The URL (universe resource locator) makes a request:

http://user:password@www.thedomain.org:8080/folder/file.html?var=value#anchor

http – protocol (http, https, ftp, usenet, etc…)
user – user name for server (useful for viewing files via FTP in a browser window)
password – password for server
www – subdomain
thedomain – domain
org – top-level domain
8080 – port (default for http is 80. If there is no port declared and http is the protocol, port 80 is tried, alternative http port is 8080)
folder – folder/directory accessible on the server via http
file.html – text/html type file in folder/directory
var – GET variable named ‘var’. A way to pass variables to the server.
value – value of the GET variable.
anchor – identifier of location in the resource requested.

When the above url is entered, the browser would seperate the domain from the rest of the url and issue a request to a root domain server to see where org is. Then a request to see where thedomain is. Then a request to see where the www is located. After the www is resolved, a request to the server resolved with the following information:
http style of request is made to port 8080 on the server, requesting file.html in folder/directory folder with the var and it’s value under user with the password (password is sent in the clear *passwords and encryption will be discussed soon). The anchor is returned with file.html, the browser then interperates the anchor.

Databases are still an intrical part of any project, be it web or desktop. But more commonly developers are using the main language of choice for sorting out simple database queries. Most databases today are SQL-based and they support SQL the language in some format. It is common practice today to use simple SQL-queries to receive large amounts of data and sort through and present results using the main-language of choice for the project. Sorting through large results of data can become very combersome and resource-wasteful. The alternative is using SQL more to sort-out the data and present more accurate results. SQL is a powerful scripting language which can handle more of the scripting that the main-language of choice. This is more commonly occurring in projects that are web-based, using languages like ASP or PHP. But even higher-up languages like Python, Perl and Ruby can receive the advantage of using more thoughtful SQL-scripted queries. For Ruby, research ‘nested :include clause’. For all others look into the basics using MySQL.

Offering web-API’s is a standard, and offering a wide-variety is becoming the new standard.

API (Application Programming Interfaces) offer a free service too any user (usually subscription-based) via web.
Examples of web-API’s:

1. Google Maps
2. UPS shipping
3. FedEx shipping
4. Flickr
5. Yahoo! Traffic – text service

What are the advantages of these API’s? Your service can now be distrubted widely across the net with little effort on your part. Google Maps was developed so loosely that any site could use this service and customize it enough to make it work design-wise in any site (not flash sites though). Their brand “Google Maps” is now pasted on millions of sites without any effort on their part, besides developing this service. example: click here
Google Maps also quickly became the standard for mapping, replacing MapBlast and Mapquest, because their service was so prolific.
If you are interested in developing an API for a service your company could offer, or would like more information on integrating an API into your site, contact Muller Digital directly.

DNSstuff.com is the best collected set of Domain Name information tools. They’re all free too.

Also they released a latency test tool, that’s free for download, titled LateRoute.

Apparently the most popular OS X bitTorrent clients on Intel-based Macs don’t really work all that well… or not at all. Luckily there’s a truley universal bitTorrent client available, Transmission. Give it a shot!