When I started developing, I used to feel a great sense of achievement in producing large quantities of code. A large line count was a thing to be proud of. Fast forward to today, and I see a large line count a lot differently. Experience has taught me that more code means [...]

When I started developing, I used to feel a great sense of achievement in producing large quantities of code. A large line count was a thing to be proud of. Fast forward to today, and I see a large line count a lot differently. Experience has taught me that more code means [...]

In an earlier post, many moons ago, I related some struggles with Ajax page updates and browser caching behaviour. Today I have had to revisit the same problem again, thanks to Firefox 3. The good news is that this time it was very easy to spot via the “Net” tab of Firebug. I could [...]

In an earlier post, many moons ago, I related some struggles with Ajax page updates and browser caching behaviour. Today I have had to revisit the same problem again, thanks to Firefox 3. The good news is that this time it was very easy to spot via the “Net” tab of Firebug. I could [...]

SUMMARY Do you ever find yourself writing Java code that interacts with external processes and systems, but wish you could use a scripting language more suited to the task? If you have Java 6 available to you, then you are in luck. MOTIVATION Interacting with the file system and external processes, whilst possible, is not what I [...]

SUMMARY Do you ever find yourself writing Java code that interacts with external processes and systems, but wish you could use a scripting language more suited to the task? If you have Java 6 available to you, then you are in luck. MOTIVATION Interacting with the file system and external processes, whilst possible, is not what I [...]

Just a quick note to mention that Daniel will be carrying the torch for Zutubi at CITCON Asia-Pacific 2008 in Melbourne this weekend. After enjoying the event last year we signed up to sponsor this time around. Catch up with Daniel and ask him about Pulse 2.0 beta! Sadly I won’t make it, on [...]

Just a quick note to mention that Daniel will be carrying the torch for Zutubi at CITCON Asia-Pacific 2008 in Melbourne this weekend. After enjoying the event last year we signed up to sponsor this time around. Catch up with Daniel and ask him about Pulse 2.0 beta! Sadly I won’t make it, on [...]

Maybe my brain just doesn’t work in a way that appreciates them, but I really don’t see the point of tag clouds. Sure, adding a cloud makes your site feel oh-so 2.0, but does it really accomplish anything? Is there some advantage over a sorted list? Do people actually use tag clouds? I [...]

Maybe my brain just doesn’t work in a way that appreciates them, but I really don’t see the point of tag clouds. Sure, adding a cloud makes your site feel oh-so 2.0, but does it really accomplish anything? Is there some advantage over a sorted list? Do people actually use tag clouds? I [...]

Ever need to stub just a method or two of some interface to nicely isolate a unit to test? In the past I have used classic mock object libraries to help, but these suffered from a few problems: The use of strings to specify method names to stub, which breaks refactoring. Awkward syntax to specify parameter [...]

Ever need to stub just a method or two of some interface to nicely isolate a unit to test? In the past I have used classic mock object libraries to help, but these suffered from a few problems: The use of strings to specify method names to stub, which breaks refactoring. Awkward syntax to specify parameter [...]

Anyone who does web development, particularly involving a significant amount of JavaScript, knows what a boon Firebug has been. The ability to debug your code in Firefox is a huge time saver. Unfortunately, those doing web development also know that they need to support Internet Explorer. Not only does IE have a [...]

Anyone who does web development, particularly involving a significant amount of JavaScript, knows what a boon Firebug has been. The ability to debug your code in Firefox is a huge time saver. Unfortunately, those doing web development also know that they need to support Internet Explorer. Not only does IE have a [...]

Ubuntu 8.04, the Hardy Heron, was released last week. I eagerly upgraded to see if my previous wireless networking issues had been resolved, and joy of joys they had! This allowed me to finally switch back to Ubuntu as my primary development environment. Most of the switch went without a hitch, however I did [...]