foxpro.catalyst «

When I first heard about the LHC (partly this was the reason for the lack of updates in this site for the past few months (my pet tiger and I were building an anti-singularity/anti-spaghettification floating bunker that could withstand a black hole (Yes it is possible (but no we won't be giving out the secret for now (but here's a hint)))).

Let me do that again, too many open and close parentheses already...

When I first heard about the Large Hadron Collider (wikipedia link / msnbc.techscience link / boston big picture (BIG pictures indeed (here we go again with these parentheses)) my first reaction was joy.

Joy.

Yes. Joy.

Joy... not because of the promised crispier Tv screens nor faster internet connection or other potential payoffs in the fields of telecommunications, medicine and energy.

(Though I must admit I'm not rooting for these scientists with their Grid to find 'The God Particle'. Science would be more interesting if after a year or two they'll still be singing U2's song.)

It was joy because of the promise of a possible discovery of alternate dimensions.

Of parallel universes.

For developers like you and me working on several simultaneous projects at once for different clients it is a vision of hope.

Imagine if I can just divide N tasks even to let's say distribute them into N/4 parallel universes, I can divide a month's work into just one Earth week's work of time.

Considering that merging them back together would not cost that much.

But even then if it takes one more week to merge them all together that would still result in two extra weeks.

Two extra weeks of doing the things that I really like. Code-related and non-code related. That includes a time for playing LEGO.

Pretty exciting.

It was the way to go.

These parallel universes.

The hope.

The only hope were all other hope and its derivatives will be measured.

Exciting.

Very exciting.

...

Until that morning just days ago when I met Master Foodahaha(xx).

Don't bother asking me about his name and the extra xx's. (He insisted his name transcends structure.)

But he pointed me out to something more enlightening.

More enlightening than the LHC and their Grid and the Higgs and multi-dimensions.

Something that Master Geoffrey James partially touched on and translated a decade ago but has been existing for centuries in various 'forms'.

That is... The TAO of Programming.

In the beginning was the Tao. The Tao gave birth to Space and Time. Therefore Space and Time are Yin and Yang of programming.

Programmers that do not comprehend the Tao are always running out of time and space for their programs. Programmers that comprehend the Tao always have enough time and space to accomplish their goals.

How could it be otherwise?

- Geoffrey James / The TAO of Programming

Ah... enlightenment.

Hello world.
TEST.

Foxpro.catalyst will turn four tomorrow. That is of course if I could finish this post before midnight.

After that 'accidental' redesign of the OUTPOST FORUM, I planned to work on some templates for this site.

I was into it when for some weird reason I accepted two rushed five day projects, so I'll be postponing the re-design for awhile.

Four years ago, my first post was a test scribble of course followed by a post linking to FoxProHistory.org.

Thanks for reading... : )

OUTPOST FORUM 1047

After the crash we're back.

It's a case of me trying to fix some cgi-bin files at the wrong time.

Had I opted to wait longer... things would have been solved faster.

I think my 'wait for the problem to go away' attitude got snagged somewhere last Thursday.

But then again if I opted for the easier path, you wouldn't be seeing this new interface... : )

And since my hands were already dirty, I decided to upgrade some 2 year old cgi/perl scripts.

I've been using some of these scripts for years now and I saw movements from their respective sites after a long time.

I'm talking about YaBB 2.2 (Two years in the making) / BoardMod 2.5.6 (Previous release was dated 06/10/2005) and GreyMatter 1.8.1 scripts (The one I was using for pixelnews prior to the update was still 1.2).

Also... while I was working on the new outpost interface, I found some easier ways to do things in Photoshop CS 3 which usually takes me 15++ minutes to do in the pre-CS version that I have.

(Time spent for cursing not included.)

I'll be sharing those things later... : )

...

OUTPOST FORUM 1047 released.

The Evolution of Tech Companies' Logos.

Interesting.

So that is where the 'apple bite' came from.

...

WE are currently reconfiguring some parts of the OUTPOST FORUM and TheLair's PIXELnews. You might see some weird stuff po(o/p)pin' out while we're doing this.

OUTPOST queries are TEMPORARILY redirected here. We'll redirect to the new forum once the UPDATE/UPGRADE/Tweaks are completed.

OK... the rain stopped.

Now let's do some GeSHi TESTING.

procedure UTILS_GETDatabaseIndexes()
 
    set procedure to UTILITIES
 
    select &cFilerDatabase
    nTagCount = tagcount()
    if nTagCount > 0
        dimension aDesc(nTagCount)
        for nEXB = 1 to nTagCount
            cSRK = 'cIndex' + NUMTOSTR(nEXB, 2)
            aDesc(nEXB) = &cSRK
        endfor
 
        dimension aIndex(nTagCount)
        for nCount = 1 to tagcount()
           if !empty(tag(nCount))
               cIndexDesc = tag(nCount) + ' (' + ;
               aDesc(nCount) + ')'
               store cIndexDesc to aIndex(nCount)
           else
               exit
           endif
        endfor                
 
        .cmbIndex.rowsourcetype = 5
        .cmbIndex.rowsource = 'aIndex'
        .cmbIndex.value = aIndex(nIndexSortIDNO)
    endif
 
EndProc

Related links:
» GeSHi / Generic Syntax Highlighter
» Wongoo Lee's WordPress CodeHighlighter Plug-in

Enabling WordPress Feeds in 2.00
http://www.memwg.com/enabling-wordpress-full-feeds/

I haven't tried it yet in seven angles, but it seems to be working fine now.

I'm seeing the light. Literally.

I started working on this around 5AM... now the clock says it's 6:59AM.

All for the love of full feeds in rss readers.

I also tried this plug-in from cavemonkey but my semi-functioning mind cannot make it work.

A character error in the previously imported posts also prolonged the debugging agony.

OK... after countless FTP-in'... hackin'... downloading... reuploading... reconfiguring... and countless other things. I still can't fix a problem in the old GM scripts.

In fairness to the GreyMatter scripts... it's still working. TheLair still holds 1869 posts since 2001 with no problems. It's the scripts installed in the NTSL119.com site that is giving me problems.

So I decided to try out WordPress.

Quick install... nice features... I did encounter some problems in exporting the old GM posts... but after a couple of workarounds... it's up.

Smooth.

Until I forgot to note down the generated random admin password. (E-mail for forgotten password still blank.)

PHPMyAdmin module saved the day though.

I am satisfied so far... and will probably re-direct the old one in here.

UGH... Awrk. Still having problems with the rss.

PLs like this is why we stick with the Fox.

Simple... straightforward and fast.

Now I'll go back to tinkering the unknown.

I'm in the process of upgrading the GM scripts for this blog... and... let's just say it was a good thing that I made a complete backup before doing that upgrade.

3AM.TEST.

Yeah I know... I know.

It's alright. It's alright. This BLOG moves in mysterious ways.

Infinite SUPPLY of TEST Posts.

I'm having some problems posting. I'm not sure if it's my ISP or the CGIs.

Third TEST for THE DAY.

OOPS. Wrong CGI-bin.

Let me compensate that with this foxpro-warp: Stuart Dunkeld.

I was doing a little clean-up experiment on CGIs/Perl+css, html tables and [br] tags with that post on multiple detail bands (step by step hints section) so if it breaks your rss reader, feel free to view the online version.

If it still doesn't work, here's a screenshot of the steps part in GIF format.

Omni-pie. Client decided to move the meeting/presentation to Monday next week so I'm here today in the office... for the Foxpro.catalyst's site birthday.

Hehe... : ]

I have prepared already for tomorrow's client visits since last week so I guess I'll just spend the afternoon catching up with buffered feeds, buffered blogs and bloggable thoughts.

Qs on the other hand is working on her database application which she will also be presenting tomorrow and I can hear her programming-related grumbles from here.

(Conscience to WildFire: "Good... blog about it instead of helping her."

Shut up, conscience. The end justifies the means.

OK... some initial link round-ups: Ah... one of the thousand reasons why I love computers.

A global network of computer users has clocked up more than 4,000 years' worth of computer calculations in under three months as part of a huge grid project.
Link

Nice... computers can solve those amount of problems but humans can't even start solving some of the 'basic problems' that have infested this very world for years now.

Intel's silicon laser breakthrough has been popping out in some of the feeds that I'm getting. What's next... the grizzly patents?

But this is good. I have constantly argued with my alter ego that there should come a time where we give software development-related solutions that do not set their foundations on a framework that was created because hardware-based connections are too slow to catch up with the data being processed.

I know that sounds vague but I'll explain that more soon.

But in a nutshell... it's like Porky Pig telling you add-ons that you can carry with your bike so you can do fish-castration-related stuff and all. Improve the bike... change the bike with a Harley Davidson instead.

Something like that.

Later, compadres.

Just finished figuring out how I would fit 15 fields inside the detailed band of some report. I am almost tempted to set the report fontsize to 4.2 but then it still didn't solve the problem. I don't think the user would be very happy about it too.

Changing paper sizes is out of the equation.

If only I could apply these grid-related codes:

cColor001 = 'RGB(192, 192, 192)'
cColor002 = 'RGB(0, 0, 0)'
cTEST = 'IIF(USAGE.STATUS == .F., &cColor001, &cColor002)'
.setall('dynamicforecolor', cTEST, 'column')

... inside 'designer-generated' reports. But still... it would only save one field-size space.

I'm sure there's a way but as of the moment I still have to find one.

Anyway... the Foxpro.catalyst site is turning one year old tomorrow. Woot woot!

I have a client visit tomorrow and three client visits this Saturday so I might not be blogging during those days. I'll post some one-year-techblog afterthoughts though early next week.

Thanks everyone.

Twuddles oh.. Twuddles.

That BLOG ERROR was brought to you by WildFire.

Today's article: Un-Dynamics of Software Development, or, Don't Bite the Flip Bozo. A little 'warp' but interesting and true. Here's a snip:

The Perfect Software CompanyThere is a perfect software company. It is where I work. The coffee is excellent. The chairs are comfortable, the computers are wicked fast, and we take a lot of video game breaks. The humidor is well-stocked with Cohibas, there is a killer library, and naps are encouraged. The furnishings are handsome, and the décor is pleasant. There are no cubes. The Managers sign checks and buy whatever software, computers, books, gadgets, and video games are desired. Schedules are not set until requirements are defined, software release dates are only announced after the features are done and rock solid. There are no suits. No ties. No cubes, and no timesheets. The work hours are very flexible but long, but I show up because I have more fun there than anywhere else.

Hmm... imagine when hard disks were this huge? Here's an overview of that picture.

As expected Microsoft expands it's quest for innovation. Yes... we do have different thoughts what 'innovation' really is. Now it's crawling into searching, anti-virus (once there was MSAV right), mobile phones, XBox consoles, Tablet PCs and more.

Nice... but how come this move? Is this part of that promise a couple of months ago to fight and stop spam in the future?

Technology Review has something about Holograms, tweezers and teleportation. Now that's news... beam me up, cowboy.

On the pixel-side of things, MIGHTY DEPTHCORE released the Infinity Pack. I don't have any submission in that pack though since I've been busy battling out with Miss TCP/IP this week. But with or without me... the pack rocks.