Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Programing

Intro to EDI/X12/edifact

comasight — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:54:15 -0800

EDI Programing. I need some help, getting stated in programing EDI/x12/EDIFACT/ect... I looking for good internet how to sources, books I may be-able to find at my local library, and information where I can find "free" edi tables [sources]. I'm also looking to wring my code in VB.net - will that be a problem or should I stick with C[x] - Thanks

Which quake engine (or other) is best to start cutting my teeth on as far as modding?

blackout — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:55:11 -0800

Which quake engine (or other) is best to start cutting my teeth on as far as modding? I'm looking to do a bit of modding of a game engine. Nothing too extreme just something to get started and learn some things as I go.
First off I'm just thinking modding how the weapons work.
With an end goal of making weapons work more true to real life. I know for example most weapons in the quake II engine are hit scan, and have no travel time (other than the rocket) [I think].

Anyway I'm looking for an engine that would be the best to start with. I've never modded a game before (done some mapping) I can program at a very amateur level, but I work with what I know, and figure out what I can't.

So what engine is gonna be the easiest for me to use, and get started modding. Something with a few tutorials as far as how to compile and run the mod would be good too.

Also what's the best FREE IDE to use, for game modding?

I want to help the Fox and the Bird

photomusic86 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:19:17 -0800

What do i need to learn to make add-ons of my own for Firefox and/or Songbird? I'm interested in using my computer skills to improve my favorite open source programs. Unfortunately, I don't know a damn thing about coding, programing, writing lines, terminal, etc. I need to know, where's a good place to start?
I run a Mac OSX 10.5 on an early 2008 MacBook Pro, if you have something system specific. Thanks Hive!

How can I create a social networking site?

lukeklein — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:39:51 -0800

How can I create a social networking site? I am in Southern California (Inland Empire/Orange County) and interested in building a social networking/message board/blog site along the lines of Sermo or Metafilter that isn't really about customizable media and meeting friends, as much as it is for people within a certain specialty, let's say the veterinary community, to share their ideas about their expertise with peers, receive newsletters relevant to their work, and ask for their peers' opinions or advice. I've come across several names like Elgg and Drupal, but I don't have the technical expertise to even recognize them as potential solutions to my problem!

Are their any open source programs and/or software firms that specialize in developing these types of platforms? Do I even need to go to a large firm, or is an individual software developer sufficient? How did the guy that created Facebook do what he did?

Just to be sufficiently clear, the features I am looking to enable on this site are:

Newsletters from the admin and notable writers of the industry
Anonymous polling of veterinarians' (members') opinions in current and relevant topics
blogs
Message boards
POSSIBLY a feature that allows individual vets to create friends lists of other vets they meet at conventions and locally, to facilitate their networking abilities.

If anyone here can direct me to someone that can work with me, I would be eternally grateful.

How Can I Create A Work Schedule Program?

miltoncat — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:02:55 -0800

Need advice on how to make a work schedule... possibly writing a program? I'm a school librarian. I have to make a new schedule every month for classes to come visit the library. I have to work these classes around not only myself, but the classes' lunch times, PE classes, music classes, etc.

As of now I have the school lunch schedule on one sheet, other classes on another, etc. Long story short, it takes me 2,000 years to plan a schedule every month. (Also other things come up such as field trips, etc. that I have to work around.)

So. Is there a simpler, technology-based way to do this? I was thinking a basic program that has all the info in it that would show a conflict as I go along (It would need to be a VERY basic program, as I'm computer savvy but know very little about programming). I'm not limiting myself to just this avenue... I'm open to any suggestion, as long as I can do it on a computer. I have access to all MS Office apps.

Programing exercises for the weak?

blackout — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:20:26 -0800

Somewhat of a budding programing looking for programing exercises. I'm kind of middle ground between not knowing anything and what you might call a novice. So really I know just enough to be dangerous and have ideas too big for my skills. What are some good exercises (mostly thinking C# [mono] here) that will help me develop into at least a novice? More after the break. I've developed a few applications for myself in the past. All in Visual Basic 6 and they were nothing too great but also nothing to scoff at either (a time clock where the users would clock in/out with a RFID tag read though a RFID reader connected via USB with the information being stored in a database, a custom slide show screen saver with a built in pong clock clone for a home made digital picture fame, as well as some odd programs here and there).
I'd like to start working with C# [via mono]. I'm very famillar with the C style syntax so that's not a problem. I work with PHP a fair bit. I've also read many many books on C, C++, and C# but the problem was I just read them I never did anything in them. I understand the basics of OOP (an object is both data and functions) but I'd like to really understand it.
So I'm looking for exercises that will keep me interested yet at the same time not start with a simple hello world application nor expect me to understand OOP totally or even some of the more advanced C#. I know the best exercises are the programs you yourself need to fit some problem but right now I don't have any of those.
Also please keep in mind that even though I have a windows 2000 box with a copy of C# 2005 express edition on it. I'd like to do all this with the cross platform version mono. I know that shouldn't be too much of a problem but I thought I should point it out.
Also I don't know if I made it sound like I've never worked with C# before, I have and have made a few simple, simple programs the biggest one would copy the mp3 files that are downloaded via Pandora rename them with the artist and track title and copy them to a directory of my choice.

select "order by occurrence" mysql

outofpaper — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 14:35:20 -0800

Does any one know how to find the most common result for a column returned from a mysql select request?

How do I get php working in Ubuntu Hoary

outofpaper — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 16:38:19 -0800

So I upgraded from warty warthog to hoary hedgehog and something broke PHP on my box. Any ideas as to where I should look to fix this. I already have: DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.shtml index.cgi index.php and AddType application/x-httpd-php .php AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps in my httpd.conf file.

XHTML/CSS

tirade — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 15:57:22 -0800

I want to believe in XHTML/CSS. I want my structure entirely separate from my layout. But I also think it might all be a big lie, and not because of browser difficulties. Please help clear my misunderstanding. Further explanation - your people call it "more" - is inside. I'm redesigning an old site as a personal project, so I have no restrictions. I figured I'd take the opportunity to make a truly pure XHTML/CSS creation, no table layout, etc. So I head over to CSS Zen Garden where I remembered a beautiful demonstration of what could be done with one HTML page and many different style sheets.

Here's where they lost me. When I looked at the example HTML file, I saw this:




<div id="extraDiv1"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv2"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv3"><span></span></div>
<div id="extraDiv4"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv5"><span></span></div><div id="extraDiv6"><span></span></div>

Ok. They've stuck six extra divs because they may need them to add images in the future. Now, in the programming world, that's what we call a dirty hack. You can't just say "six oughtta do it" and move on. You need a way to incorporate as many images as a future design may require, or else you haven't really separated display from structure. What if my next design needs seven divs to get the job done? Whether that's unlikely or not is besides the point. I'd never declare a static array in code and write a program around "there probably won't be more than X elements...". You just can't do that. It's the definition of sloppy.

Looking at it that way, the idea of a "pure" XHTML/CSS site seems like a farce, since honestly all it seems like CSS is doing is giving us control over how individual HTML tags are styled, NOT over how a page in general is layed out and designed. CSS Zen Garden does it by using all sorts of strange tricks with DIVs to get the design they want. But I don't see how that's much different than strange tricks with tables, aside from keeping different files. And again, ultimately, if the CSS file can't dictate page layout by itself, structure and style were never truly separated, because you've got style sitting in your structure in the form of those extra DIVs.

I know a lot of very brilliant information architects and web gurus put this stuff together, so I figure I'm the one missing something major, not the other way around. Can someone walk me through this?

Programming languages for beginners

yangwar — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 08:53:04 -0800

Near absolute beginner looking for a programming language with a small learning curve to make basic utilities/apps for my personal enjoyment. I've taken a few programming courses in HS and so am familiar with *basic* concepts but am pretty much ignorant other than that. I've googled but choosing a language/environment is incredibly daunting with the diversity out there.

Criteria:
-Must be able to make Windows GUI apps.
-Must be able to use sockets easily. I plan on making both client and server apps in the future.
-Must be able to manipulate files easily.
-Must be able to easily utilize common file formats like jpg, gif, wav, and mp3.
-Would like to compile programs into stand alone EXEs though the inclusion of a runtime DLL would be okay.
-Would love to be able to use DirectX audio plugins in my programs someday but definitely not a requirement.
-Online tutorials and resources geared towards the beginner level would be a huge plus.

Again the emphasis is on ease of use and a low learning curve. What am I looking at here? Visual Basic? Some obscure derivative like Euphoria? Should I be looking at Delphi? I just really don't know where to start.