I try and blog about things that pique my interest, something I've had difficulty with, or just anything in general that I either want to keep at hand or think may be useful for others to know.
You can therefore find posts covering diverse subjects such as software development/programming, writing and all things Disney.
Thursday, 6th October 2016
The Walt Disney World resort announced on Twitter earlier today that it will be closing all theme parks, water parks, golf courses, Disney Springs and the ESPN sports complex for hurricane Matthew’s arrival.The closure comes as President Obama declared a state of emergency in 28 Florida counties. Local Governments ordered coastal counties to evacuate, and advised residents in other counties to be off the streets by 6pm this evening.The parks will close at 5pm local time…
Thursday, 16th June 2016
Sky – who provide broadband and digital TV services to UK residents and businesses – have recently enabled IPv6 to their consumer broadband customers. I believe they are the first UK ISP to do so, and I hope others follow very soon.IPv6 is a replacement addressing scheme for all computers connected to the Internet. The current scheme – IPv4, which uses dotted numerals like 127.0.0.1, is fast running out of available addresses.IPv6 uses longer addresses that contain both letters and numbers…
Wednesday, 4th November 2015
… after some people upload too much.“Today, storage limits just became a thing of the past with Office 365.”Julia White, general manager of Office 365 Technical Product Management. 27th October, 2014Fast forward to November 2015 and storage limits have just become present again. A little over a year after Microsoft announced that Office 365 subscribers would get unlimited storage on OneDrive – Microsoft’s cloud storage solution – the offer has been revoked and…
Software Development Read more
Wednesday, 21st October 2015
The open-source database fork of MySQL, started by MySQL’s original developer – MariaDB – have certified their latest release of the 10.1 series (10.1.8) as Generally Available – i.e. suitable for production use.MariaDB 10.1 is a drop-in, binary replacement for MySQL for those that want a quicker development cycle and don’t want to have their hands tied by Oracle, who know own the MySQL project.I’ve already upgraded my server to this release, and if any of the below…
Software Development Read more
Wednesday, 21st October 2015
It’s getting cold outside, the trees and foliage are turning a different shade of brown or yellow with each passing day and the dark nights are drawing in – Autumn is most definitely here.What better way to spend a chilly weekend afternoon than exploring the local area with my four-legged buddy, followed by an evening in front of the fire? Last weekend I took Mickey to the local nature reserve to visit the ducks and explore the multitude of colours nature has blessed us with.Enjoy…
Thursday, 8th October 2015
Microsoft Learning today announced a new Windows 10 developer qualification aimed at software developers who want to target the recently-released Windows 10 universal platform.The qualification is an MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer) entitled “MCSD: Universal Windows Platform” and is earned by passing 3 exams.These exams are:70-483: Programming in C#70-354: Universal Windows Platform – App Architecture and UX/UI70-355: Universal Windows Platform – App Data, Services, and…
Software Development Read more
Wednesday, 7th October 2015
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (TFS.) It is a complete tool for managing an application throughout its lifecycle. However I was bought up (and learnt most of my programming skills) on open-source software. It’s important to me that I don’t forget my roots!While TFS is a fantastic tool for commercial application lifecycle management, SVN(Subversion) also has its place in corporates. It’s free and has lower training overhead: perfect for…
Software Development Read more
Friday, 2nd October 2015
Software developers sometimes have to get involved in choosing an infrastructure partner or web hosting provider, especially if that developer runs their own application or websites, or they work in a small company that can’t afford (or don’t want) to employ separate infrastructure engineers.In my current role as a technical consultant, I can be called upon by a client to recommend a hosting environment, so it’s important I know what’s available on the market, and who to trust.This is…
Software Development Read more
Wednesday, 30th September 2015
I struggle with anxiety of varying degrees. Sometimes it just stops me having a good time with new people because I’m worried about what they make of me, other times it takes hold over weeks or months, ever-present at the back of my mind.This weekend was one of the latter. For over a year, the burglar alarm at our new house hasn’t worked. We tried everything. The only solution was to rip it out and replace it.Sounds simple, right? The only problem is that as soon as you remove the mains…
Wednesday, 23rd September 2015
Fellow software developers will understand the meaning behind the title of this post."Hello, world!" is the typical statement used in programming tutorials when learning to write software – and it's usually the first words someone entering the wonderful world of software development will teach a computer application to say.It's therefore fitting that the title of the first post on the brand-new website of a software developer should be these hallowed words.Yes, welcome to my new website, built…