Older blog entries for codic (starting at number 7)

"Recommended Approach to Software Development"

Here's an interesting read. I'll post a review in my diary when I'm done.

Exams

Yeesssss!!!!! Wrote my last exam of the semester tonight. Didn't go too well, but my project mark ought to carry me.

All that's left is a paper that I'm finishing up now and marking CIS*1000 exams, which ought to be good for a laugh (from the midterm: "Who developed the first GUI?", 9/10 answers - "Microsoft". Uh... hello? Didn't you see Pirates of Silicon Valley?)

jrennie:

Heh heh... for the record, I'm not challenging your knowledge of C++ :) "C/C++" is just one of my pet peeves. I mean, C and C++ are different languages! Yes, their names are similar and their syntax is similar, but, IMO, C doesn't have enough of C++ in it validate "C/C++". I'll shut up now. Nobody wants to hear about this (and if you do... why? I wouldn't ;).

Hello World

A friend of mine asked me about the origin of "Hello, World!" programs. I don't have a clue where there started, but I'm curious now. Anyone know? Update: Peeking in the jargon file is leading me to believe it all started with K&R. Is there any truth to this?

Yay, plugins!

I've updated the example code that uses my dl::lib class that I mentioned a few days ago. It even has a sample plugin, now. Next thing to add is going to be support for C++ name mangling so I can reference *real* member functions. Anyone know of a reference for the C++ name mangling scheme? Or should I just read the c++filt source?

Finals

2 hours and 45 minutes 'til my "Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition" final. Damn.

jrennie

Certified jrennie as an Apprentice for his insight into the Outcast situation. I might upgrade that if he changes the "C/C++ and perl" in his notes section to "C, C++, and perl". I often think that people who say "C/C++" just don't know C++ well enough to realize how different the languages are. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here, it's just a trend I've noticed. (I'm probably asking for an Outcast certification with that comment. ;)

My Thoughts

Anyway, I agree that it's pointless to have a class of users that can do nothing. It sounds like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist (not as of yet, anyway).

I also feel that a rating system that allowed negative ratings would be most effective if everyone could rate users, but the weighting of a user's rating (I can't help but notice that that rhymes) should be proportional to their status (i.e., a rating coming from a Master should mean much more than a rating coming from an Outcast). I seem to recall someone else mentioning this, too, but I can't remember who.

Brainstorming

ICQing with my friend Aaron today about what kind of programming we'd like to do this summer in our Free Time. It was funny because we accidently started brainstorming about a project to help with (get this!) brainstorming!

Anyway, the idea is to have a tiny little program (tiny enough that when you hit a special key mapped by your window manager to launch it that it would appear almost immediately) that will pop up a dialog box for you to type the idea that just popped into your head. The idea would then be stored in an ideas database (personal or shared) to be revisited at another point in time to categorize, rate, sort, delete (if the idea really sucked), expand on, etc. using a seperate (less tiny) program when you had the time.

In the case where a shared database is in use, you can rate or expand on other people's ideas creating a graph of idea nodes (most likely a tree, but I haven't thought about that enough yet).

The goal here is convenience. The amount of time required to pop up the window, enter the idea, close the window, and resume your previous activity must be approximately equal to the time required to enter the data.

Comments?

Certified kenelson and Guillaume as Journeyers today for their awesome work on Gtk--. Guillaume doesn't show up on the Gtk-- project page, but he is one of the core contributors.

Wrote some reasonably cool code today. It's a C++ class that wraps the dlfcn.h functions. It's simple, but effective. You can get it on my Development page.

Oh, and I downgraded myself to an Apprentice today. I thought it was more realistic given that I have yet to contribute to the free software community in any truly meaningful way.

Hrm... I've learned today that I'm too stupid to have an account on this site. I wanted to reply to an article today, but couldn't figure out how. Doesn't matter. I should be studying anyway.

Update: I'm not too stupid, just not active enough. So things'll change this summer.

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but didn't get around to it until now. If you're reading this, you probably arrived here by fluke and have no idea who I am. Maybe one day you will.