the Design Experience Weblog Archive

If your AOLserver process is crashing frequently with no indications in the error log, there is a good chance you need to increase the Stacksize parameter in the AOLserver configuration file. I had 512k stack and it was crashing on a scheduled procedure, so I increased it to 1mb and it seems to be working now.

Alan Levine posts about a student panel on online learning and has a great quote that explains why online learning can work, if it is done right.

Online courses [produce better learning environments]. You have to teach yourself to learn what you need to know. You pay more attention and are more focused.

Learning how to learn what you need to know is really the best way for people to learn for life and get the most out of their investment in education.

Philip Greenspun talks about using SQL to check how long a text column you'd need to store the average discussion forum posting. That's neat, but his most interesting comment is that it could be a problem if your database doesn't handle large text objects. He is most likely referring to Oracle's worst-in-class handling of large text over 4k in CLOBs. CLOBs in Oracle require all kinds of special handling. That is why I recommend PostgreSQL for all but the most demanding applications. I haven't yet found a web application that overreached PostgreSQL's capabilities. The shining light in PostgreSQL is the "text" datatype. It has brains. Using a varchar of the appropriate size if that is appropriate and storing a compressed text object for larger text, all transparently. It "just works."

I have never seen this idea before, but I am sure someone said it:

Test driven programming/development/design means learning from your mistakes.

I think this is a great way to explain why testing is important in programming. It makes learning from your mistakes easier. I have always advocated what I called the "trial-by-fire" method of learning. In the context of OpenACS that means, start programming now, you'll learn what you need to know along the way.

This quote from Robert Paterson says it all

The idea that knowledge is an object is an industrial artifact. Knowledge is more than facts; it is about understanding and participation

. Go read the rest. Its good stuff.

Learning is about building understanding. You only can do that through interaction with the world.