20
Jul 07

HTML 5

Hmmm. One of the fun things when a client specifies W3C html compliance as a requirement is that you can spend a surprising amount of time picking just what W3C standard they want you to comply with in the first place. And now it seems that there’ll be another one to choose from. HTML 5 has just been revived as a standard in development, as a reaction to CSS and XHTML. Which means that at some point in the future, you’re going to have CSS 3, XHTML 2.0 and HTML 5 out there.

Daniel has a good summary of the whys and what’s involved. Some of the new features look downright spiffy – DOM support improved (right about the time that PHP is pushing away from DOM to get to SimpleXML – doh…), improved support for Forms (native data validation and better native input controls look like good timesavers to me), and more content tags (article, dialog, video, canvas and progress were listed).

As Daniel says though, this is still a standard in draft form; meaning we’re years from mainstream implementation yet. Pity some parts are already out of date so, but then again, I can’t see someone using old hardware thinking too kindly on the idea of upgrading everything because of a new version of software that can probably be abused just as badly as the last few versions to produce whatever the HTML5 version of the blink tag will be.


20
Jul 07

Xdebug 2.0 released

Hmmm. First PHP application programmers start GoPHP5.org, then the php core team announces the EOL for PHP4, then namespaces get added into PHP6, and now Xdebug 2.0 is finally released. It’s not quite the precambrian, but it’s definitely been a busy few days!

Xdebug, for those of you who prefer to debug PHP code using echo and var_dump(), is a bloody lovely zend extension for php that lets you get proper debugging information for when stuff goes pear-shaped (excuse the pun). From the official announcement:

It is finally here, Xdebug 2.0.0 has arrived! After about four years of work I finally found it ready to release. Have fun! After almost four years of work, Xdebug 2 is finally ready. With improved functionality and many new features it is ready to totally change the way you develop in PHP. Some of the new features and updates include improved stack traces, execution traces to files, code coverage analysis and much improved remote debugging support. Xdebug’s documentation has also been rewritten for more clarity.

I’m leaving it for Monday to install at work, but I’m going to check the installation goes okay at home over the weekend. Finally getting function traces without having to call PEAR::Log every five microseconds? Yes please! And nicely timed just before a bout of dev work in the office too

.


18
Jul 07

Top twelve IT skills

Spotted over on SysAdmin’s Diary, a reference to an article in Network World Asia entitled 12 IT skills that employers can’t say no to.
It’s an… interesting list:

  • Machine learning
  • Mobilizing applications
  • Wireless networking
  • Human-computer interface
  • Project management
  • General networking skills
  • Network convergence technicians
  • Open-source programming
  • Business intelligence systems
  • Embedded security
  • Digital home technology integration
  • .Net, C #, C ++, Java — with an edge

Good grief.
Sometimes you have to despair. Let’s take a slightly less naive gullible buzzword-friendly analysis-free look at that, shall we?

Machine learning
Not machine learning, the AI field with years of development and reseach, but how to construct SQL statements to extract data efficiently from large databases.
Mobilizing applications
WAP. And HTML for small screens. And common sense about how to do UI on small screens. Palm pilot programmers, you’ve been doing this for years.
Wireless networking
Network administrator who knows about 802.11 and Bluetooth and a few others, particularly the whole bit where you don’t send your credit card details in the clear on a radio link that you can receive from a mile away with the right kind of gear (ps. that means the kind of gear anyone can buy in any amateur radio shop for a lot less than your subsequent monthly repayments will end up being). Or, as we used to call them, network-administrators-who-know-what-they’re-doing.
Human-computer interface
How the average user expects the computer to operate. Well, this is a fair enough thing to seek out in someone who’s going to do UI design, but is the company going to pay for the double-blind user trials and listen to them?
Project management
You have to wonder, with management horror stories already fuelling at least one rather well-known comic strip, what’s the ratio of how many people out there actually do know how to do this to how many people out there will claim to know how to do this? My guess is it’s a shockingly low number…
General networking skills
I find it a bit hard to believe there are developers out there who don’t know this sort of thing.
Hmmm.
Maybe it’s more accurate to say that I find it a bit hard to believe that there are people who claim to be developers out there who don’t know this sort of thing and get away with it.
Network convergence technicians
Network-administrators-who-know-what-they’re-doing. Seriously.
Open-source programming
In other words, all that OSS has achieved in the eyes of some recruiters is to highlight those who would normally have been described as “well motivated”.
Business intelligence systems
In other words, are you a complete code geek, with no idea of what happens outside the server room, or do you happen to know that Mary in accounting needs to know how much was spent on kitchen supplies last week rather than what was spent on coffee, and what was spent on tea, and what was spent on sugar and so on. In my youth, we used to call this “cop-on”. Or “common sense”. Or “not being a <expletive deleted>”.
Embedded security
No, they don’t actually mean Embedded security, they just mean computer security, and they don’t mean as a specialisation, but as just another component in your skillset, and at the level of “Don’t save passwords in plaintext in a public file”. (This would also qualify as “cop-on” IMHO).
Digital home technology integration
Installing your fridge so it can talk to your TiVo so as to know when to order more beer and nachos (the day before the all-Ireland football finals). Seriously? This is a job now?
.Net, C #, C ++, Java — with an edge
“someone with Java who can also be a team lead or a project coordinator”. Good grief. If you want a programmer, hire a programmer. If you want a project manager, hire a project manager. If you want a team lead, internally promote a developer with the necessary skillset and time on the project. Hire someone who claims they can do it all, and you’re liable to get someone that can’t do anything properly…

The annoying thing is, I can’t tell if this is a bad article written by someone who doesn’t understand the industry; or if this really is what recruiters seek. If it’s the latter, it’s a bloody good reason to keep PHBs away from job requirement documents and let the techies write them. I mean, seriously. You want a PHP coder who’s got experience working in a Symfony framework and postgresql? Ask for that. Don’t ask for a “self-starting, well motivated open source developer with general networking and database skills and a history of working with clients to fulfill diverse requirements in a deadline driven environment”. Because the last time I checked, that just described working.