development best practices (web dev, php, javascript, databases and security)

Posted on January 25th, 2010 by thiswayup.
Categories: dev.

I've been seeing alot of php/web dev best practices recently and I'm always looking at whats the "best" way to do things ...just so that I can be a lazy ass over the long term and not have to go back (and fix) potentially naff code :)

Here is a small collection of them that has ended up in my delicious bookmarks.

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Difference between Tracer Code and Prototyping – approaches to better software development

Posted on January 19th, 2010 by thiswayup.
Categories: Development.

After all the xmas fun and what not, I decided to finally get round to try and catch up with some more reading the Pragmatic programmer and I thought it be best in this post to cover some of the things that jumped into my head. The Pragmatic Programmer has been recommended by people as a guide to subjects associated to a programmer's role including things such as approaches to development, architecture, personal development, testing and teams. This purchase came about because of the realisation that the more projects I undertake, the more I realise the science of software development is a myth, it is a black art. We never know what we are building *exactly*. On recent projects and on the currently one I am on now I was trying to figure the balance between building a prototype to try figure out the feasibility of what we can build is actually achievable, versus to 'just getting on with building it'. I thought there was a balance to be achieved to building something to be reused and building something to be thrown away. In one chapter that sticks out for me, it discusses tracer bullets as an analogy. Tracer bullets helps a gunner, it checks if the shot they are taking is on the right track by flaring up and shows a path it takes towards the end target. Tracking code is much the same idea, build code that is usable and aims to fulfills a end requirement. The operative word is 'aims'. Very much half the time, we build on what we know or think we know. Creating tracer code helps us create a working 'thing' as an idea to try figure out whether we are on the right track when we show it to people. A prototype is a proof of concept. I seemed to be quite hung up about wasting time on creating prototype code which I can't reuse, I then read the following paragraph :

Prototyping generates disposable code. Tracer code is lean but complete, and forms part of the skeleton of the final system. Think of prototyping as the reconnaissance and intelligence gathering that takes place before a single tracer bullet is fired.

I realise more from my reflection that my analytical nature is at times stopping me to "just build it" on projects. Seems like a classical case of 'analysis paralysis' at the first step! With a recent project I then noticing myself just trying to put a whole bunch of code together to get past my first hurdle after reading more about the idea of the duck tape programmer. From these sort of related readings I have these guiding principles (until some other crazy idea skips along) :

  • Prototyping is to test whether something will actually work if you build it, that you should be prepared to throw away and therefore DONT SPEND TIME MAKING IT PRETTY(forget comments, coding standards and refactoring)
  • Tracer code is where you *might* build something that may end up in the first release
  • Refactoring is not as important as making something work and breaks sometimes, then something that doesnt work at all
  • Tell the user what should work! And what will work at a later ...at some point

Maybe this time next year, I'll understand at a better level the approach to development!

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Very handy backup plugin for wordpress

Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by thiswayup.
Categories: Wordpress.

Just found this really handy wordpress plugin to backup wordpress from the tools menu.What really is quite handy is that it can email you on a scheduled weekly backup to exclude your spam comments. Very cool!

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New years resolution 2010

Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by thiswayup.
Categories: Meta-life.

Well, here's a the new year and I thought I would try and jot down my new year's resolution this year to *try* and follow. I decided to try  break this process down as to make it more realistic and likely to be achievable by doing the following :

  • Set myself not more then 10 new years resolutions
  • For each, break down the challenge as something easy for the first 3-4 months (to ease myself in) then aim for a larger progression in the year
  • Set myself a reminder to review in the first quarter and see how I am doing, if a new year resolution isn't working out then set myself a new one

Learn a new programming language

Last year I learnt PHP and JavaScript. Though I'm still discovering new things with these languages (especially JavaScript!) I thought I would try pick up another. Plus I really feel like developing a couple of apps my self :)

My new aim is to learn objective-C and so that I can build an Iphone app. My short term aim is to try build a basic app first on the iphone for my personal use, release it to the world then later embark on trying to build an app for someone else or a few of them, possibly a few web apps

Blog more often

After starting this blog again, I thought I'll try and keep up the momentum. My aim is to try blog at least three times a month on anything that comes to mind initially then try to bump it up by blogging at least 5 times in a month. The later challenge should be contributing something back to the community and writing some more technical tutorials.

Discover more music

I live in the best city for live music plus I have a free gig venue across the street from where I work. So this year I'm going to have to try and make it to at least 2 gigs a month then come summer hit 4 festivals plus about 3 gigs a month.

More photography

I have been really lazy in the past year taking photos and uploading them. I still have a shad load to upload to my Flickr account and I realise that I am my own worse critic! This year is all about throwing it out there on the photo front and worry about making it look good later! So for the first bit is to do at least one photo walk a month (time for some scheduling) then if it goes well and I got some good pics up, then join up on some more photographer london walks in the spring and create a separate gallery section on my website drawing from my Flickr.

Swim more and be more active

I just about managed to swim about 50% of the weeks in 2009 :( Far shorter then I expected! This year I'm going to try and swim at least once a week then when the winter isn't so oppressive in the Spring then an early swim! Also I should try do something else in the year such as a good old hike, wall climbing, diving or surfing and DEFINITELY roller blading in summer!

Do more web work outside of work

I seem to be getting more requests to help people so I need to get into the mind set and figure out a good process to knock these babies out quicker. Working professionally as a developer, my job lends itself to me having to build the things but I sometimes forget(choose to neglect) about the whole process, since I just want to code! Short term aim is to get a new website out for the family business and for the housing association then maybe do some more freelancing towards the end of the year.

Cook new dishes more and for friends

Cooking seems like a good alternative on a friday/saturday night to going out on the lash! So on the weekends, do more experimental cooking and buying less fried chicken! For the first few months, cook two new recipes a month then four new recipes a month and at least once a month for friends.

Progress DS:London

Though I keep meaning to drop out as being one of the the admins of DS:London.net, I think I should try and put in some more effort in as it will be running for more then 3 years! So this year I am going to try get some kind of structure in place so I don't have to attend it as much then try get some kind of sponsorship in place by the end of the year so we can try balance the books a bit more.

Find some more London gems

I think this resolution is to force me to take more of an active interest in exploring as I seem to be slipping away from being what my moo card says I am(i.e the Urban extraordinaire ). I think this will also probably manifest itself as me being more sociable and actually heading out more often. I guess I'll be more attentive on the meetup.com front! For the first quarter I need to blog about one new 'gem' in london or interesting stuff! Then when summer breaks, be more active in adding to the different london social network  guides such as four square.

Well that's it, let's see what happens next year!

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