9 Nov 2012
event
A few weeks ago, I went to the Future of Web Apps 2012 in London. 2 days of talks, and general geekiness
Why Go?
Why should I go to conferences, especially when I have to pay for it myself?
I work for myself, and most days I work on my own. Events are a chance to meet other people in the same field, to talk, to get excited, to get enthused, and to learn how much I don’t know. I’ve come home and there are things I’m excited about, some contacts, lots of people to follow, things to read, learning to do … and yes, it is worth it.
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5 Aug 2012
debugging, linux, programming, subversion
I’ve recently had a completely new (to me) SVN problem. I’ve been trying to update my SVN working copy from the reposisty and I get this error:
Can’t move ‘.svn/tmp/entries’ to ‘.svn/entries’: Operation not permitted
I’ve tried running the svn cleanup, but no joy. Google is my friend… the fix is to run this command in terminal
cd workingdir
chflags -Rv nouchg .
chflags – Change File Flags command
-R recursive, -v Verbose (tells you which files changed)
nouchg means the file can be changed (immutable bit cleared)
The immutable bit was a new one to me, so I had to go and look that one up as well. When you can’t take the chance of a file getting accidentally munged, you can set the immutable bit. Not even root can delete a file with the immutable bit set, unless they clears the bit first (making accidental removal highly unlikely). Very sensible, and since I’m exactly the kind of person who might accidentally delete whole swaths of files while in root mode, I can really see the point of an immutable bit.
However, I couldn’t work out how or where the immutable bit was being set. More googling … this seems to be a common problem where some developers are using windows & others are using mac os x. Still not sure of the WHY but the context makes sense.
3 Jul 2012
programming, security, user-support
This came to me via one of my clients – they were talking about problems they’d had with another web developer.
The site in question is a standard ecommerce site where users have to register as part of the checkout process, and login to get downloads, and special discounts. Problem started when the site owner got this email from one of their customers.
I want to report that your site is NOT secure.
I had forgotten my password. So I did a Google search to see if I can find the webpage on how to re-set it.
Guess what? Someone has hacked your site and obtained all the passwords and email addresses and posted them online.
Sure enough, I found my email … and my forgotten password.
Basically, some script kiddies had hacked the site and posted all email addresses and passwords online with lots of (in)appropriate “ha ha, we got you good!” messages
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22 Jun 2012
humour, picture, programming
Every time. This happens every time.
I’ve been trying to find the source of this wonderful cartoon, but have just ended up with loads and loads of blogs where people go “me too!”
29 Nov 2011
user-support
From http://status.delicious.com/2011_10_01_archive.html
“In addition, we’ve found that some users have unknowingly created tags with spaces before or after the word, which then looks to them like two tags with the same name. If you’re seeing two tags that look the same on your profile, try renaming the tags to eliminate hidden spaces.”
Translation:
We don’t know how to use trim statements. Instead of fixing our string handling to deal this issue (and we already know for a fact that it annoys our users), we’re going to get all defensive and blame our users for being idiots who can’t use a spacebar properly.
26 Oct 2011
people, programming
printf("Goodbye world");
10 Oct 2011
event, php
I’ve just spent a weekend at the PHP North West 2011 Conference. I went to the London PHP day in February and a couple of people in the bar were enthusing about the North West event, so I decided to give it a go.
Why did I go to the conference?
I usually work from home, and I work on my own and this (while still being wonderful and completely amazing and best way to work ever) does mean that I miss out on the company of other developers. Working with, and talking to, other people is a great way to learn; people tell you about things, you try new things, you get enthused and excited and you remember why you love your work. Weblogs and mailing lists and twitter and IRC, although good things in and of themselves, are not quite the same as people. So I try and fill a hole with local events and the occasional conference. Sometimes it’s hard work; like a lot of people in this field I’m not the most sociable and gregarious person.
What did I like?
There was a great selection of talks, and making a choice was often difficult. Choice isn’t always good – I sometimes end up feeling that the talk on the other side of the fence was greener and wondering what I’m missing. But I saw some wonderful presentations, and all the presentations in the main tracks were videoed so I can check out the talks I missed when the videos go online (in about a month).
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22 Jul 2011
mysql, php
For all web applications, I have to make sure I’m using UTF8. It’s not just for customers who want the occasional page in Japanese or Korean; it’s for perfectly standard English pages which use text such as Ætna or the non-Ascii pound sign £
Now, to get this right, I have to make sure the database is setup to handle UTF8 AND the web server is setup to handle UTF8 AND the browser is setup to handle UTF8…
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12 Jan 2011
freelance, working
Web Developers going AWOL is a surprisingly common problem
A company will have a site built, and perhaps a backend management system setup, and then they want some amends or tweaks but they cannot contact their web developer. I think this happens because many developers are used to working through an agency and have an agency mentality – “job done, get paid, end of story” – and they don’t think of ongoing support for existing customers.
Reasonable enough if you’re a contractor, and you do work via an agency, but not so great if you are the sole technical support for a small company. I’ve had work (and some nice work) from panicked customers who just cannot get in touch with their regular guy. In one case the programmer had gone on a cruise to the Carribean and not told anyone, but my favourite missing-in-action is:
“Our web developer went to the Burning Man Festival and he never came back”
Yes, you are allowed holidays and breaks, but give your customers plenty of notice and at the very least setup an email responder so people know what’s going on – don’t disappear on them just as they’re trying to ramp up for Christmas. And if you’re going off to live in a yurt, help them find a replacement developer.
11 Jan 2011
event, php
I’m about to head off to the PHP West Midlands get-together for January.
The group meets the second Tuesday of every month, and it alternates between social and technical meets. This month – “What’s new in Zend Framework 2.0” by Rob Allen
Dave has arranged for a new venue and we’re now meeting in the Birmingham Science Park. I’m not exactly a regular, but will be going more frequently this year – my Tuesdays are a little more open for socialising and php-ing. Most of the group activity is on the mailing list and that’s always useful source of advice / suggestions.
And at the end of next month, we have the PHPUK11 – a one day event arranged by the London PHP group. The talks are good, but as always it’s the chat over coffee with other developers which really makes it worthwhile. I usually work as a solo developer, so bumping heads with other people in the same field matters. Too much possibility of stagnating otherwise.