Wow, this is something to get excited about. Someone has bundled up AJAX in a pretty package easy to use with ColdFusion!
Check it out: CFAJAX.
For those of you unaware, AJAX is Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Imagine the dynamic capability of JavaScript, but with the power of your server-side functionality in ColdFusion. That’s what CFAJAX will give you!
For instance, in the past, if you wanted a list of information that would dynamically change depending on user input, what would you do? Your ColdFusion page would load ALL the information into the page, and you’d use JavaScript to filter/display the information. This can be slow if the data is large, or if it takes a long time for your server to process it in one large clump. With CFAJAX, you can create just the shell of the page, and your AJAX code would pull the appropriate data from ColdFusion, based on user input, as needed. It is not dissimilar to Flash remoting, except without having to use Flash!
I am excited about this. I can already think of an app where this will be useful. I have an app that, depending on which user is logged in, may have a page that loads extremely slow, because it has to pull a lot of data, all of which is hidden based on default form options. So it seems like a needlessly slow-loading page. However, I had to load the data into the page, because if the user unchecks a certain checkbox, this list of information must be displayed. With AJAX, I don’t have to load the information; I can wait until the user unchecks the checkbox, and THEN load the information at that point, but without having to do a screen refresh. Can’t wait to do this next week.
My love/hate feelings toward John Dvorak grow with every article he writes. He is so freakin’ provocative, which naturally makes you love him or hate him, depending on what his target is in Today’s Rant.
Who doesn’t like seeing Microsoft get exposed when its doing The Dirty? And who better to do the revealing than Dvorak?
Please read: The Scheme to Discredit BitTorrent.
As always, he has very good points.
There is a great pair of articles discussing the history of the PowerPC architecture on the Ars Technica website.
Check them out:
PowerPC on Apple: An Architectural History, Part I
PowerPC on Apple: An Architectural History, Part II
These are great reading for the pseudogeek. I say the pseudogeek, and not the ubergeek, because the ubergeek would already know all of this information, and it is too generalized. But for we geeks out there who also have lives, this is great reading, providing interesting facts and history, but without going overboard in depth.
My timing for blogging about these articles (which I’ve actually had bookmarked on my desktop for months) is ironic, being that it comes shortly after Apple’s announcement that it will be switching to the x86 architecture for future Macs over the course of the next 1-2 years.
I know, I have yet to blog about this; I have full intentions to. I purposefully did not blog about it when I first read about it, because first reactions sometimes can be very inaccurate ones. But the time is now ripe for comments, so I will be making some soon.
Again, with a bit of tongue-in-cheek irony, it is notable that the Ars Technica author wrote these articles at the behest of Mac enthusiasts, after he wrote a similar historical documentary on the Pentium line (Part I, Part II). I smell a “Part III” in the works!
Yes, the ravages of XP’s infamous Service Pack 2 are still being felt. Attempts to install iTunes on a Windows XP machine running SP2 may result in error messages and an inability to complete the install. But the fix is easier than you’d think. ;-D
First of all, the error message may look something like this: “OpenSCManagerA Error - Error Connecting To Service, Error Number=0″. Your mileage may vary slightly.
But the software actually is fully installed. My guess is that SP2 messes with security permissions that prevent the installer from starting or restarting some services. Once the intended processes cannot complete, the installer spits out that nasty message, and upon your clicking “Okay”, completely removes the installation.
I don’t know how thoroughly this solution works, but if you copy the installation directory that is created in the Program Files directory (for instance, “c:Program FilesiTunes”) after the error message appears but before clicking “Okay”, it appears that you acquire all the files from the installation. Click “Okay” and the installer uninstalls the files. Then just place your copy of the iTunes directory back into the Program Files directory, and you have a working version of iTunes. You can then make shortcuts in the Start Menu or wherever else you want them.
Too complicated for your taste? Send your curses to Microsoft for breaking existing software and go buy a Mac. For everyone else, I hope this proves helpful.
