Remember that Cache error at the bottom of my site??
Well guess what, it’s gone, finally!

It was nothing! I just created “cache” folder and give 777 access to it.

I did created cache folder before but it was in the wrong directory.
I thought I have to add that in the theme folder and the actual theme folder but no, it has to be at main root.
Well now it’s gone, phhhheeeewwwww!!

I’ve been using this widget for a while and haven’t write about it. All thanks to Jason who used it in one of his project and forwarded me the link.

mapsurface is a web page activity widget that helps you quickly see how people find, navigate and value the pages of your web site. Press Alt X

Its purpose is to provide an understanding of how users find, navigate and value web pages. It displays this information in a compact widget which sits above the web page. Andy Budd has written anexcellent review which is worth reading.

It’s very easy to implement and interesting to test out, you just need to add a line of JS script in your header section. You have to request for the trial invitation cos’ it’s still in a test drive.

It’s good for a site with lots of hits/visitors so that you can see the activities properly. My site stats won’t be that interesting.
Still I like it, pretty cool stuffs.

Just press Alt X keys and you’ll see the widget pop up. More interesting this is, once you click on “map”, it shows the click through links across the page.

Well I’m loving it and you guys can test it out too so better request invite from mapsurface.com.

I was fighting with asp dropdownlist for not being able to combine two columns directly. Say I got the same scenario as the following:

Suppose you want a drop-down list to display both the first name and the last name of each employee in the company.

I should be able to use DataTextField to combine two columns like:

ddlemployeename.DataTextField = "firstname" + ', " + "lastname";

But noooo…it gives me this error:

DataBinder.Eval: ‘System.Data.DataRowView’ does not contain a property with the name firstname, lastname.

You have to go mingle with your storeprocedure or Sqlcommand statement to change the string. Then only you can set that new string to DataTextField. Something like below. Very inefficient!

There is another efficient way of adding multiple fields in Dropdownlist using DataSet and DataTable by adding a new column on fly in DataTable object.
I did tried that method, but didn’t work for me, I’ll have to try again later. Anyway that code is in page 4 of the referenced article, so you can check that out as well.

SQL Statement
SELECT lastname + ‘, ‘ + firstname AS ‘EmployeeName’
FROM Employees

Binding Code
ddlemployeename.DataTextField = “EmployeeName”;

You can use a data-binding expression to set the DataSource property. The expression you use must evaluate to a .Net object that exposes the ICollection interface. You cannot use expressions to set the other properties. The values for DataTextField and DataValueField each must match the name of one field in the data source, so you cannot assign DataTextField by combining two or more fields in the datasource.

What the hell that bold part suppose to mean? For the moment I’ll just change my storeproc for that and play around with DataTable column later.

Any of you have any better way of solving this problem please let me know.
Thanks.

Ref: Data Bound Controls (.PDF)

So am I imagining or lately people tend to get hungry alot? I’m seeing two new cool sites and they both using food stuff in their logo.

Check these out:
# Think Vitamin – Orange,

Vitamin is a brand new online magazine dedicated to that new web industry.

Vitamin will inspire you, teach you, advise you and sometimes test you with its in-depth features, audio interviews, training sessions and reviews.

It’s updated every week, and it’s free!

# Bite Size Standards – Cookie!

Bite Size Standards aims to offer concise web development tutorials, tips and tricks. Written by designers and developers who are passionate about web standards.

P.S: Thx Jason for link.

Better grab their feeds.
Oh by the way, what’s those letters in bite size standards logo? I can read the big “B” and “S” but what’s that down below? “I-T-E”, “I-S-E”?? What’s that mean?

I was reading, “Are You Following the Instructions on the Paint Can” article on Codeing Horror, which directed me to The Jole Test: 12 Steps to Better Code and thought I might as well check out his checklist.

1. Do you use source control?
   Yes, we do. We use Visual Source Safe, VSS, as our source control.
2. Can you make a build in one step?
   This is a tough one. We did have a batch file which do all those check outs and build all projects at once but the file itself screwed up a few times and we gave up using it (lazy to fix). So answer to this step, no, we can’t make a build in one step (for the moment).
3. Do you make daily builds?
   I think we do daily builds 90% of the time, well atleast I do final build before I go home everyday. We got a small team so never really happen a serious source breaking. Yes good idea about babysitting punishment.
4. Do you have a bug database?
   My first impression on this, What’s bug database?, but then he was just talking about Bug Tracking. So yes, we have bug tracking list where we usually update after every build.
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
   I think half of the time, Yes, the other half, No.”zero defects methodology”, good point.
6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
   Definitely No. We do have some schedule in the beginning but then it keeps falling apart after a few week. All of us really slack at keeping up-to-date schedule.
7. Do you have a spec?
   Yes, we do but pretty bad spec cos it’s some what incomplete. I hate writing and I don’t like the idea of sending programmers to “an intensive course in writing”. So I propose for “hiring smart program managers” to do all the write up.
8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
   Ah…I guess so, most of the time. Well that doesn’t really affect me since my eyes and ears are pretty well trained. Once I’m into something, I won’t see or hear a thing around me. You can yell right at my ear and I won’t hear you. But if I got stuck or frustrated and lost my concentration, tiny bit of noise would annoy me like hell and there follow my bad mood.
9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
   We do have a few grumpy programmers over the tools we got to use. But understanding for the company as it’s a small one and I guess what they provide is not the best but pretty much efficient.
10. Do you have testers?
    Testers? Ah…does PM count as a tester? No, we don’t have dedicated testers.
11. Do new candidates write code during their interview?
    Not at all. I did have to explain a functionality of written piece of code during my interview. I guess the main reason I got job was cos’ I was a GIRL which they lack and need to add some feminine in their team. Pretty bias I know, but what the heck, I turn out ok.(I think)
12. Do you do hallway usability testing?
    Usability test is one thing we don’t do often. So yah we need to improve on this.

To summ up, I guess we do ok considering we have a small team. Ofcos some good points to note and need improvement.

So how did you do with the checklist over your team?

Technorati Tags: Programming, Programmers, Checklist, Coding, Project Management

Technology is cool but someone tell me is it really necessary?

A system provides search results from a voice search query. The system receives a voice search query from a user, derives one or more recognition hypotheses, each being associated with a weight, from the voice search query, and constructs a weighted boolean query using the recognition hypotheses. The system then provides the weighted boolean query to a search system and provides the results of the search system to a user.

Translation: the system listens to your spoken query, does its magic, and returns the results.

Link: Coming soon: Google Voice Search

We apologise for the title but the following article does NOT contain profanity.

Being an IT degree holder with no other accomplishments common these days such as A+, N+, MCP, MCSD, MCSE, etc, I place an obscene amount of value and pride on my single degree.

To me, a degree from CQU Fiji International Campus is comparable to a qualification from one of the Ivy League colleges in the US. This is because IMNSHO, CQU is the best institution available in the Fiji Islands.

My degree is my dearest procession. It is my bragging rights to other less fortunate and less gifted than me. It is a thing to put on display as an awe-inspiring object for the uneducated. Why do you think we get the option at graduation to get the certificate in gold plate or sliver, or carved into wood? If not to flaunt it?

I care very much about issues that would belittle my esteemed degree.

I can’t take any comment that puts a degree from CQU, its students or the institution itself in a bad light – especially those of slander from other universities’ graduates on the quality of my university’s degree, its education or the work of its alumni.

Lately, I have been hearing comments from some of my friends still studying in CQU that programming courses are becoming easier year after year. Every one or two year, ‘the powers that be’ take out a few topics of study from the course COIT11134. Fundamental subjects I studied back in my days have been moved to a higher level course. The assignments are so easy any of my mates from my year can do them in 10 mins flat after a night of binge drinking.

I am a programmer by profession. I can’t take this kind of rumours, if it is true, who’d respect a programmer that came out of my university?

So, I took it upon myself to investigate. I went to the course website, got the course profile. Alas! it is true. Half of what I learnt in this unit is deemed too advanced by ‘the powers that be’ and is now banished from the curriculum.

I wasn’t done yet, I wanted to check the assignments too. Oh? They have been locked for access by students only? Are we so ashamed of the pitiful excuses for an assignment that we have to hide it from prying eyes? That can’t stop me, nothing can stop a be-raved man, they’ve gone and destroyed my prized possession, my precious degree by cheapening its value with watered down versions of fundamental courses.

I’ve got contacts in uni who can get me the assignment details so I got one of them to email me the damning documents. And my choice of words was correct, they are indeed damning documents they have condemned the students doing this particular assignment to finish their degrees with half the essential knowledge if ever they were to choose programming as their careers.

The problem is not just with the course itself but with the course coordinators too. I have a choice excerpt from this term’s assignment materials which shows exactly what the designer of the course think of the intellect of potential students, and the amount of effort that he wants put into the course by them.

KISS
Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS). Don’t try to do anything fancy. There is no need. You won’t get any extra marks for complex implementation. Trying to complex solutions will only slow down your solution. Limit yourself to the material covered in Programming A and the first 5 weeks of Programming B.

I whole heartedly disagree with the above. I believe it is a stupid attempt to try and get more people to pass the subject by making the subject easier. Instead of thinking up such childish acronyms, lecturers and course coordinators should be spending their time actually teaching the less gifted students.

“Keep It Simple, Stupid”? Is it the ‘in thing’ now to insult students for no reason?

How about ‘Don’t try to do anything fancy.’? Are the submitted assignments so complicated that they are ‘out of the grasp’ of the university’s unending list of part-time tutors? This kind of attitude in teaching inhibits learning and creativity. If students didn’t think of doing any thing fancy, where will we get the polish and the flair? How do we discover new techniques? Where do we get our next Newtons, Edison or Einstein or even Bill Gates for that matter?

One word CQU, you are going about this the wrong way. Making courses easier to pass and pulling more students through your programs may be better for business, but it is not doing anyone any good in the long run.

Please don’t devalue my degree. It is my pay cheque. It is my rice pot. It is something my parents used the last of their retirement funds on. Keep the courses reasonable, teach the students well and let me and other alumni keep whatever good reputation we made for ourselves and for the university through hard work and dedication in our field of study and work. For all of us’ sake!

For my beloved university and respected colleagues.
Zatlite

Technorati Tags: Information Technology, Aung Tun Tint Kyaw, Bachelor Degree, Certificate, Central Queensland University, Education, Programming