Ginn with a Twist...

The Samsung Jack

jginn — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:37:40 +0000

This week I traded in my iPhone 3G for a Samsung Jack. I’m trying to be a PC, as I’ve been exploring some development ideas for Windows Mobile 7. Accordingly, I figured I’d turn in the 3G for a Windows phone…I wasn’t sure what to expect, I mean, as far as smartphones go it’s pretty hard to top an iPhone–even the lowly 3G.

Strictly going by the specs, the Samsung Jack should out-perform the iPhone. The Jack boasts a 528 MHz processor, while the iPhone 3G has a 412 MHz processor. The Jack has double the memory at 256 RAM/256 ROM, the iPhone 128 MB. While, as expected, the Jack’s video and screen resolution trails the iPhone’s, the Jack’s camera is a 3.2 MP, the iPhone’s 2.0. Seeing the hardware differences, I was very anxious to get the Jack in my hands and give it a try.

After having the Jack for about a week, here are my thoughts:

I miss the touchscreen. This is not a big deal on most tasks, as the Jack’s turbo-scroll does make menu navigation quick and easy. Where the touchscreen is missed the most is when browsing the internet, which brings me to my next thought…
I miss safari. I’m trying hard to stay behind Microsoft across the board, but I’m sorry, IE sucks, and the mobile version is not immune to this fact. The Jack’s browsing experience is sorely lacking, so much so that I have decided to downgrade my data plan with AT&T.
To me, one of the most frustrating thing about the Windows phone is the nested menus. This is no problem, and even necessary on a PC, but it becomes a huge hassle on a phone. The ease with which a user can navigate options on the iPhone blows the Jack’s user experience out of the water.
The iPhone is still faster. Not much else to say here…
The iPhone still has a better camera
iTunes, App Store, iPod…what was I thinking?

Well, all is not lost. My wife is wanting a new phone in a few months…I’ll give her my Samsung Jack and get me an iPhone 4.

Two Thumbs Up for CodeIgniter…

jginn — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:07:02 +0000

I just finished up a project which introduced me to CodeIgniter. I’ve been looking for a PHP MVC framework to devote myself to anyway, so I welcomed this opportunity with open arms. After spending a few days building out an app with CodeIgniter, I have to say that I like what I see. Is CodeIgniter a one-size-fits all solution for PHP development? Certainly not. But it is a great, general purpose framework that offers many benefits to increase and enhance the efficiency and productivity of your code. Here are the things that immediately jumped out at me when starting with CodeIgniter:

EXTREMELY well documented. Not only is the CodeIgniter website loaded with documentation, but the online community is full of very helpful blogs on many topics, and there are some good publications out there to help get you started with CodeIgniter
It was very easy to install. Unzip a folder and a few lines on a few config files, and you’re up and running. It is very simple to set up your database for your models, and the framework makes changing your data source a relatively painless task. It’s like programming to an interface without actually having to program to an interface.
For the functionality CodeIgniter provides, it is extremely lightweight.
OO, MVC, ActiveRecord, drastically decreases code to write, . . .
It’s Free.

Needless to say, this is not the last project I will use with CodeIgniter. I’m definitely a fan.

Easily Restore your MySQL Database from PHP

jginn — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:54:02 +0000

This week I found myself needing to restore a MySQL database on a Windows server, the host of which left me no access to MySQL other than the ability to create a database and users. If you find yourself in the same boat, here is a PHP script I used to perform my restore:

$myFile = 'backupFileName.sql'; $myHost = 'hostName--usually localhost'; $username = 'username'; $myPass = 'password'; $myDB = 'nameOfDb';


mysql_connect($myHost, $username, $myPass) or die('Back to the drawing board: ' . mysql_error());

mysql_select_db($myDB) or die('Back to the drawing board: ' . mysql_error());
$sqlEntry = '';

$rawFileData = file($myFile);
foreach ($rawFileData as $entry)

{

	// strip out comments

	if (substr($entry, 0, 2) == '--' || $entry == '')

		continue;
 	// add line to the sql statement

	$sqlEntry .= $entry;
	// if line ends with semicolon then you know it completes the sql statement

	// go ahead and execute the query and reset the sql variable

	if (substr(trim($entry), -1, 1) == ';')

	{

		mysql_query($sqlEntry) or print('Query did not execute properly: '' . $sqlEntry . '': ' . mysql_error());

		$sqlEntry = '';

	}

}

?>
Just change the values for the variables $myHost, $myFile, $username, $myPass, and $myDB and your set. If your backup file is not in the same folder as this script make sure you include at least the relative path in the value.
Hope this helps!