Blog

Programming insights to Storytelling, it's all here.

Ibrahim Diallo

September 2015

We

We

When I see great content on the web, the first thing I do is click on that about us page. I am almost always disappointed. I can tell there is just one guy running the show, but he keeps referring to himself as We.

Teach to learn

Teach to learn

Everyday is an opportunity to learn. But sometimes, it is hard to find something new to learn. When I stumbled upon PHP, I spent day and night trying to follow tutorials and build stuff. At some point I didn't know what else I could experiment with it. It's not that I knew everything about it, but I simply couldn't go beyond what I didn't know I didn't know.

Combating Procrastination one word at a time

Combating Procrastination one word at a time

I've set a goal to write a 1000 words a day a year ago. It all started well, but then one day I just couldn't write. I wrote a few sentences but, it was no where near a thousand. So I decided that what will make me move forward will be Inspcratination.

Let's build an app for that

Let's build an app for that

The cool new thing to do is to build an app. It doesn't matter what the reason is as long as it is an app.

Steering online conversation into the right direction

Steering online conversation into the right direction

When at the movies, you whisper. When in a stadium, you scream your lungs out. At a funeral, you are dead silent. The context of the place you are in determines how loud or soft you talk. But it doesn't end there.

Page content suddenly cut off - PHP

Page content suddenly cut off - PHP

There is an obscure problem that occurs on the web that is very hard to describe. Because it is hard to describe, it is even harder to find an answer on the stackoverflow.

Don't use constant values in programming

Don't use constant values in programming

One of the most time-consuming part of programming is debugging. When making an estimate, programmers will guesstimate how long it might take them to create a program from the ground up. One thing we always forget to take into account is the time we will spend debugging. It is inevitable, your program will have some flaws, it is just human nature.

Buying software is not a charity

Buying software is not a charity

You don't buy software to support the author. You buy it because it solves your problem. Somehow along the way, we forgot that in this business no one cares about you.

Can you sell me a pen?

Can you sell me a pen?

The thing that I found hardest to do in my career is to sell something. Anything. If I had a hang of it, I would probably be financially free today but the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "selling", is salesperson.

The web lasts forever, until it doesn't

The web lasts forever, until it doesn't

The scariest thing on the Internet is that they say it never forgets. We all start young on this platform and we all did or said some embarrassing stuff that we hope no one will find. In my first interactions with the web, I became friends with someone in the US and I thank her for teaching me how to write in English. But the other important thing she taught me was how to create a website.

Someone else thought of it

Someone else thought of it

One thing I get a lot from people new in the tech field is a problem with coming up with new ideas. It is the make it or break it formula for everyone new in the field. I gave up on this idea long ago. Not because I can't come up with a great idea, but because it is irrelevant.

Winning arguments

Winning arguments

I spent an hour on reddit before deciding to finally open my text editor and finish this article that I started a year ago. The virtualization of conversation has created the illusion of facilitating the the process of winning an arguments. Because now like never before, we have the world's knowledge at our fingertips. But, like I said it is an illusion.

Traveling through time using context

Traveling through time using context

Since the dawn of time, mankind has thought of time as a linear entity. Linear because we portray it as something we can travel forward, or backward on. Our only limitation is technology. At least when we read science fiction, or science magazines, we see that all we need is one genius figure out the right tech to break this barrier.

HTML image copyright license attribute initiative

HTML image copyright license attribute initiative

Have you ever tried to share a picture on the web? Of course you had and it was very easy. You probably went to instafacetwittergur and simply dragged and dropped your image into their platform and it was uploaded.

Own your personal website

Own your personal website

I have a problem with social media. It is restrictive. I am not referring to things like the 140 characters in a tweet. Limitations can sometimes be the source of great creativity. To me, social media constrains you to only what's possible within the network.

Things to remember about programming

Things to remember about programming

It's been a year since I left my previous job and everyday there are so many lessons I learn. I wanted to take the time to write about each of them, but they come in faster then I can type. Remember in the programming world, it is one thing to write about software, it is a whole other to write software.

Make no mistakes or no one wants you

Make no mistakes or no one wants you

You can only learn from your own mistakes. I think everyone can agree with that. However, no one wants the people that make mistakes in their team.

Mp3 is now free

Mp3 is now free

Mp3 is not free. I am reminded of this every time I update Audacity. What do I mean by not free? Well you need to buy a license to use the encoder in your application. We don't think about it because we are usually on the consumer side. But the good news is, this restriction expires on September 2015. And what happens when it does?

Something about learning new things

Something about learning new things

My little niece will do whatever it takes to stay up as late as possible and wake up on the first light of day. Her reason? She doesn't want to miss a second of the day. She wants to be there when everything happens. At night, her eyes will be closing but when asked if she is sleepy, her answer is always, No! Followed by a sudden burst of energy.

The first 100 hours

The first 100 hours

Even if you know the rule, you will still be frustrated. The first hundred hours are full of surprises, full of confusion, full of frustration. No matter how many times I start learning new things, I have a hard time dealing with this frustration. But that's ok.

Generating URLs in PHP

Generating URLs in PHP

It is almost never a good idea to manually write URLs on your website. Just like text strings, if for any reason you want to update them it becomes a nightmare.

JS Tip of the day

All you need to know about Type coercion in JavaScript

There are two ways to think of type coercion in JavaScript. One is to the dictionary definition, which is the conversion of values into common data types to fac…

Photography