Divide by Null - undefined

I think I've reached the point in my programming career (at least with PHP) that I can start working off the scripts of other people instead of doing it by myself to learn. For example, this blog. So now I know I can make a blog. Gimme wordpress now. XML-RPC has been ugh to implement, but I've been getting it started. I've just been too lazy to work the extraction of links in my posts. In addition, it's annoying to test it out and debug.

That's just one example, of course.

There comes a point where doing it all alone is too much. Why not take advantage of these scripts? I'll still be able to modify to my own needs, but the grunt work will be finished.

Plus, these regular expressions are annoying me. I don't really see any reason why some of them aren't working. I even tested it on RegExLib and it gets the data just fine. PHP is buggy, eh?

So I think I'll stop trying to make things from scratch if possible. I'm too lazy to implement some things sometimes, and it's not too bad to modify nice code.

So I got a laptop. Then SUSE linux is now installed on it. Woot.

So I've been playing around with it recently. I wanted to get it to be able to run my own personal web server and play around with new programming languages. The problem is... I'm having trouble connecting it to the internet. Ah well. I'll clear it up eventually, I hope.

Java feels really bloated. I've been experimenting with Ruby and Python and I like those quite a bit. I've also been dipping into Common Lisp and... it's different. I also want to try Haskell for a different kind of functional language, but I think I shouldn't overload myself. I should work on one thing at a time.

Back to linux... Windows is user-friendly in that it helps you do stuff, but it makes it difficult to do other things. Linux is user-friendly in that you can do a lot of stuff with it, but you have to have a bit of knowledge on how first.

This distro actually reminds me a lot of Windows. It has it's own style, sure, but it's not too much of a paradigm shift.

It's weird having two keyboards though. As I research stuff on this computer to use on the other, I sometimes find myself typing on the wrong keyboard.

Also, it's a bit of a hassle not having a router. I have to switch the connection from the back of the desktop to the laptop to test out the connection then if it fails (which it has always done, so far), I need to switch again to research online. Hopefully I can get the problem worked out soon. It worked on windows, so I know the connection is there. I just need to get the settings right in the controls.

But anyway, that's the story of my first experience with Linux.

On a separate note, I think I may need to modify the tag system. The tags on the side are growing too long.

So this is the first real entry in awhile, it seems. I just haven't had much inspiration. Three days ago, I decided to just write down topics that I would expand later to a real entry and I came up with a few. So there's the inspiration, but I still was just too lazy to go ahead with it. So, here I am now. I'm going to somehow relate this to the computer... so let's start with...

AP Computer Science! I finally got in my results. (Oddly enough, I still don't have my AP US History results yet.) I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a 5. I'd thought that the test was far too easy, but I then thought I must have been missing something. Considering that I wasn't exactly finished with my study guide at the time of the test, I was indeed pleased. I guess my background in PHP helped, but this definitely showed be the value of OOP. Granted, it tests so little PHP that I still can't exactly make anything useful. I've made a GCF/LCM, prime number, and prime factorization program (all previously made in PHP) and a very simple RPG (just movement involved... it's more of a text-based maze). I digress, though. I'll just say that I was pleased with my score (AP scholar with distinction.. here I come?)

Next on the list... AJAX. I'd like to make something that involves it somehow. I was going to reorganize up the photo gallery on the band site and implement AJAX-style navigation, but what has kept me back was the initial reorganization. I was trying to do too much. I get too caught up with details sometimes. That's why I plan my code for modularizations for situations that would likely not come up. (Is this what happens when I don't write often? I get off-track often?)

So, in order to familiarize myself with AJAX, I'd like suggestions from my commentors (?) and visitors (I have any?). What sort of flashy thing can I add? Or any other type of application? If you don't know what AJAX is, it's basically javascript and remote calls; javascript handles client-side data and when necessary, calls a server script to collect data and use the data to modify the page without actually going to a new page. For reference, Gmail is something of a uber-AJAX application.

Aside from AJAX, what else can I add to this blog? This blog is something less of a blog than it is a neverending test of my PHP and web programming skills. I might as well just slap a "BETA" to my logo and call it Web 2.0.

One thing I did manage to get done is this random image generator I made for the VMHSGA forum. I have quite a collection of randomness there. It was partly inspired by those Danasoft images and partly inspired by my boredom.

Oh yeah. I also got a new monitor. bright LCD. It actually hurts my eyes after long periods of time becaue it's so bright. Everything else looks so yellow. I got it because the blue in my old monitor wasn't working properly. It would occasionally flicker out, but return after a tap (or more). Then, it suddenly dropped out completely and my monitor had a yellow tint. This is quite a difference.

Also, this 4-monitor display looks spiffy. It might take some getting used to, but I definitely see some advantaged.

So ends this randomness. I should have another one out tomorrow hopefully. I'll force myself to do it! (provided that I'm not lazy enough to resist)

I wanted to set up a simple way to add HTML to my entries. In this way, people can also style their comments. Instead of <b>bold</b>, one can use asterisks. It should be *much* easier this way. I'm testing it right now by putting everything I added in, but I really hope it doesn't need -too much- any editing to my PHP.

I'll also need to add a few backslashes later to *stop* it from -changing- when desired. At least those. Then there's also compound-word protection- or sometypes of* under_score things_and such. Also* *-I-* -need- -work- on -*compounding- -these-*. It shouldn't be too hard² to accomplish₀, I hope.

Then there's the links (/) to add. Molto Marcato gets a free plug here. The links were actually the most difficult part, such as random text links to http://www.google.com. Or, I may get rid of the scheme and only do http://www.google.com and such. It might be a bit more difficult than I thought Oh yes, can't forget titles and maybe I'll add rel information if I need it later.

Now... lists and blockquotes?

1. List item
2. Second item

• now
• it's
• unordered

I say that this is a quote!
Ryan (myself)

Image capabilities will likely be added soon.

So, I hope that these things will be fixed and soon you won't even see the code =P.

When that time comes, I'll probably make a new page explaining how to use it for commenting purposes and such. It seems Web 2.0 ish with it's neverending beta, since I'll probably keep changing it when I want to add something new.

What do ya'll think?

Sorry for the lack of updates. I don't like putting forth lack-luster entries. Then again, anything is better than nothing... in most cases. I haevn't found a muse to write. Or if I have, then I lacked the initiative to do so. But now I'm going to force myself to develop some idea...

Time for a job? I do need a source of income, but I'm far too lazy to go to work at some fast food place, for instance. I simply don't feel like doing such tedious work. Well, not that what I'm interested in doing is not tedious... but it's a different kind.

I'm actually interested in doing freelance jobs as a web designer or programmer, in order to raise side imcome. So far, I've done a few jobs, but they've ended up being for free. Ehh, that's fine. I can build a portfolio or something. I need to work on my creativity, though.

Ahh, come to think about that, I can set up a digital portfolio of sorts. The about me section on this blog won't really cut it. That's something to do for the summer I guess.

Now, more things on web production. I'm really glad that I've worked on so many php projects. A lot of things I can simply copy and paste then modify to the new specifications. But still, I want to keep growing and make newer and better things. Perhaps a forum is next in order to build. I'll look around and see what interests me.

Of course... if anyone needs a website created (preferably with financial compensation), I'd be glad to do so =D