created 06 January 2010 in links tagged django, english and language.
To summarise: if I were you, I would give up now.
Luke Plant on English. Good advice.
http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/msg/2e92...
created 26 October 2009 in links tagged development, framework, java and web.
Something to look at next time I want to hack on a project - this is a Java framework that looks very heavily inspired by Rails et al, looks nice for dev.
created 05 October 2009 in links tagged apple, competition, palm and sync.
Craig Hunter tries to complain about Palm’s approach to music sync.
You see, Palm doesn’t need the iTunes app to sync the Pre. [..] They can sync the Pre to a customer’s iTunes music library with a public, open, and documented approach that has been used by third-party developers and device makers for years. This capability was created by none other than Apple itself
I don’t think this is true. I can find no documentation of the iTunes music library format. It’s mentioned in a KB article, yes, but only alongside other iLife applications. It’s a way for Apple to decouple their iLife apps and have, say, iPhoto play music while doing slideshows.
He’s really saying “don’t use this unsupported made-up API, use THIS unsupported made-up API that happens to have been more reliable in the past”. But presenting it like it’s the Proper Way of doing things is deceptive.
created 04 October 2009 in links tagged amazon, reliability and scaling.
Scaling is basically an engineering problem, which can be solved with the right architecture and algorithms. Reliability is more like security: it’s a weakest-link problem and requires constant vigilance in all areas, including engineering, testing, operations, and deployment
I’m going to bookmark this and read it every week.
created 29 September 2009 in links tagged apple, itunes and music.
Oooh:
the new folder structure comes with this other new folder, Automatically Add to iTunes. It’s a folder with a pre-configured folder action, such that any media file you drop in there will be instantly added to iTunes
Actually using this feature would entail quite a radical change to the way I manage music in my house. But maybe itunes 9 and its sharing features justify this change..
created 23 September 2009 in links tagged api, flickr and scaling.
Paul speaks Truth.
..while adding more “extras” would reduce the number of API calls needed for a specific application, it doesn’t reduce the load on flickr’s back end systems. We’ve found it actually increases the load, as developers are more likely to request extra data they don’t need, and one heavy API request ties up more of our system resources than multiple lighter API requests.
Also, developer time. But that’s more obvious. What I like is the point that, yes, it’s annoying making n+1 calls, but putting that into one call is still going to end up as n+1 database calls at some point. Joins are Bad. Keep them explicit.
created 23 September 2009 in links tagged django and mailinglist.
I want to drive home the point that Earth is a very large place, and no matter where you are located, most of the world’s population isn’t anywhere near you - and no amount of technology will fix problems caused by the laws of physics
http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/msg/f939...
created 23 September 2009 in links tagged headers, http, oauth and security.
Every single piece of infrastructure that people are using on the Web today was developed after the authenticate headers were designed. If people have designed a scripting host in such a fashion that the information does not make it through, that is clearly either a deliberate decision on their part or the system is so clueless that you probably don’t want to use it for any security related application in any case.
http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/oauth/current/msg003...
created 23 September 2009 in links tagged 3d, cinema and movies.
From the comments:
are adults going to buy tickets to Transformers 17 times? In other words, are adults a market that has enough spare time and cash to make it worth anyone’s while to pursue? And do they buy enough low-cost high-price food?
Realistically, unless we are willing to shell out the same amount of money for a movie as we are for a ballet or play, we’re probably not a market that’s worth a whole heck of a lot. As long as 3-D is putting young bums on the seats, then it’s doing its job.
Also, I like
The inability to pirate 3D is only temporary—it works fine as information, and if there were real demand for it, there would also be real demand for a 3D-capable output device [..] and then it’s just as easy to pirate as 2D. .. There’s not much market penetration in 3D output devices because hardly anyone cares, but that also sums up the market for 3D effects in theaters.
If people really wanted to watch things in 3D, we’d have had 3D TV decades ago. The technology isn’t hard.
http://crookedtimber.org/2009/09/21/the-economics-of-3d-m...
