4 Sep 2009 - permalink
I am currently working on a Zend Framework based webapp that requires an unusual amount of flexibility from in the database structure that backs it. The standard way of defining the database model mapping to data structures in Zend is to extend the Zend_Db_Table_Abstract in your model classes. Because of the flexibility required (and because modification of the codebase is to be kept at a minimum), this is not a viable route.
Zend_Db_Table_Abstract can automatically figure out the structure of the underlying table for each model using the database adapter’s DESCRIPE TABLE command, which usually makes it very easy to create basic models. Zend Framework 1.9.0 allows for concrete instances of Zend_Db_Table itself and using this detection capability, it is then possible to create the basics of a table model without creating the model class as a file. With Zend_Db_Table_Definition, also new in 1.9, it is possible to define a set of models with relations without creating any model classes.
1 Sep 2009 - permalink
Wil Shipley on programming:
Life isn’t fair, and programming is even less fair. Programming is all about picking a certain class of users with a certain specific class of problems, and making their lives much MUCH better.
1 Sep 2009 - permalink
Paul Graham has compiled a great list of 13 advices for starting a company
The hard part is not answering questions but asking them: the hard part is seeing something new that users lack. The better you understand them the better the odds of doing that. That’s why so many successful startups make something the founders needed.
13 Aug 2009 - permalink
Interview with Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners:
We’ve had a lot of things not work, and that’s OK too. If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into flames, that’s going to be exciting too. People always ask, “What is your greatest failure?” I always have the same answer – We’re working on it right now, it’s gonna be awesome!
11 Aug 2009 - permalink
Lukas Mathis points out the many small things that make a big difference. This snippet, quoted from David Pogue, is a perfect example of the attention to detail that Apple pursue:
Although you don’t see it with your eyes, the sizes of the keys on the iPhone keyboard are changing all the time. That is, the software enlarges the “landing area” of certain keys, based on probability.
A World of HTML5
6 Aug 2009 - permalink
This brilliant demo of HTML5 shows some of the things possible with the next markup standard, without any plugins.
5 Aug 2009 - permalink
John Gruber reports on the trouble of getting Ninjawords in the App Store:
Apple censored an English dictionary.
A dictionary. A reference book. For words contained in all reasonable dictionaries. For words contained in dictionaries that are used every day in elementary school libraries and classrooms.
I think that a reasonable (as in open and clear) review process might be a fast way to improve the quality of what is offered. That being said, completely open systems like the software on regular computers have worked out just fine (malware is mostly a problem of inadequate security measures). Censorship, questionable explanations and random rejections is, however, not a path to anything but eventual failure.
Apple had a phenomenal chance to create an new platform with the iPhone, on which an entire ecosystem of software and hardware could arise. Right now, it appears as if the review process is being dictated by schizophrenic lawyers.
4 Aug 2009 - permalink
I found the site yay!everyday on twitter and discovered a few amazing videos, including Makoto Yabuki’s wonderful video called “White Box”:
The 555 KUBIK facade projection creates a truly remarkable optical illusion and a very interesting play with geometry - would have loved to see it in person:
Making The Web Faster
4 Aug 2009 - permalink
A collection of articles on how to speed up the web by Google. Yahoo also has a list of best practices for making websites fast
3 Aug 2009 - permalink
Maria Kalman muses on Benjamin Franklin and invention:
Don’t mope in your room. Go invent something. That is the American message.
Electricity. Flight. The telephone. Television. Computers. Walking on the moon. It never stops.
Beautiful. (via John Gruber)