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The suspicious exercise trails.

Dennis Ritchie Founder of C Unix Passes Away Steve Jobs

The world has lost two geniuses in the past week:
Last week, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday (October 5, 2011).
Over the weekend another lower key technology genius passed away, Dennis Ritchie, aka dmr. He was 70 and passed away after a long illness, reportedly of prostate cancer and heart disease, on Saturday (October 8, 2011).
Steve was the guy who brought the world Apple computers, iPod - 2001, iTunes - 2003, iPhone - 2007, App Store - 2008, and iPad - 2010.
However, none of that would have been possible without Dennis Ritchie. He was the founder of the C programming language along with being a key developer of Unix. Unix is the operating system that all of Steve Job's creations are built upon. Without Unix, there would be no Apple.
C is the programming language used to create Unix. It's also the language the majority of the web is based on. C++, Java, PHP are all based on C. Without C, programmers wouldn't have a job, the web, smartphones wouldn't exist. C is the founding father of programming languages.
C was the first language I learned when fate turned me from a math major into a programmer. Without it, I wouldn't be able to work at home.
Kernighan & Ritchie - The C Programming Language is the C bible Dennis Ritchie helped write and is a standard in a programmer's library.
It's too bad Dennis Ritchie won't be mourned by the millions mourning Steve Jobs. A Google search for Steve Jobs turns up 46,900,000 results. A Google search for Dennis Ritchie turns up 61,200 results. Truly sad. Steve Jobs was the face everyone knew, but Dennis Ritchie was the unseen guy in the back office making it all possible. RIP Dennis Ritchie...

#include "stdafx.h"

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
printf("Goodbye World!\n");
return 0;
}


More Dennis Ritchie

Offshore Software Development Metrics BlueOptima

A lot of companies outsource work overseas. It's cheap labor. If companies brought the work back here, it might help the economy a little. That will probably never happen though. It's much easier to pay someone $1.00 than $20.00 for the same work. The question is, is it really more efficient or does it just seem like it is?
There is a company call BlueOptima that helps companies determine if offshore software development is really worthwhile. They analyze data taken from the systems that developers use to manage the software development process. Metrics for offshore software development, which include analytics and graphs, enable companies to determine which teams deliver software at a higher cost per unit of effort and how to reduce that cost. Offshore software development metrics also enable companies to find key spots to work on in the software, so that they can improve the development schedule and make better design decisions. The quality of the software is also improved because the analysis allows companies to have a better understanding of the effort involved in producing the software. Problem areas and bug fixes can be addressed in order of importance, so that the software can be brought to a stable level for release.
To get started, BlueOptima offers a full set of training courses for users, administrators and developers. Courses are available in a class room or online in a webinar. Separate classes are available for managers, developers and administrators. There is also implementation support to quickly and easily deploy BlueOptima and understand the current status of your software development process.
BlueOptima is a good place to start if your company outsources work overseas and you want to verify that it really is cost effective.

How To Get Started Learning PHP Guide

I'm always trying to learn new things. I get bored easily. One item on my list of things to learn that I can cross off is PHP.
PHP makes developing a website so easy. Much easier than using a combination of Javascript/Java/HTMl/Hibernate that I used on one project. I always thought PHP was a scripting language like Javascript, but it's not. It's a real programming language like C/C++ or Java. Only it's meant for the web. It's also installed on the server, so you don't have to worry if the user has it enabled, like with Javascript.

Here's what I did to go about getting my programming environment set up and the resources I used to learn PHP.

The PHP development environment I used is:

WAMP server - This installs PHP/MySQL/Apache all in one bundle. Much easier than installing and configuring each individual piece. It also installs phpMyAdmin, which is useful to view/edit/query a database. There's also an XAMPP server that I wish I had known about before installing WAMP. XAMPP is geared more towards developing and also includes a few extra pieces, such as PERL.

PHP Eclipse - Helios - This is the tool I used for developing with PHP. The debugger is a little tricky. You can also use Netbeans, which I kind of prefer, but Eclipse has a nice searching option. Debugging in Netbeans is much easier though.

To learn PHP programming, I used these resources:

ed2go.com - This site offers online courses that run 6 weeks and have 12 lessons each. 2 lessons are released each week with a final exam released at the end. There is a discussion board where you can communicate with the professor and other class members. Each lesson has an assignment and quiz. Each course costs around $89. If you can afford it, it's a good way to get started. They offer 2 PHP courses: Introduction to PHP and MySQL and Intermediate PHP and MySQL. The introduction course walks you through developing a recipe website. The intermediate course walks you through developing an online store. Taking these courses was easier, quicker and less expensive than going to an actual class at a college.

PHP and MySQL Web Developmentby Luke Welling, Laura Thomson - A must have. Good reference, very thick, great book. This is the book to get if you can only get one PHP book.

Programming PHP - O'Reillyby Rasmus Lerdorf, Kevin Tatroe and Peter MacIntyre - This is a good book to actually sit down and read through to get started learning PHP. Good reference, much shorter than the Welling/Thomson book.

PHP Solutions - Dynamic Web Design Made Easyby David Powers - Good reference for "how to do something" in PHP.


A few useful links:

http://www.php.net - PHP functions, manual
http://www.phpbuilder.com - tutorials, examples
http://www.phpfreaks.com/ - tutorials, examples
http://www.w3schools.com/php/ - beginner tutorial
http://www.jasny.net/articles/simple-single-sign-on-for-php/ - example to use as a baseline in creating a single sign on server, global login/registration site.

A few miscellaneous links:

www.mysql.com/ - Official MySQL site
MySQL Community Server/ - a tool to make database backups/import a database, edit/view a database
DbVisualizer - A free database tool


More PHP Resources

Learning About Busness

Contribution by Stevie Kirby There are very few things you actually learn about running your own business from sitting in a college classroom. When I graduated with my entrepreneurship degree I thought I would be all set to start my own paper company but boy, was I mistaken. Things like hiring workers, working with noisy neighbors and everything in between really makes stuff tough. I didn’t know about bank-card-processing.com when I first started and didn’t have any idea how to set up a credit card processor. I feel like what they need to do more of in college is out of classroom training and I wish I’d had more than one semester interning for a small business owner so I would know firsthand how things like this work. I’m learning on my own now but these are expensive lessons when you’ve got to come by them on your own and I wish I didn’t have to learn them when the stakes are so high! I loved college but I wonder if everyone feels like this about their degree.

Giving myself a chess gift

Guest post written by Nate Gregory

I've loved playing chess for so long now. I started playing it with my grandfather when I was really young and he would even let me beat him. But then I got good enough to where I started playing a whole lot better and could actually give him a run for his money. Well, I've continued to play chess for fun for the rest of my life and I thought that maybe now since I'm an adult with a real job, I should probably graduate from the plastic and cardboard set that I got for a couple of bucks at Walmart.

So I went online to try and find some nicer chess sets for myself. As I was looking through all of the different chess blogs, I ran across the site WIRELESSinternet.net. After I looked through it for a little bit I decided to sign up for one of the internet packages that I saw on there.

I found some directions for this really cool DIY chess set. I think I may just make that instead of buying myself a really nice set.

HP MediaSmart Webcam Software Logitech

My new laptop I ordered a few months back has a webcam built in. I looked all over my system, but couldn't find a program to run it. I went over to download.com and checked out any free webcam software they might have. Unfortunately, every time I would start looking, I would get interrupted by one of my sons and never got a chance to try anything out.
Last week, I took another look at the software on my system and actually found the webcam software. My laptop is an HP, and the pre-installed software is called HP MediaSmart Webcam. It's really hidden. I found it under the Start menu, HP, HP MediaSmart menu. Kind of out of the way, but glad I finally found it. It was the first time I've ever used a webcam.
It's kind of cool, but really strange, to observe yourself while you are working on the computer. You can use the webcam either as a video camera or a still photo camera. The software lets you enhance the photos or add effects. You can create an avatar. There are even share buttons to make it easier to email or share on Facebook, YouTube, Snapfish and Flickr.
Back before I bought this laptop with a built in webcam, I thought about buying a separate webcam. There are lots to choose from, different brands and models, different prices. Some of the popular webcam brands are Logitech, Microsoft and Gear Head. If I was going to buy one, I would most likely go with a Logitech, such as the Logitech HD Pro Webcam (C910).
I have a digital camera and a video camera, but I tend to use the camera and video camera built into my cell phone the most. To add photos to my Facebook, I just take a picture and send it off. I'll have to give my webcam Facebook sharing feature a try and see how that goes, now that I know how to operate my webcam.