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

SEARCH KEYWORD -- worst

  Speed Hashing

A given hash uniquely represents a file, or any arbitrary collection of data. At least in theory. This is a 128-bit MD5 hash you're looking at above, so it can represent at most 2128 unique items, or 340 trillion trillion trillion. In reality the usable space is substantially less; you can start seeing significant collisions once you've filled half the space, but half of an impossibly large number is still impossibly large. Back in 2005, I wondered about the difference between a checksum and...

   Speed hashing,Security,MD5     2012-04-07 10:35:15

  Do NOT use boolean variable as function parameters

We follow lots of coding styles and coding standards when we do programming, but we may frequently forget one. The forgotten one is that do not use boolean parameter as the function parameters. The reason is it would greatly reduce the readability of the code. Don't believe it? When you read the following code, what does this code mean? widget->repaint(false); Do not repaint? Or what does this mean? After looking at the document, we know that this parameter is whether ...

   CODING STYLE,BOOLEAN,FUNCTION PARAMETER,CODING STANDARD,METHOD PARAMETER     2012-04-22 02:38:45

  The False Ideals of the Web

WE who love the Internet love the fact that so many people contribute to it. It’s hard to believe that skeptics once worried about whether anyone would have anything worthwhile to say online. There is, however, an outdated brand of digital orthodoxy that ought to be retired. In this worldview, the Internet is a never-ending battle of good guys who love freedom against bad guys like old-fashioned Hollywood media moguls. The bad guys want to strengthen copyright law, and make ...

   Web,False idea,Free,SOPA     2012-01-19 10:24:25

  Designing Great API Docs

Writing documentation is one of those things that is dreaded by many developers. It takes a lot of effort and time to get right. And too often, people take shortcuts. This is sad, because well designed documentation is the key to getting people excited about your project, whether it's open source or a developer focused product. In fact, I argue that the most important piece of UX for a developer product isn't the homepage or the sign up process or the SDK download. It's the API documentati...

   API docs,Design API docs,Advice     2012-03-09 23:15:00

  The Trouble With Bright Kids

It's not easy to live up to your fullest potential. There are so many obstacles that can get in the way: bosses that don't appreciate what you have to offer, tedious projects that take up too much of your time, economies where job opportunities are scarce, the difficulty of juggling career, family, and personal goals. But smart, talented people rarely realize that one of the toughest hurdles they'll have to overcome lies within. People with above-average aptitudes — the ones we ...

   Smart,Confidence,Hardworking,Trouble,Bright kids     2011-11-29 08:33:03

  PHP sucks (but, some frameworks don't)

I started web development with PHP, and I've decided I've had enough. Why? Keep reading.PHP (the language) sucks. There, I said it. 1029380128301928301823 GlobalsObject system hacked onC extension system sucksDocumentation sucks (read more; no, I'm not drunk)Has a terrible communityAll in all, designed by total idiots. You've probably heard this a ton of times before, but, here it is again. THERE ARE JUST WAY TOO MANY GLOBALS. Why in the world does md5() need to be global? Do you serio...

   PHP,Sucks,Framework,Good,Bad Design     2011-11-20 07:08:16

  How Query Optimizer Works in RDBMS

In a previous post, we discussed how the various relational operators are implemented in relational database systems. If you have read that post, you probably still remember that there are a few alternative implementations for every operator. Thus, how should RDBMS determine which algorithm (or implementation) to use? Obviously, to optimize the performance for any query, RDBMS has to select the correct the algorithm based on the query. It would not be desirable to always use the same algori...

   DATABASE,DATABASE DESIGN,DATABASE OPTIMIZATION     2019-04-20 07:26:32

  IE ActiveX(”htmlfile”) Transport, Part II

In my last post I discussed using the ActiveX(”htmlfile”) technique to provide a usable streaming transport in Internet Explorer. The solution I provided will work, but since writing the last article I’ve made significant progress in understanding why IE behaves the way it does with respect to the streaming transport. The previous solution amounted to creating an array of messages, pushing messages on that array from the htmlfile iframe, and popping messages off of the array i...

   IE,Http,Streaming,htmlfile,Transport,Act     2011-09-05 04:07:02

  Database Testing – Practical Tips and Insight on How to Test Database

Database is one of the inevitable parts of a software application these days. It does not matter at all whether it is web or desktop, client server or peer to peer, enterprise or individual business, database is working at backend. Similarly, whether it is healthcare of finance, leasing or retail, mailing application or controlling spaceship, behind the scene a database is always in action. Moreover, as the complexity of application increases the need of stronger and secure database emerge...

   Database,Tips,Practice     2011-06-29 08:47:40

  Tips for Putting a Price on Your Work

WHEN I first started as a freelance writer, I was eager to sell myself — but not eager to have to discuss money. So I more or less took whatever was offered. Then I read somewhere that no matter what price a new client states, you always say in a polite but firm tone, “I expected more.” The first time I tried it, I was sweating and I doubt my tone was firm — it probably sounded more like pleading — but to my great surprise, it worked. With th...

   Development,Price,Worl,Negotiation     2012-01-29 04:37:17

RECENT