Software Evolution

I just noticed that the Blogshares Price Tracker has not been updating for a couple weeks. When I looked into it, I discovered that something happened on the server so that the include files were not being found. A Dreamhost tech pointed me to their wiki page about cron jobs, where I found I had to change the path to PHP.After I got the updates going again, I rewrote a few key parts that were making the price tracker very slow. There were some SQL queries that were inefficient, so I rewrote those, and moved some data into different tables. Now the industry listing and details pages are much faster. I made the graphs a little faster, but they are still way too slow. The problem is that the graph script queries a table with over 10 million rows. I’ll try to think of some ways to speed it up.

More: continued here

Make sure you declare all your JavaScript variables exactly once. Otherwise it’s easy to introduce bugs that are hard to diagnose, especially if you’re used to programming in a C-like language such as Java, C++ or C#.Share This

More: continued here

(Unisys Corporation, Blue Bell, PA, www.unisys.com) An information technology company that was created in 1986 as a merger of the Burroughs and Sperry corporations. At that time, it was the largest merger of computer manufacturers in history.

More: continued here

A few days ago I ordered a Viewsonic VG2230 22″ widescreen LCD for about $300 from www.newegg.com It replaces an ancient 19″ Viewsonic G790 CRT display. I also have a little 15″ Gateway LCD as a secondary monitor.So far I’m loving this new monitor. I have a lot more room to do stuff, and games look awesome on it. It is plugged into a DVI port on my Radeon x1950 Pro. I briefly ran Quake 4 and Half Life 2. I ran F.E.A.R. Combat but it insisted on running on the secondary display. I hope I can resolve this later. I still need to try Bioshock on this thing.This monitor can swivel on its base, and it has a height adjustment that can go pretty high. It has some speakers I will never use. This monitor will improve the many, many hours I spend on my computer. Now I just need to upgrade my secondary monitor.

More: continued here

Microsoft Dynamics GP has a set of SDK and programming tools to enable business logic customization for software developers. You can utilize Extender, VBA with Modifier, direct SQL scripting as well as eConnect object calls from Microsoft Visual Studio C# or VB projects

More: continued here

I have just optimized the performance of the Blogshares Idea Tracker’s graph rendering program. The graphs are loading much faster now. The industry listing page now allows you to load the graph for any industry by clicking a button.

More: continued here

ProLink Solutions — a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProLink Holdings Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: PLKH) and the world’s leading provider of Global Positioning Satellite (”GPS”) golf course management systems and digital out-of-home on-course advertising — today announces it will exhibit its industry-leading products, services and advertising program at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show, Booth #4254, …

More: continued here

Pay as you earn administration and maintaining payroll records is time consuming for all small businesses. The financial information and paye records are highly sensitive and must be scrupulously accurate since it may be inspected by the Inland Revenue and also carries legal responsibilities to the employees. Payroll Software can carry the paye burden.

More: continued here

Paper and hybrid solutions are the mainstay of CLIA regulated clinical laboratory quality systems. They admittedly result in a myriad of faux pas but why spend money on another technological solution if it isnt going to do what it was designed to do? This article presents the characteristics of real (and relatively simple) CLIA streamlining technology.

More: continued here

I have made a useful modification to Alex King’s excellent Share This WordPress plugin. Share This adds a nice popup to your posts allowing readers to easily submit the post to any number of social networking and news sites. The original version relies on the large Prototype JavaScript library, which adds to the download size […]

More: continued here