tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242222182011-04-21T14:47:01.755-07:00My adventures in snobbish Code Huffing.DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-72570692117506899752009-02-21T10:34:00.001-08:002009-02-21T10:40:02.278-08:00

Each one of us eventually comes across a customer that wants to see a code sample. Who wouldn't really, if you know what you are looking for you should certainly cover your bases somehow. Then for us, we have the requirement of keeping some sort of portfolio of tings we worked on and projects we were involved in. The designers keep little thumbnail screen-shots, and some coders keep snippets

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-14235401405223158762009-02-17T22:31:00.000-08:002009-02-17T22:51:15.444-08:00

You Got Your View in My ControllerMy number one complaint about every MVC framework I have seen so far: The controller is dependent on or otherwise directly tied to the View. While consistency for the sake of being consistent my be a worthy cause, being loosely coupled is more important. Your view mechanism may not fit every situation. If you have a hard dependency your upgrade path is all or

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-79629104948826319342009-02-16T18:13:00.000-08:002009-02-16T20:47:19.394-08:00

Visual Development Heating UpSo M$ has been dominant in the visual development realm. In the past Borland had a great product but lost market to Visual Studio. Visual Basic 6 pushed M$ over the top and ever since .Net has kept them ahead of the pack. Those wanting to stay deeper in development got under the skin of the Web with PHP, JSP and PSP leaving CGI to the '90s. But, this later camp

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-85938446556978618822009-02-16T16:11:00.000-08:002009-02-16T20:52:52.443-08:00

First Impressions of Cake PHPCake 1.2.1So it has been a long time since I revisited Cake PHP. It seem like a reasonable framework with MVC. The Model is reasonably smart. Cut to the point I don't like the pluralization and command-line code generation is so '90s.Commandline Skeleton in the ClosetIt is great to copy other projects, esp. successfull ones like RoR. But lets leave out weaknesses,

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-72913387484357666692009-02-11T10:28:00.000-08:002009-02-16T20:52:07.582-08:00

Back to Open Range DevelopmentYes, sir, I am back to development I can blog about. So here I stand on the cusp of my 5th gen framework. Unfortunately I will have to backtrack to 3rd gen since the 4th gen is jailed IP. So it is time for some heads-up coding. I learned a few things from my team of developers on the last gig, and saw some good and bad things. So what is my platform of choice

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1158193639682315582006-09-13T17:04:00.000-07:002007-01-26T02:34:11.270-08:00

JAM for your Web SandwichSo you have been giving so much Ajax love that you pass more XML than anything else. It is time to lean up your XML usage and get native. What do we call this jungle fever? I personally refer to it as JavaScript Append Method - JAM. You are already using JSON right? Right?? (don't answer just do it) If not, forget all the markup overhead of XML. If you are passing

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1153835626632099002006-07-25T06:32:00.000-07:002006-07-25T06:53:46.686-07:00

ZCE: PHP Samurai For HireZend is getting ready to offer what many have been waiting for: PHP5 Certification tests. Why is this so important? Many people who started on, or who were already using PHP5 saw limited need for a test that focused on PHP4. This was in fact the focus of the only existing Zend PHP certification. Since I take PHP seriously I went ahead and got the Certification, and I

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1150477229340167762006-06-16T09:45:00.000-07:002006-06-16T10:01:26.040-07:00

Programmable WebThis is what people in the know call the next step in web evolution. What does this mean for us programmers? Well, it means a simplifying of server function. More accurately put: it means server portions of applications will need to specialize around the data they are concerned with. No more highly customized data for the UI. This is what is lending itself to DFD (Design First

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1150084373257325452006-06-11T20:51:00.000-07:002006-06-11T20:52:53.256-07:00

A qote for this week:"And a word to website designers: Most of the time, most of us aren't looking for an "experience". We're just looking to find stuff. Bear that in mind." - Doc Searls

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1150083306353113662006-06-11T19:59:00.000-07:002006-06-16T10:05:42.963-07:00

The Ajax ProblemI wont deny not being inspired by Alex Bosworth and Jeremy Keith, but I think that Ajax has become some what of a problem. As buzzwords go it has gotten way out of hand. There are even debates about what makes an application Ajax. Some say it only needs to use the XHR methods, others say it must pass XML.Then there are the JSON posers who stick their nose up at the mention of

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1150080284000034132006-06-11T19:23:00.000-07:002006-06-11T19:56:05.890-07:00

Your Browser Broke My Webapp Readying to embark on my first highly JavaScript driven official project, I have been looking for answers to problems I have always had. I want to make this app user proof. One of the problems of single page JS driven “Chubby/Husky/Thick”(take your pick) apps is that most of them are developed without taking the rest of the browser into consideration. I have see

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1148941099519253472006-05-29T15:10:00.000-07:002006-06-11T18:20:59.456-07:00

Cross Application Authentication (part 2 – The Server)with Native .NET Forms AuthenticationIn the first of this series, I explained my troubleshooting process for justifying having two ASP.NET forms authentication applications. We would need one for 1.x apps and one for 2.x apps. We came to the conclusion that the application setup and design was straight forward, but would not work without

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1148934462127217642006-05-29T11:00:00.000-07:002006-06-11T18:21:24.686-07:00

Cross Application Authentication (part 1 – Trouble Shooting)with Native .NET Forms AuthenticationWhere I work we have numerous applications written in .NET planted across our IIS root. Instead of each application authenticating it's users in their own way, we have a central authentication application. Then each application uses a shared dll to interpret this authentication. Up until recently

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1148336668270921602006-05-22T13:28:00.000-07:002006-05-22T15:26:27.156-07:00

Get Programming for FreeProgress is good. It is now possible to get your dev environment setup for free in just about what ever language you want even on Windows. Lets start with C#. Go get the .NET Framework or Mono (yes even on windows). I am told that mono can compile to a single .exe without framework dependencies. Then you would do best to get an IDE, so grab SharpDevelop2 or MonoDevelop

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1148100057668813232006-05-19T21:19:00.000-07:002006-05-19T21:43:16.746-07:00

Working with AJAX and Atlas this week. I hope MS is communicating internally so that they understand the limits of IE. When I first used AJAX (or more accurately: misused XHR to get flat text) I came square against the fact that you can not have an active stream open with IE. For instance read a character and then print it to the screen. This has been talked about before but I hope something

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1147129287001997312006-05-08T14:08:00.000-07:002006-05-08T16:01:27.036-07:00

ASP - but pay no attention to those other guys. So with ASP.NET 2.0 you can really see where MS has learned from the other languages. Take for instance that ASP.NET 2.0 encourages you to leave the source on the server so that you can modify it on the fly. Even legacy ASP was better that way. Then what about Ajax? The guys over at '.NET rocks!' said that they have a hard time getting it to

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1146089524447184782006-04-26T14:58:00.000-07:002006-04-26T15:12:04.460-07:00

The training flavor of the week this week is ASP.NET... 2003. Stepping back I really appreciate where VS2005/.NET 2.0 has taken me. What is the point in this WYSIWYG wobber if it doesn't do the repetitive stuff for you. Granted, you would want to build some dlls to minimize your typing if you were stuck with these older versions, but you are already clinging to the MS framework in the first

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1146088688702255832006-04-26T14:55:00.000-07:002006-04-26T14:58:08.713-07:00

Ok, maybe not so much. Oracle Forms is to interface design as BF is to programming. Sad thing is that a bunch of the office folk attended training so they could add to the quaint collection we already have to support. Encouragement for me to keep my head down and 'forget' all about it.

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1145284979302498882006-04-17T07:41:00.000-07:002006-04-17T07:43:11.536-07:00

Oracle Forms... This week I take step into medieval database technology. This will be interesting.

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1144419023694914692006-04-07T06:59:00.000-07:002006-04-07T07:10:43.446-07:00

Oracle RevisitedAfter a my first of three classes on Oracle, I feel refreshed. It is always good to revisit and update your SQL skills. It gives you a chance to update your product knowledge too. With Oracle XE I expect I will be using Oracle more often. Recently I have had some run-in with MS SQL and think less and less of it every day. I hope the latest version strives to embrace the ANSI

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1144418310048478392006-04-07T06:18:00.000-07:002006-04-07T06:58:52.026-07:00

More: What can PHP learn from C#?Something to note about ASP.NET is that most of the C# programmers I know that are doing ASP are doing it without server control or the WYSIWYG interface building. Why? Because they understand that those tools are not ready to be trusted. We should acknowledge that WYSIWYG HTML editing has come a long way, especially from the MS camp (remember FrontPage97

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1144334880800348762006-04-06T07:34:00.000-07:002006-04-06T07:48:00.813-07:00

What can PHP learn from C#?The first time this question popped into my head, my thought was 'Nothing'. That is, nothing that C# does that PHP does not is necessary. There are a few fun things that C# does that could be entertaining to have in PHP also, but, the fact of the matter is that there is more to learn not to do.The first thing to be learned from it is: "don't try too much to imitate

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143845447400449492006-03-31T14:38:00.000-08:002006-03-31T14:50:47.413-08:00

RBYWPI think I just stumbled across a great new way of programming. You know what XP is, but what about RBYWP (pronounced Ru Boop) ? Run Before You Walk Programming - I guess I am really good at it, or so I am told. It makes sense though. I have all these ideas that I try to force .NET to do. Some work and others just wont. Since I am getting formal training this type of thing isn't too bad

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143830705099711162006-03-31T10:15:00.000-08:002006-03-31T12:25:22.310-08:00

I thought I would take a moment to share my .NET Ajax experience. I have tried several implementations out there. The most obvious being Atlas. It seems to work well, but it isn't overly easy to use. I could get basic functionality when I built my forms with it in mind. The next one I looked at was Ajax .NET Pro. which seems to be even more robust. Unfortunately it is not easy to implement

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143828890390485502006-03-31T09:57:00.000-08:002006-03-31T10:14:50.406-08:00

Domain vs. ScopeSomething I find myself fighting is this domain namespace model. You would think it would be a great tool when combined with the intelligence of the IDE. The fact of the matter is that it is more cumbersome than it needs to be. I have come to see that it actually limits my ability when combined with the strong typing. I tried to no avail to get a custom control to pass an

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143668856254044092006-03-29T12:10:00.000-08:002006-03-29T13:47:36.340-08:00

So what does it matter?So what if the .NET community is gated? So what if I have to pay to learn and pay to use others code? Or so you may wonder if you came from you mothers womb with a crisp ten dollar bill in your hand. There may be nothing wrong with paying to keep your place on top. History shows that you can. It also shows that 'Necessity is the father of Invention.' If you need not

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143657919492355362006-03-29T09:40:00.000-08:002008-09-23T13:25:39.952-07:00

After a week of training and a couple days of hacking at existing code, I think that the transition from 2003 to 2005 shouldn't be made at the same time you are learning. Some of the projects I have are in 2003 and there are significant changes to sites when you open them with 2005.There are a few positive improvements in 2005 though. One of the nice additions I have found are what are referred

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143120933839728292006-03-23T05:21:00.000-08:002008-09-23T13:24:11.901-07:00

Yesterday I ran into something interesting in C#. The ability to make a class iterable and control it with the equivalent of getters and setters. It is kind of hard to explain. If I get a chase later I will post an example. While the almost the same effect can be achieved in PHP it would be a sort of hack. The feature is a bit of a novelty, but it can be practically applied. Although the

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1143071999253382862006-03-22T15:57:00.000-08:002008-09-23T13:23:47.616-07:00

A couple days into training have given me some insight, and raised some red flags. One fear I have has to do with the ease of a person to go from developing client only code to developing web interfaces. The project I inherited has a control that really wished it was in a client app. It loads massive amounts of data into a nice little collapsing grid. Which on a desktop app, where you have but

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1142637461378889172006-03-17T14:10:00.000-08:002006-03-17T15:18:50.626-08:00

Another day closer to the formal training, and I am a little worried about being board out of my mind. It looks like a class for non OOP programmers. This brings up an interesting point of irritation for me. Why does everyone assume that PHP programmers don't use OOP. I have been using OOP for more than 10 years. Any PHP programmer that doesn't use OOP hopefully isn't building applications

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24222218.post-1142557391590034022006-03-16T16:40:00.000-08:002006-03-16T17:03:11.603-08:00

Being a Zend Certified Engineer, and somewhat of a code snob, I was intrigued by the thought of being required to learn C# so that I could adopt support of some applications. I decided to start this blog to record how it goes. I hope to look back and see how I have broadened my horizons. My first thoughts coming into this is that many out there think of .NET as simply a parallel tool. Either

DrydenMakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665600606020928327noreply@blogger.com