Archive for Programming
02.17.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 7:21 pm by stark
Although you might not know it by the name, a captcha is one of those little boxes you see, more and more lately, that ask you to type in a random code to verify that you are a human being and not a robot. There are many different varieties, but the basic idea is an image that is obscured slightly but readable by a human and used as a passcode for secure entry to a system or task. Something similar to this:
The user is asked to type in the string buried inside the image, and if it matches, they are given access to a specific resource, such as posting a comment or logging into a site.
The 7 step captcha breakdown
The basic idea behind adding a captcha to any website can be summarized by the following 7 steps:
- Generate some random text.
- Add that text to a cookie/session/database so you can retrieve it again from another page.
- Write the text onto an existing image.
- Display the image to the user wanting access to a resource.
- Provide a form, where the user enters the code and submits the form.
- Verify the code against the key you stored in step 2.
- If the codes match, then grant access.
In the next few sections, I’ll step through the code for a very basic example of a captcha script for your own website.
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02.08.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 2:33 am by stark
I know personally, I’m not one of those people that can remember every detail of every language and never look anything up. It’s nice to have a cheat sheet with a quick summary of some of the most commonly used procedures, tags, tools, syntax, etc, saving time that would have been used to look it up on Google or dig through documentation either online or in printed text. The following is a list of links to several different cheat sheets on a wide variety of tasks and tools. You can print them out and hang them on your wall (my personal choice) or simply bookmark them for easy access down the road. If you have any additional suggestions or see something I’ve missed, let me know…
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02.05.07
Posted in Technology, Programming, Software, Windows, Microsoft at 2:26 pm by bobbyjoe
On January 30, 2007, Microsoft Vista was released worldwide to the general public. There are many reasons to upgrade to Windows Vista and there are just as many reasons not to. The bottom line is if you are happy with XP then you should at least wait a couple months until software and hardware vendors work out any compatibility issues. Many people recommend waiting till Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is released. Don’t expect this any time soon, remember that Windows XP Service Pack 1 came out 11 months after XP was released.
Microsoft has spent $500-million on its marketing campaign to push both Windows Vista and Office 2007 so it is easy to get caught up in the hype. Just remember that Windows XP is not going away anytime soon! As long as there is no further adjustments to its policy mainstream support for all versions of Windows XP will continue at least until April 2009.
Microsoft Vista: Home Page
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02.03.07
Posted in Technology, Programming at 2:16 pm by stark
While not exactly a comprehensive guide to Ruby on Rails, this tutorial introduces some of the basics of the language. So, if you’re at all interested in learning to program Ruby, or you just want to know what features it has to offer, this could be the guide you need.
Ruby Official Website
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