Not Necessarily Dot Net

Startup Weekend

2009-11-15T05:06:00Z

Last weekend, I heard about an event called a startup weekend. Tonight, I'm in the middle of one. The idea is that a bunch of people who are interested in startups get together on a Friday evening after work. Those of us who had them pitched ideas (no one warned me about that part) to the crowd. Then the crowd spent half an hour networking, schoozing, and deciding which ideas were best. Then we spent another half hour or so picking out teams. Then we had a little time to start fleshing out ideas...(read more)

Developer Reliability Metrics

2009-05-09T16:55:00Z

Why Reliability Metrics? There's a new law being considered in the EU that would require software companies to pay for damages caused by bugs . A comment about halfway down the page recommends requiring specific certifications for coders working on specific kinds of projects. Just like engineers, doctors, and lawyers. My initial reaction was "That's dumb." But that's because I was thinking of the way our current certification system works. You cram some obscure material about...(read more)

Broken has_key on GAE, using Cheetah Templates

2009-02-08T19:35:00Z

Sometimes API changes break backwards compatibility in ways the authors didn't intend. Even if they stick to the letter of the contract ....(read more)

Pyjamas on Google App Engine

2009-01-23T04:34:00Z

Getting *way* out of scope here. Pyjamas is a summer project where some intern ported GWT to python (going from 80 KLOC to 8 KLOC...HLL really are worth looking at). Is it worth combining it with GAE?...(read more)

cheetah templates on Google App Engine

2008-12-16T00:26:00Z

The imp module on Google App Engine is extremely limited. Templating libraries seem to have a lot of problems with it. The work-arounds are easy, but sometimes they're a pain to track down. Here's how to deal with an error about imp.get_suffixes from the Cheetah templating engine....(read more)

Real World Dojo part Six: File Compression

2008-12-06T23:12:00Z

Using the base Dojo release can lead to a lot of unneeded traffic to/from your server. I'll show you how to trim some of the fat....(read more)

Real World Dojo part 5: Custom Components

2008-10-28T21:47:00Z

Dojo has its own built-in system for creating your own server-side controls. It's (arguably) better to use that than, say, creating a .NET user control....(read more)

Real World Dojo part Four: User Feedback

2008-10-23T22:13:00Z

You have to let the user know what's going on. That's one of the main points, isn't it?...(read more)

Real World Dojo part Three: AJAX

2008-10-23T21:19:00Z

I've avoided this as long as possible. It's time to bite the bullet and do some AJAX....(read more)

Real World Dojo part Two: File Upload

2008-10-15T06:05:00Z

The basics of using the new file uploader...(read more)

Real World Dojo part One: Form Validation

2008-10-14T22:18:00Z

Real World Dojo, part One (Basic Validation) The Scenario: I’ve kind of been nibbling around the edges of Dojo for a while, but I’m at a place in this project where I really need to buckle down and learn it. Since I’m having so much trouble finding real-life examples of the basics, I figured I’d share what I’m coming across. I have a very simple proof-of-concept form that shows the basics of the one that forced me to buckle down. It looks like this: <head> <title>Validation Test (raw...(read more)

Manipulating the DOM with Dojo

2008-10-08T12:46:00Z

This is the area where jQuery rules the roost. Or so everything I've read tells me. So, how does Dojo stack up? Still running this in parallel with Kyle's series: Setting the contents of an element // Convenience function to hide query details var element = dojo.byId('whatever'); element.innerHTML = "Change to this"; Or you could chain it jQuery style: dojo.byId('whatever').innerHTML = "Change to this"; Really just a matter of personal preference and what...(read more)

Selectors in Dojo

2008-10-06T20:09:00Z

I'm still going back and forth in my mind about dojo vs. jquery. So far, I've been able to table that question, but it's getting to a point where I won't be able to much longer. Kyle's recent posts made me think about writing up something similar about dojo, so I could have something a little more concrete to compare side-by-side....(read more)

VB.NET vs C#

2008-08-03T19:07:00Z

On the Google App Engine mailing list (of all places...in case you don't know, that's a python-only platform), I ran across this exchange recently: > > VB.NET is inelegant. > yeah I know I have C# it's more advanced, Now, this is one of those common stereotypes that irritate me. So I figured it was time to take a stick to that dead horse again....(read more)

Net Neutrality

2008-07-21T21:20:00Z

I'm on an unrelated mailing list with several non-technical people. Every once in a while, the topics swirl around to Net Neutrality. Most people don't have enough background knowledge to even begin to understand the issues involved. This is my attempt to explain by analogy. This article isn't technical enough to be here, but it it's *way* too technical for that list. So it winds up here....(read more)