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  File System vs Core Data: the image cache test

Code for this project is on GitHub While doing a full re-write of Droplr's iOS app for the 2.0 launch, I couldn't find any good file/image caches out there had a particular feature I really wanted: extending item expiration whenever it's touched. I set out to write my own — which wasn't that much of a challenge — but somewhere along the process I had this crazy idea that perhaps (SQLite-backed) Core Data would be a much better tool for the job: No mismatch between cache index ...

   File system.Image cache,Multimedia     2012-02-01 08:52:02

  In College, Working Hard to Learn High School Material

In June, Desiree Smith was graduated from Murry Bergtraum High. Her grades were in the 90s, she said, and she had passed the four state Regents exams. Since enrolling last month at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, Ms. Smith, 19, has come to realize that graduating from a New York City public high school is not the same as learning. She failed all three placement tests for LaGuardia and is now taking remediation in reading, writing and math. So are Nikita Thomas, ofBedford Stuyves...

   Education,College,High school,Material,Knowledge transfer     2011-10-24 11:51:39

  I hate cut-and-paste

Me, I blame the IDE's.Coding used to be hard. Not because programming itself was overly hard, but mostly because editors absolutely sucked. How much the typical development environment in the 70's and 80's sucked is hard to convey (except for a very lucky few, and those would have likely been using DEC and WANG gear). I got in on the tail end of the punch card era. Punching your own program is lots of fun. Once. And if you drop a deck you get to play with the sorter, which is also lots of fun (o...

   IDE,Editor,Cut and paste,Shortcut,Blame     2011-10-24 11:33:46

  A Fun Approach To Creating More Successful Websites

As Web designers and developers, each project we work with has a unique set of goals and requirements. But one goal we have for all of our projects is that we want them to make an impression on people — we want the websites that we create to be memorable. A fun experience is often an enjoyable one and an enjoyable experience is usually a memorable one. Therefore, it stands to reason that one of the ways to create a memorable experience is to make it a fun experience. In this article,...

   Web design,Elements,UI,Success     2012-03-05 05:10:07

  The seven rules of Unobtrusive JavaScript

I've found the following rules over the years developing, teaching and implementing JavaScript in an unobtrusive manner. They have specifically been the outline of a workshop on unobtrusive JavaScript for the Paris Web conference 2007 in Paris, France. I hope that they help you understand a bit why it is a good idea to plan and execute your JavaScript in this way. It has helped me deliver products faster, with much higher quality and a lot easier maintenance. 1. Do no...

   JavaScript,Feature,Tips     2012-01-18 08:21:39

  #46 – Why software sucks

No one makes bad software on purpose. No benevolent programmer has ever sat down, planning out weeks of work, with the intention of frustrating people and making them cry. Bad software, or bad anything, happens because making things is hard, making good things doubly so. The three things that make it difficult are: Possessing the diverse skills needed not to suck.Understanding who you’re making the thing for.Orchestrating the interplay of skills, egos and constraints over the course of...

   Software design,Sucks,Software industry     2012-03-19 13:10:37

  Comparing Floating Point Numbers, 2012 Edition

We’ve finally reached the point in this series that I’ve been waiting for. In this post I am going to share the most crucial piece of floating-point math knowledge that I have. Here it is:[Floating-point] math is hard.You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly hard it is. I mean, you may think it’s difficult to calculate when trains from Chicago and Los Angeles will collide, but that’s just peanuts to floating-point math.Seriously. Each ti...

   Floating point number,Comparison,True value     2012-02-23 07:11:03

  10 Object Oriented Design principles Java programmer should know

Object Oriented Design Principles are core of OOPS programming but I have seen most of Java programmer chasing design patterns like Singleton pattern , Decorator pattern or Observer pattern but not putting enough attention on Object oriented analysis and design or following these design principles. I have regularly seen Java programmers and developers of various experience level who either doesn't heard about these OOPS and SOLID design principle or simply doesn't know what benefits a particular...

   OOP design,Principle,Java     2012-03-14 13:51:38

  Php Class to Retrieve Alexa Rank

Alexa is a service acquired by Amazon which offers a web traffic report for websites. They retrieve the data from toolbar that can be installed in different browsers, centralize the data and display reports to anyone. The most important indicator is the Alexa Rank. It represents the rank of a webpage in a list of all the websites. It’s not the 100% accurate but it gives a good indication.Alexa does not offer any free API to obtain Alexa Rank. However there is a simple method to obtain it ...

   PHP,Alexa,Alexa rank,API,Retrieve Alexa rank     2011-10-25 11:28:55

  Signs that you're a bad programmer

1. Inability to reason about codeReasoning about code means being able to follow the execution path ("running the program in your head") while knowing what the goal of the code is.SymptomsThe presence of "voodoo code", or code that has no effect on the goal of the program but is diligently maintained anyway (such as initializing variables that are never used, calling functions that are irrelevant to the goal, producing output that is not used, etc.)Executing idempotent functions multiple times (...

   Sign,Programmer,Characteristics,Knowledge,Skill     2011-10-20 08:56:16

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