I want to compliment Steve Oualline for writing a good article that has some perl hacks to help debug CGI programs that you write. I personally am not a big CGI / Perl programmer but have worked with some in the past and I know how powerful Perl can be to take a lot of data and parse it into dynamically created pages. The only drawback that I have ever had personally w/ Perl / CGI programming is that it doesn’t have a built-in debugger for debugging apps like other languages do. This article offers up some alternatives for debugging.
Link to Wicked Cool Perl Scripts - webreference.com
I am currently in the process now of creating some demos of software applications that I have written and I found this article offered up some good tips for creating effective demos for clients and potential clients alike to signup for and deploy for testing.
Link to Vitamin Features » Create an irresistible free trial for your app
It’s good to take a break every now and then and have a laugh, this is a pretty funny video someone forwarded me a while back. Gosh, and some people would go right along with this if they saw it. ha.
I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to try a new graphics software program, I am still using Jasc Paintshop Pro 8 (I think that they are on v10 now). I have the new software, Corel Paintshop X and Photoshop CS2 but just like the way I can get around a lot quicker inside of my older version of Jasc. This Paint software is a viable option though, especially for me, 90% of what I do outside of site layouts is just going in and quickly editing an image or cropping something out. Paint.net does a fantastic job and has a lot of nice built in effects (much like photoshop or jasc), but it lacks the complicated interfaces that it’s competitors in the industry have. If you haven’t give paint.net a try yet, download it and give it a shot. If you should run into any issues there is also a users forum that seems to be pretty active that can provide support should you need it.
Paint.NET is free image editing and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.
It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.
The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality.
Source: Paint.NET - Free Photo Editing Software for Windows
Chris Leeds turned me onto this cool tool and I have to say that as always he has stumbled upon something very cool that will positively impact the way I do things. :-) Thanks Chris.
This is another good resource from WHIR explaining Linux Server Load Balancing which can sometimes be confusing to grasp, or at least was for me once upon a time.
Linux Server Load Averages Explained
These JavaScript code-generating tools make creating useful JavaScript code a snap. Ranging from the Doc’s bookmarklet’s tool, to rollovers, and menus (popup and hierarchical), these tools can help you enhance your site in a jiffy.
- Bookmarklets Perhaps the best kept secret in JavaScript, bookmarklets are one-line scripts attached to links that are easy to create and fun to use. Create your own bookmarklets with our new interactive tool. By Tomer Shiran.
- Browser Sniffer Try out our new browser sniffer, that reports useful info about your browser, and key object and methods supported, essential from creating cross-browser gracefully degradable scripts. Includes tutorials on working with various JavaScript objects/functions. By Andrew King.
- Dialog Boxes This tool automatically creates the code you need to add custom cross-browser dialog boxes (alert, confirm, prompt, and our own IEBox) to your site for that polished professional look. For Windows users only. By Peter Belesis.
- News Fader Add a customizable news fader to your site with our newest Web-based tool. Compatible with News Harvester, this cool tool lets you configure your own fader interactively, and automatially spits out the code, just cut and paste! Available for all DHTML browsers and platforms. By Peter Belesis.
- Pop-up Menu Builder Enter your options and this tool automatically creates cross-browser live pop-up menus. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.
- Remotes Automatically generate the code you need to launch a popup window or remote using JavaScript. This in-page tool lets you tweak the various window variables to your heart’s delight to get it just right and can load any URL into the remote. By Tomer Shiran.
- Rollover Builder Instant JavaScript Rollovers - just add water! The Doc’s new cool tool lets you build custom link rollovers the easy way for Netscape 6.X and IE 4.X+. Pick your parameters, and the tool creates the code. Cut, paste and roll away! By Tomer and Yehuda Shiran.
- Search Remotes Put an end to old fashion Web searching with the Doc’s new search remote builder. Wherever you’re surfing just select some text, click a button, and presto you’re searching the Web with your favorite search engines. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.
- Universal Related Popup Menus Upgrade today to the latest version of our related popup menus: change one “parent” menu and all submenus are redefined. A complete rewrite, version 2 features unlimited submenus and multiple menus per page. And of course, it’s open source, so keep those ideas coming. By Andy King.
- Window Builder Tool Is he a doctor or a mechanic? Sometimes it’s hard to tell - when he’s not dishing up scripting prescriptions, he’s building new tools. Spawn new browser windows the JavaScript way, with the Doc’s new WindowBuilder tool. By Dr. Yehuda Shiran.
