Blog Posts

Starting to write JavaScript that doesn't suck

A couple of people I've spoken to in the past few days have made comments about how much they hate JavaScript and how bad it is as a programming language. I'd agree that this is true for the code that people new to the language can sometimes create. Take this wrapper for the Google Maps API: var map; function…

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Getting Extensionless URLs for WordPress on Windows Using ISAPI_Rewrite

Okay, a little bit niche but I couldn't find any decent info online. <p class="disclaimer"> DISCLAIMER: This works for my hosting. Don't blame me if this borks your install. Remember that I'm just some random guy on the internet. </p> My site is hosted with Blacknight. I originally had the site set up…

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Get, y’know, thingy

Today’s code discovery: _user = userRepository.GetUserByEmail(UserName); Genius.

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Certa Cito

So, my work does a weekly internal newsletter where they include a staff profile. This week it was my turn. The questions towards the end were submitted by colleagues. You'll probably be able to tell where the standard questions end and those begin. Name: Kevin Wilson Position in Company: Consultant / .NET Developer…

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Installing ICS on Samsung Galaxy S2

So, here’s the process as I go: Pre-Launch Back up stuff I don't want to lose on my phone (photos, call records etc.) Take screenshots of all data connection info and home screen layout. Charge phone completely. Update Time Launch Kies. It crashes. Launch Kies. It tells me a new version is available and asks me if…

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Hateful Code

I wonder if the person who wrote this had any idea of how much trouble it'd eventually cause? catch (Exception ex) { // TODO: log? }

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Unit Testing Database Access

The goal of unit testing is to create a small, self-contained tests for a piece of code that tests the functionality of that piece of code in isolation from the rest of the system. Put more simply, it should test the code you want to test and nothing more. This can be a little tricky when dealing with writing tests…

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Not enough time in the world

I like learning new things. I've been like that as far as I can remember, from getting a “How Does It Work?” massive textbook-like tome when I was about 8 or 9 which, despite the intonation of the title, actually did a pretty good job of explaining how things actually worked from how they made Christopher Reeves fly…

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Getting Sublime Text 2 to Compile CoffeeScript on Windows 7

Okay, this is maybe a bit niche but I might as well document this for whoever else comes across it. Sublime Text 2 is a pretty nice text/code editor in the same style as TextMate for Mac. CoffeeScript is a reduced syntax for writing JavaScript code. Getting them to work together isn't all that straightforward but is…

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FAQs About Moving to Canada

Just since various people have asked me: 1. Where are you going? To work out of my company’s head office in Toronto for a few months. 2. Why Canada? I've always wanted to visit there and to try living and working in another country so this is a perfect combination of both. 3. What about your wife? She’s coming with…

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