Today's Question:  What does your personal desk look like?        GIVE A SHOUT

SEARCH KEYWORD -- TOP POSTS

  How can I teach a bright person, with no programming experience, how to program?

I usually prescribe the same sequence for anyone who wants to learn programming. It's very theoretical, but it lays a good foundation. It should take three or four months of fulltime study, but programming isn't something you learn overnight.If you can't get through this sequence, you're not going to be able to program, so you might as well give up now.Code, by Charles Petzold.The C Programming Language, K&RThe Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Abelson and Sussman.My rule is...

   Steps,Programming,No experience,No knowledge     2011-11-07 08:27:48

  Strangest line of python you have ever seen

The other day @HairyFotr and @zidarsk8 were doing some codegolfing with implementations of nondeterministic finite state machineand asked me to blog their results.For those of us who often forget what all of this computer science mumbo jumbo means, here’s a quick explanation from wikipedia:In the theory of computation, a nondeterministic finite state machine or nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) is a finite state machin...

   Python,Strange,Research,Work rationale     2011-11-19 02:05:03

  What programming languages should I learn?

Since I started this blog, I have gotten quite a few emails asking me “What programming languages do you recommend for X?” I often finding myself writing something along the lines ofI would honestly recommend python. Something about me being biased because I know and love it.  Usually say something about the competing technology with a back handed insult. Also if they are starting out I would recommend a language that enforces better OO (Object Orientated) practic...

   programming language,Popularity,Java,Tre     2011-09-23 13:11:57

  Those famous Emacs users

I don't think using Emacs can improve one's programming skills, I don't think some famous people used Emacs before can provide something, either. But these famous people encouraged me to learn Emacs when I wanted to give it up. Here I created a list of famous Emacs users. Most of people in this list are not famous because they developed or used Emacs, but they are famous and also use Emacs. Joe Armstrong -- Erlang's author In The Setup, Joe mentioned that "I write books using XML markup in emacs...

   Emacs,History     2013-07-28 21:36:09

  Installing LAMP On Ubuntu

In this guide I will show you how to install a LAMP system. LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. The guide is intended to help those who have very little knowlegde of using Linux. Install ApacheTo start off we will install Apache.1. Open up the Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).2. Copy/Paste the following line of code into Terminal and then press enter:sudo apt-get install apache23. The Terminal will then ask you for you're password, type it an...

   LAMP,Ubuntu,Linux,Apache,MySQL,,PHP     2011-04-28 05:20:02

  Games don’t need to be social

Social games have been a big trend in recent years. Zynga struck it big and now everyone else is trying to emulate them. Unfortunately, the first thing that pops into anyones head when a Zynga game is mentioned is Facebook. Facebook is the platform upon which their success stories like FarmVille were built, but it’s not the reason for their success.Zyngas games work because they are fun. The social connectivity is merely a mechanism to share your enjoyment of the game with other...

   Game,Social,No need,Game design     2011-10-29 07:15:34

  Surprising applications of math

The comments in the previous post touched on surprising applications of math, so I thought I’d expand this theme into it’s own post. Below I’ll give a couple general examples of surprising applications and then I’ll give a couple more personal applications I found surprising.Number theory has traditionally been the purest of pure mathematics. People study number theory for the joy of doing so, not to make money. At least that was largely true until the ...

   Math,Number theory,Algorithms,Differential euqation     2011-11-18 09:24:19

  JavaScript delete specific item from array

Deleting an item from an array is easy using JavaScript’s built-in method splice(). However, if you are somewhat new to scripting, simply knowing about splice does not help you remove a certain item from an array. This article will solidly state the solution to this dilemma.If you want to remove a specific item from your array, you will simply use a basic loop and a conditional check with the splice()method.Here is a breakdown of what we will do in 3 easy steps, so tha...

   JavaScript,Array,Remove item,Splice,Dele     2011-09-16 16:38:52

  5 Ways to Boost MySQL Scalability

There are a lot of scalability challenges we see with clients over and over. The list could easily include 20, 50 or even 100 items, but we shortened it down to the biggest five issues we see.1. Tune those queriesBy far the biggest bang for your buck is query optimization. Queries can be functionally correct and meet business requirements without being stress tested for high traffic and high load. This is why we often see clients with growing pains, and scalability challenges as their site becom...

   MySQL,Scalability,Methods,Implementation,Practice     2011-10-18 02:57:27

  Why Android Will Always Be Laggier Than iOS

One of the things that really stands out using an iPhone is just how smooth it feels compared to using Android. Where as Android is laggy, with a measurable interim between when you touch the screen and when the OS responds, iOS almost seems to anticipate what you want to do before your finger touches the display.How has Apple managed this incredible feat? A better question might be: “How has Google managed to screw up Android’s multitouch so much?” According to Andrew M...

   Android,iOs,Speed,UI Design,Lag     2011-12-07 03:17:18

RECENT