Silicon Chisel

After the dot-com bubble burst, it seems like all things Internet fell into a kind of malaise. Investors were scared to take risks, jobs were few and far between, and in general the Internet was being treated like a utility - a step below phone service, but above trash pickup.But some new AJAX-based offerings are bringing some of the old excitement back. You can start to see where the ‘Net can change the way we live, work, and interact again. Five in particular are in beta phase and well worth looking at: Meebo (unified IM and chat), NetVibes (aggregator and web-top console), BlinkList (bookmark manager and sharing), RoundCube (email), and Writely (word processing and document collaboration).

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You’re working on a Photoshop template and 7 versions ago you had a layer in it with the client’s logo with just the right shadow effect. But since then you’ve cleaned up all the unused layers and can’t find it anymore.

Or you’re working on a site and your CSS used to work and now it’s broken and you need to roll back. But did you save a complete copy of the site from that time someplace on your drive?

Version control used to be something only software developers used. But with the complexity of web site design, temnplate design, and Flash design, it can be a real boon to anyone who developers for the Web. Fortunately, version control now integrates right into the Windows XP desktop thanks to free programs like Tortoise SVN.

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The flow of spam (”Unsolicited Commercial Email” or “UCE”) into Internet citizen’s email accounts is seemingly endless and boundless. Email users and corporations are forced to use server-side and client-side filters, challenge systems, and other means to protect their server assets from the deluge. There have been various attempts at legislation as well, which want to attack the problem from different angles.

But this is a war. And one of the most effective ways to win a war is through logistics. Cut off the enemy’s ability to wage war. In the case of spammers (and phishers, for that matter) the means to this end are actually available.

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Many algorithms to check if two windows overlap (a very common activity in window system and interface design) rely on doing multiple comparisons of the positions of the sides of the two rectangular areas in question. This is usually fine for most instances, especially in these days of multi-gigahertz desktop PC’s. But sometimes you need to do so many such comparisons that speed becomes the paramount concern. And sometimes you do not have a super fast processor to rely on - such as on small hand-held devices or cell-phones.

The algorithm described here is one I wrote back in 1988 for a graphics workstation product. It relies on some interesting relationships between the sign of the result of subtracting opposite sides of two rectangles. By taking advantage of this, it is possible to write few lines of C code which will compile down to 20 or fewer assembly instructions.

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Very few business can get by without some kind of a web site. This has become a simple fact of the modern business world. But getting a web presence built can be a difficult and costly undertaking for the small business owner who may not be as technically savvy as a corporate type.

The most common approach taken to getting a site built is to hire a “web designer/webmaster,” often from the classifieds (such as craigslist.org). Unfortunately, and I hear this story a lot from people who become my clients, this usually goes badly. The percentage of people who claim they are “designers” versus those who have actual design skills is quite poor. Knowing how to use the tools does not necessarily mean someone knows how to create a good design. Anyone can paint a house, far fewer can paint a portrait. The same metaphor applies to web design.

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