Ignoring Minified Javascript Files with Ack 2

The reason I got involved with the ack project about a year ago was because I had an itch to scratch: I wanted ack to ignore files containing minified Javascript. My need for this has since lessened, but I still contribute to the ack project, and I still encounter this from time to time. Fortunately, with the release of the ack 2.0 alpha last week, support for this has been improved.

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Posted on 2012-06-21

Lua: Why Explicit Local is a Good Thing

One complaint about Lua that I see on the #lua channel (and elsewhere) is that Lua's variables are implicitly global; if you want a local variable, you need to tell Lua. For example:

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Posted on 2012-06-04

SQLite Types: To Affinity And Beyond

If you haven't checked out SQLite, it's definitely worth taking a look at. It's perfect for a zero-configuration set up when you're doing development, and it's a great database to run a test suite against, especially since you can run a SQLite database completely out of volatile memory. It's even a great choice for small-to-medium size datasets - I have plenty of projects that store their data in SQLite to keep things simple, and even Fossil, the version control system that SQLite itself uses, stores its data in SQLite!

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Posted on 2012-04-16

Monitoring Long-Running Jobs

A while ago, I wrote a post on monitoring long-running jobs that submit multiple queries to a MySQL server. I have since written a couple of scripts that operate on more generic data, so I thought I'd apply the same principle to those scripts. So, the question is: what do you do if you've been running a script and you want to have an idea of its progress without having to restart with a verbose command line option?

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Posted on 2012-03-12

The Leaving of Madison

Madison, Wisconsin is a wonderful city. I've spent the last seven or so years of my life here, first as a student, then as a member of the workforce. To me, it's the perfect mix of a bustling city and a charming town. I've met so many great people here, and for that I am thankful.

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Posted on 2012-02-15