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What do I do?

Yesterday I typed frantically for 20.5 hours straight. I am only going to count 12 hours of those since I broke for lunch and 3:30am to noon did include a lot of R&D. Let’s assume I type 60 words a minute. So 12 hours times 60 minutes equals 720 minutes. 720 minutes times 60 words = 43200 words.

The average length of a novel is 60000-100000 words. [Source]
65000+ [Source]
12,500; 15,000; 62,500; or 75,000 [Source]

So even if we cut my 43,200 words in half for 21,600 words it looks like I am well on my way to writing a novel in a day or two. Of course, we could add in the other 8.5 hours of typing for another 30,600 words plus the 43,200 totaling 73,800! A novel in a day! What does Stephen King make per book?

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MySQL Took Us Halfway

I’m very disappointed that the MySQL Migration Toolkit is unidirectional. It will take a variety of databases and bring the structure and data into MySQL but won’t go the other way. I know it doesn’t seem to be in MySQL’s best interest to create a tool that would port away from their product but it really would serve them. Guess I need to see what DTS can do.

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Developer Tip of the Day

If you have two servers with the same directory structure and you are ftp’d and remote desktop’d into one of these servers, when you ftp a file if it doesn’t immediately appear in the directory in the remote desktop, then you are probably ftp’d into the wrong server.

To non-developers, I acknowledge that as you read that you probably hear Charlie Brown’s adult wah wahs in your head. For that, I apologize!

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ASP Classic on Windows 2003? Jump a hoop!

If you are trying to get an Active Server Pages class (instead of .NET) application to work on your Windows 2003 and not getting any pages returned, look in the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager at the Web Services Extensions. You are likely to see that Active Server Pages is Prohibited. Simply right click and choose Allow. Now your ASP classic application will function!

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Dear Adobe…what’s wrong with you?

Hello Adobe! Livedocs sucked much less (can’t say it was much better) when you could filter functions and tags by ColdFusion version. Believe it or not, everyone has not upgrade to ColdFusion 8 yet. Guess what! Not everyone will! I still have clients using ColdFusion 5. It isused to be very nice to be able to look in the documentation and see only the stuff that applied to a specific version of the product. Now you have to read the history notes to decipher what applies to your specific situation. Very cumbersome!

I am certain some marketing person told you that including the ColdFusion 8 function descriptions in the help would excite people using older version to upgrade and yes the CF8 new functions sound very intriguing but that isn’t going to inspire me to run out and upgrade. I’m the developer! Not the purchasing agent. All you’ve done is frustrate an advocate of your products.

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I like my work

I build very complex web application systems. I mean so complex that sometimes I forget that certain functions were built into the program; sometimes they surprise and even impress me. One of my habits is to code for the impossible. I often will slip in error messages for conditions that should never occur.

"Ever since the first computers [t]here have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code… that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated? There free radicals engender questions of free will… creativity… and even the nature of what we might call the soul." [Source] excerpted from I, Robot

Tonight I was testing an application I am trying to launch when I received "Something strange has occurred. Please log out and log back into the system then try your request again." Strange indeed! I usually make my impossible error messages a little more meaningful.

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8am

The rest of the world is getting into the office about now. I’ve already been through a 3 page Word document of bug fixes. Already this morning, which began at 4:30am, I have coded enough that my head is buzzing. Yes, like a runner’s high, a programmer can get into such a zone that all else disappears. That’s one reason asking a programmer a question can be terribly detrimental. The mental exercise can be strenuous and leave your head throbbing. Anyone that doesn’t like calling the brain a muscle (and no its not a muscle) has never really had to think hard. Your brain can ache after some serious mental hurdles! I need a rest but cannot break the momentum.

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Ridiculous ColdFusion/Webserver behavior

Solved! I had a conditional statement that would insert the following code into the <head> on one template: <base href="http://<cfoutput>#application.gDomainName#</cfoutput>"> Still doesn’t explain why it breaks.

Original problem: I have a bizarre situation and I am clueless on how to fix it. I have written an application that works fine on my development server. On the production server urls with cgi variables are behaving strangely. I have set up two ways to test the behavior. The first is in the application structure of application.cfm->index.cfm->included_file_with_href.cfm The href submits to itself like this: <a href="index.cfm?this=that&you=me&foo=bar">the link</a> I have include a <cfdump var="#url#"> as line 1 of the application.cfm. When the link is clicked the dump shows:

struct
amp;foo bar
amp;you me
this that

Now I created a test.cfm under the same directory structure so that it is influenced by the same application.cfm (remember, the one with the cfdump at line 1): application.cfm->test.cfm and it submits to test2.cfm and the dump comes out as expected:

struct
foo bar
you me
this that

So what would cause ampersands & to remain as & in one scenario but translate to &amp; in another case on the same server? This makes no sense whatsoever!

The URL has to be getting screwed by either the web server or the ColdFusion MX7 server. Neither makes sense. Yes 7.0.2 hot fix 2 has been installed. IIS is current.

Other references: See also

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Consulting – The Hardest Way to Earn an Easy Living

Yesterday I wrote of how various interviews over the past 2 or 3 years have failed to produce anything but rejection. I have written about how consulting demands extra hours and how immigration laws impact me. Today I read about Scott’s views on consulting.

40 hours of programming a week is intense. Every company that hires people wants 40, at least. That leaves you sapped, unable to muster the will or strength to work on your own projects.

Working a real job is a win if you’re lazy, greedy, or unmotivated. If you’re average, you fit right in. And if you’re above average, the basic terms of employement and premise of the arrangement is against your interests.
[Source]

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Image Resizing of the Future

Wow! Seam Carving Image Resizing. Take time to watch this (that link is a better video but at its quota…youtube link here) particularly if you are a programmer or artist. The people removing at the end is remarkable!!

Of course, this mirror made of wood is pretty cool too. If you aren’t sure what you are watching in that one, I’ll explain. There is a camera in the middle of this frame with 830 tiles mounted to 830 servos. There is a light angled from the top onto the tiles. The software interprets the image the camera sees and changes the angle of the tiles so that each one reflects a different amount of light thereby simulating pixels and creating the ability for the wood tiles to form an image. Very cool!

Update: This is a hot topic! See also.

UPDATE: Resize your own images online demo.