SymKat - Bloggity Blog

Credential Management in DBIx::Class

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:11:59 PST

Posted in Code

Most companies have a method of storing passwords and configuration details in a configuration file. For programmers working on on DBIx::Class, this usually means writing your own functions to load a configuration file and supplying them to ->connect(). If you're working on something like a web framework, chances are you're writing something similar like Dancer's Plugin::DBIC or Catalyst's Model::DBIC::Schema.

DBIx::Class::Schema::Config can be added to any DBIC Schema to allow it to connect to a database with pre-configured credentials in any format that Config::Any recognizes, takes one additional line of code in a schema file, one change to your ->connect() statement, and takes less than a minute to configure after it's been installed

Find a Perl Module's Path

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Programming

Not every module is created perfectly and you may want to review the code you're loading into your project, identify bugs or generally poke around.

While multiple versions of a given module may be installed, finding the version you're using is rather simple if you let Perl itself tell you.

Force Download with HTTP Headers

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in HTTP

Modern web browsers support a plethora of plugins to allow content to be displayed inline; once upon a time your mp3 and pdf files would prompt a download box, now more-often than not they are displayed inside the browser.

While no one is arguing that the advancements of inline content displayed in web browsers are not without merit (okay, maybe you can tone down some of the flash...), a webmaster may occasionally wish to force a download box to pop up for one reason or another.

Stalker - Nickname History For IRSSI

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Code

Stalker is an irssi plugin to correlate information on an IRC network and discover users' previously used nicknames. The concept is fairly straightforward: given a nickname identify previously used hostnames. From those hostnames, extract all nicknames they have used. Repeat until you have identified all nicknames a user might have used. The advantage of this method over the more traditional given a hostname identify all nicknames it has used is that you can identify nicknames across hostmask addresses.

Introducing SymPullCDN

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Code

SymPullCDN leverages the free bandwidth, storage and power of Google AppEngine to create a trivial to implement reverse proxy. It has been released to the public for free on github.

Cookieless Domains

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in HTTP

The premise of cookieless domains is that one can speed up an HTTP transaction and the amount of entities downloaded at the same time to increase the rendering time of a page. This seems perfectly rational when we take a look at the logic behind it. We'll take a look at if this actually does speed up your website.

Understanding Bash History

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Systems Administration

Understanding how to fully utilize bash's history functions are paramount to being able to quickly recall commands and navigate the terminal. This article focuses on the lesser-known commands built into bash for speed of recalling previous commands.

Stop Lying On Your Resume

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Thoughts

Believe it or not, most interviews aren't actually about finding out if you're good at what you do or not. They're mostly about finding out if you're a good person.

Lying on your resume can make this process go very badly when you meet The Technical Interviewer.

Understanding Job Control In Bash

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Systems Administration

Between opening a number of shells and running a screen multiplexer like screen there are many ways people utilize terminals to run multiple commands at once. Bash provides its own built-in way of handling this: Job Control.

Each process being executed is a child process of the bash shell. Job Control allows you to attach and detach from the child processes.

Understanding File Descriptors and IO Redirection

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:00:00 PST

Posted in Programming

The ability to string together data between processes and controlling where it comes from and goes to is ultimately a very large aspect of what makes Linux and Unix systems great. In this article we will take a look at the methods for doing so as well as describe where this data is coming from and going. A solid understanding of redirection and file descriptors is mandatory for any systems administrator or programmer working with a UNIX-like system.