Archive for Development Articles
October 2, 2008 at 7:46 am · Filed under Development Articles
At some point every programmer has experienced it; returning to code written days or months before, you find yourself unable to remember why you wrote the code the way you did and what it was for. Nothing can be more frustrating or more time consuming than having to step back through code and figure out what was going on. There is, however, a way to reduce the risk of this happening again. Adding comments to your source code may seem like a waste of time now, but when you have to go back to a chunk of code months down the road, you will be very thankful you took the time to add a few explanatory comments.
If you have decided to start investing time placing comments in your code, allow me to give you a few “pointers” that will allow your comments to have the greatest impact. The first thing I do is place myself in the position of someone who has never seen that particular code before. I try to imagine I am this person, trying to figure out what the code before me is intended to do. I start out at the beginning of the code with an explanation of what the overall code is trying to accomplish. This will give the reader at least some idea as to what the code is intended to do.
Next, I give a brief description of what each variable’s role is in the code (i.e. counter, output, etc.). The person reading the code could eventually figure out what each variable is doing, but it is easier if you just spell it out for them.
Finally, I add the date. This is an extremely important step. It is extremely likely that sooner or later you will need to make revisions or corrections to your code. By including dates, you and others can see which pieces of code are the newest and which are the oldest. This can be extremely beneficial when debugging programs. I add a date, never erasing previous dates, each time I begin working in a piece of code. I also include a brief description of what was changed and why. This makes for a great reference log for later.
Many programmers find themselves reusing their code in different situations. Adding comments can help locate those needed pieces of code more quickly, saving valuable time. The important thing to remember with comments is that it not only benefits others, but will greatly benefit you in the future. Happy commenting!
About the Author:
Nicholas Brown is a recognized authority on the subject of Access Databases. He is the founder of Database Technology Services (DTS). DTS is a leader in custom Access database development. DTS programmers create databases for corporations, small businesses and individuals. Visit www.dts-consultants.com to see all of the services DTS has to offer.
March 25, 2008 at 2:05 pm · Filed under Development Articles
Top 50 Free Wordpress Theme (Excellent article, has screen shots of each theme, with a link to a demo, and a download link)
100 Excellent Free Wordpress Themes (Great article on 100 Free Wordpress themes, shows screen shots of some)
20 More Free First-Class Wordpress Themes
83 Beautiful Wordpress Themes
10 Fresh and Clean Themes
10 Unusual & Original Wordpress Themes
21 Fresh, Usable and Elegant Themes
Top Wordpress Themes (Great site, split up into interesting categories such as 2-column, 3-column, widget ready, etc)
My Top Thirty Wordpress Themes
Best 3-Column Wordpress Themes
The Best Minimalist Wordpress Themes
Top Ten Best Free Wordpress Themes - Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3
10+ Free Magazine Style WordPress Themes to Choose From
Top 50 Rated Wordpress Themes
Best Wordpress Themes on Squidoo
Top 20 WordPress Themes of 2007
10 Best Web 2.0 Wordpress Themes
This last bunch is from Hackwordpress.com
- Premium WordPress Themes Gallery
- 2-Column WordPress Theme Gallery
- 3-Column WordPress Theme Gallery
- 4-Column WordPress Theme Gallery
- K2 WordPress Theme Mods and Styles Gallery
- Google AdSense Optimized WordPress Theme Gallery
- Search Engine Optimized (SEO) WordPress Theme Gallery
- Magazine Style WordPress Theme Gallery
- 125×125 Button-Ready WordPress Themes Gallery
February 13, 2008 at 1:25 pm · Filed under Development Articles
When I started writing this article, I thought maybe I was going off-topic from what I normally post on the site, but then I read up a little more, and found that a lot of developers use Virtual PC type software to test there game development on several platforms. Which makes sense.
I am probably late to the show, but recently I bought a wicked (for me) new computer and it came pre-installed with Vista. Ahh Microsoft, what the heck are you thinking when you make new software. I am unsure. I can’t say I completely hate it, because it is not that bad. I have heard some horror stories, but in my case, there was only a few older programs that I could not get running on Vista. Another problem was finding drivers for a USB Wireless Key I had, but that is besides the point of this article.
I needed VPN to work, and my companies VPN does not work with Vista, and they have said they won’t support it for a long while. I didn’t feel like partitioning the drive, although it is a simple process, having so many drive letters is a pain. I didn’t have another drive, or wanted to purchase one, So I went looking for an alternate route and came across Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.
And although Microsoft usually get the short end of the stick, and people complain about them a lot, I think they have done a pretty decent job with Virtual PC 2007. It was very easy to install in Vista, then when it came time to install Windows XP is was quite easy with no problems. I installed VPN and the other programs that didn’t work in Vista, and ta-da! I got the best of both Worlds (not really, would be nice if I could get Mac OSX running on this as well, but that is another article)
Window Vista is my operating system, and I got Windows XP running in another Window. I gave the Virtual PC Window 1gig memory, so it is just as fast as my old computer running XP, and so far (fingers crossed) it has worked flawlessly. I shared a drive from XP Virtual PC to my Vista PC so if I wanted to transfer files it would be a simple task.
Next I want to try to install another OS, maybe Win98 (my favorite Windows of all time) just to see how it goes.
All and All this is a great product from Microsoft, and the very best part is that it is completely FREE. Thats right, Micro$osft is giving it away for Free.
Quote from the main site :
Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.
Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run operating systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2. You can run multiple operating systems at once on a single physical computer and switch between them as easily as switching applications—instantly, with a mouse click. Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for tech support, legacy application support, training, or just for consolidating physical computers.
December 22, 2007 at 1:21 am · Filed under Development Articles
Perl is wonderful interpreted, cross platform, very high level, powerful language which will make your life much easier.
You need to sort your files? Mass rename your files? Find certain string from multiple files? Need to automate web queries? Then Perl is your best friend. Some may argue that Perl is hard to learn and/or its syntax is ugly/hard to read. That is not entirely true. It’s just that there is too much “bad” Perl around the internet which causes confusion and misconceptions about the language.
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December 19, 2007 at 10:08 pm · Filed under Development Articles
I think a generally acceptable definition of reusable code could be “code or functionality that will probably be useful in one or more future projects.” It’s a category of code that few managers or developers, in my experience, seem to pay much attention to until they need it.
This is unfortunate since, in my opinion, reusable code, when upgraded to repeatable code, has the potential to save big on development costs.
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December 16, 2007 at 1:17 am · Filed under Development Articles
What is .Net Framework?
The .NET framework (DotNet) is a new Microsoft initiative directed to the modification of computer world. More specifically, it is a large set of development tools, servers, software, and services. Its main advantages for the user are creation of an integrated information space connecting him or her with computers and programs, as well as connection software applications together. For developers, the value of DotNet lies in interoperability and the seamless connectivity of multiple systems and sources of data. This empowers them to quickly and easily create required products.
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