In response to What is MIME? from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Generally speaking it is the way to allow including of different file types inside of mail messages"

What is MIME?

MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

Generally speaking it is the way to allow including of different file types inside of mail messages.

A more detailed explanation is here:
http://hunnysoft.com/mime/

A list of FAQ about MIME is here (pretty technical, you are forewarned):
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/mime-faq/mime0/

Hope this helps

magazines adding hardcore to compete with porn websites? from boards.theadultwebmaster.com

"They should at least bring on the real deal and not try to fool their loyal "readers""

I was a bit surprised when I picked up a Hustler magazine at one of the internext shows and saw that they were putting hardcore in there now because ... I think I saw some fake cumshots!

They should at least bring on the real deal and not try to fool their loyal "readers" hehe

As for Playboy, well, I remember when getting your short story published there meant you were somebody in the writing world. I got a nice stack of rejection slips to prove I was not worthy.

Seriously, I still have several magazine subscriptions and you just can't completely take the web everywhere conveniently (yet).

Sort of off topic here but have you folks seen the cool gizmo that pcmagazine is using where you can digitally view the entire print magazine? It's pretty slick, check it out by going to zinio.com

Now that's what I call print-to-web crossover!

Meta tags for caching pages, when to use? from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Surfers value speedy webpages (arguably more than any other technical characteristic) and though this one code omission on a page is pretty minor in the scheme of page loading speed, there is no point in putting that tag in unless your content absolutely must change with every surfer"

Short answer is to remove that. Long answer follows.

That meta code will slow your page loading speed down because every time the surfer comes to the page, the content will be matched against the browser cache and images that aren't already cached will need to be cached. This happens to some degree anyway with every site you visit, but when there is no caching, everything must be sucked down the pipe which is always going to be slower than accessing your hard drive.

Try clearing your cache completely out and come back to this page and watch how much slower it loads. Same principle.

Surfers value speedy webpages (arguably more than any other technical characteristic) and though this one code omission on a page is pretty minor in the scheme of page loading speed, there is no point in putting that tag in unless your content absolutely must change with every surfer.

Here's an idea:

If you can find someone who is new to the internet sit down and observe them surfing around.

I did this about 6 months ago with a very non-techie friend of mine and the first thing I observed was that after only 5 - 10 minutes of surfing he was complaining about some sites loading slower than others

He also becamed confused by navigation of some sites and wasn't very excited about sound on webpages or flash or java.

New programmers breaking in, what do they need to possess? from www.topniche.com

"And tell him to set aside a certain amount of time every month for learning and not to cop some mega programmer ego that he knows it all"

Thank you for the Script School props, Tom and Blackrose :)

Chuckiepoo - I come from the coding mines I'd tell your young friend that wanting to do something is only half the work. I've found that it's wanting to *continue* to keep doing the work after he learns enough and demonstrates that knowledge to enough people that breaks more than a few programmers

There are a zillion hackers out there (I mean "hackers" in a polite, benevolent sense, btw): people who can do a little bit of code here and there. Full-fledged programmers know how to write their own programs, using their own libraries (and/or occasionally using a public library for convenience, but not out of necessity), from the ground up. Give them a text editor and some specs and hours later they can and do churn out some original code. They also know how to design efficient file and program structures (this is huge) and complete systems, analyze code that others have written and diagnose problems and reduce and/or eliminate bottlenecks and program inefficiencies and make them better. And all the while, they love to do this. These are the programmers with passion and drive that are in heavy demand everywhere, and the type of coder your friend should aspire to become in the language or languages he chooses.

If/when your friend learns enough to do these things and is willing to continue to put in the learning time to continually hone his skills (the learning never, never, never stops), he will not have any problem finding work, it will find him. And very good paying work, I might add.

So if your friend is really interested in programming I would recommend that he work on creating some of his own programs and give those away or make them very inexpensive shareware at first (under $25). From dealing with endusers he'll begin to appreciate all sides of the business and realize that the coding part sometimes seems like the easiest lol. He can set up his own site and he should be very upfront and honest about his status (new) in his advertising and communication and set his hourly rate accordingly. He should never contract for work he is not willing to put the time and energy into the job to accomplish to his best ability.

Some of the bigger jobs I've done, well into 5 figures, have come as a result of doing a smaller jobs and/or helping a friend of someone that worked in a higher place. I did a fifteen minute job for a webmaster one time and it opened the door to a plethora of ongoing work that has gone on for over 2 years (and still is) and has led me to many different jobs, so don't forget or discount the importance of small/short work.

There will be people who will come along and request his services eventually, but he'll have to work hard at building and maintaining a rep and he'll need to do a ton of work for a ton of different people. References are vital in the programming world, because trust is immensely important.

As for elance, rentacoder, etc, I've heard mixed opinions about those places from both camps but I've never tried them out so I don't know how well they work from at least the programmer side.

I do know that I have gotten a few maintenance customers who were frustrated from experiences at those places and that the cheapest in any business or application where structural integrity and trust are vital is ill-advised.

However, those might be good places to cut his teeth on with a few jobs, since when you are new and learning the money isn't (well, *shouldn't be* if he truly enjoys doing what he is doing) the priority. Got to get that vital experience. And plus if he finds out he doesn't love to do the programming, then he can go do something else before he gets in too deep.

And tell him to set aside a certain amount of time every month for learning and not to cop some mega programmer ego that he knows it all. Share the knowledge with others! Write articles, read and interact on great boards like this one, contact me about giving back to others via course instruction (it's a great plug for you/your business) at Script School, I see programmers come and go all the time, but those who give back to others seem to have better staying power.

Learning as a programmer is imperative as the landscape changes: new languages come along that people need coders for, better algorithms can be learned, etc. I'm always studying something new (I am absolutely positive that I can learn something from somebody reading this right now).

I'm currently working on the new .NET stuff from M$ which came out in February. I know, I know, there are some M$ haters out there in the adult world, but for desktop apps, linux well doesn't hold the market share. Also there are more VB programmers in the world than any other language, period.

I've written a novel here, but please pass this along to your friend, as I'm sure it will help sooner or later in his quest ;)

email question from a Script School student from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"It's a geek thing, I guess"

I was asked in email recently by a Script School student about what I mean when I periodically refer to "low level" and "high level" programming languages.

And since I just posted about a site where the programmer still writes most of his programs today in assembly language, it seems like sort of an appropriate time to post about it.

The chain, if you will, of programming languages works like this:

machine/binary (Lowest Level) 01010101 -->
assembly (Low Level) -->
C/C++, Fortran, Pascal (High Level -- or Low Level abstract) -->
perl, php, vb (requires runtime files), Java, etc (High Level 2 abstract) -->
JavaScript, VBscript, etc (High Level 3 abstract)

So it stands to reason that say a program written in PHP or Perl is essentially calling functions written in C which call methods or functions written in assembly which convert to binary which truly "talk" to the machine.

When speed, efficiency and superior hardware interaction are desired there is really no replacement for assembly code. One could do the bit/byte binary method but machine code is not really in a human readable form, it is just ones and zeroes (01010101010), and that is where assembly steps in.

Fundamentally, programs written in assembly are capable of doing things that programs written in higher languages cannot.

Sadly, assembly programming is becoming a lost art of sorts, although in the gaming world there are still some really good assembly programmers. One only has to analyze code like this to see why it is becoming a lost art:

.model small
.stack
.code
mov ah,2h
mov dl,2ah
;
int 21h
mov ah,4ch
int 21h
end

All that just to output an asterisk! LOL

Yikes, I've disgressed with that example, but this assember stuff is mostly for general interest and not really intended to be instructional.

Also, I have a soft spot for assembler programmers simply because of the nature and complexity of what they do. It can take a long, long time to craft a 64k program in assembly, but it can dramatically outperform a program many, many, many times its size.

Alas, it's a geek thing, I guess, too.

Happy coding to you!