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  How To Find a Great Start-Up Idea

Most people believe that the first step to starting a new company is to have a great idea. Back in business school, there were countless “idea brainstorming” sessions where groups of students would try to come up with the next billion dollar idea. None of them ever turned into anything.Great businesses are not built on ideas for marginal improvements or incremental features, they solve real problems and require a deep understanding of what those problems are. So the absolute worst th...

   Startup idea,Implement,Quickness     2012-03-18 00:26:22

  Why PHP Was a Ghetto

Note: I wrote this over a month ago, but decided not to publish it until now.I was talking with the Co-founder of a pretty cool start-up in DUMBO the other day about why the non-PHP development world generally has such disdain for PHP and the community surrounding it. He brought up an interesting point that stuck with me, largely because I hadn’t heard it before.If you’re unaware of the usual beef most developers have with PHP, it tends to revolve around:Ug...

   PHP,Framework,MVC     2011-05-06 00:35:37

  Host multiple websites in Wamp

I have decided to start playing around with the Zend Framework. I have a web host (of course) however sometimes when developing I find it is easier and faster to use a local web server, with all the bells and whistles. WAMP, LAMP (this link is ubuntu specific, but any linux distribution should have easy HowTo guide for installing the LAMP software stack), MAMP, all provide the basic environment for beginning web development, and some have nice little GUIs to help you con...

   multiple hosts, wamp, websites, differen     2011-04-04 11:42:06

  Disable directory listings

Preventing directory listings can be very useful if for example, you have a directory containing important '.zip' archive files or to prevent viewing of your image directories. Alternatively it can also be useful to enable directory listings if they are not available on your server, for example if you wish to display directory listings of your important '.zip' files.To prevent directory listings, create a .htaccess file following the main instructions and guidance which includes the following te...

   .htaccess,Disable directory listing,Inde     2011-10-03 14:36:35

  Java is not the new COBOL

If you Google “Java is the new COBOL” you’ll find a glut of articles proliferating this mantra. I don’t know its origins, however I’m inclined to think it’s mostly repeated (and believed) by the Ruby community. Ruby, from a developer’s perspective is a low-friction language. A developer can just sit down at a text editor and start banging out code without really thinking about such superflous things as types. Java on the other hand, well, you h...

   Java,Ruby,Type,COBOL,Comparison     2011-11-10 10:40:56

  Learn Vim Progressively

tl;dr: Want to learn vim (the best text editor known to human kind) the fastest way possible. I suggest you a way. Start by learning the minimal to survive, then integrate slowly all tricks.Vim the Six Billion Dollar editorBetter, Stronger, Faster.Learn vim and it will be your last text editor. There isn’t any better text editor I know. Hard to learn, but incredible to use.I suggest you to learn it in 4 steps:SurviveFeel comfortableFeel Better, Stronger, FasterUse vim ...

   Vim,Learning,Skills,Tips,Steps,Progressi     2011-09-08 10:44:06

  Skills Needed to be a Web Developer in 2011

Many web developers think they already have all the knowledge they need to continue their careers. Check out this list of the ten skills all web developers must have to succeed in 2011 and beyond, and see how you measure up.1) Speak The Basic Languages of the WebBesides the content mark-up of HTML and the style rich sheets of CSS, how are you at your JavaScript and other advanced DHTML features? HTML 5, the latest upcoming W3C standard, includes audio and video embedding, database connectivity a...

   HTML5,Web skills,PHP,.NET,Java     2011-05-12 00:47:49

  How I Became a Programmer

I posted a very brief response to a post on HackerNews yesterday challenging the notion that 8 weeks of guided tutelage on Ruby on Rails is not going to produce someone who you might consider a "junior RoR developer." It did not garner many upvotes so I figured that like most conversation on the Internet it faded into the general ambient chatter. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to couple handfuls' worth of emails from around the world asking me what I did, how I did it, an...

   Programmer,Advice,Method,Study     2011-11-24 09:14:50

  C++ Without Fear: Functions

A function is a group of related statements that accomplish a specific task. Understanding functions is a crucial step to programming in C++, as Brian Overland explains in this chapter from his book.The most fundamental building block in the programming toolkit is the function—often known as procedure or subroutinein other languages. A function is a group of related statements that accomplish a specific task. Once you define a function, you can execute it whenever you need ...

   C++,Feature,Function,Elaboration,Fear     2011-09-03 11:03:11

  Design Secrets for Engineers

If you are a designer like me, you must be asked on a regular basis to “make it look pretty.” The request can stroke your designer ego, making you feel like a design rockstar with super powers to make this world a more beautiful place. This is especially true at startups, where you are one of the few, maybe the only designer there. However, it can also be really annoying–almost degrading at times. Thoughts like “why the hell can’t engineers do this on their o...

   Design,UI,pretty,engineer,designer font     2011-10-24 11:18:25

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