Tools like highlight.js are fantastic, until you need to add your own language as I did when I developed ZPE/YASS. highlight.js is also quite heavy and also, it's not developed by me!
All of these reasons are why I chose to write my own syntax highlighter and I immediately thought to myself, it cannot be that hard since I've written a language parser myself. How right I was!
Introducing Zippidydoda (it will probably get a new name soon). Zippidydoda gets its name from the fact it was designed to work originally with ZPE (pronounced Zippy, the nickname for my brother's hamster Henry) which was also a nickname for Henry. It's fast, it's customisable from JSON, it works in tandem with PHP which makes it ideal for me and it also allows for such easy customisation.
You can see Zippidydoda in action on my ZPE Online which you can find here.
Based on the performance of the Zippidydoda parser, I will drawing inspiration for the Zenith Parsing Engine v1.5 as well as my DASH Boost parser since it is so unbelievably fast as well as lightweight and very manageable.
I have recently made a big decision that DASH v2 will now be hosted on GitHub. For the first time ever, I will be making DASH's source code available on GitHub. This will allow me to invite others to assist in the development of DASH v2. It is currently private with plans to make it available to the public by February.
Further to DASH v2 being hosted here, I am also going to be removing the ZPE UI feature from the main runtime and making a separate object which will be more manageable and easier to update, which will also be open source and available from GitHub.
A couple of days back from now, I received an email from the contact form on my website. This email enquired about when DASH 2.0 would be released. At that point, I had no way of directly answering this person since I was in the middle of fixing a bug that has been bugging me since I switched my own install of DASH to using a symbolic link (DASH 2.0 works with symblinks no problem now). The issue was resolved by moving image uploads from the tmp folder to the assets folder of the install (I will post more later). Since this bug is fixed, DASH 2.0 is once again ready for release. However, I have yet to decide just how to release it.
I want your thoughts on this. Should I release it on GitHub or similar, or should I release it through my website? Use the get in touch or comments below to let me know what you think.
The following is a short video on why desktop Linux distrubtions suck. It's very true as well.
I found this in 2017 whilst clearing out my old 1TB hard drive in my computer in a folder named Blog Posts - 2009 and thought I'd post it on the date it was written. I'm actually amazed at my writing skills back then, too!
I'm almost at the end of my time at Ross High School; I thought I'd reflect on my last few years here. I've had a great time here and want to point out some great teachers who have inspired and helped me on my journey.
I want to start with my Computing Studies teacher, Mr Tennent. Mr Tennent has been an inspiration to me throughout my time as a pupil here. He allowed me to take on in-class support with his S1 class last period on a Friday, which allowed me to be a teacher, which, as you may know, I've always wanted to do. Mr Tennent was there for me when I was locked out of my school account during my Advanced Higher Computing project, and I could have failed had it not been for him. He's one of those teachers who is easy to get on with, can chat with me about geeky things and is also good at what he does. He's a real people person. I want to stay in touch with him.
Mr Laird cannot be forgotten. He was inspirational beyond any other teacher and will always remain my joint favourite teacher with Mr Tennent. He was brilliant, and he and I were both in tears when he left. He taught History to S1s and Modern Studies from S2 onwards. I'd have probably picked Modern Studies if he was still here. I'll never forget him.
Then there's Mr Stanfield, who has been truly brilliant for me this year. The man is an absolute legend. I'd be failing Physics as my teacher, Mr Laud, isn't a very good teacher and doesn't seem to teach us anything in Higher Physics! In fact, I failed the first NAB, but Mr Stanfield helped me revise, and I passed it on my second attempt. Mr Stanfield has been my Physics teacher since after the fantastic Mr Morrison left us in Standard Grade Physics. He helped me get an intense 1 for Physics back then. He's giving me extra tuition on period six on a Thursday, which is excellent. I cannot thank him enough for the help he has given me this year.
Then there's Mrs Barbour, who has always been lovely and caring too. Before becoming my teacher, she ran the History Club, which I enjoyed attending in my first year. As my History teacher in S3 and S4 and then the second part of S5, and now all of S6, I've known Mrs Barbour for a long time, and she's always supported me. She was also a fantastic History teacher and has been the best of the four English teachers I have had this year (well, Ms Edmonds is utterly useless and very unfair, too - don't get me started on that)
And then there's my favourite English teacher, Miss Gould. Miss Gould has been my English teacher from S3 to the end of S5 and has always been one of the nicest teachers. We always laughed, and I'll never forget how she said hostel instead of hospital last year. I also will always remember the day when I kept telling her she needed to type faster, and she turned to me and said, "Jamie, will you just do the typing?" and I was commissioned to do the typing of the stuff that was going on to the board. Everyone in the class, including Miss Gould, mouths were wide open at my typing speed. Haha
My Business Management teacher for S4 and S5, Mr Potter, is also fantastic. He's such a cool guy and one of those teachers I feel I'll stay in contact with after I leave school. I also really hope he comes to my leaver's party as he'd be great fun to have then! JP, as I have always referred to him is one of my favourite teachers of all time.
There's also Mr Punton, my Maths teacher in S2 and for Int 2 Maths last year. He helped me get an A for a course I did one year prior and didn't manage to get anything from. Int 2 Maths was so easy this year because of him (and I actually got a very strong A, like 98%). He was also a very cool guy. He was a fantastic teacher and taught things in such a good way.
My final mention is Mrs Collins. She was my ICT teacher only in S1 and S2, but she was a great teacher. She also was very supportive of my brother when he was in S3 and helped him in Computing Studies. I always really liked Mrs Collins.
A few more teachers who I also should mention who were an inspiration to me:
- Mr Murdoch
- Mr Gill
- Miss Hird
- Miss Williamson
- Mrs McNaughton
- Mr Carrol
- Mr Falconer
- Mr McCallum
- Mrs Wheeler
- Mrs McKinnley
- Miss Woodhead
- Mr Morrison
