Archives for 2003 - John Topley’s Weblog

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2003

Back Button Blues • Saturday, 20 December 2003

“You should never go back” they said, and they were right. They probably weren't thinking about the problems of web application development when they said it though.

Java Default Constructors • Friday, 05 December 2003

There seems to be a lot of confusion amongst Java programmers as to what consitutes a default constructor, a no-argument constructor and what the difference is between them.

Unfinished eXPerience Redux • Monday, 24 November 2003

Windows superstar Raymond Chen has provided explanations for a couple of the Windows XP user interface oddities that I wrote about previously.

Sermon On The Web • Tuesday, 11 November 2003

I was asked today why I favour HTML DIVs over tables for laying out my JavaServer Pages. This is the reply I gave…

Living With The Pocket PC • Saturday, 08 November 2003

I've just bought a couple of accessories for my Pocket PC. I got the official Hewlett Packard USB combined cradle and charger and a 256 MB Secure Digital card. Unfortunately all is not well.

Unfinished eXPerience • Thursday, 30 October 2003

When Microsoft launched Windows XP in late 2001, they made a big deal about the changes to the user interface, which were the biggest revamp since Windows 95. I found it surprising, coming barely a year after the mature and evolved Windows 2000 interface.

No More Heroes Any More? • Saturday, 25 October 2003

It's the end of an era. Concorde, that magnificent feat of engineering and disastrous example of economic planning, has retired. There is no longer a supersonic civilian airliner. In the not too distant future, there will be no one alive who has walked on the surface of the moon.

iPAQ Pocket PC h1910 Reviewed • Sunday, 12 October 2003

This will be a review of two halves. First I'll tell you about the hardware and then I'll discuss the software. I'd been considering buying a PDA for a while and decided to buy the Hewlett Packard iPAQ Pocket PC h1910 (to give it its full title!) after playing with one in a shop at Stansted Airport whilst waiting to fly to Sardinia.

Not Good Enough • Friday, 03 October 2003

Technology promises so much but often all it delivers is frustration at its failings. I've been in contact with my bank—Lloyds TSB, should you want to avoid them—for nearly a third of a year now regarding a bill payment I made to a water company using Internet banking.

john.returnFromHoliday(); • Tuesday, 30 September 2003

I've just returned from a week's holiday in the beautiful town of Alghero in Sardinia. Alghero is in the north west of the island and dates back to the twelfth century.

Windows Into The Past • Friday, 19 September 2003

I have a slightly seedy secret. That's not easy to say or admit to. The secret is this: I'm fascinated by the development and history of Microsoft Windows. There. It's out in the open, a secret no more.

RSS Feeds Upgraded • Wednesday, 17 September 2003

I've upgraded all of the RSS feeds on this site to RSS 2.0 format. I've done this because I had a few comments that my posts were doubling up in some news aggregators after I edited a post after publishing it.

Happy Birthday Google! • Sunday, 14 September 2003

Google celebrated its fifth birthday a few days ago. Google is the World Wide Web's killer application, just as the World Wide Web is the Internet's killer app.

The Joy Of Programming • Sunday, 07 September 2003

I visited the Design Museum in London recently because there were two exhibitions that I wanted to see, both of which subsequently reminded me of why I enjoy computer programming.

Tag It • Thursday, 28 August 2003

My development efforts were halted today by a frustrating but interesting few hours spent trying to track down and fix a bug in the UI for the Java framework we're developing.

New Favourite Quote • Wednesday, 20 August 2003

There are 10 kinds of people in this world—those who can understand binary and those who can't.

Not Having A Blast • Friday, 15 August 2003

The MSBlast virus has been in the news this week as Windows users across the world have been heard cursing Microsoft. So who's to blame?

A Lesson Learnt • Wednesday, 13 August 2003

In Get Your Back Up I talked about how I safeguard my data and proudly proclaimed that in seven years of home PC computing I've not lost a single byte of data. And that's still true. On the desktop.

Back In Business • Sunday, 10 August 2003

I've restored the comments and feedback page functionality to this site by creating a new MySQL database. Frankly, I was tired of waiting for my hosting provider to fix the problem, which has been dragging on for over a fortnight now.

Awesome Ant • Thursday, 07 August 2003

The latest edition to my J2EE armoury is Apache Ant, which I've spent the past few days investigating. For those who don't know, Ant—which stands for Another Neat Tool—is a Java automated build tool.

Mailinator • Tuesday, 05 August 2003

There's been some discussion recently about Mailinator, a web application that provides instant, disposable e-mail addresses. Apart from being struck by what a brilliantly simple and useful idea this is (and wondering why I didn't think of it!), I was also interested to notice that Mailinator is a Jakarta Struts application.

Return To Sender • Friday, 01 August 2003

I've been having a problem with spam lately that is a direct consequence of the technical decisions taken by two very different companies. One of them is an ISP and another is an online chat website.

Your Patience Is Appreciated • Monday, 28 July 2003

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that this site has been down since Thursday. Unfortunately my hosting company have been having problems with a rogue script running amok on their web server.

Strutting My Stuff • Monday, 21 July 2003

I've just returned from a week-long RAD workshop where I was involved in the initial development of a Java framework for internal use within the organisation I work for. The workshop was a first for me and a first for my employer.

Design 101: Use Whitespace • Wednesday, 09 July 2003

I signed up for a couple of Java technology newsletters recently, courtesy of Sun Microsystems' Java Developer Connection programme. Notice anything odd about the registration form that confronted me?

Get Your Back Up • Sunday, 22 June 2003

I read a theory once that said that data doesn't exist unless it is stored in at least three locations at once. Another theory, Murphy's Law, would say that the first theory would be proved true on the night before an important meeting and whilst finishing a report, when your computer dies and you don't have a backup!

Instant Gratification • Tuesday, 17 June 2003

To my surprise, I've been programming in Visual Basic 6.0 again recently. I'm still writing Java code in my day job but I had occasion to create a demo VB application.

Broken Windows • Thursday, 12 June 2003

I don't know about you but I'm getting fed up with patching Windows XP. I usually visit Windows Update once a week to see what's new, and barely a week seems to go by without there being a new fix or update to download.

How Soon We Forget • Sunday, 08 June 2003

I first started programming for the PC in about 1996. I'd seen some screen shots of Visual Basic 4.0 in a computer magazine and thought that it looked pretty good and quite different from the boring programming in BASIC that I'd done at school.

When Is A Nerd Not A Nerd? • Wednesday, 04 June 2003

When is a nerd not a nerd? It depends on the subject that the person is nerdish about. about, it would seem.

Knowing Where To Look • Sunday, 01 June 2003

I've been surprised recently. Everyone knows about Google right? I think it's the best general–purpose search engine out there and use it all the time.

Illiterate Internet • Friday, 30 May 2003

Do you want to know what the thing that irks me the most about the Internet is? Probably not if you've got any sense but I'm going to tell you anyway.

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