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Programming insights to Storytelling, it's all here.

Ibrahim Diallo

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2015

August

Things not worth fighting for

Things not worth fighting for

There are things in the programming world that we spend too much time fighting for. Each programmer does things a certain way. Maybe they got their style from a combination of books from an author they admire, maybe they just like a particular style of programming. No matter what it is, they defend their way religiously, firmly believing that it is the right way.

Everything I see I can download

Everything I see I can download

DRM is an important word in the world of technology. It is the control of content long after it has been distributed. Many files are distributed in DRM formats. What this means is that they can only read by applications controlled by the content proprietor. This doesn't even work in theory because the computer is designed to read everything. What these application do is tell the computer not to show the user what it just read.

Computers are not smart, not stupid either

Computers are not smart, not stupid either

I'm glad we stopped hearing people say "the computer is so stupid that it can't even <insert something simple here>". I used to have a teacher in college that would start every class with one of those remarks he would think is clever.

Add a T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM to fix PHP code

Add a T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM to fix PHP code

Imagine working for 12 hours straight, without talking any break. You build modules, tools, and your to do list keeps getting shorter and shorter. You don't want to stop because you are in the zone. Your mojo is up the roof. But suddenly you get this Error:

The benefits of building your own framework

The benefits of building your own framework

I am a big fan of the Symfony framework. I feel like it is the one PHP tool where you spend less time fighting the framework and more time building your application. But for the few times it doesn't do the things you want, you have to go through the documentation to figure out how things are done the proper way.

Google Analytics Referral Spam fix

Google Analytics Referral Spam fix

Every time I get the feedback box from Google Analytics, I write in all caps to beg them to block spam on their side. Analytics Spam is annoying because it inflates your traffic. It would have been nice if you could block the IP address of all the machines that trigger it but it is not that simple.

Why is every one being so stupid

Why is every one being so stupid

The DailyWTF thrive on the stupid mistakes developers make. It is easy to look at a product and think how stupid the owner must be to neglect some obvious beneficial improvements. Stackoverflow.com was a popular one. A lot of people thought a lot of things they were doing were stupid and that they had obvious solutions that would work. But in reality, the stackoverflow team is pretty competent. If you see them taking a route, you pretty much know that they have done enough research to find it to be the best solution.

My love and hate for WordPress

My love and hate for WordPress

WordPress runs the web. The majority of websites currently run it and no one complains. When I see people struggling to start a website, I suggest they use WordPress. It takes the problem of figuring out what programming language, framework, subject, or theme out of the equations. All they have to do is click a few buttons and they have a powerful blogging engine at there fingertips.

Designing for text

Designing for text

I am no designer. At least I can't say that I have an artistic eye but there are a few fundamentals, not necessarily reserved to designers, that we should all know when designing web pages. Not many years ago, the maintainers of websites were called webmasters. To me it sounded like old wizards, comical yet very knowledgeable in their field.

Using Apache Server Variables for Environment Settings

Using Apache Server Variables for Environment Settings

Programmers like to set up their machines their own way. Sometimes restricting their environment to strict corporate policies will directly affect their creativity. Luckily with Apache and PHP it is possible to create unique profiles for each developer to allow them to configure their environment in the way they want without affecting others.

JS Tip of the day

How to use pushState without breaking the back button

I find it very annoying when I use an instant search field and each key I press creates a new state. What this means every single time I hit the back button, it…

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