. The above link is more comprehensive.

[*] [url=http://www.movabletype.org/support/]Moveabletype Support Forums[/url] :: Covers [i]everything[/i].

[/list]

[b]MT Specific Sites:[/b] [list]

[*] [url=http://www.nonplus.net/software/mt/]MT Extensions[/url] :: A collection of CGIs, plugins, hacks and tips for extending the MovableType content.management system.

[*] [url=http://www.emptypages.org/]Emptypages[/url] :: Tips, Tricks, Scripts.

[*] [url=http://mt-plugins.org/]MT Plugin Directory[/url] :: This plugin directory lists all known MT plugins and provide information for using thems.

[*] [url=http://www.thegirliematters.com/tips/]the girlie matters[/url] :: tips, things and tricks to do with MT and scripting.

[*] [url=http://www.bradchoate.com/past/cat_movable_type.php]Brad Choate[/url] :: A number of advanced MT plugins, including the brilliant [url=http://www.bradchoate.com/past/mttextile.php]Textile[/url] text formating plugin.

[*] [url=http://www.scriptygoddess.com/]scriptygoddess[/url] :: Minor deitys’ in the art of scripting, along with lots of MT info.

[/list]

[b]Articles of note:[/b] [list]

[*] [url=http://a.wholelottanothing.org/features.blah/entry/007162]Beyond the Blog[/url] :: Extending MT to publish the rest of your site.

[*] [url=http://www.bradchoate.com/past/001656.php]Brad Choate[/url] :: Doing your whole site with MT.

[*] [url=http://www.stopdesign.com/log/2003/07/16/rebuilding_a_portfolio.html]Stop Design[/url] :: Rebuilding a Portfolio.

[*] [url=http://www.7nights.com/asterisk/archives/movable_type_static_pages_flexibility_and_scalability.php#746]Movable Type, Static Pages, Flexibility and Scalability[/url] :: MT can output in just about any format, so it should be trivial to create a file containing all of the content or data that can be imported into just about any other system.

[/list]

Read moreMovable Type

Independent Days on Daring Fireball

Daring Fireball: “Independent Days”:http://daringfireball.net/2003/07/independent_days.html. A sprawling essay that covers web design principles, corporate vs. independent sites, Mac punditry and the justification for adding Google Ads to a weblog. Well worth a read. I particularly liked this quote, although it was more of a side-point than a key point of the article: Less markup. Less scripting. … Read moreIndependent Days on Daring Fireball

SharpReader

“SharpReader”:http://www.sharpreader.net/ is a rss feed reader. It’s the best one out off all the other free ones. The new release just added one of the best things a blogger can have: A “BlogThis” plugin. It makes blogging a lot easier when you just press a button on whatever you find interesting and blogit.

It’s missing a few essential features [make that just two], but it is under active development and getting better with each release. The keyboard shortcuts have also been finally implemented.

Read moreSharpReader

Creating a Photoblog in Moveabletype

Earlier I had written about “free picture gallery scripts”:http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/computing/2003_06/free_picture_galleries.html. In the end I ended up making the “4×4 Offroaders Club Karachi Picture Gallery”:http://offroadpakistan.com/pictures in Moveabletype. I used “Quixotic Pixels”:http://quixoticpixels.com/ excellent “Tutorial for Creating a Photoblog”:http://quixoticpixels.com/?qp=photoblog. I modified it further, and added this “random photos sql code”:http://www.emptypages.org/more/mysql/random_photos.html from “Emptypages”:http://www.emptypages.org. Emptypages has a ton of excellent MT … Read moreCreating a Photoblog in Moveabletype

Google Information

Some good links on Google:

* “Webmaster World forum”:http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/ :: A forum with lots of google talk going on, along with other web related “forums”:http://www.webmasterworld.com/home.htm.

* “Google Watch”:http://www.google-watch.org/ :: A look at how Google’s monopoly, algorithms, and privacy policies are undermining the Web.

* “Google Guy Says”:http://www.markcarey.com/googleguy-says/ :: A collection of forum posts made by a Googly employee. Straight from the horses mouth.

* “Google Weblog”:http://google.blogspace.com/ :: another listing of news about Google.

* “Google Alert”:http://www.googlealert.com/ :: runs daily Google searches for you and emails you whenever new results appear.

* “Google NewsAlerts”:http://www.google.com/newsalerts are sent by email when news articles appear online that match the topics you specify.

* “Google Zeitgeist”:http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html – Search patterns, trends, and surprises according to Google

* “Advanced News Search”:http://news.google.com/advanced_news_search is a brilliant research tool.

* “Google Calculator”:http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/technology/2003_08/google_calculator.htm allows queries in plain english.

* “Add your URL to Google”:http://www.google.com/addurl.html

* “Google Groups”:http://groups.google.com/ :: Post and read comments in Usenet discussion forums.

* “Google Toolbar”:http://toolbar.google.com/ :: Take the power of Google with you anywhere on the web.

* “Labs.google.com”:http://labs.google.com/ :: Google’s technology playground.

* “TouchGraph GoogleBrowser”:http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html :: This is just amazing…

* “Slashdot: Google Blocks ‘Optimized’ Pages”:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/26/1458203

* “Slashdot: Fortune Magazine On Google Growing Up”:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/27/0425212&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=98&tid=99 :: Fortune Magazine runs a pretty long story on Google, but instead of the usual exultation over PageRank algorithm and Larry-and-Sergey biographies, we get a different message – is Google growing up, and is trouble brewing at Google?

Read moreGoogle Information

Quick Tutorial Links

* “Planet Photoshop”:http://www.planetphotoshop.com/ has some great tutorials. * “Spoono”:http://www.spoono.com/ | a good collection of tutorials. * “W3 Schools”:http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp | Inside W3Schools you will find a large number of free Web-building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML tutorials to advanced XML, XSL and WAP tutorials. * “CSS tabs with Submenus”:http://kalsey.com/2003/05/css_tabs_with_submenus/ | Jeffrey Zeldman has proclaimed these … Read moreQuick Tutorial Links

Apple PowerMac G5

Everybody in the world and two more people are drooling about the new “Apple PowerMac’s”:http://www.apple.com/powermac/. Slashdot has a long “discussion”:http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/23/198247&mode=thread&tid=137&tid=174 with many links. I will state the blindingly obvious and say that at the present moment (and for the next 2 years) the dual Powermac is the most desirable personal computer on the face of … Read moreApple PowerMac G5