July 24, 2010

Tim Bray on Perl

The original Desperate Perl Hacker reflects on perl.

But WTF is this talk about beleaguered status? I've been through the java jungle and ruby rockstardom and I've never been so fired up about a technology as I am about perl right now.

July 22, 2010

Cloud Canvas: HTML5 At Its Best

If you're into seeing how HTML5 can be used to the max, definitely check out Cloud Canvas. This is an awesome way to do graphics in your web browser and is the work of Chance Roth, known for previous ventures in toy design and motion 3D production.

July 17, 2010

Wordpress Themes: Don't Call Them Templates

Mark Jacquith does his best to make WordPress' "themes" look not only technically snaggle-toothed, but also GPL-poisoning. Why he and others in the WordPress community want GPL lock-in so badly for their theme-makers truly boggles my mind. So does the whole notion that API callbacks and shared memory represents some sort of ownership rights transfer.

It isn't correct to think of WordPress and a theme as separate entities. As far as the code is concerned, they form one functional unit. The theme code doesn't sit "on top of" WordPress. It is within it, in multiple different places, with multiple interdependencies. This forms a web of shared data structures and code all contained within a shared memory space.

Ah, yes, how wonderful, a web of sharing between you, your lawyer, and a lamprey with seventeen heads.

The WordPress community could use a good dose of TIMTOWTDI as embodied in MT's approach to contributions (and in perl in general).

July 6, 2010

On the Origins of the blink Tag

Lou Montulli wrote a wonderful background story about the origins of the blink tag, one of the numerous great things that he has developed (including the predecessor to lynx).

Many who experienced the early web in its full glory have bad memories of table-less web sites that made heavy use of blink tags, under construction animated gifs, and cloudy, repeat-backgrounds made in photoshop. I treasure these bad memories. Any memorable era will have its own special gaudiness, perhaps because there are few physical and social rules in place to prevent silliness.

But how else would we get unbridled greatness?

Long live the blink tag!

July 1, 2010

Eric Blue's Perl API to Being Healthier

We engineers need to understand how much sleep and daily walking exercise we're getting and Eric Blue has a way to do it: FitBit Hacks. He is now hosting his perl-based FitBitClient on github.