That’s right. On average, I’d say that most programming languages consist of only 30 or so (probably even less) of actual useable keywords. As well, most programming languages use roughly similar syntaxes, making it incredibly easy to learn an entire “new” language in a day or two. So really, why are there SO many. Answer is complicated, but it’s my belief that it all narrows down to a single feature: functionality. Each language has been designed with a purpose in mind, and it is this purpose that drives the development of the libraries upon libraries its functions. So I suggest to all you would-be programmers, to study the syntax of the language briefly and the functions available within the language more. That’s where you can delve into the true power of any language.
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Archive for the ‘Tech Tips’ CategoryDon’t Learn the Language. Learn the Libraries.Thursday, September 22nd, 2011If a Picture is Worth 1,000 Words, What Does That Make a Video?Wednesday, June 30th, 2010My week got off to a craptastic, wonderful beginning when I tried to start my car and the engine wouldn’t turn over. The first images in my mind was seeing 5 Benjamin Franklin’s with wings floating away, laughing at me as I would be forced to pay the mechanic for parts, labor and not to mention towing. I was fortunate to know that my problem was most likely that my ignition switch had failed. So I went on Google and typed in “Replacing Ignition switch Do it yourself”. I found multiple forums explaining how to do this, but for a mechanic newbie like myself, most of this was Greek to me. I’ve always learned something better if shown a visual of how to do it, than explained. So my next step was youtube. I type in the same search perimeters and I find this little gem. What could have potentially cost 500 dollars plus who knows how long I would have been without a car, turned into $80.00 for the part and only 5 hours without a car. Ignition switch was replaced and I was back in business. You tend to hear about videos going “viral” on youtube that help businesses get instant recognition and marketing companies promising you they will help you create the next internet craze video. The truth is, no one really knows the reasons what makes one simple little $25 budget video explode over the net while a $500,000 mass marketed version fails. Generally humor is used but if you are using 80% comedy and 20% trying to sell something, you are already at a disadvantage. As you can see with the video I posted, it was a simple how to video. It was from a company that markets certain parts for GM models. From their viewed list you will notice that it has received over 17k views. While this is no where considered “viral”, that is indeed a healthy number. If you go by the traditional 10% model that out of 10 potentials, 1 person buys, this potentially nets you 1,700 sales for a product that costs $80.00. This equal outs to $136,000. The cost to make this video was probably $500-1000 range. So as you can see, the return on investment here is huge! So instead of wasting time and energy on making the next viral video, try focusing on simple how to videos explaining your niche product or service. At Visionary Web, we are all about the return on investment for your website and development. We will work with you to help you reach your targeted audience beginning with a small website package, and as your website traffic grows, we will help you with what steps you can do next to expand your website. Whether it is a simple website update with a content management system that allows for you to embed how to videos, to blogs and shopping carts.
Flex RIAMonday, April 6th, 2009Rich Internet Applications. They are the Internet’s inevitable future, but what advanced technology drives this advanced paradigm? JavaScript? No thanks. But this is not the time to escape to a fallout bunker, and hide yourself until the web’s nuclear winter is over. Flex is here, come to save the day. Don’t get me wrong: JavaScript and Flex have a lot in common. One, JavaScript and Flex run at the client (browser) level. Two, ECMAScript is the basis for both the JavaScript and ActionScript programming languages. Heck, Flex even uses a teeny tiny bit of JavaScript to establish the application’s focus at run-time. But we can’t kid ourselves. JavaScript is not a very good language. There are some major differences between web browsers, particularly between Internet Explorer and, well, every other browser. Flex is just Flex. As long as you have the right version of Flash to support the code, the application will work. JavaScript is not very robust or error-handling friendly. Flash’s builder is a godsend, with everything you’d expect in a true application IDE: syntax checking and debugging tools. JavaScript RIAs use the innovative but wonky (if nothing but the fact that it uses JavaScript) AJAX idea. Flex has built-in support for true WSDL and SOAP support, net connections, HTTP services, and the like. It even gets better with the work of AMFPHP, which is a low load, low complexity juggernaut that makes data connectivity a snap. What would RIAs be without data connectivity? That is what makes them Rich Internet Applications, and not just Rich Applications. So I encourage all web developers to try working with Flex. Test it out. You may even like it. And perhaps, given time, we never have to hear the words JavaScript and RIA in the same sentence ever again! No, BAD Zend Engine!Friday, November 2nd, 2007PHP made me upset today. I’ve noticed this issue for a while, and it’s been addressed in forums, but few know of what seems to be the second most common reason for it. First, check the symptoms of you ill-returned web document. Does it ever popup as a download dialog box instead of the usual I-trust-you-Zend handling? Did you then download it only to find it is nothing more than a blank page? Stop sifting through your http.conf file! Stop changing those permissions! Well, you could do all this, but it’s most likely not the problem. For me, it was the amount of memory I had allocated to PHP script execution, specifically the memory_limit value. Oddly as it sounds, sometimes giving your PHP a little more memory seems to clear up this problem right away. Works so far for me with all the times I’ve seen this issue. You can either change the value in your ini file as:
…in your .htaccess file like…
…or directly in your PHP file if you wanted to.
Hopefully, this can help someone out there. The Value of Brush SetsWednesday, February 28th, 2007One of the most singularly powerful and useful aspects of Adobe Photoshop is the brush sets. What makes this so portent is the dynamics that are possible with many of the tools when paired with the stylus of a WACOM. The size adjustment and opacity changes that occur depending on the pressure you apply to the pen makes for a near perfect imitation of traditional art techniques. Brush sets however are the patterns in which you are laying your strokes down with, regardless of the tool you use to do this. These brush sets are typically just referred to as brushes though they can be applied to many of the tools in Photoshop. The default brush is some size of rounded pattern with either a hard or soft edge. This default brush is usually enough to suit most situation you are dealing with, but if you are trying to imitate a paintbrush, pallet knife, chalk/charcoal, pastels, etc. it is often not acceptable. The best ways to mimic these mediums is to use differently textured brushes. In traditional art these methods are also affected by what you are applying them to. Wood obviously would cause a different effect than paper should you write on it with a pen. The same applies to different grades of paper, boards, canvases, etc. to mimic this typically some sort of patterned or faux texture is applied to the layer beneath the one that the actual “artâ€? is being produced on to simulate the correct canvas type. Generally though, the brush itself can produce the desired effect. Because of this versatility and flexibility the brush is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of Photoshop. Knowing how and when to use it is the next. The Patience ProgrammerMonday, January 29th, 2007A lot of my friends tell me that my job sounds easy (that’s the job of programming if you don’t know who I am), and I happily nod and smile. Because friends just don’t know any better. Sure, anyone can program like anyone can perform open-heart surgery or fight a bear, but like anything, there’s a lot more to it to become a professional at it. In fact, the more-of-it is what keeps a lot of people from programming in the first place. Programming is a blend of art and math, but it also is anal-retentive. A single character will throw off the entire program and you will (yes, you WILL) be racking your head around a single line of code for most of your time working on that program. But that is programming, so what I say to you would-be programmers is to relax and have patience when you program, because it can get nerve-racking. CSS… 3?Monday, January 22nd, 2007As promised, here is more on CSS techniques and graphic element implementations. To start I would like to explain what “Sliding Doorsâ€? are that I mentioned in my last post. I am impatiently awaiting a full support for CSS 3. Just some of the nifty things the newest version of CSS can do is rounded corners through the definition of only two numbers you can define an elliptical radii and thereby set the curvature of your container. This will also set the background to a rounded state even it you have your border set to none. Speaking of borders, CSS 3 has a new “wavyâ€? boarder style that applies a wavy line to the boarder. You can also define images to your borders now just to increase the customization that so many designers have been using hacks and other less desirable methods to achieve the aesthetic quality they demand in their work. Unfortunately this presents us the same problem that exists now with the IE (Internet Explorer) browser support of the PNG file format. IE 6 does not support the alpha channel required to correctly display transparent PNG images. IE 7 however does. Because IE 6 does not we still must avoid the PNG and settle for the GIF format because IE 6 is still widely in use. If we were to try to use a PNG image then we would not be able to make a good design for IE 6, so for now we must ignore the advancements made in IE 7. So Until CSS 3 becomes supported by all browsers we will still have to use our workaround methods and hacks to get a display that will work for everyone. Even CSS 2 isn’t fully supported by all the browsers, or it is rendered differently because of the functionality of that particular browsers interpretation of the CSS. Some CSS 3 properties are supported by some browsers, but not all. Transparency is one such property. One of the main focuses of CSS 3 was better text / font control for the designers that have wanted to implement some more typographical elements into their web designs. These text / font properties are almost all fully supported, but some workarounds are required still. To take a look at the new CSS 3 properties for backgrounds and borders follow this link. http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-background/ The Benefits of Bad CodeThursday, December 14th, 2006When most people ponder over bugs, glitches, and weekends with the in-laws, they tend to look unfavorably upon them. But that doesn’t mean you should (speaking for the first two at least), because they help us learn to become better programmers. Everyone’s heard before on how Edison found out how to make the light bulb after a hundred or so ways on how to make it not work. Well, the same applies to coding. Errors, although malicious time-consuming devils, can tell us what we’ve done wrong, so we can attempt to learn from these mistakes and understand more about the nuisances of the language itself. In effect, it makes us better programmers by forcing us to correct our flaws IN our coding. To me, that just seems to be more beneficial than just learning to code well alone. Honey, I Shrunk the Web-Page!Thursday, December 14th, 2006One of the things I personally struggle with in design is getting the right balance of graphic interest and clean-cut minimalism. I tend to lean a bit to the aesthetic side and toe the line with too many images. My design style is to build it up aesthetically first and then pare down to the essentials based on the function of the site and the user demographic that will be utilizing it. Recently I have been working at paring down my code as well. The less bulky the files, the faster the load time, the happier the users! In achieving this I also need to lessen both the file size and number of graphics being used, so in looking for ways to do this I have found a few “niftyâ€? tricks. Nifty Corners Cubed is a process of making rounded corners without images. Sadly this utilizes and heavily relies upon JavaScript making it unusable for a designer attempting to avoid JavaScript as well as trying to keep code size down. Still a good solution for avoiding images though! CSS is my primary tool in achieving low file and code size. If I can keep my designs to solid colors, borders, and a few simple one pixel backgrounds then I will have achieved that balance between functionality and aesthetic design. The Golden Rule…Wednesday, December 6th, 2006Recently while browsing through good-tutorials.com for inspiration with a possible tip or trick to add to my skill-set, I came across a nifty little tutorial about using the “Golden Ratio” or “Golden Proportion” in layouts. For those who don’t know what the Golden Ratio is. I have started subtly implementing this ratio into my designs and have found 2 things about this technique. First, the banners tend to be a little too large. Not grossly overstated, but just a slight bit uncomfortable for the content body of text. The second is that even though this ratio does help the natural aesthetics of the layout. it tends to not lend it’s self well to multiple column layouts. I am still using the Golden Proportion in my layouts but much more sparingly and only as a subtle addition. I am not trying to rely on it to be a rule or a guide to build the layouts from as a quick or easy tool. Rather I am happy to say that it has merely made me that much more conscience of how the sizes and proportions of the layout can effect the emotions of the viewer. One more step toward being the best designer has just been taken! |
Don’t worry, I was able to put it all back together again. 
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