Bigger Than I Thought

After programming some really neat new features, I built the structure for the Marine Biology section. To my surprise, it ended up being larger by page count than the Artificial Reefs section, which I always thought was second after Dive Sites. So far, the total is 925 pages, including these blog posts.

After setting the Biology section, I found that the natural sidebar menu cutoff level for that section is one deeper than Dive Sites and Artificial Reefs. After applying my massive intellect ( ha ha ) to the problem for a while, I came up with a neat solution. It works on a per-page basis, can be used alongside the global setting, and took all of ten lines of new code. That's how I like to program !!!

I've seen a lot of foreign programmers who think that the best solution to any problem is to drown it in as much code as possible. That is so wrong, although it is an excellent way to fleece the client. Ten lines, that's all it took. And another ten minutes to make the necessary database entries. Then I set the global cutoff one deeper, and everything works great!


steam-powered winch
A steam-powered winch on a schooner barge. Note the various drums for drawing up anchor chain, towing hawsers, etc, and the anchor chains themselves going down through the deck into the chain locker below.

Prior to steam power, the only force available on a sailing ship to perform all the necessary work was the men on board. For some tasks, such as raising the anchor, it might be necessary to yoke the entire crew to a multi-deck manual capstan. On the largest vessels, even with every available man, this might take several hours to complete. With the advent of steam power, a "donkey engine" and a single engineer could do the work of many men, in less time, and these were soon installed in almost all vessels.

Printed from njscuba.net