At last the build up to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows begins.
The book has been split into two movies, something which might be a good idea as there is an awful lot to explain and some mistakes were made in the last film (Half Blood Prince) with too many cuts and changes to the original plot.
Based on this trailer do you think the films will be entertaining and worth going to see?
Monday, 7 June 2010
Thursday, 4 March 2010
CamStudio Screen Recorder Free - Review
This is a useful one to know about. Much as I love Camtasia, because it's a brilliant suite of screen recording software, I don't have a licence for it.
I've been debugging this morning, tracking down errors in software, which can be a real nightmare as you have to reproduce the conditions reliably. Screen capture software is great for this as you can record the mouse clicks as they happen.
There are many uses for this type of program and I found CamStudio really simple to use and I'll be using it lots more in the future. Well worth a try as it's a small program and very quick to put to use.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Teasing out Software Requirements
One of the hardest things to do in software development is to cover all your requirements and ensure that when you actually start coding there will be a simple transfer of ideas to implementation.
There are many situations where you can be led into a lot of work by a simple question so it is always important, so I have learned through some bitter experience, to make sure the parameters are clear. any open ended question is a potential trap and not always a request for work to be done immediately.
As an exercise I have created the mind map below to try and understand what is involved in the process. Clearly a different emphasis will be placed on the areas in the map which depend on your particular project/task. It's also possible that I've missed things - though the joy of a mind map is that you can add them later!
These days I try to be flexible when listening and use all my investigative skills but when the client(s) have signed off then the flexibility has to be replaced by pragmatism. Good Communication is the key and the earlier this is established the better.
Your thoughts please...
There are many situations where you can be led into a lot of work by a simple question so it is always important, so I have learned through some bitter experience, to make sure the parameters are clear. any open ended question is a potential trap and not always a request for work to be done immediately.
As an exercise I have created the mind map below to try and understand what is involved in the process. Clearly a different emphasis will be placed on the areas in the map which depend on your particular project/task. It's also possible that I've missed things - though the joy of a mind map is that you can add them later!
These days I try to be flexible when listening and use all my investigative skills but when the client(s) have signed off then the flexibility has to be replaced by pragmatism. Good Communication is the key and the earlier this is established the better.
Your thoughts please...
Web developer tools I use every day
In my work as a PHP/Javascript developer there are a few software tools I use every day to assist in productivity and implementing effective code. The majority of the tools here are Open Source and many are available for Windows users as well.
Operating System
For most of my work I'm using a computer running Ubuntu which is a popular and stable version of Linux. There are plenty of other flavours but I like this one as it is easy to manage. There is a huge range of software in the repository (catalogue) to customise your installation. And as it's Open Source you don't have to pay any licence fees, though I'd encourage you to contribute something.
Integrated Development Environment - IDE
The IDE is the core of the developer's toolbox and will have different features/plugins depending on the programming language or languages you work in. This is where you do most of your programming so you'll find most IDE's to be very customizable.
I use Netbeans which provides a very good range of tools such as debuggers, code completion, repository integration, plugins for different development tasks (eg. Firefox extensions) and much more. I have also used Eclipse in the past and this is also a very good IDE.
UI Design
This is so often done with scraps of paper or Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint or Photoshop if you are a designer.
I now use Balsamiq Mockups [review] as it provides a very simple to use interface with a hand drawn style to the images. The files can be shared or the exported images used in presentations.
Managing Ideas
Nothing beats a day book for jotting things down as you research an issue but if I need an electronic record then I'll use Freemind. This is a brilliant piece of software which allows you to jot down ideas quickly and simply. Mind Mapping tools like Freemind are really handy when making sense of requirements or when problem solving.
Documentation
We use a Mediawiki installation on the LAN for most documentation. For shared items such as task lists we have been using Google Docs for the past couple of years. This works very well as the task list is in spreadsheet form.
Debugging
For Javascript the obvious one is Firebug on Firefox and I believe there is now a 'lite' version for Internet explorer. Venkmann is also another established debugging tool for Javascript.
For PHP debugging work I use xDebug which is a PHP Module and can also be linked to KCachegrind to provide awesome, graphing of the code activity.
File Management
I can't do anything without FileZilla which is a brilliant Open Source FTP client from Mozilla. Invaluable for uploading and downloading files from the webservers I manage.
That covers the main day to day tools I use and I discover new ones occasionally which I'll share when I find them.
Everybody has their own favourites and teams often tend to share a set of tools. What are your favourites?
Operating System
For most of my work I'm using a computer running Ubuntu which is a popular and stable version of Linux. There are plenty of other flavours but I like this one as it is easy to manage. There is a huge range of software in the repository (catalogue) to customise your installation. And as it's Open Source you don't have to pay any licence fees, though I'd encourage you to contribute something.
Integrated Development Environment - IDE
The IDE is the core of the developer's toolbox and will have different features/plugins depending on the programming language or languages you work in. This is where you do most of your programming so you'll find most IDE's to be very customizable.
I use Netbeans which provides a very good range of tools such as debuggers, code completion, repository integration, plugins for different development tasks (eg. Firefox extensions) and much more. I have also used Eclipse in the past and this is also a very good IDE.
UI Design
This is so often done with scraps of paper or Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint or Photoshop if you are a designer.
I now use Balsamiq Mockups [review] as it provides a very simple to use interface with a hand drawn style to the images. The files can be shared or the exported images used in presentations.
Managing Ideas
Nothing beats a day book for jotting things down as you research an issue but if I need an electronic record then I'll use Freemind. This is a brilliant piece of software which allows you to jot down ideas quickly and simply. Mind Mapping tools like Freemind are really handy when making sense of requirements or when problem solving.
Documentation
We use a Mediawiki installation on the LAN for most documentation. For shared items such as task lists we have been using Google Docs for the past couple of years. This works very well as the task list is in spreadsheet form.
Debugging
For Javascript the obvious one is Firebug on Firefox and I believe there is now a 'lite' version for Internet explorer. Venkmann is also another established debugging tool for Javascript.
For PHP debugging work I use xDebug which is a PHP Module and can also be linked to KCachegrind to provide awesome, graphing of the code activity.
File Management
I can't do anything without FileZilla which is a brilliant Open Source FTP client from Mozilla. Invaluable for uploading and downloading files from the webservers I manage.
That covers the main day to day tools I use and I discover new ones occasionally which I'll share when I find them.
Everybody has their own favourites and teams often tend to share a set of tools. What are your favourites?
Thursday, 25 February 2010
How does your website sound?
I've been having some fun with CodeOrgan today as I listen to the different sounds of some of my favourite websites.
It's a really clever piece of software that uses a Flash program to encode contents of the webpage you give it into a polyphonic, if you're lucky, rhythmic tune.
It's a really clever piece of software that uses a Flash program to encode contents of the webpage you give it into a polyphonic, if you're lucky, rhythmic tune.
- Google sounds really punchy.
- Yahoo! sounds very stringy and has a bit of backbeat going on.
- Microsoft seems to play a very short jingle. Maybe it's their 404 page :)
See what you can find and leave your comments here.
Alice in Wonderland is Here - 25th Feb 2010
The film is Directed by Tim Burton. With Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter.
Alice returns to wonderland in this adventure and encounters many more strange things on her journey and is told she is the only one who can slay the Jabberwock.
The premiere is today and the film goes on general release on March 5th.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Review of Selenium IDE - web developer power tool
Until today that is when I needed something to remember the data I have been entering to test the data management site I've been working on. As it is a tedious manual process Selenium has been invaluable in ensuring I get the right combination of data to reproduce any errors.
What's more it is simple to repeat the test or generate new ones. Even better still is the ability to generate Unit Tests based on the data you enter into the form. This is on serious piece of kit for the serious developer. The recorded key presses can be edited, annotated and saved so adding them to bug reports is a cinch!
I'm not going to forget Selenium again. I'm going to learn more about it and use it as much as possible.
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