tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31033162220066394722011-12-28T19:01:35.110-06:00The subtle art and exact science of programming.Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-6284726558568380762011-12-23T12:58:00.001-06:002011-12-28T19:01:35.120-06:00

Ok, so this is really more for me than anyone.  Our washing machine is on the fritz, and being the house-handyman... it's my problem.  And since I'm cheap and stubborn, I'm intent on fixing it myself. The victim: Estate (Whirlpool) washing machine, circa 2003 The crime: Upon entering the spin or agitation cycles, the tub won't move and it makes a horrible noise. So, as I read more about this

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-871955136067567482011-11-27T08:39:00.001-06:002011-11-27T22:45:51.933-06:00

It's time again for another app review. Last time, I reviewed Sobees (a social network aggregator that makes life easier for eSocial butterflies). This time I thought that with the Christmas season upon us, it would be appropriate to review Wishlistr (www.wishlistr.com). Wishlistr's website describes it fairly well: Wishlistr is an easy to use web-based application that will help you collect,

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-3225979414148073682011-10-14T20:01:00.000-05:002011-10-16T20:02:45.063-05:00

After having a couple of people ask me for my favorite web-app that does _______, I've decided to review several of my overall favorite web apps right here. These apps will range from unique utilities to sites that may only interest a certain demographic - but in each site I think there is a lot to learn: design, application layout, typography, etc. Starting right here I'll review one app at a

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-74436673394826776482010-04-19T12:49:00.000-05:002010-04-19T12:49:04.932-05:00

If you have been following the development of the HTML5 standard at all, then you're probably ahead of me on this one.  This is my first week that I'm not teaching in a while, so I'm getting caught up with a little "light reading" (pr: reading web standards and specifications). After a rather assertive student argued with me the merits of using frames in web pages a couple of weeks ago, I found

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-29776703795507803702009-09-03T10:13:00.000-05:002009-09-03T10:13:52.271-05:00

Sometime between 4:30 pm yesterday and 8:00 am this morning (central time), the National Weather Service changed the format of their XML feed for forecast data.  I don't yet know all of the details, but I know that the "time-layout" element no longer has a "period-name" attribute.  If I can find any more information, I'll follow up on this post. Sample XML feed Schema

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-40027546879870328262009-08-10T09:49:00.000-05:002009-08-10T10:31:52.410-05:00

I've been working on an app at work that will update "slides" that we show on these huge LCD screens at each of the entrances to the building - things like the weather forecast, current tech news (since we're an IT training center), and where each class is located in the building.It can be used either interactively or as a Scheduled Task (with the needed parameters passed as arguments in the

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-48686361005119600042008-07-13T10:26:00.000-05:002009-08-26T10:40:29.829-05:00

I recently received a question from a co-worker about inserting URL's into emails.  Although this isn't a normal topic of this site, I thought others might find it useful as well.Josh, I have a quick question. I am interested in how you made this a link.  I have copied and pasted the info but never been able turn it into a link. Can you help me?file://P:/Information%20Technology%20Training%

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-66013666384665308232008-05-27T10:23:00.005-05:002009-08-26T10:26:20.349-05:00

I've been working on the third version of Vend-Trak for the past couple of weeks. We're going to incorporate Google Maps with directions, Google Charts (faster than the Java charts we've been using) and some other neat features. But really the biggest changes are all "behind the scenes".Currently the application is written in ASP Classic (3.0) and is supported by a MySQL database.  These choices

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-16463250456989173722007-07-18T10:22:00.000-05:002009-08-26T10:23:55.963-05:00

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few months, you know that the "Web 2.0" look is becoming a very popular design on web sites.  Web 2.0 isn't really the second version of the World Wide Web; this is a term that has been used to describe everything from AJAX-enabled web sites to the glossy, glass-like design that we'll be looking at in this article.  This type of design can generally

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-63281344898960274122007-07-08T10:21:00.000-05:002009-08-26T10:22:32.611-05:00

Over this past weekend, the family and I traveled to St. Louis, as we do about once every other month to visit Christina's family.  Normally we'll drive the 7 hours from Little Rock to St. Louis, we've flown a couple of times, but this time we decided to try something different.  The idea was actually inspired by my 4-year-old step-son who, as most toddlers do, has an infatuation with trains.  

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-15304646168086699562007-03-14T09:52:00.001-05:002009-08-26T10:42:42.741-05:00

Any article about Ajax should probably start by explaining that it's not a new programming language. Rather, it's a methodology that enables a greater level of user interactivity in web-based applications. Ajax is based on two languages that have been around for quite a while: JavaScript and eXtensible Markup Language (XML). The "A" in Ajax stands for asynchronous, which literally means, "not at

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-9633233995313222312007-03-07T09:42:00.001-06:002009-08-26T10:21:24.986-05:00

If you have a tight schedule and a lengthy presentation or class to give, you can add a little something to the master slide of your presentation to make sure you stay on time. Using the steps outlined below, you will be able to add a small notice (for yourself) to let you know when you need wrap up the current topic and move on to the next slide.Open the master slide of your presentation and

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-30192758695864319942006-09-18T09:35:00.000-05:002009-08-26T10:20:44.417-05:00

This short post is meant to publicize a video posted by Senator Ted Kennedy on youtube.com. Senator Kennedy is one of the first politicians to voice his opinion in favor of Net Neutrality.Click here to watch the video.

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-28266888905513304532006-08-25T09:30:00.002-05:002009-08-26T09:34:33.592-05:00

In 1995 Netscape hired Brendan Eich to take charge of a development project in which they were creating a new programming language to add interactivity to web pages.  This language was called LiveScript by the developers because of its ability to change itself and web page content.  Later, when the language was released to the public, it was announced as JavaScript.  As it turns out, this was a

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-55279075961796496792006-08-08T09:28:00.002-05:002009-08-26T09:30:01.190-05:00

A few years ago an email started it's way around the Internet that was, supposedly, from Microsoft.  In this email, it stated that Microsoft had placed a tracing mechanism in the body of the message and that Microsoft was going to pay $1 for each person that received the email because of you.  The idea was that you might send it to four people ($4), and those four might send it to four more ($20

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-8624992149830914392006-07-28T09:26:00.002-05:002009-08-26T09:38:22.153-05:00

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect (the position formerly held by Internet mogul Bill Gates), announced yesterday to a conference of investors and share-holders that Microsoft will be officially changing it's primary focus from PC-based applications to those that are more more net-centric. The difference, of course, is that PC-based applications are installed on (and run from) your

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-34477211619285364862006-06-13T09:25:00.001-05:002009-08-26T09:38:32.709-05:00

I was digging for stories for our next podcast, when I saw a headline that caught my eye.  "Don't bet on 'net neutrality,' senator says." (link)  If you haven't already been familiarized with this, here is a brief synopsis...The backbone of the Internet consists of the worlds largest telco's: AT&T, Southwestern Bell, and the like.  They, as most people on the planet, don't think they make enough

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-8312215220831819122006-05-05T09:24:00.004-05:002009-08-26T09:38:43.151-05:00

About two months ago Bethesda Softworks, a PC gaming company, released the latest in a series of games entitled Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  Oblivion is a first-person role playing game where the characters that you have to select from are of a sci-fi or "fantasy" nature.Now, whenever a new game is developed, whether it is for the PC, MAC, Xbox or whatever, the Entertainment Software Ratings

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-6891640946206567572006-03-03T09:11:00.003-06:002009-08-26T09:27:46.313-05:00

Q: Mr. Carroll,  (See that "Mr"... makes you feel old doesn't it!)  Hope you remember me; I was in your IIS class a couple of weeks ago.  I have a question if you could spare some time.  We talked about setting memory restrictions to recycle application pools.  Our web applications die every few days and I have determined it is the w3wp.exe that is the problem.  It's memory usage grows until it

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-17624489761447331372006-02-14T09:02:00.004-06:002009-08-26T09:08:12.303-05:00

When people get online, most of the time they do one of two things: read their email or use a search engine. But how many of you really know how to use a search engine? Sure using a search engine is easy. You open the page, enter what you're looking for in the box and hit the search button. How hard is it?Well, you're right, but there actually are a lot more features built into search engines

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3103316222006639472.post-34529003570732481012006-02-05T09:08:00.000-06:002009-08-26T09:11:44.828-05:00

We've all seen it.  The look on a co-worker's face that just says, "That's it, I've tried everything;  I must have tried every possible way to accomplish this, but I just can't figure it out", all in one look.  (Yes, that is a lot to say with one look.)  My bet is that, more times than not, this "look" was brought on by some type of computer-related problem.Now, granted, I do have an extensive

Joshua Carrollhttps://profiles.google.com/112204427596662367248noreply@blogger.com0