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JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Tcl Today

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:35:44 +0000

PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, and Tcl Today: The State of the Scripting Universe

Three years ago, Lynn Greiner at CIO Magazine, interviewed the big cheeses responsible for the popular scripting languages PHP, Perl, Tcl, Python, Ruby and JavaScript to find out where the languages were headed. In this follow-up discussion, she asks the dynamic language luminaries what has changed since then.

… and discussion of the article continues at Slashdot.

Test of PHP Syntax Highlighting

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:00:57 +0000

This is a test of PHP Script Syntax Highlighting with the GeSHi code colorizing and syntax parsing library, along with the WP-Syntax plugin.

//
// Include the GeSHi library
//
include_once 'geshi.php';
//
// Define some source to highlight, a language to use
// and the path to the language files
//
$source = '$foo = 45;
for ( $i = 1; $i < $foo; $i++ ){
echo "$foon";  --$foo;
}';
 
$language = 'php';
 
// Create a GeSHi object
 
$geshi = new GeSHi($source, $language);
 
// And echo the result!//
echo $geshi->parse_code();

New! CompuScriptology Knowledge Category

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:52:17 +0000

I started a new knowledge category today called CompuScriptology. So what is CompuScriptology? It’s basically the analysis, research, study and observation of dynamic computer languages, sometimes known as dynamic scripting languages (as compared to static or compiled languages). It involves the comparing and contrasting of various computer language functions and syntactical elements — for computer languages such as JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Rebol, and Ruby (in my case).

I was thinking about using the word Scriptology, but a gentleman (Dr. Adam Blatner) was already using the word Scriptology to talk about the Lore of Writing Systems and Alphabets. Not to mention, that the FileMaker people have a website for FileMaker templates called Scriptology also.

Since I’m very interested in multiple computer languages, some people might call me a polyglot. I was thinking about calling the new knowledge category PolyCompuScriptology, but that failed my terse test.

Inside the WordPress Loop

admin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:08:56 +0000

I’ve doing a little reading about the WordPress loop. The WordPress loop is where all the main work get’s done in publishing the articles of the blog. Loops and iteration constructs are very common in many (all?) programming languages, and that is why you see things like “do while” or while, “for x = 1 to z”, or “foreach x in z” in many scripting languages.

The whole idea with Open Source software is that you can modify it, refactor it, change it to be anything you want. However, it is a good idea to start with some very small changes, and it’s really good to begin by reading a few articles about the code, and read the actual source code before you start making any changes.

Anyway, two recent articles, I have have found helpful are: The Ultimate Guide to the WordPress Loop and another called Global Variables and the WordPress Loop.

Instant Rails 1.7

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:27:10 +0000

One of the quickest ways to get started with Ruby on Rails is with Instant Rails. Instant RoR version 1.7 is now available (see v1.7 release notes).

The first package I tried was v1.3, and I was impressed with how easy it was to download, unzip, and get Ruby, PHP, mySQL, and Apache up and running. In addition to the great new Ruby tools, you get PHP, mySQL, and phpMyAdmin in the install package, because that is the quickest way to configure an OpenSource management tool for your mySQL databases.

Includes Mongrel 1.0.1 support.

Very cool. Highly recommended.

CSS – Three Column Layout Agony

admin — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 11:43:36 +0000

It’s Monday morning. I took a few aspirin for my back pain, but the CSS three column layout thing is still bugging me. So I did a little more reading over at saila.com, on the topic of CSS and HTML standards (eg. Tables vs. CSS) in web designs that actually work in real-world browsers, and pass (x)HTML validation and CSS validation tests. Craig Saila provides some HTML layout templates, CSS examples, and analysis of how they perform with various browsers. Craig also has nice annotated version of his v2 layout with discussion of browser quirks and hacks.

So, after doing a little more reading, my confidence level is up that my design goals will be achievable. And I hope to begin implementing my vvn.net homepage makeover using the new PHP templates I am creating.