Category Archives: General

General

On web and UI design

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Web and UI design, just like any kind of design used by real people, is not just about making things look pretty.
UI design involves multiple interdependent disciplines and requires knowledge in UX (user experience), accessibility and usability.
Choosing fonts, colours, and design elements involves thinking in all of these categories. Sometimes simultaneously.

Experience in writing code helps when making visual design decisions and vice versa. Same applies to system- and server-specific configuration knowledge when it comes to performance tuning and speed improvements.

I am by no means perfect in most things I do, so don’t just take my word for it. I’ve made smaller and bigger mistakes going by my best understanding at the time. Not always those decisions turned out to be correct but I’ve learnt a lot with every failure.
As Adam Savage of the Mythbusters fame once said: Failure is always an option

I’d like to add that failure can be total if one doesn’t take a lesson from it.

Dear Gary, General, Thoughts

Sysadmins these days

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How can a person working as a server admin look at following PHP lines and in all seriousness decide that it’s suspicious?

if ( preg_match( '/^\s*(create|alter|truncate|drop)\s/i', $query ) ) {

              $return_val = $this->result;

            } elseif ( preg_match( '/^\s*(insert|delete|update|replace)\s/i', $query ) ) {

            if ( $this->use_mysqli ) {

             $this->rows_affected = mysqli_affected_rows( $this->dbh );

                } else {

              $this->rows_affected = mysql_affected_rows( $this->dbh );

                }

Yes, it’s impossible to knows every PHP function, but not bothering to RTFM and not being able to “decipherer” a fairly simple regular expression, shows complete lack of competence.
I’d stay away from any company employing this tech monkey who asks for help on Twitter. The second noun in his Twitter moniker explains more than the first. Hi there, @monkeypigs.

His allegations would not bother me if not for subsequent spreading of FUD on Twitter and forums. That was a prick move and not acknowledging the mistake is irresponsible at best. I didn’t deny responsibility for my actions. Now’s your turn to show some responsibility and retract your failed allegations, Garry.

Final verdict: People should not make any decisions if they don’t understand what they are talking about.

General, Thoughts

Live each day as if it’s your last

Aside

There is this saying:

Live each day as if it’s your last

I never liked it because it allows for wide interpretation.

I believe, everyone should strive to live every day so that people have something nice to say and remember when you are gone. They shouldn’t have to come up with general phrases like “He was a nice person” and similar.

General

I’m a Star

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About four years ago, after a party, good friend of mine, who also happens to be one of the most popular DJs in Latvia, introduced me to Andy, You’re a Star by the Killers from their 2004 album Hot Fuss. Somehow he felt that it was related to me then. I still like to listen to it sometimes, although it’s not in my regular song rotation.

Thank you, Toms. Whatever you meant when you did it.

Well, today is my name day (yes we celebrate those in Latvia) and I sent a tweet to the radio station where the friend is doing morning show, asking to play first song that came to his mind in relation to my name. I already knew what it would be and, sure enough, it was this one.

After the song was over, I decided to look up the actual meaning of following lyrics:

In a car with a girl, promise me she’s not your world
Cause Andy, you’re a star
In nobody’s eyes but mine
Andy, you’re a star
— The Killers

Apparently the Andy mentioned in lyrics was one of those high school bullies, according to this:

A guy named Andy Messersmith went to school with Brandon Flowers. They went to Juab High School in Nephi, Utah, and Andy was the popular sports star, and he tortured Brandon and made his time there miserable. So Brandon wrote this song sarcastically.

Source: http://songmeanings.com/

Hopefully, the lyrics can be attributed to me without sarcasm and perceived in a positive connotation.
Oh, by the way, my real name in Latvian is Andis but I choose to introduce myself as Andy to English speakers as it is easier to remember and I don’t mind being a star.

General, Thoughts

Alan Turing – The Codebreaker

An obligatory TL;DR

Alan Turing was a genius who defined the basic principles of how computers operate and he helped to end World War II by working on deciphering of Enigma messages. He was a homosexual.

The actual post

In the light of upcoming flick The Imitation Game, I re-watched an earlier TV documentary about Alan Turing – Codebreaker. This time it touched me more than the first. What follows are my thoughts and expansion on the main facts.

When Alan Turing took his own life, he didn’t leave a note. However, he left a legacy with far reaching effects and it has to be appreciated.

UK could have become the major player in computer technologies if they hadn’t treated the genius as badly as they did. Especially during his last years. Many people  nowadays should be thankful for having jobs and opportunities that would simply not be there if not for a man who started the revolution of computing machines. Although, society has come a long way since then in regard to treating people with different sexuality. Who knows – first personal computers could have been created by the Brits as early as 1960s if it wasn’t for the draconian laws of that time that were made even worse by cold war paranoia.

This could and should be used as a perfectly valid argument to make arguing homophobes shut up if he or she had ever used a computer or even works in the industry. And don’t get me started about those on-line comments by homophobic trolls.

If you are homophobic and you’re not reading this on a piece of paper, just think about the hypocrisy. Even the screen you are reading these words would not be possible without the basic principle of using ones and zeroes in computers, and it was invented by a gay person.

I’d like to finish this piece with a quote;

Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.

— Alan Mathison Turing

Post image: Decoding Alan Turing by Charis Tsevis