Blog Surfer

Blu-Ray Gets a Boost
Warner Brothers certainly has a lot of weight to throw around the consumer technology - and their latest move landed squarely on increasingly frustrated HD-DVD providers. In a move that signals a tectonic shift in the consumer video industry, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced last week that it will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format, most likely starting later this year. The news came straight from the top — from Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “Warner Bros.’…

Web Directions North: Discount For SitePoint Readers
We’re pleased to announce that SitePoint readers who are thinking of attending the Web Directions North conference in Vancouver, BC in a couple of weeks are eligible for a discount of $50 off the standard ticket price. All you have to do is enter the code WDN-SP when purchasing your ticket, and you’ll receive it at […]

We’re pleased to announce that SitePoint readers who are thinking of attending the Web Directions North conference in Vancouver, BC in a couple of weeks are eligible for a discount of $50 off the standard ticket price.

All you have to do is enter the code WDN-SP when purchasing your ticket, and you’ll receive it at a discounted price of CDN $845.

Featuring a massive line-up including an opening keynote by Jeffrey Zeldman and LifeHacker founding editor Gina Trapani, as well as presentations by SitePoint authors Cameron Adams and Jonathan Snook, Web Directions North really is shaping up to be one of the most impressive conferences ever.

View the schedule for the two days, or register to attend.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

Lexical scope to appear in PHP?
I mentioned briefly, in my last post, that Wez Furlong made a patch back in March, that allows a native syntax for creating anonymous functions. This could replace the heinous create_function. Since then, I brought up Wez’ original patch again on the php-internals lists. This has prompted some hefty debate over the last week. The main […]

I mentioned briefly, in my last post, that Wez Furlong made a patch back in March, that allows a native syntax for creating anonymous functions. This could replace the heinous create_function.

Since then, I brought up Wez’ original patch again on the php-internals lists. This has prompted some hefty debate over the last week. The main argument against approving the patch, seems to be, that one would expect static scoping rules to apply to the anonymous function. After all, this is the case in similar languages, which support anonymous functions. One could only assume, that changing PHP to support this, would be a major undertaking.

One would be wrong, it seems.

Today, Christian Seiler posted a patch to allow lexical scope for anonymous functions. There are a few loose ends, but it appears to work in general. Instead of making all variables follow the static scoping rules, a new keyword (lexical) is introduced. It works similar to global, in that it must be explicitly declared, which variables are lexically scoped. This is how it looks in action:

  function getAdder($x) {    return function ($y) {      lexical $x;      return $x + $y;    };  }  $add2 = getAdder(2);  $add2(8); // return 10  

It’s probably a bit early to tell if this will find its way into the language. It’s still just a proposal and it would take some further work to get it right, but at least it appears to be technically possible. We’ll have to wait and see.

Otherwise, there’s just left to wish you all a merry Christmas.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

The future of friendlybit.com
It’s vacation time and you’re allowed to lean back and just relax. A blog it’s always there though, you post to it on your spare time, and as soon as you have some a little glitch in your schedule you need to consider blogging. It’s a full time job. Current situation I use Friendly Bit as […]

Just how tough is the world’s toughest cellphone
A press release landed on my computer today, claiming that Samsung has launched the world’s toughest cellphone. The Samsung Solid, so the release assures me, has “strengths that make it stand out from other mobiles” which include built in anti-shock and water and dust resistance. The release goes on to claim that “encased in a thick rubber body this phone lives up to its name to withstand the tough treatment, making it ideal for any trades man, extreme sports enthusiasts or those who simply need a durable phone.” Well, maybe. Let’s look at the features. You might expect a truly tough…