November 2008 Archives

I completed the function for displaying the records, including the comment, and the code that generates the appropriate web link. I also created a file called "intro" which contains introductory HTML which will be displayed by the script.

For those of you still trying to decide whether or not to learn version control, here's another cool reason: log notes. In subversion, each time I 'commit' a revision of my code, I get to make a quick log note, which subversion will keep track of.  Here, for example, is all the log notes that apply to one particular file:

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r16 | choward | 2008-11-30 02:04:17 -0900 (Sun, 30 Nov 2008) | 1 line

added web links to table produced by all_records_html
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r13 | choward | 2008-11-28 20:22:52 -0900 (Fri, 28 Nov 2008) | 1 line

created code for generating html for each record in the db; sitll needs to be tweaked
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r11 | choward | 2008-11-28 12:56:05 -0900 (Fri, 28 Nov 2008) | 1 line

some code for getting records in manynotes
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r9 | choward | 2008-11-28 03:35:21 -0900 (Fri, 28 Nov 2008) | 1 line

expanded top-level structure, variables, constants; renamed script
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r7 | choward | 2008-11-27 01:33:25 -0900 (Thu, 27 Nov 2008) | 2 lines

successful test of password db open in manynotes.cgi

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r6 | choward | 2008-11-25 04:53:01 -0900 (Tue, 25 Nov 2008) | 2 lines

Attempting to fix database opening issue in manynotes.cgi

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r5 | choward | 2008-11-25 01:33:08 -0900 (Tue, 25 Nov 2008) | 1 line

Expanded top-level layout. Added database initialization code.
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r2 | choward | 2008-11-23 21:57:58 -0900 (Sun, 23 Nov 2008) | 2 lines

Begin designing structure in top-level style

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r1 | choward | 2008-11-23 21:32:52 -0900 (Sun, 23 Nov 2008) | 2 lines

Imported initial project files

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And of course, with subversion I can always 'check-out' an earlier revision of any file. So if I mess something up, I can look through the log notes, and then find the particular version of the file I'm interested in.

I've pretty much completed the top-level structure for the front-end interface.  Now filling in the details.  Created code for opening the MySQL database, and then partially completed the code for pulling records.

Again, going a bit slow... working currently on another scripting project, and I'm also really far behind on some homework from my networking class.

Side note: my apologies to those few of you who actually noticed my site was down yesterday.  I unwittingly had violated the ToS for Bluehost, so they shut me down.  Unfortunately, their policy does not include providing warnings.  Also, they unfortunately chose to disable my account on Thanksgiving day... which meant that customer service was on holiday, and I wasn't even able to find out why my account was disabled until the next day.  But, I guess the stipulation /was/ right there in the ToS...

I was rather annoyed at first, I must admit... and I came pretty close to transferring my domain, and running the site off the web server in my apartment.

I expanded the top-level somewhat.  I also began work on the code for interfacing with the mysql database.

I probably would have more done by now, but I'm working on three or four different coding projects at the same time.  Three are in Perl and one is in PHP.  I would like to be doing more in C, but I haven't had much time for it lately. 

I'm really liking this Subversion -- it's very helpful.  Before I was always on pins and needles about deleting code or moving files.  With subversion, I don't even get near the repository -- I just check out a copy and work on that.  And I can always go back to any previous revision of the software if I mess anything up.  Great stuff!

I was determined, this time around, to use version control, so I installed Subversion on my testing server.  I somehow thought it was going to be difficult to set up a subversion repository, but it was actually quite easy.  Using Debian, "sudo apt-get install subversion subversion-tools" took care of the installation.  And there were several guides on the Internet to using the simple svn create and import commands to put the files in a repository, including http://aymanh.com/subversion-a-quick-tutorial.

However, I haven't actually set up an svn server or webdav (or, I don't think I have).  So I'm not sure how difficult that is.  I just log into the testing server and work there.

I began work on the music database project.  I am taking a top-down approach this time, which I have not done in the past.  I also decided that this time I will attempt to keep all the code (for the front-end) inside one script, except for where I plan to create a truly modular component.  (One that other people might use separately from my program.)

I have decide to create a simple database of Creative Commons OGG music.  The collection will consist only of music that is legal to distribute freely.  The music will be stored on the server in compressed TAR format, and a very simple table of information about each album will be stored inside a MySQL database.

Most of the music will likely come from ogg.jamendo.com.  Although Jamendo does a fine job of organizing and showing off their music, there are a few reasons it is advantageous to distribute some albums from my own site: 1) jamendo's bandwidth seems to be rather limited during the peak times of the day, slowing downloads considerably; 2) I am free to highlight some albums that are more in line with my own preferences; 3) I would be helping to aquaint more people with CC music, and so expose more people to the concept that there are legal alternatives to the proprietary nightmare which is our music industry.

I have finished configuring this Movable Type blog, and it appears to be fully functional.  The blog will continue to serve the purpose of detailing my experiences coding indicium.us.  The old archive of posts is still available at "http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/blog/index.cgi".

If you wish to continue following the RSS feed, please use the link on the right side of this page.

Concerning the state of the Hangman project:  Unfortunately I had to discontinue the hangman project.  I was finishing the last few lines of the code, when I made a rather unfortunate misapplication of the 'rm -rf *' command, and deleted the entire program off of my testing web server.  Unfortunately, I was not able to retrieve the deleted files off the drive, and I had not yet taken the time to install backup scripts.

Needless to say, I have now installed backup scripts and SSH keys, so all future coding should be safe. :)

I do not believe it would be worth re-writing the program, as I learned the things which I meant to learn from the experience.  You should see a description of my next project on this blog soon.

This is my first post using Movable Type open-source blogging software.  I've created this post for testing purposes.