Code Spatter

Setting up Apache2, mod_python, MySQL, and Django on Debian Lenny or Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Greg Allard — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:46:46 +0000

Both Debian and Ubuntu make it really simple to get a server up and running. I was trying a few different Machine Images on Amazon and I found myself repeating a lot of things so I wanted to put them here for reference for those who might find it useful. With a fresh image, the first [...]

Static Files in Django on Production and Development

Greg Allard — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:14:19 +0000

For developing a django application, I’ve been using the webserver that comes with django. It’s great for development since there is no need to restart apache. The quick and easy way to server a static file with the django webserver is to use this in your urls.py: urlpatterns = patterns('', ( [...]

Quick Thumbnails in Django

Greg Allard — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:44:10 +0000

I normally like to write code myself instead of installing some large script just to do one task for me. There were a few scripts out there that could create thumbnails, but I wanted something simple and wouldn’t use most of those features. Plus, I wanted to know how to use the Python Image Library [...]

PHP Developers, Keep me Sane

Greg Allard — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:59:15 +0000

There has been one thing that has driven me crazy since the begining days of my php programming. I understand that using @ to suppress errors can be useful. But what I don’t understand is why php would ever want to suppress a fatal error. Normally if @function() causes a fatal error, the error will [...]

Just Heard About an Open-Source Database Conference

Greg Allard — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:30:39 +0000

Baron Schwartz, the lead author of High Performance MySQL 2nd Edition, has just announced OpenSQL Camp 2008 over at his blog. Despite the name, this will be different from other Camp conferences you’ve been to. This is a combination of a planned event (with great speakers and sessions), semi-planned spontaneity (sessions to be decided by attendees [...]

Updated Theme and Comments

Greg Allard — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:48:11 +0000

I ran across this skin while looking for new ones for a different blog. It happened to look similar to what I was hoping to create someday so I thought I would use it for a while. I’ve already modified a few small things to get it to look a little more to my liking, [...]

A New, Simple Way to Salt your Hashes

Greg Allard — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:08:06 +0000

Maybe I’m not the first to think of this, but it just came to me. Instead of using a single string to season a whole site or saving each new salt with the salted hash, try using this method for simplicity. Take the string and concatenate itself after it. This way, both the value being [...]

Careful with Numeric Data Types in MySQL

Greg Allard — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:55:04 +0000

TINYINT can be set to length of 4, but that doesn’t mean the max value is 9999. A tiny int will always have the same range no matter what size you specify since that isn’t what it is for with integers. It is the display width for the command line output. This is what I was [...]

Conditions on Count or Sum in MySQL

Greg Allard — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:55:57 +0000

When selecting count, sum, or some other aggregate function, the value isn’t determined until after the WHERE clause so a condition can’t be placed there. There is still syntax for specifying a condition for this, it is to use HAVING. The following example is to count all of the logs an active user has made only [...]

Implementing HaloScan Powered Comments

Greg Allard — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:21:32 +0000

For some time now, I’ve been using a Magic the Gathering card database for a testing bed for various things. Earlier today I learned about a service that will provide commenting functionality for your website. HaloScan was easy to set up even for a non-blog type website. It only required a few lines of pasted [...]