PHP

My PHP rewrite of Rael Dornfest's Blosxom perl-based blogging system. PHPosxom is no longer under active development by me, but the BSD-licensed code is still available.

Download PHPosxom

PHPosxom's sourceforge.net homepage

Why is PHPosxom no longer being developed?

The reasons for ceasing development on PHPosxom were varied, but the primary one is that at the rate things were going it would eventually re-invent the fine WordPress platform, which seemed a silly thing to do.

As I say, the code is still available, and whoever would like to is welcome to begin their own branch.

Thanks to everyone who tried out PHPosxom!

Thistle

Matt Gemmell (of Irate Scotsman and Scotland Software fame) created a fork of PHPosxom called Thistle (the name for which I will immodestly point out I came up with ;), added features, and really hammered the code into better shape. However, like me, he has left the *osxom projects behind for different blogging software waters.

On the ADC, in the Internet Developer section...

Though normally used with applications built with the Carbon and Cocoa frameworks, Project Builder is an excellent tool for Web developers working in languages like PHP and Perl....I regularly use Project Builder and CVS to create and maintain complex PHP applications with dozens of source files. In this article, I'll illustrate some of the advantages of Project Builder and show some of the tricks I've learned....

Continuing the theme of naming text editors after food (see Smultron), Taco HTML Edit is a bare-bones[1] text editor geared towards -- wait for it -- editing HTML.

Nothing too fancy-schmancy: commands/dialog boxes for adding tags, clippings, project files, syntax coloring and checker, preview, etc. There is some basic PHP support as well.

Keyboard shortcuts are generally good. The most-used tags have direct key combos, and there's an Advanced Insert palette you can bring up to step-by-step add tags and sub-attributes pretty easily. The only beef I have is that the long list of tags in that palette does not allow you to jump ahead by pressing initial letters (like jumping to <em> by hitting the letter e). This forces you to either scroll with the arrow keys for a long time, or use the mouse -- and since this is one of the few if not the only places that happens in this program, it definitely could use that extra feature.

The one thing I missed from using BBEdit was the HTML support, and since Taco adds Cocoa Tiger goodness like the new in-place spell-checking plus thesaurus action -- not to mention a non-abusive Preferences dialog, always a plus -- this program is definitely worth a look. Especially if you're just looking for a text editor that will let you do some markup but stay out of your way.

Taco HTML Edit is free, though not open source, so be aware it could go commercial any time.

Update May 2010: Yep, it's now $24.95. Not sure when it went non-free, as I haven't been paying attention to it, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

[1] pun not originally intended, but what are you going to do?

Super Bowl cooking

Up late backing up. Many fine GB flying through the air.

Next Sunday is the Super Bowl, which means hosting Hans's pals for Madden playing and watching the game. I'll be cooking, trying to accomplish my TGI Friday's Three-for-All replication, with buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and potato skins. Which will mean some prep on Saturday.

Dinner party the next Saturday, the 12th. Denyse and I going out of town the 13th and 14th for Valentine's. End of the month will be our 9th "Being Together" anniversary (which means our 8th wedding anniversary will be this June).

PHP Security Consortium

The PHP Security Consortium website launched today, and I can see myself catching up on some essential reading there in the near future. One of their first projects is the aptly named "PHP Security Guide" (available in HTML and DocBook formats as of this writing, but coming in PDF), an in-depth work-in-progress based on Chris Shiflett's "PHP Security Workbook." Monthly projects spotlights and on-going article series make this the newest must-have bookmark for anyone serious about PHP development.

If you're like me, getting a software project prototyped usually takes precedence over making it secure (or secure enough as the case may be). I'm looking forward to finding out the best techniques on how to secure existing projects, as well as planning for new ones.

Not really, but it sort of feels that way. Welcome to the new incarnation of the Celsius1414 Journal, free from such encumbrances as monthly fees and bloatware. I enjoy starting from a self-coded blank slate, adding the features I want when I want them. This site is currently powered by PHP+MySQL, although I am considering redoing it in perl at some point as a learning exercise.

Speaking of features that aren't implemented yet, here are a few more not listed below. Automatic handling lists, both unordered and ordered (although this and other markup will likely be handled by the wiki-alike). Expanding the tagging system, which will be connected to the wiki-alike, as well as functioning as a category filter and, possibly, a del.icio.us-alike system. The tags are the connective tissue for all these sub-systems: journal, wiki (knowledge), and links.

(Miscellanea: A collection of miscellaneous matters; matters of various kinds (Webster's 1913). Noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over, sans commentary.)

Publish and be Damned
Today's Globe and Mail has an informative article, Will Publishers Perish? on various forms of self-publishing available to frustrated writers.... (Writing Fiction)

Slowing down with origami
A couple of weeks ago I was visiting a friend and noticed a bowl of origami cranes sitting on his table. I asked him about them and he told me he’d done them to ease the stress of a difficult stretch of job searching. I loved the delightful little burst of colour and texture. The pleasure of sculpture and flowers at once! I also liked it that my friend had something in his place that wasn't part of some home decor trend or out of the pages of the Ikea catalogue. So I decided then and there that I’d get myself a pack of origami paper and get folding.... (c h a n d r a s u t r a)

PHP and SQL Security
PHP and SQL Security are being proven more weak every day. Uberhacker.Com is running a PHP and SQL security research project to raise awareness of secure scripting.... (Slashdot)

Christian critics write rebuttals to 'The Da Vinci Code'
Fearing that the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code may be sowing doubt about basic Christian beliefs, a host of Christian churches, clergy members and Bible scholars are rushing to rebut it. (Seattle P-I: Books)

Dodger History and Its Keeper
According to Mark Langill, what saved Dodger Stadium, what made it complete in its incompleteness, was the rain. When you look at photos of the ballpark (construction) in early 1962, there were no pavilions, Langill said in an interview with Dodger Thoughts on Monday. Torrential rains had really put a crimp on construction in terms of the timetable. Originally they were thinking they would enclose the ballpark, (but) they decided the view was so nice.... (Dodger Thoughts)

Best Images Yet Of Saturn's Moon Titan
During recent commissioning observations of a new instrument designed for a completely different purpose, the European Southern Observatory managed to grab the best imagery yet of Saturn's largest moon.... (Slashdot)

British libraries could shut by 2020
Books: Report urges cuts in backroom staff, more late-night opening, and treble spending on books to reverse falling membership and lending. (Guardian Unlimited)

The Jiroft Civilization
In Iran, an archaeologist is racing to uncover a literate Bronze Age society he believes predates ancient Mesopotamia. Critics say he may be overreaching, but they concede his dig will likely change our view of the dawn of civilization (ɔɅɓɃÉ√É«ÉÀ)

BBEdit: Its Unix Support Doesn't Suck Either, Part 1
In this first article of a two-part series, Kevin O'Malley introduces you to BBEdit's Unix support features. He also includes a nifty hack for listing the songs on your iPod, copying songs from your iPod to iTunes, and playing a song in iTunes -- all from within BBEdit. (O'Reilly MacDevCenter.com)

Spitz raises Olympic fear
Olympic legend Mark Spitz believes security concerns could see the US team withdraw from Athens. (BBC News | WORLD)

Mayor's pledge for Mandela statue
London's mayor says he will fight for a statue of Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square as hundreds celebrate 10 years of South Africa's democracy. (BBC News | UK)

What Happened to Sports?
I find it rather depressing that four of the top five headlines on ESPN's home page are about legal issues rather than sports.... (Baseball Musings)

On Pastrami
There are two types of people in this world: those that love pastrami and those that have no soul.... (The Amateur Gourmet)

Suburban Organics
Recently I have discovered the joys of having organic produce delivered to me at work on a weekly basis. My friend Jackie had always raved about her 20lbs of produce and I read about Clotilde's produce basket... well, I wanted one too! So I asked Jackie for some information about Suburban Organics.... (StellaBites)

Five Habits for Successful Regular Expressions -- new on O'Reilly re good ol' regex. This article uses Perl, PHP, and Python in the code examples, but the advice here is applicable to nearly any regex implementation.

A nice article that shows how little i know about regular expressions. I particularly liked the part on lazy quantifiers and inserting comments in your regular expressions. Very useful. "zeldman.pup" [PHP Everywhere]