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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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| 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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| Saturday, January 5th, 2008
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1:12 am - Garmin and Dancing
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I went swing dancing in Baltimore for the first time last night. It was awesome! A really welcoming, big, diverse crowd. There were more than a hundred people there (at MTU there were usually 10 or less). Some were really good. Some were young. Some were really old (they're lots of fun to watch.) There were snacks and a live big band. It was a seriously excellent time.
"How did you find this wonderful event," you might ask. Well, It turns out that my awesome brother got me a Garmin navigator for Christmas. It's a fancy GPS thingy that makes doing everything easier. All you do is tell it where you want to go and it tells you what to do to get there. I told it I wanted to go dancing and it got me there. After that, I told it I wanted a dance partner and it directed me to her. Then I told it I wanted some pretzels and low-and-behold! It got me to those too. This thing is seriously amazing. In a year, I won't know how to find a bathroom without its help.
I love my Garmin.
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| Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
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6:56 pm - New Years Resolutions - Cause everyone's doin' it.
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I don't generally worry too much about resolutions, but uncbiscuit made a post that made me think a little about them and I think there are some that would be good for me.
First, I think it would be good for me to be more spontaneous. I have a habit of scheduling my life too much. As a result I end up too locked into my expectations and don't end up taking the opportunities that I could.
Second, I want a bigger group of friends in Baltimore. I like the one that I have now, but I didn't go out for New Years because one plan fell through and I couldn't find another. More friends would help with this sort of situation.
Those are the ones that come to mind. Now I'm going to go shopping because I have literally no perishables or frozen goods in the house. That leaves a lot of Rice-a-Roni and other dry goods. I'm tired of Rice-a-Roni =). Hope you're all well.
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| Thursday, December 27th, 2007
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11:30 pm - An old post
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http://fuzzysputnik.livejournal.com/2245.html
So, I think my post style has degenerated since the post above. As a result I'm planning on trying to go back a little to how it was.
I'm currently thinking about what to do about this journal. I like it, but I don't feel that connected to it lately. On top of that, there's been some drama and as a result, I'm hesitant about posting about anything that matters to me any more than the basics (which means work and food.)
Consequently, things might get shaken up a bit. Or they might not...
I don't think I want to have to analyze the content of all my future posts though, so be warned that I might be posting about my life in the future. In doing so, I may put up details that will make you uncomfortable (I'm not talking about adult content) or unhappy (especially if you've been part of or want to make yourself part of the drama). If this is what happens, then please remember that you made the choice to read my post.
If you're wondering about the drama, it would be my pleasure to do my best to explain what happened. But I won't be doing it on LJ.
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| Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
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11:30 pm - Grad School!
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I'm almost done applying for grad school and the application isn't due until Friday. I'm sooooo good! Woo!
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| Monday, December 10th, 2007
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2:19 am
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I wish there was something I could write here to make things simple and better. It's 2am and I'm really sad that things are how they are. Maybe I'll figure them out soon. I really want to. I'm tired of hurting myself and Shawna and Sandy but I have to keep doing it now, or I'll do it later and it will be worse.
I hate this situation.
I'll be ok tomorrow, I always am, but right now I'm just angry and sad.
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| Friday, November 16th, 2007
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9:37 pm
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So it turns out that less than a month into my new job I was assigned the project they give to people to make sure they're skilled enough to transition from probationary to permanent (which happens around month 6.) Also, it was more complex than is handed out to most people at 6 months. I'm pretty happy about this (even though it's a little stressing.)
I had hoped to have it in by Thanksgiving, but on Wednesday they said I needed to put it off and work on a more pressing project which would take a week. It's a complex enough project that two weeks of down time would set me back a fair bit (I'd forget things.) Fortunately, I finished the project (assuming it passes testing) in about 2 and a half days! Yay! So I might have enough time to track down a mean little bug in my big project and start documenting so I can present it after Thanksgiving at a code review.
I'm pretty excited because I want feedback. This project was originally to make our program export a particular bit of information that would make the people who operate the telescope happy. But a few weeks in we realized that it was a bad idea for our program(called APT) to do this computation (another group could do it more easily and completely) so we were gonna scrap the job.
But you see, I hadn't even really tackled the export problem. I had done a whole lot of structural work to allow the exporter to be simple and to allow APT to have other features later. So we discussed it and decided to keep the changes I made to the structure. (Which I like because it was the interesting part of the project.) Now I'm working on putting them in without making other changes I thought I'd end up making.
Anyway, while writing this I thought of an idea I really like for what improving my project... I don't think I can do it immediately (other work has to happen first) but it's a really neat idea that's super elegant and if it works, really reuseable (if it doesn't work it won't won't even be useable though -) ).
Anyway, I'm done rambling for now. Ciao. (and if you're thinking that I'm a dork or lame, you're right-- if you aren't then ask me about my job sometime and you'll realize how clear that fact is.)
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