John Cox

Blogs · @wyome · Now · Shelf

Interesting

www.developerdotstar.com

Test Smarter, Not Harder by Scott Sehlhorst - developer.*, Developer Dot Star

Exhaustive testing of complex software with millions of input combinations is economically impractical, so this article presents more efficient testing strategies based on statistical sampling and combinatorial analysis. Random sampling requires prohibitively large test suites for high quality standards, while pairwise and N-wise testing (particularly N=3) can achieve 90% code coverage with dramatically fewer tests—reducing a 2.3 million-combination scenario to just 179 tests. The article further demonstrates how applying knowledge of the application architecture—such as mapping control dependencies, grouping related inputs, and eliminating equivalent values—can reduce test suite size even further, achieving strong quality assurance within realistic budgetary constraints.

Permalink softwaredevelopmenttutorial

101 Cookbooks

Triple Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies

Heidi Swanson's recipe for triple chocolate espresso bean cookies uses whole wheat pastry flour and combines dark chocolate with chocolate-covered espresso beans for a sophisticated, crunchy-textured cookie with a dense, cakey crumb. She emphasizes the benefits of whole wheat pastry flour for tender results and offers practical baking tips, including the option to freeze dough for later baking and a suggestion to add semi-sweet chocolate chips for extra richness.

Permalink recipesdessertsbakingcoffee

www.epitonic.com

byster.net

HowtoForge

Mirror Your Web Site With rsync

This tutorial explains how to set up automated file mirroring from a main web server to a backup server using rsync over SSH, with password-less authentication via SSH keys so the sync can run unattended via cron. The setup tunnels rsync through SSH (securing the connection and avoiding firewall configuration), uses public key authentication to eliminate password prompts, and restricts the backup server's SSH access to only execute rsync commands through a validation script on the main server.

Permalink securityautomationtutorialinternet

nomediakings.org

No Media Kings » How to Silkscreen Posters and Shirts

Shannon Gerard's tutorial walks through the complete silkscreen printing process at home, from selecting the right aluminum screen and mesh count for your surface to burning emulsion-based stencils and finally printing multiple layers of color onto fabric or paper. The guide emphasizes practical details like using a makeshift red lightbulb setup in a bathroom as a darkroom, maintaining proper exposure times, and the importance of registration techniques to align multiple color layers accurately. Each step includes specific material lists and troubleshooting tips, making it accessible for beginners while addressing common mistakes that compromise print quality.

Permalink diytutorialhandmade

www.i-resign.com

www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

Escape from Cubicle Nation: Open letter to CEOs, COOs, CIOs and CFOs across the corporate world

J. Timothy King argues that the optimal company size is between 20-30 employees, beyond which management becomes burdensome and less rewarding than smaller operations. He contrasts this positive experience with his subsequent move to a larger, more stable corporate employer, suggesting that the trade-offs of corporate employment may not be worth the security they promise.

Permalink leadershipadvicebusinessentrepreneurship

www.peekvid.com

www.fastcompany.com

The Five Most Common Lies in Business

Paul LaFontaine, who left a major music company to consult on business honesty, identifies five pervasive lies in corporate culture: claiming people are a company's most important asset (when financial assets actually are), presenting decisions as rational when they're really personal preferences, judging performance objectively when favoritism determines outcomes, separating business from personal stakes (when everything in business is personal), and prioritizing customers over self-interest (when people actually prioritize themselves). He argues that these lies persist because executives avoid honest conversations about what's really motivating their decisions, and that genuine candor—even anger—handled directly would be more truthful than the euphemisms that typically cloak business dealings.

Permalink culturecommunicationleadershipadvice

bugs.php.net

PHP Bugs: #37276: problems witch $_POST array

A PHP 5.1.3 bug caused $_POST arrays with nested keys (like `masivasid[id_1]` and `masivasid[id_2]`) to be parsed incorrectly when forms were submitted with `multipart/form-data` encoding, resulting in malformed array structures where later keys would be nested under earlier ones instead of existing at the same level. The issue affected all Linux systems tested and did not occur with GET requests, breaking functionality in applications like phpMyAdmin, with users identifying the likely culprit as the `php_register_variable_ex` function in the PHP source code.

Permalink developmentbug

LUNA99

One Hundred Rules for NASA Project Managers

LUNA99 is a digital entertainment platform that markets itself as highly affordable, requiring only minimal startup funds while promising equal winning opportunities for all players regardless of initial investment size. The platform emphasizes fast deposit processing and smooth withdrawal procedures designed to minimize friction in financial transactions. The article includes testimonials from users across Indonesia claiming rapid fund transfers, fair gameplay mechanics, and responsive customer service.

Permalink leadershipbusiness

www.stevepavlina.com

10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed

# Summary This article distills lessons from 14 years of self-employment into ten common mistakes small business owners make: being selective about customers rather than pursuing everyone, finding the balance between frugal and wasteful spending, avoiding pretense about your business size or capabilities, recognizing that contracts matter less than the relationships behind them, trusting your intuition about people and deals, staying human and informal rather than overly corporate, letting your personality shine through rather than adopting a generic "businesslike" persona, and focusing on genuine value creation rather than just making sales. The final two lessons emphasize that while value creation is essential, you must also continuously optimize your processes to deliver that value cost-effectively and sustainably.

Permalink productivityadvicebusinesspersonal finance

livepr.raketforskning.com

lnx.googlewrite.com

www.simulation-argument.com

What's the probability that we're living in the Matrix?

Bostrom presents a trilemma arguing that at least one of three propositions must be true: either most civilizations at our development level go extinct before becoming technologically advanced, or advanced civilizations have no interest in running simulations of minds like ours, or we are almost certainly living in a simulation ourselves. The argument rests on the assumptions that consciousness can be implemented on any sufficiently powerful computational substrate and that advanced civilizations could generate an astronomically vast number of simulated minds—vastly outnumbering biological ones—making it probabilistically likely that any given mind is simulated rather than organic. Even if we accepted premise (3), Bostrom contends we should continue living normally using standard empirical methods, though the simulation hypothesis might subtly influence behavior if we made assumptions about the simulators' intentions or moral frameworks.

Permalink philosophyscienceinternetartificial intelligence