What did I just edit?

I checked out some code files from Razor (don't ask, we use an old CM system), created a couple of new ones, now I want to quickly double-check which of the thousands of files in our source tree are the ones I checked out or created (don't ask, we use an old CM system), so I can check the changes back in and introduce the new files (if I forget, guess who gets the wooden spoon for breaking the build):



So fire up a DOS prompt and type in:


C:\path to my code\>dir *.cpp *.h *.vcproj
/b /s /a:-r > \usafipd\updated_files.txt



This says "list all of the code files and Visual Studio project files from here on down that are writeable (i.e. not locked by Razor), then dump the results to a file in case there are hundreds of filenames to review.


This gives me a file, updated_files.txt, containing a nice list of all the .cpp, .h and .vcproj (Visual Studio project) files I checked out (i.e. made writeable).

Invisible, indeed!

The book The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See, cited in John Battelle's book The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, describes the problem posed by the unsearchable areas of the Web, such as subscription-only databases. Intrigued, I scooted over to the Invisible Web's companion website, only to find the web is actually just a little bit more invisible than I thought:

Vote for mod_rails!

Hey, Dreamhost - when are we going to get mod_rails on our shared server accounts? Fellow Dreamhosters, if you've been waiting for an easier way to deploy and run small Rails apps, then vote for the mod_rails suggestion!

Pylons stuff

John Brennan brings us a short Pylons intro Zero to 60 with Pylons… in just minutes (Part 1). Can hardly wait for Part 2!

Also noticed The Definitive Guide to Pylons from Pylons lead developer James Gardner is slated to arrive in July 2008.

Another evaluation of Google AppEngine

Todd Hoff explains how distributed web apps can leverage the much-maligned CGI interface in Google AppEngine - A First Look

Web app hosting as a service?

Kevin Yank opins on the effect services like Google's App Engine may have on web hosting choices. By abstracting away the details of configuring and deploying web apps for a particular host system, services like App Engine and Heroku may give developers more time to concentrate on providing business value (creating applications instead of fighting with servers). The greatest benefit may accrue to independent developers, students and hobby developers, who haven't the time, money or server-fu to set up and administer their own dedicated server, virtual or otherwise.

osalt.com

Came across a useful link: www.osalt.com Open Source Alternative - Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software. Thanks to Jimmy, who made note of osalt.com in his comment to Jeff Atwood's post on the value of open source vs. commercial software on Jeff's always thoughtful blog, Coding Horror.