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Tämä blogi korvautuu Wikimuotoisella ratkaisulla. Löytyy osoitteesta: http://persilj.wiki.zoho.com

Exploring SQL-databases

First things first:

• SQL is not a synonym for the MySQL
• There are multiple flavors (dialects) of SQL
• There are many alternatives for MySQL
• It is not always required to use Structured Query Language (SQL) to access a database (or a virtual database)
• Relational databases contain relational data, but there are also native XML databases and databases, which hold geospatial data or any other types of data.
• Databases might not implement certain SQL-dialect (like SQL-92) in a same way or fully
• Basic operations, among other things, might be done differently in MySQL, PostgreSQL, DB2, etc. Three different ways to do the same:
  • SHOW INDEX FROM tbl;
  • DESCRIBE INDEXES FOR TABLE tbl
  • \di

I explored through several SQL-databases, collected some identifying information and made a mindmap from my findings. It is not ment to be a comprehensive comparison of any sort, but it might help me to remember my own thoughts, when I consider them later. When evaluating products more carefully, a criteria that must be satisfied might become quite complex as there are so many related issues to think about, like how the databases behave under heavy traffic created by thousands of concurrent connections or what kind of processor power is the minimum requirement for certain website or does handhold device have enough memory for a mobile application to contain an embedded database and server.

(MySQL 5.4, SQL Server 2008, Oracle 11g Express Edition, PostgreSQL 8.4, NexusDB V3, IBM DB2 9.7, SQLite, MonetDB/SQL, Berkeley DB XML 2.4, CSQL 2.5, SQL Anywhere 11.0.1, Blackfish SQL 8, Virtuoso 5.0)

Larger JPG-version

Interactive Mindomo-version

To-Do list for the current summer

This summer I intend to deepen my understanding in following subjects:

• Unit testing
• Code refactoring
• Functional programming
• Software requirements
• Use cases

Been doing some desktop publishing jobs

In last may and june, I did some desktop publishing  for the South-Carelian Museum, for their magazine named Museoviesti. No salary, or freelancing, just practising. My intention was to become more familiar in using InDesign, which in my opinion is an excellent program. Desktop publishing is also something that allows one to get a good touch about fitting together different kinds of shapes, colors, feeling, associations, etc. It educates one in understanding the relationships of seemingly unrelated elements, as their hidden connections bubble to awareness from the subconsciousness.

I thought that as I’d have plenty of time, I could use the chance to understand color management and related workflows a lot better. However, many things to which I couldn’t prepare in advance, happened. Like a) printer driver’s behaviour changed overnight, even when the version of the driver looked the same, b) somebody had invited and accepted wrong bids, meaning that I once had to do the whole layout (48 pages) again. More about these in my other blog (finnish only).

I didn’t have enough time fully understood color management. It is simple issue only for those, who already understand it. I did made lots of test prints, but learning by failing -method isn’t educating enough as such. I would have wanted to cut some time, sit down and learn about it in peace and quiet. And then go and apply my new learnings to the job itself. However, magazine itself did get finished, but I decided to make a remix-version based on the official version. Reasons include that given orders were too limiting, like this one: “do not let elements overlap and do not let text wrap around elements’ shape”, but those are techniques, which I especially want to use.

Both versions of the magazine are viewable in the Issuu:

• Museoviesti 2009
• Museoviesti 2009 -remix

It wasn’t the plan and such wasn’t agreed, when I started to job, but I did some extra jobs, too. As the museum is ordered to not hire anybody this year, somebody had to make the postures, etc. Still without enough understanding about color management I took those jobs too, as anything related to photoshopping or desktop publishing is always interesting, even when I actually am not a graphics designer. Practically I was given some photos and texts, which I was meant to put to a layout created by me. I made few  anderolleja, esitteitä, julisteita, kortteja, mainoksia, yms. Rest of the time I scanned some photographs (from glassfilms and paper ones) and took some photographs. Some of the taken photos (Hiekkalinna / Sand castle 2009) are viewable in Flickr.

Programming tools I tend to use

Suurempi versio

Among tinier and less complex tools I mainly use:

- Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks (all from CS4 Design Premium Pack)
- Netbeans, Aptana, Visual Paradigm UML, Oxygen XML
- SQL Manager, Putty, Cmap Tools

As there are many useful add-ons for Firefox I tend to use it as part of development platform. I’ve made an add-on -collection and put it viewable to Mozilla’s site. Naturally it contains the Firebug, but there are many other very useful ones, too.

Using a live booking system has its benefits for a developer of such

The final phase in my training job at the city hall of Lappeenranta has ended. I had accepted to take the job for a month or so as I felt that it would be interesting to work in such an interesting working environment. Job ended yesterday as I wanted to take another job that is close by city’s core operations. My job included fields, which would be beneficial for me as a webdeveloper. As I had already in the past coded a booking system of my own, this job gave me few additional viewpoints:

1) viewpoint of a user, who is making reservations by phone, by email or over the service desk

2) viewpoint of a user, who is calling tech-support or helpdesk, when something isn’t working like it should

3) viewpoint of a user, who is calling tech-support or helpdesk, when something is working like it should, but user thinks it isn’t doing so

4) viewpoint of a user, who is using the software in dual-mode (together with someone else or serially)

etc.

My own creation (Green Minute, 2006), was the first bigger (bloated) PHP-based software I had developed. It was done as a hobby while I was studying in an Central Ostrobothia University of Applied Sciences. The software that was in use at the city hall is called WebTimmi. Now I can make detailed comparisons between something they (Timmi Software Oy) had developed and something that I have developed. That does help me in learning; WebTimmi is much better than what I had created. I can say that without any envy. Below are tiny screenshots of Green Minute screens and dialogs.

Less sparkling is less sparkling

Nowadays I wouldn’t call myself a website designer, as I’m more orientated to the coding, but every coder (and sitebuilder) should, naturally, have some experience in actually creating a layout by himself. Independent of a year of making the layout for a website, I seem to prefer simplicity, have some kind of inner need to keep enough breathing space around elements with tendency to eliminate isolations (none of the parts shouldn’t “feel” like they don’t belong there). I often add some kind of visual oddity or unfamilirity, but just one. Following design was made in the year of  2003.

Earlier game developing try-outs using Javascript

I haven’t actually finished many Javascript-based games, which I have started to code, but these few try-outs remind me of the inspiration that the algorithm-course gave to me. One on the right is something fully playable, but I’m not quite sure should it be called a toy, a test or a game, as in my opinion games and tests should be something, which are designed more systematically. This one was created more by an accident and had an idea of “I think it would be easy to create a game where players try to click a flashing and place changing square as quickly as they can”. Anyway, it was inspirational to go through this phase in becoming better coder. These were done in the spring of 2005.

Introducery algorithms

I think it is time blow the dust away from the introducery algorithms, which were presented in the algorithms book. It was once used as a course book. I’m probably going to be using these and something more complex after getting more deeper in the Java-language, which fascinates me and has captured me under its spell. These few are made using Javascript. Officially they are been called as counting sort, insertion sort, binary search and linear search. The algorithms progress one step at a time by click of a mouse. These were done in the spring of 2005.

Vertexes 4000

It has been ridiculously easy to avoid making messy code, unlike when using certain some other programming languages (PHP especially). Java does a very good work at keeping me and my code on the right tracks.

Collection<DefaultGraphCell> cells = new ArrayList<DefaultGraphCell>();

cells.add(new DefaultGraphCell(new String(“Fruits”)));

for (Iterator<DefaultGraphCell> it = items.iterator(); it.hasNext();) {

Object[] finalitems = items.toArray();

childcount.setText(String.valueOf(i));

if (level.equalsIgnoreCase(“firstlevel”)) {

Lately I’ve been toying with components, which I’ve found from internet. JGraph among one of them. JGraph’s layout component JGraph Layout Pro attracted me into trying the features of the free version of the JGraph, even when it doesn’t have automatic positioning of a graph nor ordering graphs using layout rules (radial tree, spring, organic, optimized node distibution, orthagonal, circle, etc.).

Start the applet

Putting Nutrition tactician into a freeze-state

It’s time to put Nutrition tactician to freeze-state for some time, so it wouldn’t continuously come to haunt me and peg for another version or conversion. I have already created a version in form of Adobe AIR, iPhone, Backbase, Java -application, just to name a few. It has been very educating, but I’d like to make room for something fresher. You may still use full browser-based service and minimally featured iPhone-version as usual.

eXtreme Programming

Extreme Programming is one of the agile software development methodologies. I made a mind map about XP-methodology using Minddomo. All of the excerpts are taken, partially re-phrased and organized to conform my own taste, from the book eXtreme Programming (2000) by Kent Beck. ISBN 020161416.

Larger PNG-version

Interactive Mindomo-version

Composition of diagrams

Earlier versions of UML-diagrams for the content management system (CMS) Codesigner, for which I was one of the developers. Diagrams were made in the end year 2009, while I was working for company named Codesign Oy.

Data calmers -diagrams

Some UML-diagrams related to my own Data calmers -service, which consist alternative interfaces for USDA (nutritional database) and PubMed (scientific abstracts). Most notable piece of software, which were used while making these were: Visual Paradigm UML, Power Designer beta 15. Made sometime between fall and winter of 2008.