eubanksd

I could probably find this out for myself but I'm trying to use my free time for soaking up as much information on the technologies I'm interested in learning (Java, Servlets & JSP, PHP & MySQL), so I'll just ask you: What's the deal with this? I know CSS is always being revised and updated, but isn't there a stable standard of the technology that should be considered a "standard." It's such a useful technology in my opinion, and I know the W3C is always pushing for standards on it and keeping it nice and neat; isn't there a release that all browsers could comply with? I know there's no way to force Microsoft to do a thing on the matter, but my question is, shouldn't they? Isn't CSS2 functional enough for everyone to say "OK guys, we'll just implement this word for word." Wouldn't that just make everything so much easier? Or is CSS2 not as complete as I'm assuming? I get alot from books (mostly For Dummies and things of that ilk), but I get more from the web. This isn't because books are less resourceful or less comprehensive -- just the opposite in many cases, I think -- but is because I'm too cheap to buy a bunch of books, and am forced to peruse the web. However, on my lunch break I often visit the Tech section in the Barnes & Noble next door, and find it much easier to get answers and information from books versus Googling. I've never been asked not to loiter, but I bet one of these days they'll tell me buying a cup of coffee does not give me the right to have a seat and read a book I haven't paid for. But hey, until then... ha!

Oseveral occasions when I was perusing example source code from various locations, I see something like this:Enumeration enum = headers.keys();while (enum.hasMoreElements()) {String name = (String) enum.nextElement();Forgive me here, but to me it looks like they're declaring a variable's identifier to be a java keyword...? I've seen this more than once, but ran across it just now in the com.oreilly.servlet package source. Eclipse always gives me errors when I load example code containing something like this, so I'm sure it's incorrect. What's the deal? Was enum formerly not a keyword, and this is old code?And I have another question: I tried my darndest but couldn't figure out how to get Eclipse to recognize com.oreilly.servlet package when I tried to import it; it always says it's unknown or something, so I know I have to make the IDE or compiler or whatever aware of this package, but how do I do that? Put the package in a special folder where these sorts of things go, and where my IDE will find it automatically? Or add it to some list or other from within the IDE...Thanks for your help.

Well, I meant whatever the latest supported version is. So if CSS3 is the latest, I guess that would be the most "promising," and thus would be what I was referring to. Forgive me, I'm not up to date on all that. I am doing just that. It may be a little bit harder to get the information you're looking for by gleaning it from the desultory database that is the web, but it can be done if you persist. It sure is cheaper than buying books, though I do that every so often too. Note: Sorry about putting this in the wrong thread, I should have payed more attention. I was wondering why it didn't show up as a new thread after I submitted it! Thanks for relocating it to the appropriate thread, Mr. Mark.

I'm in the process of trying to learn how to design with Cascading Style Sheets because, the way I see it, they are portrayed as the next generation of web design and the end of Table layouts. It's been years since I had a web site, and what I had back then wasn't exactly eye-popping in regard to appearance (or content for that matter). I of course used tables to do my layout, as that was just how it was done back then (and still is today, often times, which I'll cover later), but even then -- and even to a novice like me -- it just didn't seem right. It felt like there had to be (or should be) a better way, and when I heard of CSS and did some research on it, I knew that was it. Unfortunately, the promises of CSS are unfulfilled. Of course, eliminating the need to position elements with tables is not the sole -- nor main -- goal of CSS, but it's one of the topics you'll see mentioned repeatedly should you do some googling on the matter. Also, a lot of the problem is not with CSS technology itself, but lies with the mainstream web browsers that can't seem to get on the same page and seemingly refuse to support a unified standard. OK, OK, that last statement was a little harsh to be directed at all of the mainstream browsers, as FireFox is very standards compliant, not to mention probably the most appropriate CSS renderer. It's no secret that the true miscreant of the bunch is Internet Explorer, but Opera, and even FireFox have their annoying quirks as well. The impetus for this rant actually came when I was trying to accomplish a few things with my online banking at BankOfAmerica.com. I don't know what lead me to check the source of the page, but I did and noticed that they use a table-layout to position page elements. This set off a chain reaction, and I started checking other big-name sites to see which method their designers implemented. Out of about seven or eight sites, over half used a table-positioning scheme: Bank of America, eBay, Amazon, and even Google. The CSS-true sites were YouTube, Wikipedia, and MySpace. This just goes to show that while CSS may be the wave of the future, this is the now. Google and eBay -- completely cyber-based business behemoths on the cutting edge -- probably pay tens of millions to their teams of web designers, who are the cream of the crop in their field I'm sure; the fact that these hot shots chose tables over CSS speaks for itself I think. So in conclusion, I guess my point is CSS is a really promising technology and is the wave of the future for web site styling, but it's not there yet. Let's get some opinions on the issue, shall we? Notice from Mark420: Not really a Tutorial at all this one..Im moving the topic to the right area.

foolakadoogie: Nope, no Jason's Deli locations in California. I ate a California Club sandwich when I got off work tonight though I'm curious as to what all you do in your line of work? I'm trying to learn some web application programming at the moment, such as Servlets, JSP, PHP & MySQL -- you do any of that stuff? Sounds like you're more of a photoshop pro than a coder, but you said web design, which web applications are a large part of I imagine. Did you go to school for what you're doing? I'm planning to go to school for comp.sci./programming, hopefully soon.Anyway, time for Stewart & Colbert, gotta go!

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I've been trying to wet my feet in the web-app development pool as of late. That being said, my knowledge/proficiency in programming on the whole isn't extensive. I've been studying the Java language for a (short) while, and I'm coming along. I'd probably have come a lot further if I had more spare time.Anyway, a project I've been working on lately reached a point where the next step was to implement some sort of communication between two remote client instances through a server (it's a chess game -- a JApplet on a web page, I'm trying to enable two people to play against eachother through a web site). This led me to research Servlets, JSP, Apache Tomcat, and even SQL, trying to figure out just how exactly I can (and should) go about doing this. Unfortunantly, I haven't made much progress in this new phase of learning and development, but that's mostly because I've been working so much and haven't had a lot of time.This all is really beside the point here, but I'm building up to it. See, when I started studying Java, everything was gravy because I had the JRE, the JDK, and I even threw in the J2EE SDK for good measure. It wasn't hard to keep track of what I was working with, and I started to get a feel for the territory. I thought "well hell, if it's going to be this easy, I'm in like Flint!" and set off on my new endeavor. Then my world was thrown into chaos by what I call Bundle Anarchy. Let me explain:Someone advised me that Servlets/JSP would be the best way for me to go about my task, so I started googlin'. I found some good info, but every article or tutorial I read provided me only a few tasty morsels of knowledge; everything else was about these other technology bundles that go hand in hand with Servlets/JSP, like JSF, JSTL, JTA, EJB, Persistance API, Struts, AJAX, even PHP and SQL. I couldn't keep up. I started trying to download the bundles of whatever I thought (or was told) would meet my needs based on what I'm trying to accomplish.I ended up worse than I started, really, because now I've got less disk space and nothing to show for it. I downloaded a few API bundles from Sun's Java site, then realized I'd need server software, so I downloaded Apache Tomcat and the Java SAS -- both of which were a pain in the *bottom* to set up and integrate. Sun's got their bundles all screwed up, and I had to install and reinstall a few different things more than once to get the bundles/versions to... agree with eachother. And don't get me started on Sun's versioning practices.Anyway, it's late and I've got to get some sleep. I just wanted to rant a little bit before I hit the sack.Feel free to post your similar experiences with Bundle or Version Anarchy. I hope it's not just silly ole' me having these problems because I'm an incompetent ninny

As pyost said, HTML is the starting point for creating websites. As for programming, my starting point was Visual Basic, which is probably the best place for you to start if you're really interested. That's a big if because trying to hone programming skills/knowledge is like trying to play a sport you're horrible at: easily overwhelming. But persistance will pay. I'm past the absolute beginner stage (barely), but it's almost as if it never gets easier. Just like that sport you suck at, it's easy to give up. Fortunantly for me, my mind works in such a way that I can enjoy the learning complexity. The best way I can explain it is if you are very analytical, always considering and reconsidering, then you'll probably be able to weather the feelings of hoplessness that come when you just can't get the damn thing to work (your program). Hopelessness is standard when it comes to programming... it will never work the first time, and you will never immediately understand why it won't work. You will want to give up. This, at least, is my experience. I hope I don't sound like a sourpuss though -- remember, I said persistence pays!. You can download Visual Basic Express Edition for free from the microsoft website. Here is a link to the download page: https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/visual-studio-express/ It's been years since I toyed around with VB -- only C++ and Java for me nowadays. I don't know what all is (or isn't) included in the VBEE package, but I'm sure it's enough to get you started learning. I suggest you download it and search the web for tutorials and examples, and study them. Just remember not to give up when things seem hopless.

Haha, that's gold! This isn't a bump I just reread that and thought it was hilarious.

OK, so here's the skinny: Back when AOL was THE place to be online (1998/1999), me and a few friends became internet vandals, using punters and things of that ilk to reek havoc in the chatrooms. Our heyday was short-lived, as punting became virtually impossible with AOL 4.0 and pretty much a thing of the past with later patches/releases. However, 'progs' -- as they were referred to, usually named by their creator with some variation of the words "Hacker," "Elite," and "Toolz" -- did not die. Their golden age had passed, but souls desperate to keep them alive (like us) persevered. Somewhere along the way, we figured out what the MaGuSes and MoNkEGoDs were using to create these (formerly) fun little toys, and entered my life Visual Basic. I was enthralled. I don't know what it was (or is), but the puzzle-solving nature of programming combined with my interest in computers makes programming fun. Certainly not monotonous tedium, as most other complex things are to me. And by complex, I simply mean things that require effort to understand. I'm a simple man. Anyway, I'll fast forward a bit and try to avoid the nostalgic reminiscing from here on out, k? So here I am today, trying to get back into programming as I should have been doing for years. I could have a career by now if I wouldn't have been such an idiot these past few years, but you live and learn. I've been trying to learn Java for the past month or so, and I've certainly made progress coming from nothing to where I'm at now, with only a For Dummies book and the Sun Java Tutorials to guide me. To get to the point: The past few weeks I've been making a pretty straightforward chess game (calling it simple just feels wrong!) and have got the game itself (mechanics/logic) pretty much done with. All except for castling and a couple of stale-mate scenarios, to be precise. I'm not planning on implementing AI and a single-user mode, but instead want to figure out how to make two applets of the game communicate with eachother so two people can use a webpage to play eachother. I've got a ways to go, and actually haven't done anything towards this end other than a little bit of research, but that's mostly because I'm always working; I plan to get busy here soon. In the mean-time, I thought I'd post a link to my game and the source and (hopefully) have some more experienced coders with nothing better to do scrutinize it and maybe give me some pointers, or flame me or whatever. Feedback is feedback So, you can check out http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/eubanks/chess.html just to catch a glimpse of my game and the GUI that needs to be redone. The full Eclipse IDE project can be downloaded from http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ If you've got some spare time, download the source and check it out, and tell me what you think. After doing some research, I was surprised to find out that the methods I used for the game mechanics were pretty much on point as far as how people usually go about doing it. The only other method I found was the whole bitwise thing, and that's beyond me right now A few things to note for those who check it out: ** I've been wondering just what the hell is up with my GameBoard class (which extends JLayeredPane) and why it's layers are so funky. If you notice in the ChessInterface interface, the BACKGROUND layer is 1, the PIECE_LAYOUT layer is 2, and the PIECE_DRAG layer is 0. This is the only way I could keep pieces being dragged from going behind pieces still in the PIECE_LAYOUT layer. If I set PIECE_DRAG layer to 3 (as I would think it should be) the dragged piece will end up behind some of the pieces in the PIECE_LAYOUT layer when they overlap, which boggles my mind. ** I've currently got move-switching disabled (in MouseEventHandler.grabPiece method) because I needed to test some things and having to move white>black>white>black made it a P.I.T.A. ** You might notice a method or two are straight out of the Sun Java Tutorials (such as the ImageHandler.getImage method). ** I've been getting a weird error recently when I terminate the game, but only some of the time for some reason. If you can tell me where this is originating, thanks: Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException: component argument pData at sun.awt.windows.Win32SurfaceData.initOps(Native Method) Well, that's about it guys. Hope one or two of you out there can share some wisdom with me

I'm currently recovering from a MMORPG relapse. I told myself I wouldn't ever start playing another one, but along comes WoW and all the hype, and I just had to try it. Fortunantly, it didn't suck me into a void and magnetize my computer screen, as Ultima Online, Diablo II/LoD, and WC3/Frozen Throne did. I was lucky.Perhaps I've outgrown such games (not to imply that they are childish). I played Ultima Online on the bootleg servers for years. YEARS! I loved that game, mostly because I was pretty damn good at it... eventually. I only played for the PvP, but what else was there? I bet there's someone around here who played on Novus Opiate Seclorum, but maybe not.Then it was Diablo II/LoD, which I enjoyed for a year or so I think, maybe more. Took me a few months to get really good, but once I got my hands on the right gear my Barb was unstoppable. OK, not quite, but he was some tough jerky. Enigma armor and Breath of the Dying Ethereal Greater Poleaxe == ownage. Enigma armor was only good for one thing though, but that one thing made it the best armor non-Sorceress races could have. I became a one-man Rush4Forge enterprise. OK, I may be getting too nostalgic so I'll move on.I played WarCraft 3/Frozen Throne a bit, but no where near as much as I played Ultima Online or Diablo 2. Mainly because I kind of got in some real-world deep doodoo, but I think maybe I was just getting tired of the MMORPG on the whole. In my opinion, playing games all day is a waste of time. Don't get offended, because up until just a few weeks ago I was playing games all day ;D. But, well, I'll save that jibe for a more appropriate time.However, in conclusion, I have to disagree with WoW being the best MMORPG ever. There's just too much walking! My GOD! It takes forever to get something accomplished in that game. Get Quest -> walk, walk, walk, walk -> Complete Quest -> walk, walk, walk, walk -> Turn in Quest -> walk, walk -> Get New Quest -> walk, walk, walk, walk -> Complete Quest... over and over and over again. Blizzard did a super job of creating probably the biggest, most exquisite virtual world ever, but it's just TOO BIG. I swear, I'd get so fed up with walking, that half way to a quest I'd just Ctrl+Alt+Del and terminate the game with my character in the middle of the forest. Screw the Inn, that's 10 minutes away, and I used my hearthstone just a while ago because I didn't feel like WALKING back to turn in a quest.Of course, all the other games I played before WoW involved alot of walking, but I'm certain it wasn't as much. Still, like I said, I think I'm just tired of MMORPG's, so keep that in mind. And don't let my opinion get you riled, for I was once addicted just like you ;DNow, I read.And work, that too ;(