mapleman's Code & Stuff

Lately I been messing with Medved QuoteTracker's API.
It is an XML through TCP protocol. Medved only allows you to interact with its API from localhost.
Unfortunately the PC that hosts the executable is not, well, mine. So I decided to rewrite my
Java Proxy and make it extremely easy for anyone (the ones that use that particular PC) to run
it without a hitch.

Get your free Microsoft SQL Server while its hot!. Another
alternative for small websites.

SQL Server Express is an ideal choice for independent software vendors (ISVs),
server users, non-professional developers, Web application developers,
Web site hosters, and hobbyists building client applications."

file: Microsoft SQL Server Express 2005

The Buzzword of the year. It seems to be on everyone's mouth.
Specially since GMail and
other Google services started using it. So I jumped on the bandwagon,
and wrote my menus using this technique.
Totally unnecesary? Definitely. Entertaining? You bet. It turns the
dullness of writing webpages into something interesting.

Well this project involves a lot of things that definitely are
entertaining. It started as a Audio Playing DLL. Vague? You bet.
Anyway, this DLL is nothing more than an MP3 player or was. I started
writing and got more excited everytime and eventually I decided to make
it compatible with XPCOM, and use it to play audio through mozilla.
I actually wrote that piece of code and its stashed somewhere!

Closures are one of the most fascinating constructs ever IMHO.
Not many people know about their existence, let alone in Javascript.
However the knowledge of them can seriously leverage your designs.

So what is a closure? A function that keeps an environment.
The best way to explain a closure is with an example, so
thats what I will show you.

I recently bought a few books. One of them is Essential COM by Don Box.
I can only be in awe, what a fantastic book. COM is the component object
model and is a way to enhance Object Oriented programming through the use of