Basically, it's bad that ephPod uses only the first music directory. A simple hashing algorithm would probably reduce the directory search time significantly - just use the file size or the sum of the character codes in the filename. (Unfortunately, twenty is a bad key. Maybe use nineteen as the key and F19 as a directory for overflows - when the number of songs in a given directory exceeds a specific number.)
Hey, wait a minute: ephPod allows you to specify how many directories to use in the Configuration -> Advanced Options screen. Ugh, now I have to resync my entire library.
Theory. The iPod has twenty music directories, named from F00 to F19. This is much more efficient than having one music directory, since the filesystem (be it HFS+ or FAT32) doesn't have to do long directory searches. However, ephPod, the program I use to synchronize my iPod, doesn't seem to use more than one of the music directories.
With a normal FAT32 reader (like the driver in Windows), this wouldn't really be a problem. The iPod apparently gives up rather quickly in searching for a file, meaning it will sometimes skip over a song. Usually, it's the first song on the playlist that is skipped, and you can often force the iPod to play it by pressing back a few times.
Why doesn't the iPod skip later songs as often? I think that this is due to the way the iPod buffers data.
This is just a theory, probably a pretty bad one. I don't know much about filesystems, and I know next to nothing about the iPod.
Okay, more on this later...I have to go home.
"If you're anything like me, that look in her eyes isn't attraction. It's probably indigestion." ~ kraken on godfuckingdammit.com
INFLUENCE OF GENETIC POLYMORPHISM ON SUBJECTS ABILITY TO INTERPRET POKEY THE PENGUIN
I'm sure some will cringe at this, but I find the idea really interesting. I really liked the following quote:
I'm thinking about things like simplicity -- how easy is it going to be for someone to look at it later? How well is it fulfilling the overall design that I have in mind? How well does it fit into the architecture? If I were writing a very long poem with many parts, I would be thinking, "Okay, how does this piece fit in with the other pieces? How is it part of the bigger picture?" When coding, I'm doing similar things, and if you look at the source code of extremely talented programmers, there's beauty in it. There's a lot of attention to compression, using the underlying programming language in a way that's easy to penetrate. Yes, writing code and writing poetry are similar.
Please excuse the following rant. I'm grumpy today.
A cyclist came very close to hitting me and another person in the crosswalk today. Normally, I don't mind so much that cyclists ride on the sidewalks and fail to stop for people in crosswalks - I can get over that.
I'm bothered because he was riding against traffic.
YES, RIDING AGAINST TRAFFIC.
Imagine that someone walks out into the crosswalk, a common event when class has just gotten out. I always glance over my shoulder to look the other way, but I don't expect a biker to be riding the wrong way. He has to swerve to avoid me, but - holy crap - there's a CAR APPROACHING.
*SPLAT*
Bike lanes are available on campus for a reason.