A Dev’s Take on Steadfast Coffee

Recently a coffee shop in Tennessee made Reddit and social media headlines when its homepage was effectively taken down and replaced with a scathing callout by those that created and developed it.  If you’re not familiar with this situation, here’s a screenshot: Obviously, the implications of such an action are huge.  And, it seems to have paid off.  …

User Authentication with MySQL Stored Routines

User Authentication with MySQL Stored Routines

Making MySQL Do More The standard approach to authentication systems in web development is simple: store your confidential data in a database, pull the needed data from said database and let your chosen language/framework (PHP, Ruby, Python, etc.) do the work. What many programmers don’t realize is that MySQL is capable of so much more than …

Relational Database Design for Developers (Database Normalization)

Database Normalization

Good Form, Peter Pan! Corny title of this section aside, database design is often a subject that developers gloss over. And because developers really cannot get by without utilizing databases, I’m writing this guide for them. It’s not even exclusive to any specific relational database management system (RDBMS); though, it must be an RDBMS- NoSQL solutions …

A Beginner’s Introduction to SQL & MySQL

Introduction to SQL and MySQL

Your Data Lives Somewhere Databases, and the very definition of one come in all shapes and sizes. But ultimately every definition has the same roots: a system with which data can be stored persistently and reliably. Persistence (it’s not lost when the application closes or the machine shuts down) and reliability (you will be able to retrieve as needed …

Stored Routines: Word Filtering Inside the Database

MySQL Stored Routines

Please note: This article was written in late 2010.  Before MariaDB.  Before MySQL 5.5 even released.  What you read below may no longer work, or require modifications to make work. MySQL Stored Routines: Another Useful Scenario In a past guide I discussed MySQL stored routines within MySQL. Now I’m back with another guide on MySQL stored routines. …

Where Knowing How to Program Paid Off

So today I was copying the music off of my iPod onto one of my HDDs. All was going well, at least I thought. I went to add a few directories to XMMS to randomize and play when I realized something had gone wrong- no files were added to my play list. On further inspection I …