Why you should contribute to Open Source

An interesting opinion of why you should contribute to the Open Source.

"...Open Source projects offer you a chance to work on something that you want rather than something that others want you to work on. It is a great opportunity to work on something that is both cool and useful as well as to associate with a well known brand and all the publicity and goodwill it brings. You are free to pick and choose between the thousands of open source projects out there. Moreover, you are free to decide on how much you want to contribute. You won’t have a boss and you won’t have the pressure of deadlines and schedules..."

source: http://shal.in/post/285909694/why-you-should-contribute-to-open-source
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Disable Frame Buffer in Ubuntu 10.04 Server (VirtualBox)

In Ubuntu 10.04 Server with the frame buffer enabled, seems that cause lag in the screen when is used as a guest in VirtualBox. Here is how to disable the frame buffer:

Edit the file "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer.conf" and add "blacklist vga16fb" (without the quotes). Un-comment "GRUB_TERMINAL=console" in "/etc/default/grub" to prevent GRUB from starting a frame buffer.

source: http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9343024&postcount=2
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Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

source: http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc
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After Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04) installation

Needed extras:

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras vorbis-tools flac lame faad rar p7zip unace unzip msttcorefonts ttf-dejavu ttf-xfree86-nonfree

$ sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

$ sudo fc-cache

Useful software:

$ sudo apt-get install mplayer nautilus-open-terminal gimp inkscape chromium-browser chromium-browser-l10n gnome-do revelation virtualbox-ose virtualbox-guest-additions skype

Useful development software:

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

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Crockford on JavaScript

Douglas Crockford is Yahoo!'s JavaScript architect and a member of the committee designing future versions of the world's most popular programming language. Over first three months of 2010, Douglas delivered his acclaimed series of lectures on the history of JavaScript, its features, and its use. Links to video, transcripts, and photos from each of the events follows...

source: http://yuiblog.com/crockford/
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git in the real world

Git for the real world: http://robey.lag.net/2008/07/13/git-for-the-real-world.html
More real-world git: http://robey.lag.net/2009/11/29/more-git.html

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PHP Anthem

A new PHP Song:



sources:
http://shiflett.org/blog/2010/aug/php-anthem
http://fracturedvisionmedia.com/FVM005/
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A successful Git branching model

In this post I present the development model that I’ve introduced for all of my projects (both at work and private) about a year ago, and which has turned out to be very successful. I’ve been meaning to write about it for a while now, but I’ve never really found the time to do so thoroughly, until now. I won’t talk about any of the projects’ details, merely about the branching strategy and release management...

source: http://nvie.com/git-model
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udev: update map between MAC addresses and interface names

...Traditionally, Linux kernels look for ethernet cards and assign interface names based upon the order the cards are detected. Thus if you were to shift the network cards around, or replace them, you may end up with a different interface name for any given card. In recent Debian (and thus Ubuntu) releases, the Udev subsystem creates a map between MAC addresses and interface names, and when it finds a new MAC address it assigns a new ethernet interface name. Thus the first time you create an Ubuntu VM, the VM server assigns a MAC address, and your VM will map it to eth0. If you clone the VM, or move it, the VM server assigns a new MAC address, and your VM maps the new address to eth1. At this point, your network configuration (/etc/network/interfaces) no longer matches the hardware, and your VM no longer sees the network. Oops.

If this is the problem, you will see messages like this in your /var/log/kern.log file:

udev: renamed network interface eth0 to eth1

You can fix this in one of several ways:

1. Change your interface configuration (/etc/network/interfaces) to match the new ethernet interface.
2. Delete the Udev MAC address map (/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules), reboot, and let Udev rebuild the map.
3. Edit the Udev MAC address map (/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules) and map the current MAC address back to eth0. This is the preferred solution if you have multiple interfaces defined.

You'll probably need to reboot the VM after any of these changes...

source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/175876/how-do-i-fix-my-vms-network-connection-if-it-seems-to-be-running-ok-from-the-hos/296274#296274
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Why use Spring Python and not just plain python?

I have bumped into articles and forum postings, blog entries, other blog entries, and yet more blog entries. In fact, while writing this blog entry, someone posed the question “what is the aim of Spring Python?” (Click and see my answer.) There are a diverse range of view points, and many in disagreement about the viability of DI in python...

source: http://blog.springpython.webfactional.com/2009/02/01/why-use-spring-python-and-not-just-plain/
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The Use of Grids in Website Design

When creating a website one of the most important things to get right
is the layout, the UI – user interface as you would call it, is
something that is crucial to conveying the information and point of
your website. There are many kinds of website layout designs. However
the main point of a website is to convey understanding to the user...

source: http://www.designer-daily.com/the-use-of-grids-in-website-design-6639
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Video JS

Video JS is a javascript-based video player that uses the HTML5 video functionality built into advanced browsers. In general, the benefit of using an HTML5 player is a consistent look between browsers...

source: http://videojs.com/
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LaTeX résumé Follow-up

Since there was a decent amount of interest in my prior post about composing my résumé in LaTeX, I put together a "template" and an example PDF based off of my actual résumé. Here is the template and you can grab the generated PDF by clicking on the image...

How a programmer reads your resume (comic)

source: http://www.toofishes.net/blog/latex-resume-follow-up/
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Steve Huffman on Lessons Learned at Reddit

http://vimeo.com/10506751

http://www.slideshare.net/carsonified/steve-huffman-lessons-learned-while-at-redditcom

source: http://carsonified.com/blog/dev/steve-huffman-on-lessons-learned-at-reddit/
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Improving javascript

Advanced Javascript to Improve your Web App

YUI Theater — High Performance JavaScript

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Free the Foxes

It is essential to have your users operate a browser that supports an appropriate standard on how things are displayed and how things function. Free the Foxes is FREE and is roughly only 25K in size (including JS, CSS and images) and is almost completely customizable...

source: http://www.freethefoxes.com/
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What Every Developer Should Know About URLs

I have recently written about the value of fundamentals in software development. I am still firmly of the opinion that you need to have your fundamentals down solid, if you want to be a decent developer. However, several people made a valid point in response to that post, in that it is often difficult to know what the fundamentals actually are (be they macro or micro level). So, I thought it would be a good idea to do an ongoing series of posts on some of the things that I consider to be fundamental – this post is the first instalment...

source: http://www.skorks.com/2010/05/what-every-developer-should-know-about-urls/
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Pure CSS3 Spiderman Cartoon w/ jQuery and HTML5

Searching YouTube for inspiration I stumbled on to the intro of the classic 1967 spider-man cartoon series. While watching I realized that the animation was very basic. It was the paper doll sort of animation that lends itself perfectly to css3. Hmmm… "I could something like that with a little css3″, I thought...

source: http://www.optimum7.com/internet-marketing/web-development/pure-css3-spiderman-ipad-cartoon-jquery-html5-no-flash.html
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Making AJAX Applications Crawlable

If you're running an AJAX application with content that you'd like to appear in search results, we have a new process that, when implemented, can help Google (and potentially other search engines) crawl and index your content. Historically, AJAX applications have been difficult for search engines to process because AJAX content is produced dynamically by the browser and thus not visible to crawlers. While there are existing methods for dealing with this problem, they involve regular manual maintenance to keep the content up-to-date...

source: http://code.google.com/web/ajaxcrawling/
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Six Apart Guide to Comment Spam

This document describes how malicious or unwanted comments ('comment spam') affect weblogs, the techniques spammers use to abuse weblogs, and the tactics that can be used to prevent and defend against these attacks. Also included is a review of the strengths and weaknesses of each tactic, instructions for implementing them on your weblog and ones which we recommend for the best protection...

source: http://www.sixapart.com/pronet/comment_spam
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Feature Branches

A feature branch is the sort of branch that's been the dominant example in this chapter (the one you've been working on while Sally continues to work on /trunk). It's a temporary branch created to work on a complex change without interfering with the stability of /trunk. Unlike release branches (which may need to be supported forever), feature branches are born, used for a while, merged back to the trunk, then ultimately deleted. They have a finite span of usefulness...

source: http://chestofbooks.com/computers/revision-control/subversion-svn/Feature-Branches-Branchmerge-Commonpatterns-Feature.html
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HTML5 Canvas examples

Here's a collection of HTML5 canvas examples. All on one page and organised into sections so that you don't have to go hunting around for them. How nice...

source: http://www.phpguru.org/static/html5-canvas-examples
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How do you approach teaching symfony?

Part 1: The goals
Part 2: The audience
Part 3: Timing and format
Part 4: The preparation
Part 5: Post processing

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CSS Differences in Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8

One of the most bizarre statistical facts in relation to browser use has to be the virtual widespread numbers that currently exist in the use of Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 and 8. As of this writing, Internet Explorer holds about a 65% market share combined across all their currently used browsers. In the web development community, this number is much lower, showing about a 40% share...

source: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/14/css-differences-in-internet-explorer-6-7-and-8/
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Scrum Tuning: Lessons learned from Scrum implementation at Google

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Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

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web designer's checklist

A list comparing the status of the most common browsers: http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus/

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What’s wrong with extending the DOM

I was recently surprised to find out how little the topic of DOM extensions is covered on the web. What's disturbing is that downsides of this seemingly useful practice don't seem to be well known, except in certain secluded circles. The lack of information could well explain why there are scripts and libraries built today that still fall into this trap. I'd like to explain why extending DOM is generally a bad idea...

source: http://perfectionkills.com/whats-wrong-with-extending-the-dom/
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Suhosin

Suhosin is an advanced protection system for PHP installations. It was designed to protect servers and users from known and unknown flaws in PHP applications and the PHP core...

source: http://www.hardened-php.net/suhosin/index.html
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Web Development Resources

W3Schools (http://www.w3schools.com/)
Because time is valuable, we deliver quick and easy learning. At W3Schools, you can study everything you need to learn, in an accessible and handy format...

QuirksMode (http://www.quirksmode.org/)
QuirksMode.org is the prime source for browser compatibility information on the Internet. It is maintained by Peter-Paul Koch, mobile platform strategist in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. QuirksMode.org is the home of the Browser Compatibility Tables, where you'll find hype-free assessments of the major browsers' CSS and JavaScript capabilities, as well as their adherence to the W3C standards...

SitePoint (http://reference.sitepoint.com/)
SitePoint is a fast growing online media company and information provider targeting the Web professional market, specifically Web Developers and Designers...

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JavaScript Resources

Javascript, CSS, and (X)HTML entities in numeric order (http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/04/named-html-entities-in-numeric-order/)
Below are the entities listed in numeric order with definition and ISO numeric code. CSS 'content' does not accept named entities or regular numeric entities such as @, but does render ASCII text and unicode...

Top 10 Things that JavaScript Got Wrong (http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/top-10-things-that-javascript-got-wrong/)
JavaScript, if only by default, is one of the most popular programming languages available. Over the years, it's been labeled as a nightmare to work with, and, to some extent, this is true! However, more often than not, what people mean to say is that the DOM API is a nightmare. Nevertheless, there are a handful of flat-out errors in the language...

Event compatibility tables (http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/events/index.html)
On this page I give a quick overview of events browser compatibility. I assume that you know the three event registration models (traditional, W3C and Microsoft) as well as event bubbling and capturing. I spent most of my time on the cross-browser events; the links in the first compatibility table lead to even more compatibility tables with detailed information about these events. I merely tested basic browser support for the Microsoft and W3C events without delving too deeply into the details...

source: http://www.noupe.com/javascript/35-fresh-javascript-jquery-tools-and-resources.html
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40 Single Page Mini Templates

Single page mini templates are light and very simple, but they have many uses. Html Resume templates will help you to set up a professional online CV in minutes. "Under Construction" templates allow you to keep your users informed, while you work at your website. Virtual business cards are perfect for portfolio sites to get you and your works on the web immediately. 40 different style mini templates to choose from. All of them are clean, modern, well organized and documentated...
(some for free, some for paid)

source: http://iniwoo.net/web/mini-templates/
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JS Bin, a Collaborative JavaScript Debugging

(nothing to add, it'll be redundant)

source: http://jsbin.com/
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Writing Efficient Tests

Unit testing can be a blessing and curse at the same time. Once you start doing it on a regular basis, it can become an addiction. You test everything, you feel the satisfaction of 110% test coverage giving you confidence in your code. But after a while, testing suddenly seems to slow you down. Everytime you make a change in your code you have to adapt several unrelated tests. Adding a <ul>-tag to your template becomes a matter of minutes, rather than seconds. And, worst of all, your test suite is slow...

source: http://webmozarts.com/2010/03/11/writing-efficient-tests/
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