The basic guidelines are as following:

• Pledge that you are participating on our forum well before the New Year — post a teaser about what you plan to create.
• Release the application on or before 31st December 2009 (we’ll be posting a roundup article about all the entries on Dec 31st).
• Any type of application is acceptable: Windows, Linux, Mac, Web, iPhone, Android, Script, Plugin, etc.
• It must be free (or donationware) for personal use.
• It needs to be something that hasn’t been released publicly before November 2009 (updates to existing programs don’t qualify).
• You keep all the rights to and control of your software, this is just an event to encourage coders to release new free tools.

Last year’s event saw over 30 applications submitted for the event and the Donation Coder’s want to top it this year by reaching out to some technology blogs.

If you are a coder you might want to consider taking part in the NANY challenge. You can read the thorough introduction over at the Donation Coder website which contains information and links to everything that needs to be known about the challenge. It would be nice to see a regular Ghacks visitor take the challenge by storm this year. So, if you have some time and a nice idea you might want to consider heading over right now. There is even a program idea suggestions thread in case you want to participate but are out of coding ideas at the moment.

We will be monitoring the event closely and review the most interesting applications that are produced by the participating coders.

The programming language, Ruby, was created in the mid 1990’s in Japan, by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto. Ruby is based on Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp and was written to create a programming language that, according to Matsumoto, “was more powerful than Perl, and more object-oriented than Python.”

One of the goals of Ruby is to allow the simple and fast creation of web applications. The language itself satisfies this goal. Because of this, there is much less tedious work with this language than many other programming languages. Ruby is also free of charge. It is also free to copy, use, modify, and distribute. Since Ruby can be modified, programmers can make necessary changes and can code without feeling restricted. Another feature of Ruby is its mark-and-sweep garbage collection which allows programmers the ability to code without having to worry about the need to maintain reference counts in extension libraries. Also, if an operating system allows for it, Ruby can dynamically load extension libraries. Ruby currently ranks as the 9th most popular programming language in the world. There are many online guides where Ruby programmers to-be can learn how to program in Ruby.

Ruby on Rails, often simply called Rails, is an open source web application framework that was designed for Ruby by David Heinemeier Hansson and was released in July 2004. Ruby on Rails makes use of an object relational mapping layer known as the ActiveRecord. Because of this, programmers do not have to specify database column names in class definitions. Rails will retrieve this information on its own from the database based on the class name. Rails also has a testing framework built in which allows programmers to write test cases which helps them create more reliable, robust code.

The Regex Coach is an excellent software program to learn regular expressions as it displays realtime results in its interface. The interface itself is divided into two display panes that contain the regular expression and the target strings. Below are tabs and buttons that provide additional functionality.

A user who wants to test a regular expression would enter it in the first column and add a target string in the second. The program automatically highlights the area of the target string that is matched by the regular expression. Any modification to the regular expression will automatically be visualized in the target string pane.

Invalid entries are displayed automatically as a status message. The program will for instance notify the user if a bracket has not been closed which would make the expression invalid.

The Regex Coach is a learning by doing aid for learning or verifying regular expressions. There is still need for a documentation on regular expressions like this one.

Right now we only have the blog, but tutorial sections and screencasts are on their way! To keep gHacks readers in the know, I will be doing a weekly short roundup of posts, if you like some of them, head on over to the site, take a look and participate in all the fun! So let’s jump to it, here’s what we covered on week 1.

• Checking MySQL queries for errors
• Creating your first function in PHP
• How the internet works – domains and hosting
• Create cool icons in a flash for your website
• Creating rounded corners using only CSS

We have a few more up there, and you can follow us on Twitter and our RSS feed or join us on Facebook. If you have any questions or comments feel free to let me know!

<?php
echo ‘Hello World’;
?>

I hate Hello World examples, but this shows what we are doing pretty well. Basically the echo command will write out that phrase “Hello World” (the quotes will not be shown, the single quotes above are part of the code), so if you open that file using Firefox for example you should simply see the phrase.

This seems straightforward, but to really understand what’s happening, and to be able to work with PHP efficiently we need to dig a bit deeper to see what really happens when we echo something.

The most important thing you need to understand is that PHP is a server side language. This means that whatever code you write is never sent directly to the client (the viewer of your site for example). When someone opens a PHP file form the next the file is first processed by the server, and only the result is shown to the user. This is why you will never see PHP code if you view the source of a page.

You also need to know that once the server has processed the file it retruns pure browser readable code. I would say pure HTML, but obviously your PHP file can contain inline javascript, just like your HTML files. Now echoing something tells the server that whatever is echoed should be placed as is into the HTML file. This means that whenever you want to put HTML tags when you are echoing you can do so by writing them as you would in an HTML file itself, like this:

<?php
echo ‘<strong>Hello World</strong>’;
?>

Once the server has returned its result, this is downloaded by the browser and processed like usual, so your “strong” tags wil be taken into account and will indeed bold text.

So what’s the point of sending the server that bit of code if all it does is just put it in like it was HTML? Well, the answer lies further down the road, but basically this is helpful because you can prevent/enable specific of section of code reaching the client, so the viewer only downloads what he/she needs, not the whole file. A simple example:

<?php
$random = rand(0, 99);

if ($random > 50)
echo ‘Number is above fifty’;
else
&nbsp; &nbsp; echo ‘Number is equal to or less than fifty’;
?>

Without really understanding what’d going on I can still explain. We create a variable, the value of it will be a randomly generated number between 0 and 99. If this number which we just generated is above 50 then we should echo that it is above fifty, in all other cases (it is below or equal to fifty), we should echo the other statement.

This is processed whenever someone loads (or reloads) a page, so the variable “$random” will always be different, generated “on the fly”. The script then checks the number, and only the relevant piece of code is returned, so if the number generated is 55 the only piece of code that you will see in the source will be:

The number is above fifty

Obviously this is a bit over-simplified, but in real life this is basically what happens. You can also use this to generate different pieces of code for different days of the week, and the change will be automatic, you only need to program once. You can also use it to create one file to display all your posts (like in WordPress), so you don1t have to code a page for each post you write. PHP is awesome, start lovin’ it!

If you would like to read more articles like this, take a look at Scriptastique, a new blog by the writer, Daniel Pataki. The site will contain different articles from the ones published here, and will eventually have complete tutorials for numerous programming languages.

The following web development articles have been published in January 2009 at Ghacks:

How does PHP work?
HTML Playground
PHP – what role does it fill
Standardizing variables to code faster
Web Development: A brief history of time()

You can download the pdf document by clicking on the link below.

ghacks web development january 09

Okay, partly because it’s one of FeedDemon’s default feeds but also largely because  Jeff Atwood just writes interesting stuff that anyone can understand, programmer or not.

His blog however is really nothing more then a side interest, his latest project which has been occupying most of his time is a resource site for coders called StackOverflow.

“So what is stackoverflow?

Stackoverflow is sort of like the anti-experts-exchange (minus the nausea-inducing sleaze and quasi-legal search engine gaming) meets wikipedia meets programming reddit. It is by programmers, for programmers, with the ultimate intent of collectively increasing the sum total of good programming knowledge in the world. No matter what programming language you use, or what operating system you call home. Better programming is our goal.”

To that descriptive list I would also add ‘Yahoo Answers/Forum/Newsgroup’ type community site.

It’s true there is nothing totally unique about Jeff’s ideas, but the site he has created really manages to pull all the ideas together and create an incredibly easy to use site which is fantastic for beginners like myself and advanced programmers.

In many ways it’s just an update on the web forums which proliferated the web during the 90s and early 2000s. It was here that many people learnt the skills associated with an interest or job (coding, design, SEO etc) and in turn taught others.

The issue with Forums however is that valuable information is easily lost. A lot of threads are full of comments which don’t contribute anything and archives vanish rapidly never to appear again. By creating a similar kind of community, yet organising the information, categorizing it and create a valuable resource for any newcomer to discover without having to initially get involved is a great idea.

The barrier for entry is also low as anyone can ask or reply to questions in just the same way as a blog, by providing a name and email without registering. If you wish to become more involved you can register later and associate the questions you have previously asked with your new account.

It’s a great new site and a great growing community. I recommend you check it out if this kind of thing interests you.

In fact, I’m teaching my girlfriend css design and we went through the same process, taking an existing page and recreating it. First of all, you see the design right in front of you and you don’t need to keep in mind where you want to get to. Second of all, you can use some awesome tools to help you on the way if you’re a beginner.

My favorite tool is of course Web developer toolbar, which is a Firefox extension that can aid you in web design. A great trick to know is to press ctr+shift+y to view style sheet info on a page. This will draw a rectangle around elements you hover over, and when you click, it will display the styling behind those elements.

This is awesome if you’re starting out because it’s a cheat sheet you can use to check how the designers did this or that, but you can also use it to take a look at what colors where used, how a float is accomplished and so on. There are also some other tools in there like changing the stylsheet on the fly, resizing the viewport and so on.

In short, copying a website is much easier than creating your own design. If you take the burden of trying to create something cool and new on your own off your back, you will be free to actually learn the methods behind coding a good site. My girlfriend also finds it very helpful, and she’s a complete css newbie, so I guess many people could find this method appealing, mosty because it puts you in the action right away, no need to go through all the boring theory.

The project creator can then pick one of the freelancers who responded with an offer. It is possible to use a private messaging system to communicate on site to get the details right before a deal is closed. The website offers an Escrow service that will withhold the money until the project has been finished.

Adding a new project costs $5 which are subtracted from the money that is being paid to the freelancer if one is selected to finish the project. I think that this website offers some nice opportunities for freelancers as well. Just take a look at the average bid amount for certain categories to know what I mean. The price range for most projects lies between $100 and $1000.

While the website concentrates on brokering IT deals it does have several other categories that are related in a way or another. You can find and post offers for Accounting, Translations, Photography, Legal Advice or Copywriting on the website as well.

I like to post projects there because I know that my money is safe until the freelancer completes the product to my satisfaction. A rating system that has been implemented makes it easy to analyse a freelancer by previous works that he has done on the site.

I’m not using the website as a tool to earn money but I guess you could be highly successful if you are an expert in any of the categories that are offered on the website.

Each section is divided into two subsections that link to the presentations and videos. The Powerpoint presentations have to be downloaded to your computer while the videos are embedded on the website itself. Most tutorials on the website are clearly aimed at users with some background knowledge.

If you take a look at the C++ tutorials in the Language section you see that they are not beginners tutorials for instance. The first tutorial is named C++ Threads while the second and last New Features in the Next C++ Standard. Nothing a beginner to C++ programming would want to start with.

The videos however are excellent, the C++ Threads video for instance has a playtime of 1 hour 29 minutes. Strangely though the other video which was hosted on Youtube is not available anymore which is the only video that was not available. All other videos were hosted on Google Video and ran fine.

The website has a Curriculum Search as well which should help to find teaching material. It’s basically a custom Google search.

The first thing that you have to do after installation is add at least one folder that should be monitored to File Hamster. You may choose all or selected files that should be monitored. It adds subfolders automatically to your selection as well. The selected files will now be monitored and a backup will be created before a write process changes the file. File Hamster prompts for action whenever a file is edited, you may add comments to it to describe the changes for instance.

It is of course possible to access older versions at anytime in case you want to revert back to them.

To make this free version tracking software even better you can customize it further. You might want to limit the number of revisions that should be kept. This can be done by either adding a maximum or by defining the amount of time that old revisions should be kept. Both are set to unlimited by default.

File Hamster supports plugins of which at least two are extremely useful. The first is a zip plugin which compresses the backups saving valuable disk space if you work with large uncompressed files.

The second is a Diff plugin which works very well with programs that display the differences between files. Winmerge would be a free tool that could be used for this purpose.

I found this program at the great freeware genius blog.

You find introductions to the languages as well as topics that are best suitable for advanced users. If you are currently learning a programming language or always had the desire to learn one but never wanted to pay lots of money for books this site is for you.

Update: You can still access the website here. Programming books are listed in categories that are all listed on the side’s sidebar. A click on a sidebar entry such as .Net displays all the books that are included in the category. Books are listed by name, author, format and price. Especially the author and format are important. The format for instance tells you how and where you can read the book.

Some are available as online video screencasts, other as online viewable HTML files, and others as downloads. Requirements are listed on the same page, some may for instance require a specific software development suite installed on the computer.

All programming books listed on the site are free, from what I can tell. At least they are listed as that. Since they are pointing to regular company web pages and not file hosters, it is almost certain that it is legal to download them to your computer or to access them online.

A search is provided at the top which lets you find specific books or issues faster. The site furthermore lists the top ten books based on overall popularity at the top of each page. You find C++, J2EE, C# or Rad Studio books listed there.