http://devgrind.com thinking outside the { } Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:20:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One of the very nice features of Mac OS X ist the ability of almost every reasonable application to receive AppleEvents, which makes the whole OS-app-bundle highly scriptable. Normally, Apple recommends that the scripting is done using a malevolent, programmer-unfirndly language named "AppleScript". But there are alternatives, e.g. using Ruby ... http://devgrind.com/2008/08/01/scripting-the-night-away/ If you are documenting Java methods, try to fit everything really important (like constraints for the method) into the first sentence of the javadoc. This sentence is displayed along wiht the overview of the class method. Everything after the first sentence vanishes in the distance where no-one will ever read it. http://devgrind.com/2008/07/23/documentation-note/ Created by OnePlusYou I named those codes, and boy, what a miracle - one hundred percent right. Try it yourself! http://devgrind.com/2008/06/12/name-that-code/ I want a Firefox Plugin that recognizes that the page I'm looking at contains Java, does syntax highlighting and, most of all, inserts links to the classes and methods referenced in the code. The plugin (or a server it can ask) should know where the source code of a class ... http://devgrind.com/2008/06/10/the-ultimate-code-browser/ This is just a note to all who, like me, wonder why the heck ActiveRecord's quote method in model classes doesn't work anymore in Rails 2.x: quote seemingly has been replaced by quote_value, though this is not listed on the deprecation page. So if you get an error that says ... http://devgrind.com/2008/04/03/use-quote_value-in-rails-2/ Maybe this is old news to some, but I recently discovered that there's a complete recording (audio at iTunes, audio and video on the web) of an MIT lecture by Prof. Charles E. Leiserson using "The Big Book" Introduction to Algorithms (which he co-wrote) as textbook. I just listened to ... http://devgrind.com/2008/01/28/introduction-to-algorithms/ Currently, I am in the nice situation to decide for myself with which framework I will build a demonstration portal. So, as I want to profit from the fast-paced development processes (at least the Ruby aficionados say so) and the lightweightiness of Rails, I decided to go the Rail(s)Way. Problem is, ... http://devgrind.com/2008/01/25/activerecord-and-hibernate-friends-or-foes/ I need a coffee mug with all the nifty regular expression constructs on it. Especially the java character classes would be nice to have. http://devgrind.com/2008/01/11/developer-coffee-mug/ When it comes to editing source code, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is the one true ghod. Consolas is too fat, Courier has disturbingly many serifs. Monaco is for brainwashed Apple disciples who think using a Comic-Sans-like monospaced font is sort of hip. More detailed reviews of programming fonts over at Coding ... http://devgrind.com/2007/11/02/my-favourite-programming-font/ I am currently enjoying the discovery of Ruby as a language for blazingly fast scripting database tasks. Like e.g. converting database records on the fly. The ActiveRecord module is a great help in that. http://devgrind.com/2007/10/24/scripting-happiness-with-rubys-activerecord/