Installed a new blog today! .. based on Movable Type 5.0, which was released yesterday (January 5, 2010). All new entries henceforth will be published there. This will therefore be the FINAL ENTRY for this blog (which contains nearly 200 entries).
See here » Ye Olde Rad Blog 4.
First entry from the new blog posted here » First Post with Movable Type 5.0
[ Older blogs » Ye Olde Rad Blog II .. and Ye Olde Rad Blog v1.0 ]
Test update to MySQL 5.1.51
Test Feb 14, 2017
One of the concepts that keeps popping up in my study of Programming languages is » expressiveness. Loosely defined, expressiveness is » the ability to say a lot with a little (my own definition).
Where Programming languages are concerned, expressiveness might be the ability to DO a lot with a little.
Related terms » Meaningful. Concise. Simplicity (as it applies to the elimination of unnecessary complexity). Elegance. Efficiency.
No doubt, you know an 'expressive' person or two. But sheer volume of words does not an expressive person make.
Some people can talk for hours without really saying anything (.. at least not anything meaningful). While others can speak volumes with a simple glance.
In programming, the notion of expressiveness is often touted as a plus, associated with "higher level" languages. I could be wrong, but the idea I get is » the more expressive (a language is) the better. Notice the statement that begins the second paragraph here:
"My contention is that expressive power is the absolutely most important property to focus on right now."
This from a developer with an admitted "unhealthy interest in programming languages," who's currently developing his own. Since the learning process often involves relating new information to things we already know, that's what I've been doing.
As chance would have it, I was watching Hamlet last night (the Kenneth Branagh version). Didn't take long to realize much of what was being said wasn't getting thru. ( "Say what?" )
So I enabled English subtitles and started vigorously working the pause button .. in order to read & digest the Elizabethan chatter. Much better.
Note how the phrase » 'To be or not to be' is exceedingly simple. Yet it carries much meaning beneath the surface (.. especially that 'not-to-be' part).
The ability to "say much with few words" is a primary reason cited when discussing Shakespeare's literary prowess. In other words, it's not just what he says, but the way in which he says it .. that makes his writing so .. descriptive, enchanting.
Last month I mentioned a quest to learn the Unix shell .. specifically » bash (the Bourne Again SHell). Almost done. Currently ~80% complete .. enough to feel reasonably confident at a terminal.
The 'shell' is simply a program that lets you interact with the operating system (actually the kernel, to be more precise) ..
.. by taking your (text-based) commands and passing them on to the kernel. In my case, this kernel happens to be » Linux (which is but one variant of Unix).
The term 'shell' comes from the notion that this software acts like a 'layer' that sits between you and the operating system .. similar to the way an egg-shell sits between you and your hard-boiled breakfast.
The shell can be intimidating, cuz it uses a (text-based) command-line interface (CLI). No intuitive GUI to help you along. You either know the commands or you don't.
Didn't take me long to realize the CLI was where Linux's true power resides. When we upgraded the site, for example, to a Virtual Private Server, the support-techs who helped me with the move all used the command-line to work their mojo.
Most Linux distros do indeed come with an excellent GUI (usually either KDE or Gnome). But (but!) the Rad VPS does not. Which is why it became necessary to learn the Unix shell. (Something I tried to avoid.)
The Rad VPS is based on CentOS (Community ENTerprise Operating System), an off-shoot of Red Hat, which is probably the most popular of all enterprise Linux distros (.. and now a new member of the S&P 500, a development you may find telling).
GUIs (such as KDE or Gnome) require lots of memory/RAM. My laptop, for example, has 2-gigs, but the Rad VPS comes with an allotment of only 512-MB (.. upgraded from 384 just today).
With that limited amount, I need to run not only all the standard web applications .. such as Apache (web server), MySQL (database), Perl (scripting language), etc. but also cPanel/WHM.
So there's not much RAM left to run a GUI. [ Don't think I didn't inquire about installing a GUI. =) ]
Bottom line » if you wanna administer your own VPS, you need to learn the Shell. So that's what I'm doing. (Of course, there have been distractions, making progress uneven.)
Been learning the UNIX Shell, which uses a command-line interface (from a terminal) .. something I've wanted to do ever since we upgraded to the Virtual Private Server last year. (Linux is a variant of UNIX.)
Even basic knowledge of (how to use) the Linux command line makes life administering a VPS much easier.
The Shell is simply a program that allows users (like me) to interact with the operating system (sometimes termed the 'kernel'). It can be conceived of as a 'layer' sitting between you and the operating system .. hence the term » shell.
Several shells exist, but nearly all Linux distributions come with » bash (Bourne Again Shell) .. cuz it's free, powerful and easy to use.
On my laptop I have installed a copy of Ubuntu Linux that I use to learn the shell (practice). Before jumping into learning the Shell, I figured this was a good time to upgrade my 'installation' of Ubuntu .. to the latest release (» v9.04, 'Jaunty Jackalope').
So I downloaded » this virtual machine (1.1 gig, using uTorrent). Had trouble getting it connected to the Internet, but that was due to my own inexperience with VMware, and not due to any short-comings of Ubuntu.
Anyway, I am really digging learning the Shell, cuz it's something I can use right away. For example, yesterday I upgraded the blogging software we use here at Radified (Movable Type) to the latest version (» 4.26). Something that used to take hours to accomplish was done in minutes .. (using a series of Shell commands). Beautiful.
Upgraded my copy of Movable Type blogging software today (I use » Movable Type Open Source) .. to » v4.12, released last month.
Despite using Movable Type since 2003 (beginning with v2.63), this is the first time I've upgraded.
Previous "upgrades" were actually new installations, such as MT v3.35 (in April 2007) and v4.1 (last January), while leaving the old installations of Ye Olde Rad Blog untouched.
Upgrades make me nervous, cuz there's always a chance something might go wrong, and cause me to LOSE all the entries. (MTOS currently hosts ~50 entries.)
Now, with the new VPS, upgrades are easier, cuz I can use the Linux command line, which lets me overwrite old files with a single command. Very powerful .. but dangerous .. if I make a mistake (such as a simple type-o).
I transferred 2 months worth of daily entries (Dec 2007 + Jan 2008) to individual blog entries, using (older) Movable Type v3.35, since that was the version I was using when those entries were made.
It's much easier to reference (via linkage) a particular event .. such as the upgrade to YaBB v2.2 (which did not go well) .. or the Bug's 3rd birthday (which did) .. when I have a daily entry to link to (instead of monthly).
Back in December & January is when I was researching VPS servers, and didn't have time to convert the daily entries to blog entries...
.. after Lunarpages (you might recall) booted us off the server (end of November), and I was worried they were gonna turn off the lights and pull our plug.
But now we're all caught up. (Took me all day, tho. Tedious maximus.) Only the last 2 days don't have blog entries.
Blog entries are also better for search engines, since each page can indexed individually (with its own title).
Was hoping to delve into the new Movable Type blogging software I installed last week (MTOS), and begin configuring it, ..
.. but I've been preoccupied with trying to rein in our ("excessive") use of server resources, since we were exiled to the "stabilization server," where all bad-boys are sent (banished).
Our resource usage however, seems higher than ever. The most-recent number quoted (today) was 8.46% CPU. (Limit = 1.0%.) So I've been researching more in-depth exactly what's involved in moving to a VPS server.
VPS is half-way between "Shared" hosting (which we have now), and "Dedicated" hosting (where you have the whole server to yourself). VPS is sorta like the "condo" version of web hosting plans.
(Shared is like living in a tenement, all crowded together, while dedicated is like having your own house.)
Lunarpages VPS servers are limited to 25 accounts, so each account is allocated 4% of the CPU. They come with dual-Xeons, a dedicated IP, and let you do with them as you please.
In other words, they offer the benefits of a dedicated server at a fraction of the co$t ($45/month .. $40 if you pay for a whole year up front). So that's where we are .. looking at a move to VPS. (Thanks to Magoo for offering to administrate.)
First post with Movable Type Open Source (MTOS v4.1). Had lots of problems trying to install this puppy. Finally solved my problems by uploading the entire *.zip file (which I downloaded from the Movable Type site), and unzipping the file ON THE SERVER (via cPanel "Files" module) .. instead of uploading each file individually.
The new blog still needs lots of tweaking, but at least I'm over the biggest hurdle .. uh, if this post works, that is.
UPDATE - Hey! It worked! Woohoo!
This is the default style that comes with MTOS, called "Minimalist Red". More designs can be found at the Design Assistant. Info about designing MTOS can be found HERE.
Installed Movable Type Open Source (blogging software) last night. Woohoo!
I've installed previous versions of Movable Type a few other times, such as v2.63 (back in 2003), and v3.35 (last April) .. all with no problem. But this version gave me fits .. due more however, to server weirdness than the software itself.
Learned much in the process. Finally resolved my problems by uploading (to my server) the *entire* archived ZIP file (which I downloaded from the Movable Type site), and UNzipped the file ON THE SERVER (via cPanel).
This method is way faster than unzipping the archive on my laptop and uploading the (2,000+) files sequentially. Was a beautiful sight to finally see the MT installer appear in my browser window. (Hallelujah!)
I was up 'til 1:30 AM the other night/morning trying to figure out what the heck was goin' on. Still have lots of configuring to do, but over the biggest hurdles (installing MTOS + posting first blog entry).
So I've installed & used MT 2.63, MT 3.35, and now » MTOS 4.1 .. the first open source release. Looking forward to lifting the hood on this puppy and familiarizing myself with the full range of its power. Almost forget .. HERE's the new blog » Ye Olde Rad Blog III (based on MTOS 4.1).
For more along these lines, here's a Google search preconfigured for the query » install movable type open source mtos
