Technet offers a special mode that can be used to create and export document collections. Please note that you need a Windows Live account that you need to sign in to export the documentation to HTML or PDF. Here is how this works. Visit the Technet Library website and click on the printer icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Select Print Multiple Topics from the context menu and Start on the next page. The click on starts enables the collectors mode on Technet. You can use it to add documents to a collection.

A small toolbar is added to each page of the Technet Library. It can be used to add the current web page to the collection. Documents can also be added by right-clicking on a link and selecting the “Add this topic” menu option.

You can add as many documents as you want to the collection. Please note that you will only add that particular page and not pages that are linked from that page. You can add multiple documents directly by right-clicking on the menu structure in the left sidebar.

Here it is possible to add sets of topic to the collection. Root documents with to many sub-documents are limited to 100 pages. You may need to add pages manually after all in this case.

You can click on Collection at any time to manage the collection. All documents that you have added to your collection are listed here. Options are available to rename or delete documents, and to add chapters.

The exporting options are displayed below. Here you can select the HTML or PDF export option. You may want to click on Advanced Options prior to exporting the documents to make changes to the destination document. Available are are options to include community contents, translate contents that is not available in your language, and to include example codes for all programming languages and not only Visual Basic.

Once you have made the output format selection you are asked to sign in to Windows Live before the service processes all documents. A new page with a download link is presented in the end. You need to right-click on Download Your Document and select to save it to store it on the local computer. (via)

One of the common misconceptions with Windows is that it’s flexible and highly configurable. Certainly compared to Apple’s OS X this is the case but only really where the desktop and the major interface controls are concerned. Under the hood it’s certainly the case that Windows is much less configurable than previous versions. It’s more locked-down with security features such as User Account Control (UAC) and facilities to prevent rootkits from accessing the kernel OS.

It’s the same thing with Microsoft software too, especially Microsoft Office. You can still write macros for it, if you understand the languages and coding structures involved, but some if not many of the nuance control that previous versions of the software gave us have been removed.

Some people might argue that the Ribbon UI has hidden many features and now made them harder to find. While this is true to a certain extent, many people would argue it makes previously hidden features much easier to access.  The simple fact remains though that Office and other software have been streamlined and are less configurable than perhaps some people would like.

So why is this and is it a good thing? I’ve been watching this and have spotted a trend. The types of people who ask this question grew up with computers in the 80′s and early 90′s. This was a time when you would have to write code or enter a program before you could get a computer to do anything when you switched it on. The sky was the limit but you really had to know what you were doing.

As computers became more powerful and, more importantly, as they became more user-friendly, they had to appeal to much broader audiences; billions of people around the world were beginning to use them after all. This resulted in much of that nuance control being taken away and the computer users of the world being given software that will do so much, but only so much.

Now some of the emails I get are really probably people saying they’d like X or Y feature to be added. This would count more as product development than anything else, but some genuinely miss controls that have been removed.

So is it a good or a bad thing that we now have a situation where our control over the operating systems and software we use is being eroded? There is certainly a very strong argument from a security standpoint and Apple customers long ago stopped complaining about a lack of customisation options in OS X. For Windows though, which is renowned for being exceptionally tweakable, is the lack of control becoming a problem?

The argument then must be that in order to make software more usable for the many more people who will be using it, especially with packages such as office suites which will predominantly be used by non-technical people, they need to be simplified.  This would inevitably result in some of the more advanced controls being either removed or very deeply buried.

Computers today aren’t really anything like the computers of yesteryear, they’re more just productivity tools and the lack of control and customisation reflects this. Those who really want control over their computer need to learn how to program so they can write code, macros and programs themselves.

Perhaps this is what people are missing then? As we’ve gotten more used to using computers for productivity, and as the operating systems and software have got more friendly, we’ve forgotten the subtle art of programming, a skill we honed on those early Commodore Pets, Apple IIs and IBM PCs. This all leaves me wondering if the answer is really still the same as its always been, but we’re all too comfortable now to bother.

But is xjed the right editor for you? If you are a programmer, and like ncurses-based (or similar) application, I bet it is. In this article I am going to highlight this editor so you can see for yourself if xjed is the right match for your needs.

Installation

More than likely xjed is already installed on your machine. If you want to find out you can open up a terminal and issue the command which xjed which should return /usr/bin/xjed. If it does not then you will have to install. Installation will be simple, because xjed will be found in your distributions standard repositories. Follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. su to the root user (or use sudo if that is your distribution type).
3. Issue a command like yum install xjed (this command will depend upon your distribution).
4. Exit out of the root user (if you are using root).

That’s it. Now you are ready to use xjed.

Usage

Figure 1

I will warn you that xjed is not the prettiest of applicaitons. When you open xjed it will (much like Leafpad – see my article “Leafpad: Yet another text editor“) look as if you are using a text-based editor (see Figure 1).

The xjed window consists of a text editing area and a pseudo-drop down menu. I say “pseudo” because there really isn’t any gui per say, but it is actually a drop down. At first glance it would seem you have to hit the F10 key to access the drop down menus. And you can do that. When you hit F10 the File drop down menu will be highlighted. You can then use your arrow keys to move around the drop down menu area. The right and left arrows will move between drop downs. To open and close a drop down menu you hit the Enter key. That is not the only way to access these menus. You can use your mouse to click on them in order to open them. But remember, xjed was created for programmers, so lifting your fingers from the keys is a big no-no.

Believe it or not, xjed is a fairly complex editor. I wouldn’t recommend it for every day text editing. Why? Since it was created for programmers (and was created around 1994) it is based on much more high-level usage. For instance, you’re not really working with files, you’re working with buffers. And what other text editor has the ability to help you compile programs? That’s right. If you open up the System drop down and select Compile a command prompt will appear near the bottom of the screen asking for your compile command. This command will act upon the file you are currently working with.

Final thoughts

The xjed editor is a sort of hold-over from the days of old. The only reason I highlight it hear is to show you the range of tools available and what it was like working with Linux “back in the day”. And although xjed is still very usable (at least to a certain crowd)  I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a simple text editor. But if you want to see how “powerful” a text editor can be, take a look around xjed and see what there is to see.

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.

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.

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.