Recent blog entries for ignatz

Note to self: To get the XML Security API to work with the Axis Happiness Page, place the Xerces and Xanlan jars in the CATALINA_HOME\common\endorsed directory.

AJAX XMLHttpRequest Helper Class

Just put up a finished XMLHttpRequest JavaScript class to simplify working with the things. It's based upon stuff glommed from a lot of sources. The main thing is that I wanted to create an OO wrapper around the code and clean up how it can be called.

USAGE:

var http = new AjaxRequest()
http.setTarget("/ping.php")
http.setForm(new URLBuilder("word", "ping"))
var synchronousGet = http.get()
var synchronousPost = http.post()
// Asynchronous
http.get(closureHere) 
http.post(closureHere)

See also: ViewCVS, tar and test page.

Walked off the job today early. Just had to get out! Caused a major firestorm when people found out that I was using CVS. "Oh dear! That is not authorised. You must use PVCS." "Ummm how do I do that." "Oh, your manager has not authorized you to have a copy of PVCS installed on your computer so you cannot use it." So, how to I maintain version control?" "You must use PVCS. We will all get in trouble if they find out that we had CVS installed on the web server." When one developer heard that someone had CVS dozens of other ones started asking around. "CVS? CVS? We can use CVS? Where can I get it???" Had to nip that in the bud. Probably end up writing a script in Perl to do something like it. Poor man's retarded CVS.

I don't understand how Fortune 500 companies survive. Back to dice.com.

It's been a while. Finally got the family moved out to HicksVille.

Interesting: as a way to make money Sleepycat charges for prebuilt binaries as a "support contract". Does that actually work as a revenue stream?

trying out argoUML with java web start. This is so kewl!

Decided to focus on UML for a while. Need to get that down. Preparing docs for work gives me a good excuse for focusing on it.

Banging my head against the wall about the type of abstract data type to use for controling Xd builds and then it's like, just use the DOM, retard. (yes, I often call myself retard when I'm thinking) Why the heck should I build all of these complex structures when it's right there in the DOM. It's like I'm kicking and screaming my way into 1999.

I'm going to stick to the DOM over my natural attraction to Jdom just becuase it's a cross language interface so I know that if some day when things are ported (yeah, in your dreams, einstein) that the APIs can match as much as possible.

Built my first PEAR class based on HTML/Table for lists. I'm working with the guy who did that class so I'm gonna run it by him and see what he thinks. I just wanted to get my hands dirty with the library matching style.

A strange thing that they're doing at work is coding there PHP in a strict Java style. Each page builds calling main (). The how is that by doing this the transition over to Java will be a lot easier. I'm not sure if I'm convinced. Type in error_reporting (E_ALL); at the top of a page and watch the fur fly. Weak typing is a real handicap for that kind of roll out. Still, it is very elegant looking code.

After working with JSP, I have grown rather fond of server side scripting with strong types. Everything that comes along seems to be drawn to the flexibility. Not sure why. E, Ruby... I'm kinda glad that some of the Perl 6 dev talk hints that you might be able to force types. That would be sweet. Getting real sick of all this if (!is_array ($foo)) {} shit.

Not a day goes by where I don't get hit with some new combination of letters that I've never heard of before referring to some "technology" that I've never heard of before. This time it's PVCS, a commercial version of CVS as far as I can tell. They're using it here at the new gig. Go figure. I'll stick to trusty ol' CVS for my own stuff.

Working with Pear. Lots of good shit in it. Not sure why open source developers shoot themselves in the foot by developing without documenting. Allah knows (hi NSA!) that I've made that mistake. Really hard to get people into something when all there is is highly abstract, undocumented code. I'm sorry, phpdoc just doesn't cut it with PHP not being strong typed and all.

Notes about required features for pivot. Issues that seem to come up alot include: Commit: Being able to edit large volumes of content and it being stored and editable but not commited. Similar to a sql commit, but maintaining state over sessions.

Unknown Auth: Being able to give people and groups access to stuff before you even know who they are. Matching an access id to an email or something. Email still seems to be the best universal id for anything. no need to go beyond it.

Wierd using the APache java Oro regex package. Perl5 regular expressions. Works real well, just funny seeing anything Perl like in Java. Feels almost tainted.