arg word choice!

2007-05-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

I was looking through a financial book and I saw this word depreciated. Hmm sounds familiar. Well it is because half of the kids in the computer science department where I used to go didnt know the difference between depreciated and deprecated. They are clearly different; here are their definitions:

deprecate- express disapproval for.
depreciate - lower in value.

Now that you know this pronounce it de-pre-cated not de-pre-ciated they are two different things > < :)

Struggles for modularity and flexibility

2007-05-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

As projects expand, so does their need for additional functionality. Most of the time functionality is common and can be separated into distinct objects. However, these objects will more information to specify its purpose. An example is a website which I quickly put together. In the short amount of time that you had spent on it, I put no effort into making it flexible or scalable. However, when the website project needed to be extended, there was difficulty was separating common things into files. When I did do that, the result was a huge file which contained the methods and functions of every module on the site. It was a huge mess that I rarely ever wanted to touch. On try three I had started building a directory structure and started separating specifics of the web application in question. This allowed me to quickly locate and resolve and problems that had arisen. Aside from the quickness in locating the problem, there was another benefit, modularity. Here are some hints I have started to use in my web projects.

Modularity hints:
1. create a configuration file which contains data that may frequently change. Things like mysql connection details which can be subject to change when you move it to servers. The database you will be using, etc. It does not only apply to the database, but it maybe useful in other parts of your programs which require the same configuration information the same time in multiple places.
2.separate images, library functions, javascript files into their own separate directories. This makes things alot easier to find and it will look alot neater when you are sifting through looking for specific files.
3.create template files which allow for pages to be modeled after. This allows for changing the code in one place, although this may not be feasible on a heavily populated traffic site. In the case of the heavily populated site, I would suggest the Factory pattern in generating the pages and having them stored on the server. Its a one time thing that will only require the script to be run once in order to generate the pages with the templates. Money is time and good service is money. So quick loading auto generated pages are the way to go for websites with templates.
4.find logical ways to split up huge function libraries. If the language you are programming does not support or enforce objects, the procedural process of dealing with all the data is a pain. Find a logical way to separate functions, i.e. validation functions, display functions, and database functions.

Yahoo YUI

2007-05-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

After looking at the examples in the YUI (Yahoo User Interface), I've learned that there are some neat features. One of which is the Datatable. With a bit of modification of the code, I was able to integrate the datatable into my own web application while saving me much time and effort from coding the ajax and displays.

Yea so it turns out that im coming to branches in logic where i can start implementing the goodies for the future or just get the current platform working. I know that eventually im gonna have to put the goodies in, but dammit, moral dilemma! How does a lazy person like me decide to whether to fix the problem now or let it linger and fix it in the future 0_9

trixbox :)

arg word choice!

Struggles for modularity and flexibility

Yahoo YUI