blogwaffe

Dear web developers,

Please understand the difference between the encoding called for in application/x-www-form-urlencoded encoded data [1] and the encoding called for in URIs (and how that encoding applies to URIs in the http/https scheme).

In particular, note the difference in how spaces are treated. The former encodes them as +, the later as %20.

Understand also how your web server processes different pieces of URLs. Pay particular attention to your web server’s treatment of plus signs. PHP, for example, interprets “$_GET” data (the data drawn from the query component of the URI) as though it were application/x-www-form-urlencoded and converts those plus signs to spaces [2].

Now that you know that the different encoding methods encode spaces differently and that the different decoding methods decode pluses differently, make sure you’re being consistent.

Because when I type into your website my email address with its plus sign in it, I expect things to work.

Love,
mdawaffe

[1] More details in HTML5’s definition of the application/x-www-form-urlencoded encoding algorithm. ↑

[2] See the difference between urlencode()/urldecode() and rawurlencode()/rawurldecode(). parse_str() uses urldecode().

Decoding the query component of the URI according to application/x-www-form-urlencoded is the logical thing to do, since the web server can’t tell the difference between a GET request generated by a form and one that isn’t (since user agents are not supposed to set a “Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded” header when submitting a form over http/https via the GET method), but I can’t tell if converting pluses in the query part of the URI into spaces is required; I can’t find anything in the definition of the http URI scheme that says that plus signs are “delimiters” in the query component of the URI. So I believe it to be an implementation-specific choice and therefore up for grabs depending on how you power your web server (PHP, ruby, .NET, etc.). ↑

Day 4: The Gorget Décapitée

2009-12-07T15:11$ for i in `svn pl -R * | grep "hair:scalp"`; do sed -i '' 9,\$d $i; done
2009-12-07T15:11$ svn ci -m "Day 4: The Gorget Décapitée"
Sending        Scalp
Transmitting file data .......
Committed revision 5.
2009-12-07T15:12$ ls -h

Day 3: The Gorget

2009-11-30T17:05$ for i in `svn pl -R * | grep "hair:facial"`; do svn del $i; done
D         Goatee
D         Sideburns Rampant
2009-11-30T17:05$ svn ci -m "Day 3: The Gorget"
Deleting       Goatee
Deleting       Sideburns Rampant
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 4.
2009-11-30T17:06$ ls -h

Day 2: The Trident

2009-11-29T15:32$ svn del Chinstrap
D         Chinstrap
2009-11-29T15:32$ svn ci -m "Day 2: The Trident"
Deleting       Chinstrap
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 3.
2009-11-29T15:32$ ls -h

Day 0: The Hirsute

2009-11-26T13:16$ cd /head/hair
2009-11-26T13:16$ du -ch . | grep total
 11.34g	total
2009-11-26T13:16$ svnadmin create /Repositories/hairectomy
2009-11-26T13:17$ svn import . file:///Repositories/hairectomy -m "init: the hirsute"
Adding         mustache
Adding         beard
Adding         hair

Committed revision 1.
2009-11-26T13:17$ ls -h

Day 1: The Chu Manfu

2009-11-27T13:02$ svn del 'Fu Manchu'
D         Fu Manchu
2009-11-27T13:02$ du -ch . | grep total
 10.49g	total
2009-11-27T13:03$ svn ci -m "Day 1: The Chu Manfu"
Deleting       Fu Manchu
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 2.
2009-11-27T13:03$ ls -h

Michelle was off geocaching while I was working on a simple geo visualization project for work and looking up information on the 2009 Station Fire near La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena.

Those three actions in confluence got me thinking about how many geocaches have been affected by the fire.

Map of geocaches likely affected by the 2009 Station Fire. (Click for larger, more up-to-date, interactive map.)

The Los Angeles Times is providing a frequently updated Google map of local fire information which includes approximate fire perimeter (more precise geometry can be found at GeoMAC or InciWeb). With that data, it was fairly straightforward to search for all the geocaches affected. As of today at 2:30pm local time, 228 non-premium geocaches are within the station fire approximate burn area.

Notes for geocachers: The map does not show premium caches, and puzzle caches are assumed to be at their posted coordinates. Archived caches are not shown (though could, in theory, still be in the burn area), but disabled caches are.

While the map is interesting, the loss of a few hundred geocaches is insignificant compared to the destruction of homes. More significant still are the lives that have been lost and those that are still at risk. The fire fighting crews are literally battling the elements to keep us all safe.

I’m not sure what a community that has lost so little in comparison can do, but perhaps a station fire regrowth and memorial geocache offered in thanks and remembrance would be appropriate?

Update [2009-09-01]: The LA Times has updated its fire area geometry. As of 7:53pm local time there are about 180 non-premium geocaches in the burn area.

Update [2009-09-02]: I’m now using the same GeoMAC data InciWeb is using for the burn area geometry.

I thought this was a joke at first. I have not tried it.

Green Plant Drink

Hm… food beverage….

Every year around this time I think about how much the internet sucks.

I access all my financial stuff from each of various institutions online. I access my salary stuff online. I do my taxes online, and I eFile.

So when I do my taxes, why do I have to fill in a hundred little forms all by hand every year? Why can’t I just go to the IRS and say: here are the financial institutions I patronize, and here are my places of work, I will now click this button and you will generate my tax forms for me right here and now?

It’s all online, why can’t someone aggregate it?

PS: My taxes are simple, other people’s are more complicated. I get that.
PPS: Dear implementer of above idea, do it right. Do not give the IRS (or H&R Block or whomever) my account numbers. Love, Mike.