Huh? Jeremy Burns Class Outfit
[email protected] http://www.classoutfit.com On 2 Mar 2011, at 12:47, Alexander Sergeyev wrote: > Dear community of developers, > mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. > > > I'd like to share a vision why bleeding-edge solutions scare and how to craft > it more friendly with a case study. > > Every development stage begins with a root folder, empty index page and text > editor. In late 90s I used plain HTML with a couple of SSI for permanent > header and footer later on. Nowadays I'm with PHP, principally because of > wide hosters support, and JQuery for a sleek and smooth interaction (like > gathering feedback without reloading or hiding irrelevant sections in FAQ). > > New data comes, technologies change, project reflects that following > universal laws of nature. > > Imagine you're Leonardo da Vinci. In childhood there is a welcome plate with > your name, some surrounding sketches you draw on a workshop's backyard and > information for travelers on how to reach your beautiful village. Dreamy, huh? > > With the course of time your scope and depth of interests grow. You're not > attached to sketches anymore, therefore moving them to /art/ together with > architecture, paintings and sculpture. To introduce your recent researches > for debate, you create /research/ and fill it with anatomy, botany, geology > and optics. According to historians and personal anticipation, plenty of > engineering insights are ripen, so you reserve /inventions/ as well. > > Manifestly new pages differ in design, yet they have common elements. So how > to reuse layout wisely? > > First thing I've learned is template inheritance. This feature comes with > server-side languages like PHP, Python, Ruby. In a nutshell it allows you to > have a parent page with common markup (viz. head, nav, footer) along with > children pages (requested via browser) that load parent subsequently > replacing or extending it with request-related data. Eventually you don't > repeat yourself. Beyond doubt this magic could be mastered by native inline > programming, however I prefer human-oriented solutions with a short learning > curve acting as a layer between geek stuff and essential needs thus anyone > around netglobe could evolve. I believe PHPTi is the easiest and > well-documented one to get acquainted with template inheritance. > > Speaking of layout magic, curious persons could go even further and try > extras like HAML, w2tags or Jade to simplify markup habits typing %li instead > of <li></li>. So pity this trend is not popular within PHP community (e.g. > HAML ports such as PHaml, phpHaml, Fammel and PHamlP are neglected to date). > > Right, and what about elements decoration? There's where SCSS, LESS, > CSScaffold or Turbine comes into play and makes it possible to keep DRY > inside stylesheets by using variables (color: $linkcolor), expressions > (height: $bodylineheight * 4) and intuitive nesting. Again, it runs > in-between so you stay powerful without headaches. Check official examples, > they're truly inspiring, enough said. > > Idea is about changing approach as project grows. Changing approach without > frustration in consequence of painful dissonance between tech-savvy raptures > about some bleeding-edge solution and errors you catch for hours. And yes, I > do explicitly omit narration of merging, minifying, versioning and chained > loading as being enhancements, not a core. > > > CHILDHOOD > index.html > sketches.html > contacts.html > > MATURITY > index.php > /content > /art > /index.php > architecture/*.php > paintings/ > sculpture/ > sketches/ > /inventions > /index.php > /research > /index.php > anatomy/ > botany/ > geology/ > optics/ > /templates > /common.php > /images > /inc > /css > /js > /php > > > Superb? Not yet, although it's widespread. Obvious drawbacks? Every page > request invokes compilation cycle (common.php+requested page). Solution is to > serve static cache generated in advance. (How?) Content edit requires > accessing one or more files. Solution is to keep content in database. (What's > the best practice?) Markup is mixed with content and sometimes, ouch!, with > raw PHP. In short, framework built with MVC principles is a saviour. (Erhh?) > > - Hey! - exclaims someone like me, a guy or a girl not that bright in > development, but doing best to go with the times, - Now you sound like a > politician! Dainty slogans followed by non-system mumbo-jumbo. > > Indeed, it must be admitted. Widely-known MVC frameworks from Symphony2 to > Smarty3, from Kohana to Yii, from CakePHP to CodeIngniter claim to be fast, > secure and easy to learn. Really? Does one look for speed and security from > the word Go? No. I dare say evaluation of how new scenery jars on habits goes > in the first place. That is what will happen to the current beloved > hierarchy, links, diligent markup, blocks of program code achieved through > much suffering, etc. Either you convert a couple of pages successfully & feel > you're quite at home or alas & alack! > > Today I dimly know something concrete about autoloaders, helpers, filters, > routers, models, views, controllers. It all came to nothing, but I'm eager to > grasp it in the process of gradual transition like bricklaying. Gradual - not > at once, you see? Stop bragging of how your framework conforms to > geek-invented paradigms. Draw more parallels out of the world behind real > windows, give more humanly narrated cases like one about da Vinci and > optionally reinforce them with strong visuals. Gradual bricklaying is about > hook people on the familiar language and accustomed practices. > > I do believe this is the reason why JQuery is a leading javascript framework > whereas MVC frameworks exist without leader. > > Fathers of computer evolution and their honourable assistants, while you're > polishing bottlenecks and contributing on benchmarks, public ashore still > gaze at schooner called Bleeding-Edge-Solution with no ladder to step aboard. > Ladder across the abyss of Coding-Horror. Throw a ladder at last! > > Meanwhile, I thank you with all my heart for your enthusiasm. > > > > -- > Our newest site for the community: CakePHP Video Tutorials > http://tv.cakephp.org > Check out the new CakePHP Questions site http://ask.cakephp.org and help > others with their CakePHP related questions. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php -- Our newest site for the community: CakePHP Video Tutorials http://tv.cakephp.org Check out the new CakePHP Questions site http://ask.cakephp.org and help others with their CakePHP related questions. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php
