Clay Aiken didn't get 'Python' at first
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Clay Aiken, who joins the cast of "Monty Python's Spamalot" this week, says its humor was initially lost on him.
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Following up on this article from Akash Mehta, Bryan has posted five more suggestions he has to help make you a better PHP developer.   I thought all of Akash's suggestions were good but a little broad and seemed to involve a lot of reading. And while any budding developer will jump at the chance to expand their burgeoning technical library, I thought there were a couple of items we could add to his list.  The recommendations that made his list are  Start a project that other people (developers and end users) will use. Learn another language. Teach someone PHP. Ask for suggestions not solutions. Use what you read.   I'm particularly a fan of the third one (teaching) - not only does it spread PHP out even more through the masses, but it can really test you on your knowledge (some of those "how do I.." questions can get a bit complex, even from beginners).
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From the DevChix website, there's this new post that helps introduce developers (both in PHP and Rails environments) to hos to use the Yahoo! UI connection manager in their applications.   This post is geared towards folks who haven't done the "A" part of "AJAX" before (And I mean the first "A", as in "Asychronous"); are new to Yahoo's implementation of the XMLHttpRequest object (The Yahoo! Connection Manager) and would like added information on how that works; or both.   Sarah starts off slow with an example of making a connection to a backend PHP script as called by a HTML form. The simple example is fleshed out with a database backend (via PEAR::DB) and the Javascript to handle the response and the errors that might arise. Finally, a request can be made and the result eval-ed to give the client a nice, simple Javascript object to work with.
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Jikes is a great compiler but they could really benefit from better project management.  This bug  has been open for greater than 3 years now with no resolution.  One of the developers sent me a *private* email (without commenting or closing the bug) this this could be fixed by avoiding the use of symlinks but wasn't sure. Of course this email was sent more than 2 years ago so I have no decent way of finding it.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that IBM won't let me comment on the bug without an account.  The only problem is that my account won't activate.  In a nutshell if you want to use incremental compile with jikes you need to specify relative paths not full paths.  For example if y ...
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After a year and a half away from the spotlight, Clay Aiken returns with an edgy new look, a far-from-edgy new album and a newly secure sense of self.
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On CodeSnipers.com today, there's a new book review posted of the APress book "Beginning Ajax with PHP" by Lee Babin.   Although no stranger to Ajax, I received a review copy of Beginning Ajax with PHP expecting some watered down presentation of Javascript with some PHP thrown in. I was quite surprised to find a good presentation of using Ajax and PHP, easy enough for the beginner and still interesting for those who have done it for years.   Nola covers the contents of the book, generalizing the sections just to give you a brief overview of what's going on in each chapter. She also describes the end of the book as a "random splattering of interesting topics" dealing with using Ajax in different, useful situations.
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The first precise measurement of a failed star known as a brown dwarf finds the object is much more massive than theorists expected. The result challenges what astronomers&nbsp;assumed about these strange things, which straddle the mass range between huge planets and normal stars.
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Python Development Environment (Python IDE plugin for Eclipse). Features editor, code completion, refactoring, outline view, debugger, and other goodies - check http://pydev.sf.net).   Pydev Release: 1.3.9 --------------------  Major highlights: -----------------      * Fixed problem when configuring jython     * Patch from paulj: debbugger working with jython 2.2rc2     * Patch from Oskar Heck: debbugger can change globals     * Added action to delete all .pyc / $py.class files     * Added actions to add/remove the pydev configuration from a project (previously, the only way to add a nature was to open a python file within a project).     * Ctrl+Shift+O: When used with a selection will consider lines ending with \\ (without selection organizes imports)     * Auto-add "import" string will not be added when adding a space in the case: from xxximport (just after from xxx)     * Templates created with tabs (or spaces indent) are now converted to the indent being used in the editor     * Hide non-pydev projects filter working     * Don't show assignments/imports after if __name__ == '__main__': in outline     * Code-completion: after a completion is requested, pressing '.' will apply that completion (and if it has parameters, they'll not be added).     * Code-completion: when a code-completion is applied with Ctrl pressed (toggle mode), parameters are not added.     * Assign to local variable/attribute handles constants correctly.     * psyco changed for Null object for debug (so, no changes are required to the code if psyco is used while debugging).     * Code-folding annotations won't change places.     * Pydev package explorer will correctly show outline for files if the project root is set as a source folder.     * Pydev package explorer: folders under the pythonpath have a package icon.     * Unittest runner: handles multiple selection.
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Apparently, being the patron saint of Claynation isn't always   easy.
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There's a line between capitalizing on a breakthrough hit single and exploiting it, and Trace Adkins straddles that line when he closes his eighth album with a dance remix of "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." Pity the fan who picks up Adkins' new "Dangerous Man" believing they're getting the original version of the crossover smash, instead getting a klutzy disco reworking that erases its leering charm.
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On the Zend Developer Zone, there's a new post pointing to the second part of their look at the Manning Publishing book "PHP in Action".   If you've been anxiously awaiting part two of this series then your wait is over. Here's a short introduction to the section part of this series written by the author of the book, Dagfinn Reiersol. I had the privilege of meeting Dagfinn at phpuk last week. Below the introduction is the link I know youâve been waiting for.   The new PDF they link to focus on two different patterns - the Decorator (a wrapper class) pattern and the Null Object (an object that works like the others but does nothing behind the scenes) pattern.
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With all the questions that have flowed through Josh Beckett's initial season with the Red Sox -- Why all the home runs? When is he going to live up to his potential? Why did Anibal Sanchez, and not Beckett, throw the first no-hitter between the two? -- the final effort of the season from the prize trade acquisition seemed strangely ...
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Back with his own look at the php/db|works conference is Cal Evans wrapping up Day Two:   Day Two at php|works started off with a bang. Rasums presented his "Getting Rich with PHP" as the opening keynote. If you've never seen this presentation, the OSCON version is described here with links to a video of it as well as the slides. It's an interesting presentation. I missed the first section of it at OSCON where he slaps around both IE and FLASH pointing out some serious security holes. Again, it's a great presentation and worth the time to listen to.   Cal talks about...well...the talks and about the interviews he started (like with Chris Hartjes, Ilia Alshanetsky, Chris Shiflett, and Sebastian Bergmann).
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Clay Aiken has canceled the first three dates of his Joyful Noise holiday tour due to illness.
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âI don't like it when people say, âl really dug your message, man.â Or: âl really dug your play, man. I cried.â You know? I like it when people come up to me the next day, or a week later, and they say: âI saw your play. What happened?ââ Jeff Slater (Bill Murray), âTootsieâ [...].
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Sun is working on technology to make it easier to run different languages on the Java Virtual Machine. Called the Da Vinci Machine, the project is being described by Sun as "a multi-language renaissance for the Java Virtual Machine architecture." The project features prototype JVM extensions to run non-Java languages efficiently as well as architectural support.Although many languages besides Java have been implemented on the JVM, including Ruby, the intent is to make the JVM more compatible with other languages, said Charles Nutter, core developer of JRuby, which is a version of Ruby to run on the JVM. "For the most part, almost every language that's more than five years old has some kind of implementation on the JVM," he said. ?The JVM allows programs using it to run on any platform supporting the JVM; it provides hardware and OS independence. Benefits like flexible online code loading and online garbage collection, in which objects are moved out of the way automatically rather than having to be saved manually, are featured.Da Vinci Machine is intended to overcome obstacles like mismatches between a source language's design patterns and JVM capabilities. Because the JVM was designed for Java and Java favors some design patterns over others, implementers can find themselves dealing with these mismatches, Sun said."Specifically, the JVM was originally for Java, and many other languages have features unlike what Java provides. We need to find ways to support those features," said Nutter.Some pain points to running new languages on the JVM include limitations on calling sequences and control stack management, finite inheritance, and scaling problems when generating classes.Nutter pointed out that Java, in being a statically typed language, differs from scripting languages like Ruby, which are dynamically typed. Thus, Java gives the JVM more clues about what code is going to be executed. Ways need to be found to let the JVM make the correct call for these languages, he said. In JRuby, this obstacle is addressed via a piece of code to inspect target operations.Capabilities of Da Vinci Machine are planned for inclusion in the upcoming JDK (Java SE Development Kit) 7, which is based on Java Platform, Standard Edition 7. Sun could not provide a release date for JDK 7. It is not known how many Da Vinci features might actually get into JDK 7, Nutter said.Da Vinci represents an experimental branch, or even a fork, of the JVM, said Nutter. He cautioned that fork in this case is not meant to carry the same negative connotations associated with forking of a platform.Java developers questioned liked the idea of Da Vinci Machine."[Da Vinci Machine] sounds like something I was thinking was going to happen and should have happened," said Daniel Hinojosa, an independent Java developer and a founder of the Albuquerque Java Users Group. "I think there's going to be a race between Java and the Microsoft [CLR (Common Language Runtime)]." The CLR has been likened to a virtual machine supporting multiple languages. "I think Java's a great language, but I think people like to program differently, whether it's a functional language or a scripting language," he said. Hinojosa said has been running JRuby, Groovy, and Java on the JVM.Developer Alex Miller, tech lead at Java clustering technology vendor Terracotta, also agreed with the Da Vinci Machine effort."There are lots of people writing and running dynamic languages on the JVM these days, and there are certain things that are complicated or obscure with the use of [dynamic] languages," Miller said.A lot of dynamic languages differ from Java in that they leverage functions rather than objects, Miller said. Making them work on the JVM requires extra work, he said.Sun's JRuby project, meanwhile, is getting an upgrade. Version 1.1, due within a month, features a full compiler to greatly improve performance, Nutter said.
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By Joe Lam'l  For me, it started out innocently enough, I suppose; a simple hobby operation in the basement to pass the time and development of something to organically feed my plants with. I didn't know it would become an obsession run amok.  I'm talking about vermicomposting.