Review roundup: the search for the perfect Python IDE (for Django)
When I first started working with Python in September 2009, I needed a good IDE. I quickly settled for Netbeans and I’ve been using it ever since, even though there are some things that really irritate me. But at least it works, and fits well in my...
My wishes for iOS 5
In June 2010 Apple finally added multitasking to the iPhone (the iPad had to wait ’til November to get iOS version 4) and with this resolved one of my biggest complaints about the operating system. And while I really enjoy iOS on the iPhone and the...
Django-CMS backend usability
Yesterday I wrote an article comparing Django-CMS, FeinCMS and Mezzanine. One of the conclusions was that while Django-CMS is the best CMS on paper, I don’t like its backend interface that much. I thought it would be a good idea to properly explain...
Django-CMS vs. FeinCMS vs. Mezzanine
When you need a content management system for Django, there is enough choice. Maybe even too much: the very helpful site djangopackages.com lists 13. Some are mature and very feature-complete, while others are barely more than a basic model and a...
Looking for a Django CMS which suits my needs
I need to build a content-based website for a client, in Django. Well, that’s easy right? Pick one of the content management systems available, build some templates and css, and ta-da, done. Since I have used Django-CMS in previous projects, that...
My thoughts after having completed my first Appcelerator project
A while ago I set out to build my third mobile application. Only this time the client wanted not only an iPhone app, but one for Android too. So that’s why I turned to Appcelerator once again, after my failed first attempt. In case you don’t know...
Serving 5000 pages per second with Django
Okay, this website wasn’t slow and will never need to serve 5000 pages per second, but hey, it’s possible now! Oh right, and it was fun to play around with a nice caching system. Almost everything on mixedCase.nl needs to come from the database: the...
Once again I turn to Appcelerator
After I decided to create iPhone apps using just the iPhone SDK and the Objective-C language, I’ve created two iPhone apps that are available in the Dutch App Store. Development for app number three has started today, but no longer will I be using...
Book review: Head First iPhone Development
In a previous blogentry I wrote about some great online resources I found to get started with iPhone development. I read the C and Objective-C introductions, watched the first 12 or so episodes of the Stanford courses and did the assignments that went along with it. Well, at least I tried to do all the assignments, but they were not easy with just the information from the taped lectures. There is a ton of information in them, but are kind of boring to watch, and you don't learn that well from slides.
Getting started with iPhone app development
For a pretty long time I wanted to make an iPhone app, ever since the App Store opened really. But, I’ve never programmed for Mac OS, never done any C or C++ (let alone Objective-C). In fact, I’ve never created a desktop application, only working on...
Django 1.2, a great release
I’ve been playing with the Beta release of Django 1.2 (get it here) and I love many of the new improvements. I’d like to list the best and biggest new features, and also some problems I encountered while using it. Smarter if tag I was already using...
My quest for a mockup tool
A while ago I wrote that Goldmund, Wyldebeast & Wunderliebe is going start a new usability department. At the moment I am busy writing marketing texts and thinking about a new website for ourself. Last week I also looked for a nice tool for...
Using Jinja2 templates in Django
In my previous post Things I “hate” about Python and Django, I said that one of the things I “hate” about Django is its template language. While very easy to use and pretty extensible, it’s missing some important (and basic, to be honest) features...
Things I “hate” about Python and Django
I have been a PHP programmer for the last 9 years, and only in September of 2009 I switched to Python and the Django framework. While I really love the Python language and the Django framework (especially compared to something like the Zend PHP...
Using the Google Visualization API in Django
In a project I am working on, I need to show a lot of graphs and charts. Together with the client we chose to use the Visualization API by Google, which provides a Python library, offers many different kinds of charts and very important: the data is...
How to dynamically add fields to a Django model
For a project I needed to create a Django model from a list of fields that were defined somewhere else. It took me hours to get this to work, so to save you the time, here is the solution: fields = ['field_a', 'field_b', 'field_c'] # the base model...
Switching from MobileMe & my short adventure with Google App Engine
I can’t remember how long ago it’s been that I’ve used a free email address like hotmail, yahoo or gmail. For more than 8 years I’ve used my own domain names to host my email. In the very beginning on my own little server at home, later on a “real”...