Thursday, April 24, 2008

Python

Python is object-oriented programming language. It can be compared to Perl, TCL, Scheme or Java. Python has very clear and simple syntax. It has classes, exceptions, modules, and dynamic data types.

Python can run on many platforms like Windows, Linux, MAC, Amiga and others. The Python is is freely usable but its implementation is copyrighted.


Comparison with other Popular Languages:

Java:
Python programs are generally run slower than Java programs but Python programs are typically 3-5 times shorter than equivalent Java programs. The reason of this difference is Python's data types and its dynamic typing.

For example, a Python programmer does not declare the types of arguments or variables. Python's run time must work harder than Java's run time. For example, when evaluating the expression x+y, it must first inspect 'a' and 'b' to find out their type.


JavaScript:
Python supports a programming style that uses simple functions and variables without using class definitions like JavaScript. But the main difference is that Python support Object Oriented programming style.


Perl:
Python and Perl have similar background and similar in many features. The difference is that Perl supports common application-oriented tasks(built-in regular expressions, file scanning and report generating features) on the other hand Python supports common programming methodologies(data structure design and object-oriented programming)


C++:
The main difference is typing style. A Python program is typically 5 to 10 times shorter than equivalent Java program.


Tcl:
Tcl works as a stand-alone programming language like Python. However, Tcl, which traditionally stores all data as strings, is weak on data structures, and executes typical code much slower than Python.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

TRAC: Web-Based Project Management System

Trac is a web based project managment and issues/bugs tracking System. Trac is written in the Python programming language. This Open Source Software is developed by Edgewall Software. Trac is available under the modified BSD License. If this does not fullfill your requirements, you could make changes, write plugins according to your needs. It can be used as a web interface to a version control system, like Subversion.

Some Features of Trac:

Trac Wiki: Trac has a built-in wiki, used for text and documentation throughout the project. It allows users to editing text easier and allows people to contribute text content for a project.

Trac Ticket System: Tickets are used to assign project tasks to developers. Tickets deals with bug reports, features requests, and support issues.

Trac Reports: It provides reporting facility for current status of tickets of the project.

Trac Timeline: It allows to view the project progress in a single report. It provides all the events in order, description of each event, and who is working on these events.


Trac Repository Browser: Trac Repository is Version Control System. Using this we can browse Directories and files stored in the repository of the configured version control system.

Trac Roadmap: It allows to view ticket system in a way that can help to manage the project in a better way in the future.


Email Notification of Ticket Changes: Trac provides supports for notification about ticket through emails. This facility keep developers up-to-date on tickets.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Friday, April 4, 2008

Smarty Templates Engine

It was common practice to mix the PHP Script and HTML tags while coding in PHP. This resulted in a complex code which was difficult to understand and inconvenient to update. This problem was solved by Smarty which makes PHP scripts independent of layout.
Smarty is templates engine for PHP. It provides a way to separate programming logic from contents and presentation. It enables templates designers and programmers to work independently. Smarty templates can contain logic which is only for presentation purpose. Its unique feature is template compiling; it reads templates files and create PHP scripts from them. Once they are created, then they executed from there. This is what makes Smarty efficient.

Features:

· Fast and efficient.
· No templates parsing overhead (Compile once).
· The if/else constructs are passed to PHP parser.
· Nesting of sections like if/else.
· Built-in caching support.
· Arbitrary template sources.
· Custom cache handling functions.
· Plug-in architecture.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Joomla

Joomla is Content Management System to develop websites and on line Web Applications. Joomla become most popular platform to develop websites. It makes simple to create add-ons and extensions. It makes adding or editing content, updating graphics and multimedia, and managing complex data.

Joomla has the following features:

- Edit the content of web pages with a word processor-style interface.

- Add new pages to your site using a click-and-add interface.

- Add images/media through web-uploads.

- Control site elements.


It also support specific functionality, for example, end user registration, advertising banners, a contacts directory and interactive polls.


Joomla stores all the content and information related to your site in a database named MySQL. It uses PHP as a programming language.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Google Maps API Basics

Introduction


Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface) lets you embed Google maps in web pages. It uses Java Script for scripting. In order to use the Maps API you need a API key that can be obtained by signing up with Google for Maps API. After obtaining the API key you can develop map applications.


Loading the Google Maps API

Google Maps API is loaded with the help of Java Script code in script tag. Basically you make the src attribute of script tag to point to http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&key=abcdefg

This URL points to the location of the JavaScript file that includes all of the symbols and definitions you need for using the Google Maps API. Your page must contain a script tag pointing to this URL, using the key you received when you signed up for the API. In this example the key is shown as "abcdefg."

Localization of Google Maps API

Maps API also introduces the concept of Mapplets (a combination of maps and gadgets). Mapplets allow you to embed external applications into Google Maps. It also includes support for localization. It uses English by default but one can change hl attribute in script tag of Java Script to change this default behavior to support the language of your choice.

For example, to display a Maps API application in German, add &hl=de to the tag as shown below:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&key=abcdefg&hl=de"