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Archive for December, 2003

Three things I discovered when trying to run my PHP applications on IIS.

The following will work fine running on Apache but will throw up all kinds of errors and warnings on IIS:

if(!$QUERY_STRING) fopen(“file”, rb )

1. Undefined variables.

$QUERY_STRING throws up an error since it is not defined. You need to use isset() to check if $QUERY_STRING is NULL.

if(!isset($QUERY_STRING)) fopen(“file”, rb )

2. External variables

OK, fixed that but $QUERY_STRING is still undefined. All external variables need to be explicitly referenced i.e. using $_SERVER, $_GET, $_POST, $_SESSION etc. as follows:

if(!isset($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])) fopen(“file”, rb )

3. File attributes in quotes

You’ll get a warning if you don’t put file attributes in quotes when using fopen.

if(!isset($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])) fopen(“file”, “rb“ )

I think it’s good that you are forced to do this when running on IIS. The code is actually more robust and easier to read. It’s annoying that Apache allows you to get away with it. I don’t understand why it cannot be platform-neutral.

Mark Waters marked time at 6:35 pm on December 10th, 2003 | Add a comment .

Santa Commandos

Santa comes early to Madrid. And in broad daylight. Watch out for that cat, dear Santa.

Mark Waters marked time at 11:37 pm on December 5th, 2003 | Add a comment .

Random thoughts on the Irish Langauge

On my father’s side, I am the first generation of my family to have English as my first language. Both my grandfather and father were born in the Connemara Gaeltacht. Irish was their first language. They learned English later on and became equally fluent in both.

My own level of Irish was always on shaky ground. We rarely spoke Irish at home simply because it was impractical. It was easier to communicate in English as we were all fluent. Our attempts at Irish conversation stumbled and faltered like a wounded bird that couldn’t fly no matter how much we wished it. English was the language of our friends and neighbours, of shops and business, of television and newspapers, and of government.
more…

Mark Waters marked time at 9:01 pm on December 3rd, 2003 | 3 comments .

Requiem for the Irish Software Industry

This is interesting and confirms a lot of my thinking. This is the synopsis of a lecture, I’d love to get the full thing.

Requiem for the Irish Software Industry; A Cautionary Tale of Governmental Incompetence

For a brief period, Ireland looked like a software giant in the making. Indeed, it was actually the world’s leading exporter of pre-packaged software at one point. This talk investigates what went wrong, and what other ex-colonies can learn. It argues that the central problem was a lack of intellectual sophistication among key decision-makers; alternatively put, it was the new-found interest in computer software by technically inept senior politicians that forced a delicate consensus between civil servants and software entrepreneurs to be destroyed.

Some of the results are frankly hilarious. A previously sophisticated funding mechanism was abandoned for the creation of a digital hub with the promise of 700 companies and initial investment of $130 million. Four years after the announcement, there are 4 companies on site. A much-ballyhooed joint venture with MIT, which cost the State over $50 million, was revealed to involve no substantive commitment of any sort on the MIT side. In particular, MIT refused to accredit any degrees from Medialab Europe, or indeed allow its name be used; the fact that it chose to send over academics who had been refused tenure itself speaks volumes for the contempt shown to the project.

Unless radical changes are immediately made, the moment has passed for the creation of a viable 21st century Irish software industry. The final part of the talk focuses on how countries that, like Ireland, lack intellectual infrastucture, might avoid making its mistakes.

Sean O Nuallain holds an M.Sc. in Psychology from University College, Dublin (UCD), Ireland and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. He holds a visiting scholar’s position at Stanford and directs the independent non-profit Nous Research. For five years, he acted as Science and Technology convenor for the Irish Green party, and published the first IT policy paper in the history of the State.

Found here via antoin@eire.com.

Mark Waters marked time at 10:23 pm on December 2nd, 2003 | Add a comment .

Interview with an ex-pat

Why did you decide to leave Ireland?

There were a number of factors. Firstly, the time seemed right. I was in a dead end job and the signs were that it wasn’t going to last for much longer. The company actually folded a few months after I left. Also, the summer (2002) had been so bad weather-wise that I just couldn’t take any more. I’ve always had niggling problems with my health and a change of climate seemed to make a huge difference.

As well as that, I had been working non-stop for 8 years – practically from the day I left college – in a high pressure industry. So I felt it was time for a break. I had saved a bit so money wasn’t a worry.

Other issues had been looming in my mind too. I didn’t like the way the country was going. Not only was it becoming more expensive but it seemed that individualism and materialism had moved centre stage at the expense of the common good. The re-election of a government that promoted these ideals was the last straw. It seemed to me that the people had voted for a government that would make their lives worse. I couldn’t understand it. I just said ‘to hell with ye all. I’m off’.

So you’re a little bitter?

A little bit, but more disappointed than anything. I felt that with the arrival of the Celtic tiger that we had finally shaken off our reputation as a failed nation. I thought that we had put the small-time thinking and begrudgery behind us. It was sad to see all that potential squandered in such a short time. I feel we have very little to show for it.

Do you think you will return to Ireland?

Maybe, if they fix the weather. But seriously it is amazing the affect that the weather has on your outlook and your well-being. Much of the time in Ireland I felt that I was living under a cloud, mentally and physically. So it’s a huge factor for me.

But aside from the weather a lot of things would have to change. We need to turn the country around into a place where the government and the state works for the people rather than the other way around. We used to boast that we worked to live while in other countries the people lived to work. Now it seems that we live to work more than anyone. I think we’ve lost sight of what we’re working for. And we all seem to be pulling against each other rather than co-operating. We seem to be unable to organise ourselves to get anything done. As a nation we’re very immature politically. We’re always looking for the quick fix and the least hassle.

You seem to have a very negative view of Ireland. Any positives?

Well I suppose I probably overemphasise the negatives since it partly helps me to justify my decision to leave. Maybe the fact that most of my information now comes via the news media also makes me more negative. I don’t hear as many good-news stories.

But in the end, Ireland is my home, where my heart is. I really want to see the country improve and become a place that we can be proud of. I have worked with some great people; intelligent, conscientious, hard-working people, the ones who built the Celtic tiger. Ireland should belong to them but it doesn’t. The cliques and special interests still hold all the cards.

At the moment, I feel a bit like an exile. Even though I left voluntarily I sometimes think that I was forced out, that there was no place for me in the country anymore. I would love to go back, I would love to feel at home there again.

Mark Waters marked time at 7:45 pm on December 2nd, 2003 | Add a comment .

Shop ’til you drop

Maura McHugh is entralled with the idea of 24 hour shopping. I’m not so sure.

Tesco Ireland has announced that for the weeks leading up to Christmas most of its stores will be opened for 24 hours. I’m not advocating that this practice be prohibited, after all if there’s a market for it then by all means that market should be served.

But it’s precisely the fact that there is a market for 24 hour shopping that disturbs me. Remember this isn’t the ‘pop down to the petrol station because we’re out of milk after arriving home at 3 in the morning’ convenience store variety of 24 hour shopping, this is the full blown supermarket shopping experience.

It says a lot to me about the quality of life that we now have in the country that we cannot find enough hours in the day to do our shopping and must instead wait until the wee small hours to buy our turkeys and trimmings, our fairy lights and decorations, and our gifts for our loved ones. Are we really so busy these days that we don’t have time to do the essential chores like shopping, never mind having the time to enjoy the fruits of our labours?

24 hour shopping is a great novelty and for many it is a symbol of an improved standard of living in the country. For me it’s the opposite. It’s a symbol of a country that has become a slave to work and money and no longer values time.

Mark Waters marked time at 7:47 pm on December 1st, 2003 | Add a comment .

Archive for December, 2003

Three things I discovered when trying to run my PHP applications on IIS.

Santa Commandos

Random thoughts on the Irish Langauge

Requiem for the Irish Software Industry

Interview with an ex-pat

Shop ’til you drop

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