authentication
As we continue to work on the code that will eventually become stackoverflow, we belatedly realized that we’d be contributing to the glut of username and passwords on the web. I have fifty online logins, and I can’t remember any of them! Adding that fifty-first set of stackoverflow.
php
abs() acos() acosh() addcslashes() addslashes() aggregate() aggregate_info() aggregate_methods() aggregate_methods_by_list() aggregate_methods_by_regexp() aggregate_properties() aggregate_properties_by_list() aggregate_properties_by_regexp() aggregation_info() apache_child_terminate() apache_get_modules() apache_get_version() apache_getenv() apache_lookup_uri() apache_note() apache_request_headers() apache_
software development
In yesterday’s post on Crashing Responsibly, I outlined a few ways to improve your application’s crash behavior. In the event that your application crashes – and oh, it will – why not turn that crash into something that: * Records lots of diagnostic information developers can use to improve the application
software development concepts
As programmers, it is our responsibility to ensure that when something goes horribly wrong with our software, the user has a reasonable escape plan. It’s an issue of fundamental safety in software error handling that I liken to those ubiquitous airline safety cards. Which one accurately depicts the way
open source
In Where Are All The Open Source Billionaires? I used this chart as an illustration: Because open source code is freely distributable, anyone can take that code and create their own unique mutant mashup version of it any time they feel like it. Whether anyone else in the world will
html
One of the things we’re thinking about while building stackoverflow.com is how to let users style the questions and answers they’re entering on the site. Nothing’s decided at this point, but we definitely won’t be giving users one of those friendly-but-irritating HTML GUI browser layout
software development
Let’s say, just as a hypothetical, you’re sitting at your computer, casually chatting with a fellow programmer. You begin to describe some bit of code, then bring it up on your display to illustrate. You want to highlight some particular part of the code. Perhaps you move the
xml
Everywhere I look, programmers and programming tools seem to have standardized on XML. Configuration files, build scripts, local data storage, code comments, project files, you name it – if it’s stored in a text file and needs to be retrieved and parsed, it’s probably XML. I realize that we
technology trends
You’ve probably read this classic boner of an iPod quote at some point: No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame. It’s from the Slashdot article on the introduction of the original Apple iPod back in 2001. I had always assumed this particular quote was written by a
programming languages
Like everything else in software engineering, it seems, the concept of Model-View-Controller was originally invented by Smalltalk programmers. More specifically, it was invented by one Smalltalk programmer, Trygve Reenskaug. Trygve maintains a page that explains the history of MVC in his own words. He arrives at these definitions in a
technology trends
The Garmin Nuvi GPS first got my attention when it came not just recommended, but insanely recommended by Jason Fried in late 2005. So, back to the... Oh wow. The Nuvi 350 is insanely good. Next to the iPod it’s the the best piece of consumer electronics I’ve
multicore programming
Like Donald Knuth, I think much of the current multicore hype is overrated. The machine I use today has dual processors. I get to use them both only when I’m running two independent jobs at the same time; that’s nice, but it happens only a few minutes every