Category Archives: Web Programming

AJAX, JavaScript, PHP and all web related programming.

Get a legal version of Adobe Flex Builder for free

Get a legal version of Adobe Flex Builder for free

Adobe has been trying hard to build an ecosystem around Flex, which is a collection of technologies for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform.

In order to woo more developers to use Flex, they are giving away free copies of Adobe Flex Builder. In order to get these free copies you have be

  • A student or a faculty or employed in an educational institution
  • A developer who is unemployed due to layoff.

To get these free copies all you have to do is just fill out a form at this link (student, unemployed)

Additional free resources

Together with free copies they are also offering the following

If you ask me, I would say this is a smart move by Adobe to get more developers into the ecosystem.

If you are not eligible to get a free copy, then you can get the trial version of Adobe Flex Builder which can be used up to 60 days for free or buy it in retail for $249.

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Everyday learning’s as a web developer

Everyday learning’s as a web developer

One of the good (and also bad) things in being a web developer is that you have to constantly keep (un)learning. Every time I learn a new trick (like changing the default editor in Ubuntu or searching Google efficiently) or get struck due to some bug or wired behavior, I used to document it here, so that I can refer to it later and also for that fact that it might be helpful for others who are searching for the same problem in Google.

Recently I found one such wired behavior in WordPress while retrieving the categories of a post. I wrote about it and almost forgot about it till I received a comment from a person called kaigou

Insert OMFG or variant thereof, about twenty times, at two in the morning. I’ve been fighting with WP all day to get it to do what I want, and the WP docs have been useless — maybe it’s just that most folks don’t really get into really doing wacky things like nested loops and whatnot, I suppose. I was about to give up when behold, the power of google dropped your post on my screen and NOW IT WORKS. I feel like a keyboard mash is due, or buying you a virtual drink, or SOMETHING. May have to settle for quietly dancing around the house in glee, given that it is two in the morning when most non-geeky souls are quietly abed. But not me! Must celebrate your awesomeness for helping me finally getting it to work! Thank you!!!

It was really a very nice feeling to know that you can make someone from the other side of the globe dance at 2 in the morning. :)

This comment has given me the much needed motivation to document the day-to-day learning’s of being a web developer. So guys, from now on, if I spend more than 5 minutes on fixing something I will document it here. I also strongly urge you guys to do the same thing in your blogs and if you don’t have a blog then you are always welcomed as a guest writer here ;)

Posted in Random/Personal, Web Programming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

IE 8.1 will support Firefox extensions

IE 8.1 will support Firefox extensions

Update: Well guys, it’s time to reveal that the following post was my entry to April fool’s day. This post has been a hit and atleast a handful of people believed it. So guys, happy April Fool’s day to everyone :)

Yes, you read it correctly. IE 8.1 (code named Eagle Eyes) is going to support Firefox extensions. Smashing Magazine has a screenshot to prove it. The first time I came to know about it, I got goosebumps. (Yes really)

If this is true (and I believe it is), then this is the final nail in Firefox’s coffin. The only reason why I continue to use Firefox is because of it’s extensions.
Firefox has become too bloated due to it’s monolithic architecture and had become a huge memory hog. I checked my task manager as I am writing this post and you get the proof. This is with just 5 tabs open.

The major advantage Firefox had over other browsers is it’s huge list of third-party addons. But it cannot rest on it for long. Unless Firefox solves the issue with memory leaks, and comes up with some cool innovation, they cannot retain their market share. Let’s see how Firefox overcomes this new threat from IE.

firefox-memory-leaks

In addition to supporting Firefox Addons, IE 8.1 also has other cool features like Multiple Browser Rendering Engine Options, Server-side code decompiler, Website Skins etc.

On a related note, even Google’s chrome is going to support third-party extentions. Matt cutts has a tutorial which explains that steps that you need to follow to create extentions for Chrome.

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Back from WebCamp

Back from WebCamp

I attended WebCamp today as planned. It was good and there were talks about web frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Groovy on Grails, Django, Flex etc. Unfortunately I was not able to give my talk about jQuery as planned due to some issues with the timings. I was pretty disappointed at first; since it took me considerable amount of time to prepare for the presentation and added to that I drove for more than two hours to attend the event. Anyway that’s life isn’t? ;-) You will never know what life has for you the next second. If everything goes as planned, then life would be as dull as a recorded circket match. It is uncertainty which gives life to life (wow! I can make a quote too ;-) ).

Anyways to be positive I learned a lot of new things about jQuery when I did my research to prepare for the presentation, even though I have been using it for the past couple of months. Hope you guys also find my slides about jQuery useful.

 

SlideShare | View | Upload your own

I have uploaded the slide to slideshare and you can download it from there. I have also collected lot of links about jQuery during my research and I will post them soon. Update: You can find these links here.

There were some great presentations and I particularly liked the talk on Django by KG (Oops! I forgot to find out whether he has a blog). I also learned lot of good things about Ruby on Rails. More reasons for me to get my hands dirty with Ruby on Rails. ;-)

Special thanks to Prabhu and other organizers for a wonderful event.

Posted in Events/Camps, Web Programming | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Alternative for WinSCP – WinSCP

Alternative for WinSCP – WinSCP

Some time back I asked you guys to recommend me a FTP program with the Keep remote directory up to date feature of WinSCP. Ramesh asked me write my own, but I couldn’t find time (the same lame excuse of a programmer, the truth was I was very lazy :lol: )

Well today I found an alternative to WinSCP, it’s called WinSCP. My plea is answered and WinSCP now supports FTP too. Thanks Martin and the other WinSCP guys. You rock!

And now my search for a FXP client has started. So guys, any recommendation?

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

CSS Naked day 07

CSS Naked day 07

If you are wondering why my site is lacking its original design then it’s because I am participating in the CSS Naked day 07 like last year.

Well, if you are going to ask me what is CSS Naked day then here is the extract from the official site.

The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course, a good ‘ol play on words.

If even you want to participate then register your site in the official site and then strip the CSS from your site. If you are on WordPress then you can use this plugin.

Happy stripping ;)

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Alternative for WinSCP

Alternative for WinSCP

Well guys I need a recommendation from you.

I have been using WinSCP as my SFTP client for quite sometime and I am extremely happy about it. In particular I like the Keep Remote Directory up to date feature of WinSCP. But one problem with WinSCP is that it doesn’t support plain FTP.

So I started looking for a FTP program which supports plain FTP and has the Keep Remote Directory up to date feature. All my googling efforts became fruitless and I have decided to seek the help of thee. So recommend me some good alternatives for WinSCP.

Update (05 – May – 2007) : My plea was answered. Check out my updated article.

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , | 6 Comments

XHTML Strict validation or target attribute?

XHTML Strict validation or target attribute?

Recently I found that some of my pages were not of valid XHTML Strict doctype and the culprit is the target attribute in my tag which I used to open external pages in new window.

With a little bit of googling I found that I was not the only one who is facing this issue. In addition to that I also found lot of hacks and JavaScript scripts to make the links open in a new window without using the target attribute. Notable among them are this Sitepoint article and the recent one by Roger.

Time to decide, whether I have to the remove target attribute or use these JavaScript hacks or make my XHTML documents as transitional doctype. I am certainly not interested to use the JavaScript hacks but at the same time don’t want to go back to transitional doctype also.

Since this is my personal site I had the liberty to choose what ever I wanted and I have decided to leave it as it is. But my decision would have been different (or would have taken more time) if it was one of my client’s pages. So here after all my pages will have the XHTML Strict doctype and also the target attribute. After all rules are meant to be broken right ;-) what do you guys say?

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

getElementsByTagName and the sort order of the result array

getElementsByTagName and the sort order of the result array

I was just wondering how the result array of the getElementsByTagName function will be sorted. Will it be elements of the array be sorted in the order in which they appear in the document or is it completely random? And how does it behave in different browsers?

Can anyone shed more lights on this or provide me some pointers?

Self Note (by my evil twin): Sudar, you have become lazier these days. If you are not getting a response take the pain to test it across different browses by yourself!!

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

One month with Python

One month with Python

It’s been a month since I started playing with Python and I was able to tame it and now it has become a good pet. ;)

Many guys asked me what my favorite IDE for Python is after seeing my crush for IDE’s and my interest with Python.

Well, initially I was using the default IDLE which came with Python distribution and after getting a hold of the syntax I started using PyDEV, a plugin for Eclipse. PyDEV lets you to use all the features of Eclipse for developing both Python and Jython programs.

If you are looking for a decent, free IDE for Python then PyDEV will surely suit your needs.

I have solved some exercise problems from books I have used to learn Python and will try to post them here after refining them a bit.

Any one else playing with Python?

Posted in Web Programming | Tagged , | 4 Comments