Articles in the Programming category

1. [Python] Remove Whitespace From a String

   Posted on August 31, 2010 in Programming

   >>> print "".join(" hello   world ".split())
   helloworld
   

   The key to the above is that split() separates the string on any amount of whitespace when no separator is specified.

   

2. Listing WordPress Database Queries

   Posted on August 12, 2010 in Programming

   If you need to debug what queries your WordPress site is making, try adding the following PHP to your theme:

   <?php
     foreach ( $wpdb->queries as $query ) {
       echo "$query[0]<br />";
     }
   ?>
   

   For this code to work, you need to add the following line to wp-config.php:

   define('SAVEQUERIES', true);
   

   After that …

3. Subversion: Revert to Earlier Version

   Posted on June 29, 2010 in Programming

   This is one of those annoying little things I have to do ever so often. There are two different commands to accomplish this task depending on the specific situation.

   If you've made a lot of changes to a file and need to back all of those changes out, you can …

4. No such table: django_admin_log

   Posted on January 29, 2010 in Programming

   If you get this error when trying to save something in the Django admin, it's probably because you forgot to synchronize the database after adding the admin application. If you are using a pre-1.2 version of Django, you can simply:

   $ ./managy.py syncdb
   

   Django 1.2 (which is currently …

5. Sorting dictionary keys in Python

   Posted on November 30, 2009 in Programming

   For some reason, sorting a dictionary by its keys seems to be one of the most frequently asked Python questions. I'm not sure if this is because it's just much easier to do in other languages, or if the semantics of the language just confuse new Python developers. I guess …

6. Google Apps Shared Contacts API: Invalid Request URI

   Posted on October 19, 2009 in Programming

   For me, fixing this problem just meant reading more carefully!

   I am updating some shared contacts via the Google Apps Shared Contacts API and curl. I was able to create new shared contacts with no problem, but unable to update an existing contact. The answer to the problem was to …

7. Suggest Tags WordPress Plugin

   Posted on August 18, 2009 in Programming

   For the last couple of years, I've used the Tag Suggest Thing WordPress plugin to recommend tags for my posts based on the post content. Beginning with WordPress 2.5, that plugin started to have problems interacting with the WordPress administration pages. In August 2009, Yahoo! announced that they would …

8. Spreadsheets to Databases: Exporting and Importing

   Posted on August 09, 2009 in Programming

   In the early stages of an organization, it is common for most data to be stored in spreadsheets. Spreadsheet applications are common and easily understood by most small business people. Unfortunately, spreadsheets become burdensome when tasks move beyond calculations and into querying (Churcher, 2007). Fortunately, databases are designed with querying …

9. Getting Ready to Repackage

   Posted on August 09, 2009 in Programming

   Having built an entire application, the time has come to consider the possibility of redistributing the application for a wider audience. Since the original application was designed to meet the needs of a specific business, one of the primary considerations will be how the application must be modified to meet …

10. Database Basics

    Posted on August 07, 2009 in Programming

    The widespread use of computers has made database interaction a daily occurrence. Although databases can be large and complex, they are generally defined by basic terms that come together to create the larger system. Understanding these database basics helps users understand the underlying structure of the system and how they …

11. The Joy of Modularization

    Posted on August 06, 2009 in Programming

    Modern programs are not developed as singular, autonomous applications. Programmers have learned that many different programs use the same routines over and over again. By developing these routines as independent modules or libraries, programmers gain the advantage of quickly adding functionality to their programs. Modularization allows the detail of often-repeated …

12. Inserting META Tags in WordPress Themes Without Plugins

    Posted on August 05, 2009 in Programming

    In his excellent series on WordPress Theme SEO, Nathan Rice describes a method to include META tags in WordPress themes rather than relying on plugins. Since I recently updated the Slaptijack theme to include META descriptions and keywords, I thought I would detail the process. If you are interested in …

13. Decision and Loop Structures

    Posted on July 30, 2009 in Programming

    Decision structures (also known as selection structures) are used in programming to take an action based on the result of a question (Farrell, 2008). An if-then-else statement is the most basic kind of decision structure. The question is represented as a Boolean expression that results in a true or false …

14. Referential Integrity and Business Rules

    Posted on July 23, 2009 in Programming

    Referential integrity and business rules are two subjects that individuals new to database design find confusing. Relational databases use tables to represent things and events. It is often necessary for a table to refer to another table. In this case, the two tables have a relationship. Referential integrity ensures that …

15. Database Speak

    Posted on July 17, 2009 in Programming

    For those not acquainted with the vernacular of relational databases, many frequently used terms can be hard to grasp. These terms are often difficult to comprehend, but the concepts they describe can be illustrated in plain English. When a database administrator or developer is working with someone not fluent in …