Grover Ponders |

Getting Started with QT.

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:04 — sgrover

I'm looking into how to create a KDE application, which can then be ported to other platforms than Linux. This is a bit of a challenge for me as I have not done any C/C++ coding since the mid 90's - and that was part of my structured programming classes. Since then I've shifted to higher level scripting languages like PHP or Cold Fusion. So, not only do I need a crash course in QT development, but I also need to learn C++ all over again. So, on that note I have begun tracking down resources detailing how to make this happen.

Bash em Down - part 3

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:03 — sgrover

In our last session we expanded our backup script to be a little more robust (with dated backups), yet be kinder to our bandwidth (via rsync). This time around, let's take a look at how we can make managing that script easier on us. We'll do this with the introduction of variables.

Bash em Down - part 2

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:01 — sgrover

In our first instalment on bash scripting, we created a simple script to copy the home directory to another location. Let's expand on this and explore some other options. Specifically, let's see how we can use the rsync and date commands to improve our backup script.

Kubuntu and Kdevelop

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:01 — sgrover

What a weird week. I won't bore you with the details, but it's strange that I'm seeing more and more (paying) work come my way, and I'm not even looking for it. I won't turn it down though either...

Bash em down!

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:00 — sgrover

System Administrators have many monotonous tasks. In a some cases, it's just a matter of clicking the right thing at the right time. Some of this can be automated via a series of shell instructions - or Shell Scripting. So, we begin the first of many posts on shell scripting - specifically the Bash shell.

Dump it!

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 00:00 — sgrover

Cold Fusion has a great tool called CFDUMP, that can be used to dump out the values of any object. This is a great thing for debugging. PHP has something similar in the "print_r();" function. JavaScript doesn't have anything like this. So, I have created a routine to do something similar, and I'm posting it here for you to use as you see fit in the hopes that it will help someone.

Starting a project

Fri, 12/29/2006 - 23:59 — sgrover

I teach some continuing education classes at the local University, and do presentations occasionally. These activities put me in touch with a number of people who are just getting started with programming. So, I get to hear all the usual questions one would expect. The three I hear most often are

How did you do that?
Can you help me find this bug?
How do I start this project?

The AJAX plunge

Fri, 12/29/2006 - 23:59 — sgrover

So, I've taken the plunge and have implemented an AJAX solution. I got my code working just fine, but then ran into a problem I can't seem to find a solution for. I was testing in FireFox so that I could use the javascript console (type "javascript:" into the address bar - in case you didn't know). But once I opened the page in IE, the page breaks. The issue at hand is that IE is not populating the .responseXML property, which breaks all the XML processing code I had implemented. And this appears to be a known problem with few work arounds... sighs.

Editing the Code

Fri, 12/29/2006 - 23:58 — sgrover

If you are coming from the Windows world, you're likely looking for a good Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Linux offers a few. I would likely recommend either Eclipse, or Kdevelop. The right choice is up to you, but depends on what kind of coding you are doing. For myself, I don't like the IDE approach for my work. Simply because most of the code I do at this time is web development, and for that I just need a good editor.

JavaScript & Complex Data - Objects

Fri, 12/29/2006 - 23:57 — sgrover

In my last post, we talked about how we could use a JavaScript array to represent complex data. but there's another option. And in my eyes, it's the better choice. Custom Objects.