I’ve worked with most of the major SQL databases over the last several years, including Oracle, MS SQLserver, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, both as an admin and (more often) as a developer. They’ve all got their ups and downs (some more of one than the other…), but when it comes to choosing a database for my own projects, my choice these days is nearly always PostgreSQL. This amazing, powerful server is unfortunately one of the hidden gems of the relational database world, so I thought I’d share a few reasons why it’s my personal favorite.
Building a Linux system for a Child, part 3: Security concerns
By now you’ve got that old computer purring along like a panther with your new favorite distribution of Linux, loaded to the brim with educational software, ready to propel your child to the heights of intellectual stimulation. But before we launch this starship, let’s take a bit to make sure the safety equipment is in order and reign in some potential problems.
From PHP to Python: things I wish I’d known
The story so far…
Back around 2005 I took my first leap into the world of writing useful programs armed only with my laptop, a Pentium II running Debian, and a fat book on PHP5. Though I’d taken a few classes on C++ and tinkered with BASIC on a few different platforms over the years, I’d never managed to produce anything that actually did anything practical (or, did it very well, at any rate); with PHP, though, it didn’t take long to spread my coding wings and take to the air as a novice web developer.
Before long, my skills proved useful in some critical situations at work, and my place as a web developer was cemented. My PHP code became more mature as I learned hard lessons of experience and combined them with the programming theory and computer science I was avidly consuming on the web.
Around the same time, I got interested in Python when I saw a coworker using it to build powerful desktop applications quickly and effortlessly; I wanted to round out my programming skills with a “desktop stack” as quick and simple as PHP, and Python turned out to be a good choice.
So for a few years now I’ve written mainly in these two languages, PHP for the web and Python for the desktop. As my applications have grown bigger and more complex, I began to develop a growing discontentment with PHP on a number of levels. So when people started talking about doing web development in Python, I had to see if I could make the switch.
