Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with coding

How does this code run?

chrisinseoul — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:58:48 -0800

So I'm boning up on my web development skills, and came across an interesting little box at http://www.mydestination.com/moscow (scroll down to 'Book Your Trip'). How'd they do that? NOT looking to copy it, just learn about how's it done. Plenty more inside. The box I'm looking at has tabs for Hotels, Flights, Car Rental, and Insurance. The CSS and making the tabbed box is one thing I can do, but digging through the source code doesn't reveal much on a few other questions:

1: How does it pre-populate the boxes with the relevant data? (If you click around to other destinations on the website, you'll notice the local airports to a given city are there, with a drop-down box used where appropriate)

2: In the source code, the only thing I could find that looked like it was responsible was < div class="leftbar" id="whiteLablelContainer" >< /div >
(and yes, 'lablel' is how it was spelled...) There must be more going on here...? There's no div id like that in the CSS files.

3: I know how to make a container responsive, but wouldn't that break the form / background? How does a box like this become responsive without messing up the design?

Create downloadable iCal files in PHP/MySQL/Bootstrap?

dnash — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:57:45 -0800

I have a PHP webpage that lists events happening at a conference by reading from a MySQL database. Is there an easy way to have PHP create downloadable iCal files so people can download individual events to their iphones/Androids etc., without my having to create individual event files, and without setting up a bunch of Google Calendar items to link to? (more detailed explanation inside.) Website is for a four day conference, several individual event listings per day. It's only a yearly thing, so for that and other reasons we've decided that a full blown CMS system with a calendaring function is total overkill. I'm redesigning the site using Twitter Bootstrap, mainly to modernize the layout and CSS type stuff, but I'll be keeping it in PHP so I can maintain a few server includes I use that help me change over certain things year to year more easily.

For years I've just had the events page read from an "events" table in MySQL, that has basic columns - event ID#, date, start time, end time, name, location, description. The PHP formats that into tables to display on the webpage.

What I would love, would be for each event listing to have an iCal download link. But I'd like to not have to somehow manually create the iCal files. I was hoping there might be some way PHP could sort of write the iCal files on the fly or something like that?

I suppose I could enter them into a Google Calendar, and paste the individual links into the database for inclusion on the website. But again that would create a lot of manual work to enter all these events. The folks who run the conference just keep the event listings in Word, frankly. I end up reformatting to Excel/CSV for importing to the database. So if there were some PHP magic that could be done, it would be able so save me work each year.

I'm not very programming/scripting savvy, but some searching led me to believe this might be possible. I thought I might do better asking here where I could maybe get someone to talk me through it a bit while being patient with my pretty basic level PHP skills.

What are all these programming languages good for?

Guernsey Halleck — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:57:22 -0800

Ruby, Python, PHP, JavaScript, etc! Help me bring my very outdated coding skills back from the grave! Can anyone either explain or point me to a good resource that explains concisely why I'd want to use one programming language vs another? So, I used to be reasonably good at programming on the hobbyist level. However, this was back in the days of Turbo C++ and DOS 5. Not exactly cutting-edge anymore. For various personal reasons, I've decided to refresh my coding skills and join the 21st Century, but I find I'm at a loss for where to begin. I keep reading about a number of programming languages that I could be using, but it's not at all clear to me why I would choose one over another. I'm completely overwhelmed. Can anyone help enlighten me please?

While I don't have any specific big-picture projects in mind, I probably would want to be able to do at least a little light data analysis. Assume that I'm totally fine with basic coding structure, and comfortable with object-oriented structures.

Thanks for helping an old dog try to learn some new tricks.

Coding Bootcamp Reviews?

prunes — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 13:50:55 -0800

I'm interested in independent information on the coding bootcamps that have sprung up in NYC. Especially the Flatiron School. I'm looking for data and/or anecdata on the value of a program like Flatiron School or Dev Bootcamp, especially regarding employability. I'm considering a career change from finance to the tech industry and would like to know whether one of these programs would give me the skills I need to do so.

About me: Interested in computers / coding since young age. Didn't take any CS courses in college. I play around in Python for fun but haven't completed any large projects / lack a Git portfolio. Currently 27 and work on Wall Street.

What is the best programming language for the job?

Dynex — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:45:33 -0800

For a personal project I'm working on, what would be the best programming language if I wanted the user to be able to input some text and image choices and have them receive the information back in an eBook? I've used PHP before to store and retrieve that information, but I'm not sure it could handle the conversion to an ebook. My programming skills are rather limited, so I would probably end up hiring someone to code it for me. Advice on how to go about hiring someone specializing in that language and which questions to ask to make sure they know what they doing is also appreciated.

Help me create a 10 hour coding project to assess contractors for hire

Th!nk — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:38:07 -0800

I'm trying to hire a full time coder for my business. I build, maintain, and remodel my own portfolio of websites (PHP, JS, WP, HTML, CSS, MySQL, etc). Once I have a few candidates I would like to assign them all the same small (paid) project so that I may assess their abilities. What should the test include? All candidates will be US-Based. $6000/mo budget cap. The most important skills are PHP, JS, MySQL, Wordpress, and the ability to self-organize and self-manage. Experience/familiarity with MVC architectures is also important as I have a few projects which will require completely custom CMS's.

I used to do all of my coding myself, but at best I would be considered an arm-chair coder. I've spent well over $50k on foreign odesk contractors and have been marginally satisfied with their quality - so now that I can afford to pay more it's time to find somebody proficient for long-term remote work on the sites in my portfolio.

I would really appreciate some ideas about what the best test project might be in order to judge them comparatively. Everyone will be native-English speakers based in the US.

I'm stumped on the details now that I'm trying to hire people who know more than me. What things should be included in this test to demonstrate capability and what should I look for specifically in their processes and code when the time is up?

Working with Javascript and Google Fusion Tables...help!

jeanmari — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:44:22 -0800

Working on an important open gov data project to support public schools. Need to know how to grab data from a single Google Fusion table cell using javascript...And of course, we are trying to stay up all night because we launch tomorrow. Help?

How can a schlump like me learn PHP in the shortest possible time?

Willie0248 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:11:27 -0800

I didn't ask for this! My employer is moving me to a position that will require a working knowledge of PHP development, but my skills are nowhere near up to snuff. "You learn quick, just pick it up" they say! I don't know where they got the idea that I DO in fact learn quickly, but I guess now I have to! So what can a guy like me do to pick up at least a passable proficiency relatively quickly? I can put in the hours, but I would rather put in the hours efficiently, if you know what I mean.

Great tunes to code to?

ebear — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:12:56 -0800

Hello, I'm trying to get a playlist for my hubbie for him to code to - ideally electronica, drum and bass, EDM or even modern classical like Arvo Part. Only caveat is that there must be no lyrics - I'd love to hear your favourite picks! I've got a bunch up already at blip for him - he listens to my radio station there - user name - emilybear - to give you an idea of what I've got there currently but I need more, so much more as there's a whole lot of coding to be done. Thanks!

Company has my cv. I changed parts concerning the past. Send it again?

Triton — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:21:22 -0800

Should I sent a potential employer and updated version of my cv, when the difference concerns the past? In the version they have, I didn't include one project I was working on, but I would include it now. I'm a computer science student nearing my graduation. I've been in contact with a potential employer, Employer Inc. Several months ago I've sent them a copy of my cv, but didn't proceed with the application because my graduation was then still too far away. In the first version of my cv, I've omitted some paid coding work done for an open source product, because the part I was working on was ultimately scrapped and none of my work made it into the release. My embarrassment about it was the reason for not mentioning it the first time. In the meantime, I've continued working on the project and the new work was included in the release, mostly bugfixes and GUI stuff.

As I see it, my options are:
1. Leave the CV as it is.
2. Send them an updated version in which I only mention the second time I worked on the project, where I can point to (albeit unimpressing) results.
3. Include the whole time and hope they don't notice the difference.

Immediate PHP programming interview prep.

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:19:33 -0800

I have a programming job interview TOMORROW. Can you help a fellow out? I have a remote video chat interview for a WP programming position (mostly PHP with some JavaScript/jQuery) coming up within 24 hours. I'm nervous and would appreciate some guidance. The company has a few other products, but the WP side is a single plugin, and that is what I would be working on. I believe the entire company consists of under 10 people. I believe I would be a remote worker (I am in the US; they are located in another country).

What sort of questions should I expect? What language specific information should I have at my fingertips? Generally speaking, what sort of stuff beyond FizzBuzz might I be expected to demonstrate in this scenario? Sample questions, particularly of esoteric or advanced PHP and WordPress features/problems/etc. that you might want someone joining your team to be aware of, would be very welcome.

What sort of salary numbers are "good" for this sort of position, and what would be a lowball offer? I am concerned about this since they are located in a country with a lower cost of living, and that may be reflected in their offer (to put the cart well ahead of the horse). If they ask for me to put a number out there, and I can't avoid doing so, what should I say?

Finally, I'm nervous because this will be a big step in my life. I am capable and think I can overcome whatever obstacles might come up. I'm so psyched about getting into a full-time programming position with more experienced programmers. But I do have gaps that might need to be navigated/addressed in the interview, and I'm hella nervous about them:

1. Limited experience working with a team of programmers. I've always done solo freelance work. I might be cleaning up after someone else, but I'm not actually coordinating my work with another programmer.

2. I don't have a comp sci degree. I majored in the humanities. I think that's an asset in some ways, but to be perfectly clear, I will likely flounder at least a bit if they require me to give an accurate big O analysis of anything but a very simple algorithm, or if I'm expected to reproduce insertion sort in PHP or pseudo code without looking up the steps, or... whatever else along those lines.

3. I'm worried that my freelance work, which has never had to scale beyond a single server, is limited enough that they'll ask me some question for which I won't have a working frame of reference. Small business owners, arts groups, and non-profits haven't given me a certain scope of problem to tackle (which admittedly may or may not be relevant here, since the product is a plugin rather than a service).

4. This will be my first programming interview. I work in tech, and I freelance with web design, but I don't believe any of my past interviews will be very relevant.

On the other hand:

1. I'm psyched. I want this job. I'm eager, and I will put in the necessary effort to fill in any gaps.

2. Nervousness aside, if they give me a feature to implement, I can implement it. If they assign me a bug to squash, I can squash it. (Dunning-Kruger Effect? I hope not!) And what more do you want besides an eager, capable candidate?

No really, tell me. Please.

How do I find web development projects to work on?

MMALR — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:51:18 -0800

I was told I can't code anymore, but I love to code. I want to keep up with cutting edge technologies, and while I'm learning -- why not develop projects that people need while getting a part-time income. One problem: Where can I find projects? Right now, I'm currently a project/design lead in the I.T. department of my company. It's a job that is a step below a full-fledged project management professional (PMP). My day-to-day tasks involve analyzing functional requirements, fleshing out the technical how-to, producing design documentation, and handing it off to our development team.

Before I moved up to this level within the company, I was a senior developer with about five years of experience. I was on the cutting edge of technology, heavily involved in molding the architecture of the company.

After the move, it became apparent because it was literally spoken to me that I should not be coding anymore... ever. This came as a shock because I had coded at such a high-level that I was noticed and abruptly promoted to a new position. Fortunately, I've made a smooth transition, and I believe I'm excelling at my current position as well. But I'm worried...

Our company is full of older generation thinking with a sprinkling of a few people who understand that we need to adapt. This is heavily apparent in the high-level, big picture ideas that are produced by our management. Most of it delves far too deeply into the "how-to", and to say that its outdated is an understatement. We aren't cutting edge, and my voice is only one in a crowd of voices simply wanting to get things done versus get things done correctly.

I could go on for hours about that, but that isn't my question. My question relates to the future of my career and acquiring knowledge. I love my job as it is today. I don't want to leave this company, and I truly think that we are heading in the right direction as we have had an influx of younger talent and the older generation is retiring. But I also don't want to sacrifice these years of being told that I shouldn't waste my time on coding. I want to remain a knowledge expert, and I want to ensure that I can find a new job if things go downhill due to poor decisions by management.

So, after my long-winded explanation of the situation... my question is this: What can I do, preferably for some sort of compensation, in the realm of web development that would not only give clients some of my work at a cheap rate, but also allow me to develop with new technologies? Where can I find leads to people who need such work?

I work primarily in .NET, but I've worked in all sorts of modern javascript libraries. I'm definitely wanting to get into developing using MVC frameworks, and I honestly don't want to create something for free for my company if they aren't going to use it. I'd like to create something that somebody actually needs.

What's the best way to find projects to do?

Finding a tutor for front-end coding.

gertzedek — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:58:48 -0800

After a more than 10 year long hiatus spent in the business side of technology, I'm looking to get my hands dirty again. I'd like to find a tutor. I used to be fairly competent in HTML/CSS/JS but I'm finding it hard to *really* get back in the saddle again. I am reading books and taking tutorials about HTML5, CSS3 and JS frameworks like Backbone, but I find myself a bit overwhelmed by trying to learn too many things at the same time and also a bit directionless.

Then I remembered seeing or reading about young coders earning some extra cash tutoring high school kids, and I thought that's kind of what I need: structured environment, project-based learning, one-on-one interaction - even though I am far from being a high school kid (my wife may disagree at times).

I would say that right now I am at advanced beginner level, trying to move back into intermediary. Can a good tutor help me with that? How can I find one? What are the hourly rates I should expect to pay?

More than one color to resistor number, what to do?

tmcw — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 12:40:59 -0800

Resistor color coding (the electronic color coding) has more than one color combination to resistor value. How do you know which one to use? I'm a lackluster soldering noob who's trying to get used to basic electronics, and thus have started to rewrite this calculator as a learning exercise.

This ran into the issue that you can have a resistor of (brown, black, brown) which has the same value, 100 ohms, as a resistor of (black, brown, red).

What's the rule for determining a 'canonical' color code - should you maximize the exponent? Or minimize it? I'm finding it hard to find the answer from Wikipedia and such. Thanks!

Wordpress for dummies?

tessalations999 — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:15:23 -0800

Wordpress question: How difficult is it to learn wordpress for someone with no experience or knowledge of it? Assume that the student is around 18 years old and has basic computer literacy but has never heard of wordpress before. Thanks for your help!

Is there a better/faster way to operationalize the coding of messy text data?

iamkimiam — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:24:13 -0800

I'm trying to tag and code about 4000+ unique paragraphs of data. These are opinion responses to two similar questions. I manually went through the first 4000 responses and it took weeks using Google Refine. I'm wondering if there's a way to operationalize this to be a bit easier and less time consuming? There are about 10 dimensions I'm coding for with tags, and the wording of the answers varies wildly. Here's an example of various responses to one of the dimensions:

"This is just how it is in my brain."
"I see it in my head like this."
"When I think about it, this is what I come up with."
"It's just the way it is, you know, inside my mind."
"Mind's eye sees it this way."

These responses would be preceded and followed by other text that's also important to me to code on other dimensions, so I don't want to replace the whole paragraph with a tag like 'in head', but rather add 'in head' to a series of tags for that response (separate by semicolons). The data is also very messy with punctuation, spelling, omissions and IPA/other character variation.

If you've done something like this, how did you go about it? I'm currently using Google Refine's cluster feature to collapse about 5% of the rows that are short and straightforward. Then manually adding semicolon-separated tags in a new column for the rest. It's very tedious.

Tools I am familiar with: Google Refine, SQL, Excel (yuck), Text Wrangler and some very limited command line stuff (terminal and awk, grep).

What next for web design?

mean cheez — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 08:12:12 -0800

How best can I get on a good track to grow and learn as a web designer? I've been using Codecademy, but I'd like to branch out. Over the past few years I've tried my hand at web design a few times, only ever using HTML, CSS, and the most basic jQuery. Each time I've really enjoyed it. I love looking at raw code in Notepad++ and trying to figure out why it works. But inevitably I'll finish a project or hit a wall and drop out of it for a while.

I started powering through the lessons on Codecademy last week and it's been great to get back into it. But I'll run out of material pretty soon, and I'd love to hear how others have learned.

What other languages should I try and study? I think my long-term goal is to learn how to design a beautiful, functional front-end, and then build a bare-bones CMS to easily maintain and update a personal blog. I know I could do this with a blogging tool, but I'd much rather learn how to build it myself, even if it is a huge time commitment.

Any tips for other resources, personal stories about learning web development, and ideas for simple projects to practice would be awesome. Thanks for reading!

Separating the wheat from the chaff when hiring a Web Designer

furtive — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:53:24 -0800

What would be a good FizzBuzz question for a web designer? For those who don't know what FizzBuzz is, it's a simple question (no trickery) that proves you know how to code the simplest of functions. I'm looking for the web designer equivalent to FizzBuzz.

So far I've got:

• Explain to me how the box model works in CSS
* Explain what the difference between a div and a span are

Circumstantial details: I'm hiring a web designer who should be adept in HTML, CSS, and JS. One of my main concerns is that I'll inadvertently hire someone who has only ever modified Wordpress templates.

/usr/local/binwonderingwhatthisisfor

victory_laser — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:30:28 -0800

Development on OSX. I lots of kiddie-pool programming experience, but I'm starting to do learn web dev and working with frameworks is leading to a lot of confusion regarding paths, dependencies, permissions, and file structure. What's a good resource that lays out the "how & why"? I have so many questions that I think the problem's that I lack an understanding of the osx file structure paradigm. Need to know the reasoning behing all this stuff so I can act in accordance with it.

Here's a few things I've been wondering, to give you a flavor:
Why the distinction between root and user(home), when I'm the only one using this machine?
What types of things should I do for convenience and efficiency, what things should I do to prevent me from accidentally screwing things up?

What should my home folder look like?

When is it kosher (and when is it not) to move directories around? Dependencies, permissions, where is stuff "supposed" to go?

mymachine$ ls ---->
dev etc bin sbin usr
What's in all these directories and why?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, if I was to widen the scope a little bit: I for example didn't know what a package manager was until a few weeks ago when I installed Django for the first time. I know learning by doing is the best way -- but I want the cheat-sheet for what tools (web) developers use and take for granted.

Is a failed project as a learning experience something to hide?

mock muppet — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:53:54 -0800

On my resume and/or in a job interview, do I mention my participation in the Google Summer of Code if I failed miserably at it (technically) and then handled that failure really badly (socially/professionally)? A few years ago, I made a proposal for a project to the Google Summer of Code, and was accepted, to be mentored under an organization while completing the (at the time, ambitious) project. I was ill at the time, and underestimated my progress. On top of that, I took entirely the wrong approach. I didn't know it was the wrong approach, but I didn't reach out for proactive help from my mentor, and he didn't offer any. I ended up stuck. I handled things badly in the end, and dropped off the face of the earth for a while. I didn't get my last payment from the program, and I probably let a bridge burn through neglect.

However, I did eventually learn that I had been taking the wrong approach, and I know now how I should have done it, and how I would do it now given the same situation and technologies. It was an accomplishment just to have my proposal accepted, and I learned things from the experience.

Because I was dropped from the program, it's very hard to find any proof that I participated at all. I'm not on the official list of projects for that year, and the only thing that comes up in a search is a pre-summer map of participants. My mentor likely remembers me, but I doubt it would be a good idea to cite him as a reference.

So, what do I do with this on my resume or in an interview? I have little work experience, and it would be a nice addition - it was a very cool project. Is it worth mentioning for the learning experience and coolness factor, even if I can't give my mentor as a reference? Is "I took the wrong approach, but know what I should have done, and I still learned a lot" worth the "though I didn't finish and I didn't ask for help and it all crumbled away"?

I'm a designer taking a Treehouse course on iPhone app-making and the code part doesn't seem to be sinking in. Any tips or tricks to get myself into that kind of headspace?

Senor Cardgage — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:52:39 -0800

I'm a designer taking a Treehouse course on iPhone app-making and the code part doesn't seem to be sinking in. Any tips or tricks to get myself into that kind of headspace? It's not so much that I can't handle any code at all. I love to sling CSS and rearrange HTML and php but this string stuff is making my brain glaze over and I refuse to accept that. How can I better get my head in this game?

Help a beginner learn Java/J2EE

turniphead — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:20:55 -0800

I need to learn Java/J2EE. Where do I start? What resources are out there? How do I become a good programmer overtime? This is my first question, be kind!

I am an Information Systems student who was recently given the opportunity to interview for a summer internship where I would be working on back-end development for an online insurance quote system. Great! I want to be involved in programming and web/software development.

However, I won’t be taking any programming courses until next semester (Spring). I’ve been instructed to come up with a clear plan to demonstrate that I can learn Java/J2EE before summer. Regardless of whether I get the internship or not, I want to create and adhere to this plan. At best, I’ll be chosen for the position (seems unlikely). At worst, I will have more experience under my belt and leave a good impression with a potential employer.

I currently have experience with HTML and CSS (markup language, I know). I’ve also briefly delved into JavaScript and PHP. Everything I have done is self-taught. I am absolutely dedicated to this and I am a quick learner. I’d like to approach this as a complete beginner.

TLTR: Help a beginner learn Java/J2EE.

My Gut Is Saying "Run" but My Brain is Scared

ohmansocute — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:31:38 -0800

I posted this question a few months back but would like to... ask again with a little more details. I bit the bullet and signed up for classes again, and after my first half day back, I'm now at home having a panic attack regarding my decision. I'm a historic preservation graduate student, and after a whole year of freaking out about what I want in life, all I really want is a job that pays well, or an incredibly marketable skill. I doubt I will get either with this degree. I uprooted my partner and toddler to pursue a master's degree that I thought would lead to employability, but after hard core market research and speaking with many, many people, I've realized this is as big of a gamble as going for an MA in art history. I've gone in circles trying to figure out how to make old buildings = money, and have pursued research and internships in construction (with the hope of landing a job with a preservation contractor), and if I continue, will be looking into real estate, business plans, marketing, ect.
But at the same time, I've signed up for a computer science course at MITX, CodeYear through Codecademy, and have applied for a scholarship with Treehouse. My brother is a long time programmer and web developer, and is really motivating me to pursue a career in technology. I believe I would be good at it, and that the things I want in a career (creativity, growth, and a paycheck) are (possibly?) a given with this path. However, if I were to leave my graduate program, I will absolutely not be pursuing any coursework through traditional means (i.e. paying tuition, taking out loans, ect). I just want to know, is this a good idea? Had I been childless and partner-less, I would be less sheepish about changing paths this drastically.

How can I separate this data column properly?

iamkimiam — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 08:30:24 -0800

Question about splitting data into columns: I have one column of data that I'd like to split into seven separate columns. A typical, complete row in the column looks like "mefi:1,ask:3,meta:2,projects:5,jobs:5,music:6,irl:4" where the number values can be anywhere from 1-6. The problem is that if any one or more of the seven subsites are left unanswered, the entire value is missing (there is no "[subsite]:0" or "," as a placeholder). Consequently, separating the column into seven distinct columns using the comma as the separator causes the data to fall/shift into the wrong output columns if any one or more of the seven subsite categories are missing. How can i fix this? I am using Google Refine, which is great and can handle regexes. I would prefer NOT to put this into Excel, as I will lose my encoding of special characters in the other columns if I save it out...I'd like to not break up and re-merge the data/columns if at all possible. I also have SQL at my disposal (and am quite familiar with its features; although writing queries from scratch is a bear).

tl;dr: how can insert commas into rows of data in places where a value is expected but not found? Willing to use or tinker with any regex or script that will do the job, but need a starting point at the very least.

Any other ways of tackling this problem would be great. This is 2,000 rows of data, btw.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

prunes — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:06:32 -0800

I'm looking for a list of the best (however you define it) third-party Python libraries. E.g. Django, Beautiful Soup, PIL, etc. I'm a novice Python programmer. I've worked a little bit with Django and Beautiful Soup and have found both to be great tools. I'm wondering what else might be out there that I don't know about.