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Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
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11:13 am - Question for everyone
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What is one thing that you complain about but don't want fixed?
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, September 14th, 2009
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8:04 pm - JavaFx 1.2.1 released! Yay performance!
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| Monday, September 7th, 2009
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11:40 am - Turns out this blog is becoming a programming blog...
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I'm noticing that I'm using this more as a development blog than a personal one. This seems like it's likely to continue. For those looking for personal updates, you may or may not find them here.
So, I believe strongly in the principal of Optimize Second. I'm much more interested in writing code that is readable than I am in writing code that is fast. Why?
-The bottleneck is not where we would expect.
-Most unoptimized code that a programmer writes is still pretty fast.
-Unoptimized code is way more maintainable than optimized code.
-The things you should care about (good program structure) make optimization easy.
The problem is that I've been criticized more than once for introducing performance problems into our software. The thing is, these problems are always associated with solving a real problem with the software. On top of that the first time this happened, we learned a lot about the infrastructure we're writing and made significant improvements to it. The second time, the fix was easy, but obfuscated the code.
I'm at a bit of a loss, because this criticism is very frustrating and feels unjust. Performance Testing is very time consuming so doing it before every checkin would be prohibitive. Furthermore, we have automated performance testing that catches many problems the same day. I feel like that is plenty of reason to continue the current course.
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| Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
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8:35 pm - Also, I'm beginning to regret having Gary do the back end...
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Also, I'm beginning to regret having Gary do the back end...
You see, that lets him cheat.
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8:04 pm - Still working on Fx Battle
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I've been having a heck of a time getting some (seemingly) simple things running. The tall poles lately have been:
-Getting Maven (MVN) to work with Google Protocol Buffers. In the end I went to an ANT script invoked from my Pom file.
-Compiling JavaFx code in MVN. Again using ANT to do the work.
-Running compiled JavaFx from the command line. All the documentation is out of date and/or hard to find. The best, accurate post I've found so far is here: http://ajax.sys-con.com/node/465182.
I talked to The Jen and she might do some art development! That would be awesome-- the other developer, Gary, thinks so too.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 30th, 2009
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9:08 pm - Can the Judicial System Proscribe a correct belief system?
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I read an article which I got from kottke and had some thoughts. First, what were the parents thinking? Second, is science really the prime explanation for everything?
Okay, so, the kid didn't need to die. The parents could have done any number of things to save her and we want to tell them that they were stupid. Were they?
It's an often touted truism that Diversity is good. However, the underlying assumption here is that science knows best and if you don't listen to it then your are bad and should be punished. In fact, the justice system appears to be placing a requirement on the general populace. It you don't know enough science to talk science at your defense, then you are criminally negligent.
So, if you're considering an alternative approach to thought, be careful. Depending on faith for anything concrete is illegal-- science has proven you won't get results and that's negligent. That means acupuncture is insufficient too, right? I mean, science hasn't proven it to be useless, but experts can tell you how science is better. The courts will tell you that using a lesser solution when a life is on the line is unacceptable.
Codifying common sense is a pretty dangerous thing. I agree that the parents screwed up big time, but I also think they have the right to pursue a belief system outside the status quo. So, were they stupid, or were they insufficiently main stream? Do we want to legally require people to be scientists?
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009
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6:56 pm - Programming Entry: JavaFx
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This is a new thing I may do regularly or may only do once. A post about technical work stuff...
So my housemate and I have decided to write a video game. We're doing it partly to have a fun game to play and partly to give ourselves a chance to play with new technologies. Gary is writing the server which he might write in Clojure. I am writing the client which has a JavaFx GUI and a Java back end. The game is called fxbattle (http://code.google.com/p/fxbattle/) and is based on a game called xbattle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbattle).
It's not up and running so don't go looking for a download, but I'll be sure to spread the word when it is playable. This post is about my reactions to JavaFx.
First, I've never worked in depth with a scripting language. This means the learning curve might be tough.
Second, JavaFx is much better at running Java, than Java is at running JavaFx. As a result, it seems to make sense to write your data model in Java but to instantiate it (or link to it) through FX.
Third, DON'T DEVELOP FX IN ECLIPSE. I started this way and found the limitations of the current implementation debilitating. I'm sure it will get better, but Netbeans is the IDE I'm using and it's waaaaay better. (Note that I'd rather a good Eclipse plugin because I'm much more capable with Eclipse).
Now about the language itself... I like the concept of binding. It's pretty effective and having it plugged into the language (as opposed to listening which is a library in plain ole' java) is pretty convenient. I wish the documentation and online help were stronger, as I've had to discover a lot myself. Still, if you already know how to do something it's really easy to do. Graphical effects, Gui layout, and events are all really nice to implement if you know how they work. If not, discovering them can be really tough.
All around, I'm pretty pleased with how quickly a gui with a nice behavior can be glued together. The most lacking thing is a nice way to plug into a Java Data model. As the backend for the game is in Java, it would be nice to be able to bind to Java properties and get notification for free (as we do with FX attributes). Finally, the FX wiki would be great, but it's pretty hard to navigate in places and lacking lots of useful info.
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| Friday, April 17th, 2009
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11:28 pm - Little fixes to little problems
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So I was thinking today about how many little annoyances many people (myself included) put up with on a day to day basis. I had an idea that we could share some of our solutions and some of the annoyances which we have found answers to.
For me, I don't like cold air coming into the shower I'm using. To stop it, I splash water onto the walls so the curtain will stick to it. This usually results in the curtain trying to billow into the stall. To combat that, I pin it down with a bottle of conditioner on the edge of the tub.
What little things bother you?
Another example-- I used to bring bowls to work to cook my lunch in. This was annoying because I always had a dish to do when I got home. Now I borrow a bowl from the work Cafe each day to cook in. I can then drop it in with the multitude of other bowls and it's taken care of. To balance it out, I buy a meal there every once in a while.
Next time:
-Snack Club
-Laundromats
-Produce
-Who knows what else?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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11:32 am - Best Haiku Ever!
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Here is the best Haiku I've seen...
beer,beer,beer,beer,beer,
beer,beer,beer,beer,beer,beer,beer,
beer,beer,beer,beer,beer
(Borrowed from a co-worker)
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
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9:14 am - I'm on a train
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I'm on the Marc train out of Baltimore. I'm headed to watch the Obama Inauguration.
When the train left Camden station, the people cheered and laughed. The guy that gave us safety instructions got a resounding "Thank You" from the car. If this is any indication today is going to be a lot of fun.
Also, Christmas was good in Detroit and snowboarding was quite excellent n Montana. I haven't posted in 19 weeks and this post is from my cell. Surprise!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
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7:59 pm - Went to Maine
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Went to Maine for Labor Day. Got to hang out with really awesome people (including Sandy), sail on the Chesapeake, cook and eat crab direct from the sea (and lobster from the store). All around amazing trip.
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| Monday, July 14th, 2008
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2:50 am
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| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
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1:58 am - Roommate is moving out! Ahhh!
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Panic Panic Panic! No. Don't panic, CraigsList, CraigsList, CraigsList!
Phew! Now that that's out of my system-- Off to Michigan for lots (and lots) of fireworks!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 29th, 2008
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10:07 pm - Hi
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I'm still here... Summer is really good. It turns out that my class stressed me out and I'm not as much fun when I'm stressed out. But my class is done (I still don't have my grade) so I've got lots of fun time to spend having fun.
I'm playing Soccer, going to plays and maybe (hopefully) making friends.
I feel a bit like I'm destined to have lots of good friends that are far away. At swing I met Cheryl who is really cool and a lot of fun. We've been hanging out a lot lately. That is until she moved to Maine last week. Marieke and I get along well and might be good friends eventually. But in December she's moving to California. That leaves... My co-workers? I like them, but I'll be surprised if any of them ever become really good friends. Most of them are married with children presently.
That makes it a bit harder to go out and do things. I think they have settled into their lives pretty much and are mostly focused on maintaining a happy existence. I don't blame them, but that seems to mean that they don't have enough time to develop any new, strong friendships.
I really like 4th edition D&D. We played last Wednesday and the whole party died (TPK), but it was still the coolest, most interesting D&D battle I've ever played. Very tactical and just dang cool. I'm going to make a new character (Eladrin Warlord) and we're going to start a full scale campaign. I'm excited to play again and looking forward to seeing what higher level games are like.
That's all. Hoper everyone is well. Also, if you're ever near Baltimore, give me a call.
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| Monday, April 21st, 2008
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10:24 pm - *sleepy*
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Stayed up too late last night.
I'm looking forward to the semester ending. It will be nice to get back the time I spend in class. I think when I do, I'll start attending Capoeira again. I'll probably find a Lacrosse group to play with. I bought a stick this weekend and I'm excited to play with it.
Aside from that, work is going into a code freeze this week (that means no more work allowed on the stuff we're going to release.) I'm hoping this means that I'll have more available time to put into the term project that I most definately should have already started. *eep*
Anyway, summer is going to be so freakin' suite.
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| Monday, April 7th, 2008
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11:41 am
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| Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
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8:13 pm - From my Roommate
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| Sunday, January 27th, 2008
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10:50 pm - This Just in! $300 a person to save economy!
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American policy makers recently decided to give nearly every American a 'free' $300 or more dollars when they file for their tax return. There was much rejoicing (yay) as Americans thought about how they would spend this windfall. The rejoicing stopped abruptly when the Americans realized that they were living in houses they couldn't afford, they were carrying credit card debt and driving a new car that they wanted to trade in for a newer car. Their windfall would be spent paying off the purchases they made last year. Ironically, these purchases (which they couldn't afford) were what caused the growth statistics that made everyone hopeful.
Will people ever realize that consuming more than you produce will cause you hardship? For that matter, will they ever realize that riding the line where consumption matches production is a great way to fall in a hard kind of way? I wonder what an economy would look like if advertisement didn't encourage unhealthy spending and people bought what they needed first and what they wanted second (and what they couldn't afford never.) It would be well for Americans to learn a little patience.
Also, what the hell are lawmakers thinking? You don't boost an economy by taxing it and then handing the taxes back out all at once. You'll get a boost, but at most it's going to equal the slump you're causing with the taxes. You boost an economy by encouraging sound business, and sustainable practices that result in economic action (by the way, War is not a sustainable practice.)
That's all-- I haven't done a rant like this in a while and felt like it was high time.
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5:32 am - Back to College!
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Classes start on Monday and I decided to stay up till 5AM watching a gender-issue charged movie. It's almost like I'm a student again =). I watched Angels in America. It was a pretty interesting flick. I will say that the best part was easily the prophetic angle scene. It was both awesome and hilarious. It's long... I started watching at 11ish and just finished. But it's rather interesting. Al Pacino did a pretty amazing job.
Aside from that, Baltimore is still a great place and the Swing dancing in Towson is really amazing. Lots of really fun and genial people. I had a dance last night with Charlie and she nearly passed out. It was alarming at first-- turns out that she's on antibiotics that cause dizziness. We had a laugh about that.
We played D&D on Thursday. It was a really good time. We nearly all died-- The DM accidentally sent 3 times as many bad guys as he should have. Only a few of us survived and that was because we ran. He magically resurrected the rest of the party though because he accidentally screwed up.
Didn't do any Capoeira this week which is sad. Did put up the last of the art with the help of Gary my housemate. The downstairs feels very homey now. I like my room too.
Anyway, if you're thinking about traveling the coast, consider dropping by Baltimore. If Gary isn't here I can put you up.
Ciao.
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| Sunday, January 13th, 2008
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7:40 pm - I'm gonna be a grad student!
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It's confirmed, starting on Jan 28 I will be adding 3 credits of graduate level Computer Science coursework to my schedule. The course looks really interesting and work intensive. I hope I"m up to it. There's the off hand chance that this bit of extra obligation will be enough to eat up the last of my free time. If so, you're welcome to drop a pebble down the hole, but there might not be an echo.
Regardless, I'm pretty excited to get with the learnin'.
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