It's a Nerds World

For the past few weeks, I've been on the hunt. The hunt for what? Well, lots of things. Video games, movies, money, software, new ideas... the whole 18 yards. And within my searching, I really haven't found what I'm looking for. Video games have been a bit of a bore... I've only found one EXTREMELY good movie that I've enjoyed (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT!!), and the rest... just meh.

When you're on the hunt for something - anything - and you're not getting the results that you were hoping, it can become depressing. And when you're doing it for weeks, you get really depressed.

But... I must say that it's very helpful having friends and family there to support you. To keep you on track. To keep you from beating yourself up psychologically and emotionally. To keep you in perspective. And I must say that I'm extremely thankful for them. They help me to keep one thing in mind:

No matter what may happen, no matter how many times your hunt comes back negative - keep on going, because... I Rock.

For a while now I've been playing around with what can be considered the "industry standard" of PHP frameworks - Zend - and from what I've been playing with I have to say... I have mixed feelings.

A framework in code, much like a framework for a house, is the core structure and functionality of the application. It has rules and guidelines for how to expand on this core to create the application that you ultimately want to create.

What is great about the Zend framework is that it is chalked full of functionality that is very useful for a programmer so that you don't have to go and re-invent the wheel. Need to create a Captcha for your application? There's a library class for that. PDF creation? Email? Pagination? They're there, along with many others.

Another thing great too about the Zend framework is that it keeps the Model / View / Controller separation very separated, yet the accessing of the information from within each piece is relatively easy. It truly encompasses all that one would want from a coding framework.

But there are some... hiccups... about Zend that have me questioning it.

First off, and I feel the most important point, is the Zend_Db class library, which is the database layer. For a while now I've been a big supporter (and user) of ADOdb and it has worked wonderfully in my applications. Since Zend has its own database layer, I wanted to see just how good it is compared to ADOdb. I mean lets face it - if your database layer is slow and not a good player with your memory, all those good points just became mute.

After hours of looking online for the answer to Zend Db vs ADOdb, I have seen the answer - no one can fully say just yet. I've read strong statements from people supporting one or the other as far as why theirs is better, but one statement did stand out to me as a point of concern - typically, Zend Db, and the Zend framework for that matter, take into assumption that you're going to be working with only ONE database. Nowadays, most high-level applications are having to reference multiple databases. I did see where one user was able to setup a multiple database connection with Zend, but it seemed that while it did work, it didn't work with everything that is able to extend with the Zend Db class. ADOdb makes it very easy to setup multiple connections to multiple databases.

Another point against the Zend framework is that while it does the MVC separation very well, it seems that it does it TOO well. I find that you're having to have more directories than what is necessary. But if this can be resolved through your path settings, then I move on to the next point.

Installation and setup. When I was first starting this out, I had to actually SSH  into my server and install a Zend Framework package. After finally getting it installed, and using the command line to "create a project", I had noticed that all it did was create the project folder and create the default application structure with the config files, .htaccess files, and the index.php file needed to run. It did not copy the Zend library into the library folder! You still have to manually do that yourself. And after all is said and done, all you need is just the application folder and everything in it. I did not have to have the command line executable installed on my server to run my application. So why doesn't Zend just deliver the package that way? The only possible reason why I can explain that is because through the command line you have commands like "create controller" and "create model", which will then create the proper controller and model files and folder structure to keep the Zend framework intact. While this is useful, I find that at lease for me it's easier and good practice to do it myself.

The final point I want to make is that while it may not be a true technical valid "strike" against Zend, I just don't like it - is how you build your paths' to the different parts of the application. Example: You have to enter in /albums/add or /albums/edit/id/3 to go to the section "Add a New Album" or "Edit the Album who's ID is = 3". Again, this isn't something big, but a irk on my part.

So there's my initial feeling of the Zend framework, both good and bad. I still plan on experimenting with it and getting myself more and more familiar with it, and who knows, the more I learn of it the more I may find that I like it. * GASP!! *

So Spike, our rabbit, decided to see just how tall he is by reaching up to the very top of the underneath of my desk, where the wires of my mouse and keyboard are kept. He snipped through halfway through the mouse cord! When I tried to see if the mouse will work caused the PC to go completely haywire causing the internet connection to break completely - nothing would fix it until I did a COMPLETE hard drive wipe of everything and re-installed everything.

When I went and tried the PC to see if the mouse would still work, the PC came on fine, but I had no keyboard or mouse control. I did a hard restart and then I got a message saying that no keyboard could be found, and then the PC turned off. I couldn't get it restarted at all. I unplugged the mouse and keyboard, and then it came back on but gave me that message again.

I then went and plugged in the keyboard only, and everything came back online fine, and the keyboard was working. So I took my wireless keyboard and mouse and plugged those into the PC and they were all working fine. But then I noticed that I couldn't get onto the internet. The PC couldn't find my network at all.

 I went through HOURS trying everything - from resetting the modem to uninstalling / reinstalling the ethernet drivers - nothing was working. I knew that the modem wasn't the culprit because the laptop was still connecting just fine. I even went online looking up the error messages that I was getting and nothing that I found wouldn't work.

So I finally backed up all of my files, and blew out the hard drive. (This process also allowed me to download a really cool on-boot software that helped me do a permanent wipe of the HD, plus it has some other cool tools as well. Squeee!!). I got Windows re-installed, and everything is running fine. Sad thing is that I didn't get to work on what I had wanted to, but that's life I guess. No use in crying over cut mouse. I just find that it's really interesting how one thing can make a huge impact on a machine.

Now that I'm back at the grindstone, I have to say that while the vacation was good... it was short. Well, it felt short anyways.

My family and I went up to Pismo Beach, CA to escape the heat of the Inland Empire. I have to tell you - if there was a way I could either transplant my family up there, or the cool air down here, I would.

We stayed with my wife's mom and dad. Every summer, they take one month out from their comfy home here in the Inland Empire to pull a trailer up to Pismo Beach to escape the intense heat of the summer. I can't say I blame them. If I was retired and had a trailer, I would do the same. The trailer was big enough for four people to move around without stepping on each others toes... too much.

The day after we arrived my brother in law and his family came up in their trailer for vacation. It was great having the whole family there. While my wife enjoyed going out site-seeing, and antiquing, I spent many a days back at home, enjoying just doing nothing and playing video games. I can honestly say that I was able to beat an entire game ( Dragonquest IX ) from start to finish during the vacation and it felt great! The days that I got a little too cooped up I got out with the family and enjoyed myself.

We also took our dogs with us up to Pismo. They truly enjoyed it as well. The park where we were staying at is backed right up next to some sand dunes, and on more than one occasion I took the girls out onto the sand, unleashed them, and had a great time watching them run around... up and down the dunes, chasing one another. It was funny seeing the smaller, lighter dog do an elf-like walk up the sand dunes - her paws barely going down in to the sand, while the slightly bigger, definitely heavier dog was bounding up and down, her legs being buried down to her belly, kicking as much sand as possible. It was great.

The biggest highlight of the trip was that my nephew's tooth FINALLY came out! You see, he had a loose tooth for a while now - nearly 3 months to be exact. He was being a bit wierd about it - not wanting to wiggle it, or take it out. I don't know how he did it - if it was me, I would have been playing with it from the start!

On the last night that we were up there, he fell asleep and my wife was determined to have that tooth come out. So while he was sleeping, she grabbed a piece of dental floss, tied it around the tooth, and with a gentle but firm tug.... pop! Out the tooth came! No blood, no pain, and my nephew didn't even wake up. The next morning he woke up with a smile on his face... we looked at him and asked him what he was smiling about. He opened up his mouth and was rubbing his missing tooth hole with his tongue.

When we got back to our home here in the Inland Empire, we were sad to go away from the great weather and the family (we had to come back earlier than the others), but I must admit - it felt so good sleeping in my own bed. I have some pictures of the trip, and I'll get them up here as soon as I can. Now I need to catch up on all of the nerdy news that I've missed out on!

Hey everyone! I'm back from my vacation! I'm beat - but I'll be posting up some info about the trip, as well as some pictures that I took while I was there soon. In the meantime have a good night and I'll see you all later!