I’ve been reading up a bit on Python lately, which is a pretty popular high-level programming language used for a variety of applications - including web and desktop apps.  It’s used extensively in a lot of Linux applications, and Google utilizes Python in a lot of their work.  The performance of the language seems to be a key selling point, as does its refreshingly simple syntax.  Naturally, I’m curious about using the Django framework in my own work.

This doesn’t mean I’m leaving PHP in the dust - I still use it extensively at work, with no plans of stopping anytime soon - but I just have a feeling this is a language I would like to work in. Python’s syntax is similar to Ruby’s (at least at first glance), and from what I’ve read it outperforms Rails by quite a bit.

The project that I’m going to cut my Django teeth on is my wife and I’s blog: www.rustyandben.com. I talked briefly about overhauling the site a few months ago, but some other higher priority projects came up. I’m getting to the point now, however, where I can start working on it again. I’ll be re-designing and developing from scratch (obviously maintaining all data), so it makes the perfect opportunity to try out Django. I’ll be upgrading my Media Temple hosting to a virtual dedicated server so that I can have root-level access in order to install whatever software I want. This, in turn, will allow me to try out a couple other technologies I’ve been wanting to check out: SQLite (a lightweight flat-file database system) and Lighttpd (a lightweight and fast HTTP server). More on those as I assess their feasibility.

I’ll be posting about all this again soon, as I’m planning on writing a series of posts about the creation of the site.

The Firefox 3 betas have been available for quite some time now, but they’re just now getting where I can use them.  The issue is that I simply can’t live without my Google bookmarks.  Having my bookmarks stored on someone else’s server is huge, and none of the extensions were compatible with the Betas.  I’m also really anal about how the bookmarks interface works - I need the little star dropdown where I can quickly navigate the menu to get to what I need.  Yes, there is a bookmarks sidebar, but I hate having any sidebars open in my browser.  The solution: Deng’s Google Bookmarks. It’s compatible with the FF3 betas, and it’s awesome.

Some other things that were of concern to me were my various web development extensions - Firebug, Web Dev. toolbar, FireFTP, Dummy Lipsum, etc.  This problem was solved by installing Oxymoronical’s Nightly Tester Tools. The extension allows you to disable compatibility checking. Then you can enable your extensions one by one and make sure they don’t break anything. Luckily, all of my must-have-extensions work perfectly with compatibility checking turned off. Yay!

Finally, I recommend using the Firefox Nightly Builds, as opposed to the betas, so you can get the latest updates (and maybe a bug or two). Not a big deal though, and it’ll update itself to stay current.

There you go, fully functioning bleeding-edge install of Firefox 3, with (hopefully) most of your extensions working! By the way, it installs itself as “Minefield”, rather than Firefox, because, well, you’re taking a chance by installing the nightly builds ;).

Enjoy.