Older blog entries for nymia (starting at number 562)

BeOS

Been spending a lot time lately playing in the BeOS environment. Downloaded several packages, like:

• garbage collector code.
• Be MDI
• GrefDemo
• GridView
• Javascript
• LibHTTP
• Zodius
• Zoolib

And a lot of other little things under this category.

The plan is basically cobble-up these pieces forming a simple 2D vector drawing app. Then move forward from there, cobbling more pieces of code until it reaches the desired level of functionality.

2DAnim

Still evaluating BeOS at the moment, figuring out which part of the API will be abstracted. No code has been committed yet since most of the time were spent on spelunking the code cave. But there were some test classes coded for testing, using the sample template application, the BView class and its drawing functions.

Linux

On the Linux front, most of the effort has been pretty much setting up the development environment. Qt and gtk is already up and running, but KDE and GNOME are still down, though.

Refraction

This particular app caught my attention because it somehow covers all my requirements in a simple application. Which I thought BeOS is a very good platform for developing user friendly apps.

The talkbacks were quite many, considering the state of BeOS at the moment.

Moving In

Yesterday was a good day, the day bright and sunny and the air was just right. Just right to figure the right time evaluating the dev tools needed to setup the prototype app. It's narrowed down to just 2 SDKs and will probably decide in the next few days what will the dev platform be. One might call this effort 'moving in.'

Mandrake 8.2

Just bought Mandrake 8.2. Found there were something missing in the stock install, like GCC was not able to compile the hello world program. Gave out an error message. Will take it back to store and replace with another CD.

Speaking of distributions, it would probably be best to have a clean install, making sure the basic parts are working, though. This would eliminate the extra effort by users like who don't want to know to configure programs already covered by the distribution which is basically duplication of effort. Some users just want to get down to business and do the things they want to do, playing this vendor specific stuff should not be part of the users.

MDI on BeOS

Spent some time playing with the package downloaded from BeBits.

Economic Trends

Spent some time doing some light research about the trends and patterns in the near future. Found two items worth recording.

The firts one was a book written by Peter Drucker.

Drucker argues, for instance, that the same forces that put paid to Marxism as an ideology and Communism as a social system are making capitalism obsolete as well. In other words, knowledge (not labor, land, or other forms of capital) has become the planet's primary resource. The emergence of so-called ``knowledge workers'' able to put their specialized learning and/or competencies to use, he says, suggests that employees now own ``the means of production.'' Although the author concludes that markets will remain the effective integrators of economic activity, he believes that the implications of the ongoing shift will prove increasingly significant for the management of commercial enterprises and other key institutions. The same holds true for what Drucker designates ``the post-capitalist polity,'' in which transnational, regional, nation-state, even tribal structures compete and coexist. As concerned with prescription as description, the author doesn't shy away from calls to action that could make the unstable new world he envisions more productive and peaceable. He advocates, for example, the encouraging of environments that permit corporations to focus on their core responsibilities via partnerships or alliances, and the nurturing of autonomous nonprofit organizations that will restore the bonds of community as well as deliver grass-roots services. [ 1 ]

Another item covers the topic of labor and the harmonization of wages across economies.

While a bonanza for corporate mercantilists, that "harmonization of labor costs among nations" is, for the simple reason that is wages will continue to drop as prices continue to rise, a disaster for developed countries labor. [ 2 ]

Another worth linking is the topic about intangibles.

This story illustrates one of the transformations our economy is undergoing. Value is no longer created solely or even primarily by the corporate behemoths of the industrial era. People and their ideas are the most significant drivers of wealth creation in today's global economy. The personal computer, the mobile phone, and the Internet have given every individual with access to electricity and a telephone line the ability to create products, services, and markets. While the dot.com bubble may have fueled false hopes about the illusion of easy money, an important underlying trend remains: Traditional measures of success tied to such factors as assets, number of employees, and other standards of size or quantity may, in fact, signal weakness rather than strength. Whether one works for an Internet start-up or a Fortune 500 corporation, today's success depends more on innovation, adaptability, and creative talent than asset base or current revenue stream. As a result, an entirely new way of collecting information and forecasting results is necessary. [ 3 ]

Flash Clone

After spending some time playing with the libswfdec code and Qt canvas items, the idea of abandoning support for SWF dropped like a hammer hitting my head. It was pretty obvious to see it right there I don't need to follow the beaten path. Since I'm totally in a new territory, being in an Open Source world, I might as well venture out and figure how to make a different one, like having a unique format for the files and a new editor just enough to make the user comfortable.

Work

Some of my mates asked why my hours changed. I told them I need this time for myself to figure out what I really want to do. I need this time very badly. Although I am not playing a very important role, I actually like the idea. But there is one question thrown to me when I will resume work full time. This is a very hard question, I like the present situation and enjoying every minute of it.

Scripts

Just figured the latest version of Qt supports ecmascript. Isn't that nice?

Realtor

Had a talk with the realtor yesterday about the on-going development at the back of the house. What she told me was the urban growth boundary was extended and a new project is currently going. She also told me how it would affect the value of the house and recommended I should sell ASAP. Hmmm, if the CMA report is good, I will definitely bite it.

It is just so sad seeing the trees go, I hear a lot chirping birds and hooting owls during the night. Now, they will have to find another place to rest. Goodbye to nature, it is just kind of sad seeing them go.

Anyway, we just talked about the price and the net price. It is very attractive, enought to probably get that 9-door apartment or maybe even get that 39-door complex. That would surely make me a fulltime landlord soon. Moving further, probably settle down on a very small house on a large field.

Delivery Boy

Got a call from HR department they hired somebody else. Man, even a part time delivery boy here is very competitive. It would have been fun meeting people, though. Anyway, I am off to find another part-time job.

Small Biz A

Placed the orders and will be arriving soon. They didn't give any specific dates since production level is currently peaking.

Divorcing Age

My good neighbor cautioned me that I am approaching what they call the divorcing age. The age where most couples separate. Is there such a thing? I thought it was just something related to getting old, though. After hearing some of the characteristics couple go through, I said to myself, hmmm, looks similar. But I still doubt it.

9-door apt

Just phoned the realtor to get more information about the property. Will probably get within two days. Also called up another in preparation for selling the house to move to a different location.

pasm

Added one instruction into the grammar. Progress is a little bit slow but it is moving.

Project X

Just got a note that the proposol has been submitted and the prototype shown to the client. The ball is now on their court and will just wait for their response. Will see how this one pans out.

Setting Up KDE

Wrote a simple bash script untarring the files down to their respective dirs, jumping into it and running the build. So far, the bin, lib and include dir were populated with the output. Next to get all the required libs and stuff it in there.

Canvas

Played with the canvas and canvasitem classes, made some mods to the code trying to get a feel how they will be abstracted.

libswfdec

Spent some time setting up gtk in preparation for running the code. Will get it running probably later.

OpenSWF.org

Spent some time reading spec mats from the site. Will gather more specs from other sites later.

LibSWFdec

Made the libswfdec codewalk, figured the headers, especially the swf.h and swf.c. Got to figure most of the functions a few hours later. Not sure exactly how the code will move forward, though. Might play with the code and see how can it be taken to the next level.

Editor

Made some effort writing an initial writeup on the UI. Drew some sketches on canvas and the keyframe window. Will put more hours into it later. Using Qt 3.0.5 at the moment to test some of the ideas.

Also looking for a ecmascript module good enough to be considered a simple component. The idea is to just drop that module into the application, put the connections and see it go. Thought about using C# from pnet as the scripting language, though. Or C# from mono, but the thing is the module should be small enough to fit nicely in there. Better check Mozilla and walk the scripting code.

Work

Landed a weekend job doing manual labor stuff. Will come back later to continue coding. The yard work business idea might continue floating for a while, though.

Reduced

Requested that my working hours be shortened which is part of my plan to put more hours in some of the small projects around here.

Small Biz B

Currently collecting information on a certain type of business and will write a short one or two pager on what it is all about. Then probably go out and perform some simple survey about it. This is definitely in-line with Linux. It is supposed to make money that will create more jobs which is greatly needed at the moment. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate is terribly high here and nobody will probably be altruist enough to work for free, though.

KDE

Just finished reading the installation notes on how to install KDE from source. Will try and play with it later.

One thing I noticed about the installation process was the dependency problem. Configure stops when certain libs are absent. One example is libz, configure went belly-up when it didn't find libz. This is not good, though. Maybe another directory should be created just for these libs.

p.net

Still wondering when will the cscc part be completed since that module will become a major part in building the Basic grammar. The Basic compiler is pretty much the same as C-sharp with some additional productions added specifically for Basic, though.

Flash

Thanks for the link, Uraeus. Will check it out later. Just downloaded the tarball and will walk the code soon.

Million Dollar Websites

Had an interesting talk with some of the neighbors about making a website and getting bought later for millions.

ecmascript

Downloaded the spec and will read them later. [ 1 ]

Small Biz A

Just got the first order of 20 items for the first batch. This is good, I hope this is just the start. I'm a bit excited that the item generated some interest. Take it easy, dude. Don't count the chicks while they're still eggs.

Another Round

Just got a call from the last client, they wanted to cover some bugs they saw during testing plus additional features implemented. Will come back on Monday and start digging code. Better prepare myself for trench coding again.

Flash Clone

Played around with several toolkits and found an interesting feature in Qt ver 3.0.3 which is the canvas object. The object has some similarities with polygons and splines found in Flash, plus these polys were clickable and draggable. Hmmm, could this be the start of another time waster? Maybe so.

Mozilla Code

Did some codewalk on the parser and the DOM, tried to figure out how objects are ordered in the object model. The technique in there can pretty much apply to any application, though. It's definitely worth studying so I can make apps using that framework.

Idea #45

Just floated the idea of selling the house and instead get a small one located in a large land. My plan is to become a part time farmer, planting various kinds of crops plus some animals to go along with it. I don't know if it will sink or float, though. I might as well try.

Cities and suburbs are fine, almost everybody loves to live there. I guess I'm a bit of person who see nature as some sort of big cathedral where high-tech gadgets only need water and sun to run. That's where I usually get my ideas from, though. High Tech is simply nature, the things around that are taken for granted are really the gadgets. A field of roses with some perennials splashed in there would probably be the best I could probably see.

GTK, Gimp

Also downloaded GTK and Gimp to look at some of the code, I would like to know the implementation of the PDB and probably find a use for it later.

vCal, vCard

Spent some time reading introductory material for future projects.

BeOS News

Amazon.com acquires BeDepot.com for a total of US$158 million in cash and stock. Imagine receiving that kind of money for just having a website for BeOS. That is totally smart.

And the URL http://www.bedepot.com/ is currently floating in limbo. Wonder what happened to the site, where are they now?

Gobe is still in business, though. Not sure exactly where they are heading. I believe they are into Windows and Linux now, aside from BeOS.

BeOS Journal is still there. And so is BeTips.

Overall, I think the BeOS is still alive and well. Quietly moving behind the scenes.

Blue Eyed OS

Stumbled into an interesting OS, it definitely looks like BeOS. Wonder if this could be what the BeOS community is waiting for.

DocBook

Just started getting information on DocBook. Decided to make it a standard for documenting some of the small programs I code here. This tool is actually very handy, I wish I have known it before.

Currently reading some introductory material.

Assembler

Got some time to work on the assembler, adding two instructions into the grammar. I'll continue working on it later.

pnet

Speaking of grammar, I downloaded the latest version of pnet and made a simple code walk. Definitely a lot of things have changed.

The Rights of A Cell

Found an interesting paragraph about cloning.

A blastocyst is nothing more than a collection of undifferentiated cells with human DNA. It is not a ``human being'' by any standard. It is a collection of microscopic cells in a Petri dish. To ascribe it the moral stature of a human would be to misunderstand the very definition of humanity. These blastocysts are in fact private property, just as frozen embryos produced by a couple using in vitro fertilization are property. They cannot possess legal rights in the United States. [ 1 ]