More on Patterns

January 19th, 2009

In my previous post I was comparing how I found reading the GoF book versus Head First Design Patterns. As I said, I found them both useful and was especially impressed with the Head First book for explaining the patterns in a way I could relate to.

However, now that I have an initial understanding of each pattern and when it could be applied, I have found no better reference than SourceMaking. The website gives a readable, concise explanation of each pattern including diagrams, applications and rules of thumb, as well as clearly relating it to other patterns which might be relevant to the same problem. It also includes coded examples in several languages, in some cases with a listing for the solution both before and after the design pattern was used.

The site is being used to promote an ebook and series of video tutorials, which could be a great resource, but at $49.99 I can’t really afford to find out right now. If anyone has checked these out, I’d love it if you could let me know what you thought.

Subject: Programming    Tags: , , , ,    
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Computing Posts From Across The Web Part II

August 30th, 2008

Probloggers group writing project is now over, so I thought I’d update you with some more top computing posts which were submitted in the third and final days. If you missed my first selection, you can check it out here. The post I submitted was 8 Reasons Why Every Computing Student Will Love Linux.

 

 
Did you enter a post in the Problogger group writing project? Or have you written a computing related post recently you’d like to share?
Feel free to share your links in the comments.

Subject: Blogging    Tags: , , , ,    
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Computing Posts from Across the Web: The Best of Problogger’s Group Writing Project.

August 28th, 2008

Recently Problogger announced a group writing project encouraging bloggers to write a post on any topic, focussing on giving it a killer title. I’ve been looking through the list of entries so far, and I wanted to share some of the top computing related posts.

  1. 5 Reasons You Should Use Plain Text To Save Your Data from Rarst. A short, but informative and convincing post on the benefits of using plain text to store your documents.
  2. But Mom, You Guys Look at Porn Sites Too from Data-Drop. An amusing post on the importance of cleaning your cache and browser history.
  3. Memo: Please Erase All Memories of Lost Memory from Tech Cult. Thoughts on the Britains current trend of regularly loosing our personal data.
  4. Geek-Speak and Legaleze – Fess Up! from GrowMap. A portrayal of how inexperienced users feel about the technical terms open source users find commonplace, and the amount of legal jargon found on the web.
  5. 9 Super Sexy Betas to Crave Right Now from Listropolis. A list of the hottest betas online right now.
  6. Best Blog Footers are Standalone Creations from Webomatik. Views on why great footers are important for websites, and a selection of strong examples.
  7. 9 Of The Best Ways To Present A Website To A Client from Just Creative Design. A selection of ideas from presenting mockups of websites to a less than tech-savvy client.

I hope you find some of those links useful. As for me, I entered my post 8 Reasons Why Every Computing Student Will Love Linux.

Today is the final day of the project, so I’ll update this list with the best of todays entries when it is published tomorrow. If you’ve entered, feel free to link to your post in the comments below.

Subject: Blogging    Tags: , , , , , ,    
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Steps To Join The Open Source Community

August 4th, 2008

In my previous post I wrote about how, despite the fact geeks are known for hiding away on their own, Linux and Open Source software has a huge community surrounding it. Here I hope to give some more practical advice and links to help newer users get involved.

 

Forums

There are hundreds of Open Source related forums all over the internet, some for a specific program or Linux distribution, others aimed at new users and yet more dealing with anything and everything. If there is something relating to Linux you want to discuss, there will be a forum out there where you can talk about it.

The best part is, all you need to do is sign up and immediately you can read through a whole lot of useful information, get help, and talk with other Linux users.

Some Popular Forums:

  1. Linux Forums
  2. Linux Questions
  3. Ubuntu Forums

 

Mailing Lists

Mailing lists tend to be more specific than forums, dealing with only a particular geographical area or an application. Users communicate through email, with every one you send being shared with every other person in the group. Writing to one can be a great way to meet people and get support.

Some Mailing Lists:

  1. A List of Lists
  2. Ubuntu Mailing Lists

 

Linux User Groups

User groups can be a good way to meet other Linux users in person, or talk to people near you through a mailing list. Meeting other new users can really help you see that you are not alone with your problems, and get some tips from more experienced users.

Some User Group Sites

  1. A List of User Groups by Country
  2. UK User Groups
  3. Dundee and Tayside Linux User Group and Abertay Linux Society.

 
I hope that this post will help some newer users become part of the vast and active Open Source community. If you’ve joined a group and are now looking for technical help, I’ll be following this up with a guide to finding solutions and asking questions in the next couple of days.

If you have any other tips and links you’d like to share, please share them in the comments.

Subject: Linux    Tags: , , , ,    
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