First off, let me just say that I am by no means an expert cryptographer; there are all sorts of wonderful, terrible things about hashes and block ciphers that I just don’t understand (I’d like to believe that it’s because I’ve not been exposed to them, whoever’s fault that is, and that if given a [...]

In PHP, an object is always passed around as a reference, which allows one to deal with objects in a very transparent manner, since the only way to deal with a by-value copy instead of the real deal is to explicitly use the clone operator. Recently, I came upon a situation in which it [...]

Recently, McCain introduced a bill for consideration which would effectively block the FCC’s attempts at creating so-called “Network Neutrality” rules which ISPs and Telcos would be required to follow.  Now, setting aside for a moment the fact that McCain has received more than double as much money as the next-highest senator to be bankrolled by [...]

…if it hasn’t solved your problem yet, you’re not using enough. Curiously, I always thought of that little quip as a subtle indictment of the problems with XML, but it seems to almost be a rallying cry for proponents of the standard (I refuse to recognize XML as a “language”).  And when I say [...]

Another quick rant/post about the wonderful world of abusing javascript. Consider the following code:

function moveScreen() {
var myWidth = 0,
myHeight = 0;
if (typeof(window.innerWidth) == ‘number’) {
//Non-IE
myWidth = [...]

Two little snippets, some simple things that seem to be forgotten when writing code.  First, a general example using PHP; have you ever found yourself writing a loop that looks something like this?

$i = 0;
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result) {
// …
// maybe something about $i % 2 to determine even-from-odd rows
++$i;
}

If so, remember this: you are [...]

For years, as a P.C. and Windows user and developer, I’ve been forced to listen to inane claims about the superiority of Mac/Linux/BSD/Gameboys because they “don’t get viruses because they’re better products.”  Now, I usually try not to allow myself to be incited to anger, or shame, but come on.  That’s like saying that Malta [...]

In last Thursday’s article I ended up discussing browser market share and trends. As I wrote that article, I was using Firefox 3; As I write this article, however, I am using Google Chrome. This fact, actually, shocks even me, so I’ll share how it happened.
A quick search of google reveals that [...]

One of the great gems of the information age is the ability of just about anyone, anywhere, to post anything, anytime, about whatever they want.  Of course, this comes with the drawback of just about anyone, anywhere, being able to post anything, anytime, about whatever they want.  Of course, if you’ve embraced the information age [...]