Seems even the most absurd thing can be patented

Now there is a similar alternative- Turbo Gears. It is written in Python, my language of choice- so I am sure to give it a try. However, this is not the first - and certainly not the last - Python application framework; will it offer more?

A quick list of requirements would include:

• a sleek, lightweight interface:
  • query window with code coloring,
  • result window with table and text display
• ability to process both DDL and DML queries, also in a batch;
• ability to export results to .csv file;
• queries history
• ability to connect to every known database

I searched the ‘net, and failed. The only software close to my expectations is DB Visualizer, but it is too bloated and doesn’t really suit my needs. An easy solution- write the application myself. Well, let’s get to work!

Any feedback and suggestions would be welcome.

Unfortunately, it is not so easy as it seems.

One thing that has to be realized is that AJAX calls are - as the name suggests - asynchronous. This means, the interface isn’t blocked during the data exchange- which means, you can still submit the form while waiting for server’s answer. You can of course block the submission with javascript hacks - but it means additional work. Not so easy, actually.

Another thing that I realized recently is that the “onblur” event happens actually after the form submission - in case you submit using “Enter” key. Kinda surprising, but it means you can’t use “onblur” event to validate your entry without some serious javascript tinkering.

Conclusions? Oh well- AJAX is just not so easy to use

I tried to find a solution to the problem, and I failed (for the moment- I don’t give up so easily). Not because there is no spam protection software (check Bad Behaviour and Spam Karma for example), but because it does deal with comment spamming rather than contact form spam. The comment spamming is nowadays very “popular”- however, because my weblog is not getting as much attention as I would like to, I don’t really care about this form of spam.

The other problem is that the spam filters are not perfect - and could easily wipe an important contact entry without me ever knowing about it. The last problem is that while spam filters offer some kind of protection, they are obtrusive for legitimate users. Others have written about it - for example on Binary bonsai.

My solution for the moment is very simple- I do nothing. Since I use Mozilla Thunderbird, which has a bayesian spam filter built-in, I can move all the spam messages to junk folder with one move of the mouse. So, dear spammer - it’s not really worth your time.

What to do? Speak in cipher: GNU Privacy Guard + e-mail client plugin will help protect your privacy. As long as “THEY” don’t ban encryption, as they already tried to do in the US. And then what? Move to Polinesia, I’d suggest.

And, by the way; here id my public key.

A serious developer has to think of making money, not of some religious beliefs. Contrary to what many people think, software business is just like any other business - invest the money and reap the income. No place for Mother Teresa- if you don’t make money, you fall out of business. Then, should you invest your money to make your sites more accessible? Of course!

Your site should make money. A simple equation: more clients = more money. Your site is not accessible? Less clients- less money. Simple as that.

A digression: making pages accessible is not so hard as it seems. Coding the site in HTML Strict + CSS and remembering a few guidelines should be enough. Not a big deal, actually.

Another happy conclusion from the “information should be free” slogan: all the software should be free! I liked the Joel Spolsky article. It explains why the free software even exists- it exists because it actually pays to publish the software free of charge if it helps selling other software or services.

And yes, I understand the difference between the “free” software as stated by GNU Foundation and “free” software, which you simply don’t have to pay for. I don’t mind the difference. Do you?

1. The client doesn’t know what he wants, and even if he knows,
2. he can’t communicate his needs.

This is how “we” (the computer people) usually view our clients. I’d say this is absolutely wrong. The problem is that “our” interface to common people is rather poor. Remember, common people don’t think in terms of “processes”, “objects”, “workflow” etc. Software designers seem to forget that their clients have no technical educations, understand no programming jargon and have little interest whether the implementation uses XML, HTML or whatever. People become easily confused- just as “we” get confused when we speak with poets, for example. This confusion leads to poor design- and then, we get the “but it’s not what I wanted” problem.

I’d say, when speaking with the client, to go no further than the requirements stage. That is:

• What will the software do?
• How to check if it does?

That’s it. The rest is our problem.

There exists a bunch of "solutions" to this problem, using "alpha filters", chunks of javascript, server-side scripting (this is my favourite) and the like. This is all fine, but it is a patch, not a solution- a lot of unnecessary coding, just to make one buggy browser happy. The real solution is not to use IE... For the time being, I just converted all the weather .pngs to .gifs using ImageMagick:

A digression: there have been many rants about how M$ Internet Explorer is "evil", M$ is "evil" and the like. I'd say it's just a very, very old browser - there hasn't been any significant update in 5 years! No wonder the software is not up-to-date. So? So now it is the time of "the turn of the tide". More and more people use alternative browsers - Firefox, Opera and others. And this is good. Stop complaining and download Firefox! And - Spread the Word!