domesticat's blog

Drupalcon notes: 20 APIs Every Drupal Developer Should Know

Presented by the technical lead from Trellon.

APIs let your code interface with other codes - core or contrib.
if you write code, other developers will want to interfact with yours. If you think in terms of Apis, your code quality improves.

Which APIs should you know?

Drupalcon notes: How Drupal Works: An Architect's Overview by Jeff Eaton

  • Content & User Centric
  • For those who are evaluating: Use it for what it's good for, don't try to shoehorn it into things it shouldn't do
  • Modular: without the modules, it's just a set of APIs that listen for HTTP requests
  • Event-driven: hooks instead of listeners
  • Skinnable / themable - everything passes through the theme layer
  • Organic: a bonus for a vibrant community but sometimes leads to code repetition -- there are some examples of this in the theme layer
  • APIs - things that live inside the magical '/includes' folder. They're very separate from the modules that are visible to end users. You wouldn't turn off the 'user' or 'node' modules.
  • API layer:
    • Menu API: routing (path 'x/y/z' requested, what module should build it?) menus, navigation, breadcrumb trails

Drupalcon notes: Getting Started with Drupal(con)

  • Overall introduction. What drupal is, who's using it. Extensibility, roles
  • Drupal as a community
  • Drupal jargon: nodes, CCK = 'fields' in D7, Views, themes, menus, taxonomy, menus, permissions, roles, hooks, cron, druplipet
  • How does drupal work?  Description of the stack, starting with OS -> web server -> PHP/database -> Drupal -> core subsystem -> cor modules -> contrib modules -> theme system -> HTML -> CSS/Javascript
  • Discussion of CCK and taxonomy

Penrose quilting?

Like I needed a new obsession.

On Friday afternoon, Jacob introduced me to Penrose tilings, which were entirely new to me. I was completely fascinated, running off in a multitude of directions to learn about things like 'aperiodic tilings' and tile patterns in Islamic architecture, and by Saturday I was hooked.

Accidental (Quilt Top) Tourist

My quote from yesterday: "I think I accidentally made a quilt top today." The short story: I did something to my right leg on Saturday - seems like a minor quadriceps strain - and since Jeff was out of state all weekend, I opted to stay home and stay off my leg to let it rest.

Idle minds...

...find the equilter scrap bag and say, OOOOH I WONDER WHAT TROUBLE I COULD GET INTO -- LOOK! COLORS!

Pages