MySQL int(M) Field Type

I was working on a database recently and needed to check the value range of an int field. For the longest time, I've been under the assumption (shame on me for not looking) when declaring a field such as int(11), that the number 11 specified the bit/byte-size of the field in some way. It turns out, however, that int(11) has the same value range as int(2). The "M" integer value in the field definition is only used for the display length. For my typical web development stuff, this value rarely (read: never) even comes into play. The display length is typically used to left-pad numbers in your database when displaying them (to keep everything aligned properly, for example). So if you're looking to slim down your database size a smidge, or maybe restrict the available values of a number value, making the M value smaller isn't going to do you any good. This is a perfect time to employ the TINYINT, SMALLINT, or MEDIUMINT field types. Now's a good time to consult the manual...

Akismet PEAR Package

Thanks to Michael Gauthier from silverorange, the Akismet class has been converted to PHP5 and significantly tweaked. Michael submitted his changes to PEAR, and it is now an available package in the repository. Please check it out if you're looking for a good PHP5 class with the much less restrictive MIT license!

CSS and Javascript Compression

Introduction

I've been using Javascript more and more ever since I discovered the wonderful jQuery framework. Though jQuery comes in a much smaller file size than Prototype, it's still quite a bit to ask of your dial-up users to download before the rest of your Javascript even loads. I also noticed a CSS file of mine was up to 8kB in size. I decided it was time to figure out a way to compress things down a bit. This is where my CSS and Javascript compression script comes in. Along with a little mod_rewrite magic, all the CSS/JS files on my client's website are automagically compressed and gzipped before sent to the site's visitors. File caching is included to reduce the processing time overhead from compression. A few options are also available for development to make life easier. It's hard to debug CSS when everything has been compacted into a single line, so adding &debug to the end of the path will revert back to the CSS file's original state so that you can browse through it (especially handy if you use the web developer toolbar). Using the compression script, my CSS file went from 8kB to 2kB, and jQuery from 95kB to 15kB!

Usage

Simply configure the constants at the beginning of the PHP file to suite your server appropriately. Now change the paths in your HTML to any CSS or Javascript file you'd like to compress (ie: from "/inc/style.css" to "c.php?f=inc/style.css").

Using mod_rewrite

You can use mod_rewrite to compress everything automatically: <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule ^(.*)\.(js|css)(.*)?$ inc/c.php?f=$1.$2$3
</IfModule> Now going to "/inc/style.css" will automatically compact the CSS file and it will be Gzip compressed before being sent to your browser (provided your browser supports Gzip compression). Using this technique, you shouldn't have to change anything else on your site and everything will be compressed automatically.

Download

Added Mar 11, 2008

• PHP Javascript Packer (modify "require" line in c.php if needed)
  
• c.zip or
• c.tar.gz

The Bane of Interpreted Languages

I can't help but think of all the chair fights I'm missing out on... blasted PHP!