function show_props(obj, obj_name) { var result = "" for (var i in obj) result = obj_name "." i " = " obj[i] "\n" return result; }

Super convenient when peeps don't document their objects.

List all properties of a JS obejct

My, Apache sure can be a little tricky to configure. Following a few tips from Ben Laurie I've just built myself a minimalist Apache / Catalyst / FastCGI configuration:

Listen 8081
ErrorLog manatee_error.log
PidFile manatee_httpd.pid
LockFile manatee_accept.lock

LoadModule alias_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_alias.so
LoadModule fastcgi_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_fastcgi.so
LoadModule mime_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_mime.so

TypesConfig /etc/mime.types

DocumentRoot /mnt/app/manatee/root
Alias /static /mnt/app/manatee/root/static

FastCgiIpcDir /mnt/app/manatee/tmp
FastCgiServer /mnt/app/manatee/script/manatee_fastcgi.pl -processes 3
Alias / /mnt/app/manatee/script/manatee_fastcgi.pl/

Journal of acme (189) Apache/Catalyst/FastCGI base config

Flot is a pure Javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary datasets on-the-fly client-side.

So hot right now...

flot - Google Code

FuseOverAmazon

FUSE filesystem backed by Amazon S3
Overview

s3fs is a fuse filesystem that allows you to mount an Amazon S3 bucket as a local filesystem. It stores files "natively" in S3 (i.e., you can use other programs to access the same files). Maximum file size=5G.

Its quite useful and stable, e.g., can be used to easily copy daily backup tarballs to s3.

To use it:

1. get an amazon s3 account!
2. download the source, compile it (I've used fc5/ppc and f7/i386) and slap the binary in, say, /usr/bin/s3fs
3. do this:

/usr/bin/s3fs mybucket -o accessKeyId=aaa -o secretAccessKey=bbb /mnt

That's it! the contents of your amazon bucket "mybucket" should now be accessible read/write in /mnt

FuseOverAmazon - s3fs - Google Code

Which would be a good way of using Template::Toolkit together with:

* Supporting look-and-feel, having different sets of templates that can inherit from each other, like, the theme A has all the templates, the theme B modifies some templates of the theme A and theme C modifies some templates of the Theme B.
* Supporting inline gettext or any other way of translating the text inside the templates, I mean, I don't want to have the complete set of themes for all the languages, but I do want to have a simple gettext-like infra-structure to translate the application, but I want that integrated with TT.

Template::Toolkit, look-and-feel and internationalization - Perlmonks

I played with Catalyst::Plugin::I18N today to test returning text according to the user's language. This is called internationalization (I18N) or localization (L10N). I prefer the term localization when customizing output for users for this (and internationalization for storing multi-lingual data in the backend) but the definition is subject to debate and both are used. It seems there are two stages to L10N: locale detection and the localization.

Localization / Internationalization with Catalyst

Day 10 - The Chained Dispatch Type

A complete example of how to use Catalyst::DispatchType::Chained.
A basic introduction to Chained actions with Catalyst.

Frequently when building web applications there is a chain of dependency along the url path. That is, the controller dispatch logic has a close relationship to the data you want to draw from the model. Chained dispatch types provide an easy way to encapsulate this logic within your Catalyst controllers.

This Advent calendar entry is associated with a complete example application which shows how to use chained actions to provide this logic. The example application is available from the Catalyst subversion repository by issuing the following command:

$ svn co http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/ChainedEg

Please get a copy of this code before you proceed. The application is a very simple proof-of-concept application which will work with a basic Catalyst. There is no model, and the view is handled in the Root controller's end action (i.e. Controller::Root->end).

As an interesting aside, with appropriate introspection, by using Class::Inspector for example, it would be relatively straightforward to develop a custom view based on this end action to provide skeleton output during application development. For instance, you might want to use this in a situation where you have a pre-existing model but are not yet able to provide data for it.

Catalyst Chained Dispatch Type (for localization) - Catalyst Advent Calendar - Day 10

The following tutorial has been created to assist new online faculty in familiarizing themselves with the Windows environment and building baseline knowledge and skills. It is particularly suited for novice to intermediate folks; all of the items on the list will be used, in one fashion or another, during the WebTycho training.

Basic computer skills tutorial. From /.

Basic Computer Skills Tutorial - UMUC

Usually, programs are written and documented in English, and use English at execution time for interacting with users. This is true not only from within GNU, but also in a great deal of proprietary and free software. Using a common language is quite handy for communication between developers, maintainers and users from all countries. On the other hand, most people are less comfortable with English than with their own native language, and would rather be using their mother tongue for day to day's work, as far as possible. Many would simply love seeing their computer screen showing a lot less of English, and far more of their own language.

GNU `gettext' is an important step for the GNU Translation Project, as it is an asset on which we may build many other steps. This package offers to programmers, translators, and even users, a well integrated set of tools and documentation. Specifically, the GNU `gettext' utilities are a set of tools that provides a framework to help other GNU packages produce multi-lingual messages. These tools include a set of conventions about how programs should be written to support message catalogs, a directory and file naming organization for the message catalogs themselves, a runtime library supporting the retrieval of translated messages, and a few stand-alone programs to massage in various ways the sets of translatable strings, or already translated strings. A special GNU Emacs mode also helps interested parties in preparing these sets, or bringing them up to date.

Online Manual is available at www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html

gettext - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

Volume 1

Fundamental Algorithms, Third Edition (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1997), xx 650pp. ISBN 0-201-89683-4
Volume 1 Fascicle 1, MMIX: A RISC Computer for the New Millenium (2005), v 134pp. ISBN 0-201-85392-2

How many of you guys have read this? I just cracked it last night, and I'm thinking of working my way through it in 2008 as well as learning LISP, as web development is becoming mundane.

The Art of Computer Programming