It’s been some time since I last checked in since I’ve been so busy juggling projects. However, I wanted to make a quick update this weekend. I thought this would be a good topic. Most of my readers I suspect are experienced web developers, but not everyone. Unless you have a formal education in software [...]
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Bleeding Every Last CPU Cycle from PHP
Like most languages, PHP allows developers to accomplish the same tasks using several different methods. I think most of us stick with whatever habits we fall into without really ever examining which methods might be the most efficent: Is there any performance difference between for and while? Is the ternary operator slower or faster than [...]
Changing WinXP’s boot screen to look like Win 3.1 in two minutes flat.
It’s been a short while since I’ve updated this blog. I spent almost a week camping in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I go every year in the autumn to take in the spectacular colors—definately a place you want to visit at least once in your lifetime. I’ve also been knee-deep in several time-consuming projects. So, I’d [...]
The secret to making a “contact us” form that gets used.
A case study One of the most interesting projects I’ve been involved with was developing and managing a site for an online automotive accessories retailer. At it’s peak, the site was serving over 20,000 sessions a month, and processing over $1M/yr in sales on the website alone. It was the first large scale projects that [...]
Using Apache’s mod_speling to catch unneded 404 erorrs caused by mispelligns
(This article is Part 2 in a series about Apache’s loadable modules. The previous topic was mod_ext_filter). As former Microsoft-ite who made the leap to OSS, one of the things that took a little getting used to with Apache are that filenames are case-sensitive. While that’s long since been hammered into my soul, a great [...]
Picking the perfect font for writing code.
Programmers use a lot of tools throughout the day. Some of them are pretty obvious: a fast PC, wide monitor (or three), a robust IDE, and good coffee. Other items tend to get overlooked a bit more often: a quality keyboard, top-notch chair, and natural lighting. However, the most underappreciated tool of all is the [...]
Using Google Sets to find related terms
Google is always coming up with cool little widgets and technologies. A lot of their ideas sit dorment in their labs, seemingly because they haven’t yet figured out how to make a buck off them yet. One of my favorites is Google Sets. At first, like a ball peen hammer, it’s one of those tools [...]
A simple method to toggle a bit column (MySQL, SQL Server, and others)
I’ll occasionally see SQL code that looks something like this: UPDATE products SET in_stock = CASE WHEN in_stock = 1 THEN 0 ELSE 1 END; Or sometimes the developer tries to accomplish the same thing with an overly complex subquery. We can greatly simplify what we’re trying to do with just this query: UPDATE products [...]
Using Apache’s mod_ext_filter to automatically add watermarks to website images
I recently discussed mod_ext_filter, a loadable module used with Apache. It allows you to easily process your content through an external program before it’s passed onto the user’s web browser. I mentioned using mod_ext_filter as a way to automatically add watermarks to images on a website. After receiving a bit of interest in how to [...]
10 things you (probably) didn’t know about PHP.
PHP is simultaneously the most infuriating and joyful languages I’ve ever worked with. I say “infuriating” primarily because the function names are so inconsistant. Despite the fact that I use it almost everyday, I still have to think to myself “Is it str_pos or strpos? str_split or strsplit?” On the other hand, occasionally I’ll stumble [...]
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