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Programming insights to Storytelling, it's all here.

Ibrahim Diallo

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2015

August

Not all your ideas should be game changers

Not all your ideas should be game changers

Programming, or coding, is marketed as the skill you need to build the next big thing. Although it can be true, we can say the same about fishing. By learning how to catch fish, you get to put food on the table. You can also become the dedicated fisherman company in a small town, raking in millions of dollars.

Catering to the busy man

Catering to the busy man

Today, anything that is not instant is not worth it. The title of the book is "Don't make me think!" If you make me think than you are doing it wrong. Not to say that intuitive design is bad, but if done wrong it can be a direct contributor to the microwave mentality.

How bad is bad UX?

How bad is bad UX?

As programmers, we tend to neglect the side of the business where there are people involved. You see great programmers that won't dare touch frontend code even with a yard stick. I worked as a frontend developer and I am still afraid of the user interface.

Microsoft Chase XP

Microsoft Chase XP

I rarely go inside a bank anymore. I limit all my transactions directly to the ATM. On my last visit, I spent at least five minutes looking at their new machines. At Bank Of America, there were only a couple human tellers. On the ATM you pick up the phone piece and you are connected in real time with a teller, possibly on the other side of the world.

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.

JS Tip of the day

How to create DOM elements efficiently with JavaScript

At some point, every web application needs an overlay. A sort of pop-up that obscures the background and asks the user to perform an action. Here is how you do …

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