checkins

Still no real code. I've spent some time playing with Glade, trying to come up with a nice-looking, easy to use interface. I think I have the basic idea down.

I'm still trying to decide whether to use GTK or some other toolkit. If the app is intended for Windows, Qt is out, because of the "non-commercial" requirement in its Windows version. I really don't want to have to learn the Windows APIs to create a single app. Besides, I like GTK.

However, although GTK runs with Windows, I'm not sure whether it can be linked statically to the app. This is a requirement, at least for the version I show off, because the Powers that Be won't allow me to install any software on the computers.

As a compromise, I could instead keep the .DLLs in the same directory as the executable, if that's possible.

I'm still trying to decide between using XML for a config file format, or creating my own. Although XML is the wave of the present, and is expandable, it seems like overkill for what little configuration I actually need to do.

Basically, I have a hierarchy of choices. At present it's only two levels, but it's a hierarchy nonetheless. My idea is to present a collection of buttons for each level of the hierarchy, and have each button present another window with the next level's selections. Plus, I'd need to have another collection of buttons, one for each class the student is taking (something they want to collect info about, even though I lie about it every time... usually I choose randomly from the list).

My biggest problem is still a lack of knowledge about how the current information is stored. I don't know where the app pulls the student information from, or where it stores information about who is currently logged in and what he is currently doing. I guess I'll have to bullshit something up and plug in the correct values when I learn them.

olandgren: Whoa... I thought I was weird for being able to turn mine off at will...

bjf: I agree with the "meta-certification" idea. A person's hacking ability and their ability to judge other people's hacking abilities are not necessarily linked. While it's true that "it takes one to know one", it's also true that a single person's cert shouldn't raise a person to a given certification level.

I tried combing my hair straight backwards today. It didn't work too well, so I tried hairspray. I'm thinking I did something wrong, because I ended up with a crispy-feeling top layer with normal hair underneath.

Now, after I've combed most of the dry hairspray out, my hair looks better than it did before I started.... well, with the exception of the big ugly cowlick I probably always had.

eschew obfuscation