dwc

Perl vs. Python

I've been reading Planet Debian recently, which aggregates the blogs of various Debian developers. I'm particularly interested in a thread on scripting languages, which started with Colin Walters' post, "Arch Server and Python". Further posts include: Joey Hess' "If you don't grok it, don't bash it.", Scott James Remnant's "Perl vs. Python -- The Debate Continues", and Walters' "I guess I should have expected a response...".

Currently Reading

Reading Generics in C#, Java, and C++. Somewhat disappointing, really, that Java can't do generics right. (Via developers.slashdot.org.)

THAT'S IT

Suresh sent me this article about how some kid gutted an Apple PowerMac G5 to replace it with a mediocre PC. I'm sorry, but no rational person would gut a dual G5 to install a crappy motherboard and an Athon XP 2200+.

It's a good thing my parents don't know anything about computers, because I'm sure they would be really angry if they knew what I did. I have to say that I'm happy - I can keep on using XP.

OH MY GOD

GLUI

Success! Using Fink's GLUI package as a starting point, I was able to get GLUI installed and running on Panther. I made a few modifications to the Makefile, and patched up the examples to make them build properly. After a quick fink rebuild glui, I had the library installed.

This was all in hopes of doing my graphics projects on Linux or Mac OS X without worrying too much about platform issues. (Windows also falls somewhere in the mix, since we are essentially required to turn in a Visual Studio solution for each project. Grr.)

After some rethinking of my project's Makefile (based almost entirely on the examples in the GLUI Makefile), I was able to get it to compile, but not to run. I was getting an error about my X11 visual:

GLUT: Fatal Error in project1: visual with necessary capabilities not found.

Comparing the project code to a GLUI example, I tracked it down to the following function:

glutInitDisplayString("rgb double");

Changing this to:

glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_RGB | GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_DEPTH);

made everything work!

Why Trillian Sucks

I've once again found myself forced to use Windows thanks to school, not because of hardware classes that require MAX+plus II, but because of a software class that requires Visual Studio. Specifically, we have been "strongly urged" to use Visual C++ 6. That rant is left for another day, but let me say that I am looking into purchasing VMware.

Since using Windows is a necessity, I've had to find an IM client that doesn't piss me off. I happily used Trillian before (even buying the Pro version when it came out), but this time around I find myself wondering how I put up with it. A few of the issues so far:

1. No feedback on which window currently has the focus. This has caused all sorts of problems from typing into the buddy list what I meant to type into a conversation window to typing into a conversation what I meant to type into another.
2. Since Trillian can't correctly read buddies from the server, I've had to go on a crusade to reorganize my list. Who thought that having a one-pixel difference between adding someone to the top of a group and moving them out of a group entirely was a good idea?
3. When creating MetaContacts, there's no feedback if you forget to fill in the MetaContact name. The dialog just sits there. Nice.
4. Containers. "Hey, guys...some applications are using these things called tabs now. Let's take the idea and make it suck."
5. Wasted space in conversation windows. I don't need a title bar inside the window telling me who is involved in the conversation - that can either be left out or put in the main title bar. I also don't need a formatting bar. Or a status bar that tells me when the last message was received. At the default window height, these "extras" leave about 40% of the height for the conversation. Since the, well, conversation is the most important part of an IM session, that number should be much higher.

These issues appear in Trillian Pro 2.01 with the default theme (Trillian Whistler 3.5) on Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and all current hotfixes.

Believe me, I would like to use Gaim for the time being, but there have been problems recently with the Windows version. The GTK+ runtime is still kind of ghetto on Windows, and Gaim completely bombed out when I tried to load it up. :-(

Don't even get me started on why Firebird sucks. At least the Tabbrowser Extensions now properly save my session.

Optimizer? What a stupid name.

I purchased a JanSport Optimizer (carbon and black) for my PowerBook from eBags on Monday, January 12. They estimated it would arrive on Friday, January 16, so I was a little concerned when I never received a shipping notice.

Just to make sure they hadn't forgotten about my order, I called them on Friday afternoon. After hearing about five reminders that I could check my order status on the Web, I was connected with a service representative. "I'd like to check on the status of my order," I said. The service rep was nice, and immediately saw why I was calling when he pulled up my order. He told me that he would have to either call me back or email me after talking with the fulfillment department, so I asked him to email me.

On Saturday, I got an email saying that they had sold out of the bag I ordered. They offered to give me a 20% discount and free shipping on another bag, but I was pretty set on the Optimizer. I ended up buying it at another online store, but I would still recommend eBags due to their attention to service.

First PowerBook Screenshot

I had to delete a few backgrounds hosted on my Plaza account to upload this, but here's my first screenshot from the PowerBook.

I'm glad to get 20 MB from Plaza, but I'm over that limit with just screenshots. Maybe it's time to move my backgrounds, screenshots, etc. to my server at home. I could use Apache::Gallery or one of the many PHP gallery systems.

Old Entries

I've started bringing old entries into Movable Type, which is why the archives list at the right is growing. At last count, I have almost 100 more to go.

I haven't really bothered with checking links, so I'm sure that some of them are bad. If it's something hosted here, there's a good chance you'll find it at the old site.

PowerBook!

I got my PowerBook this evening. I've been playing with it for the past 6 hours or so, and now my back hurts because I can't come up with a good configuration on my desk. Suresh suggested connecting it to my monitor, but I'm not ready to do that - I still plan on using Linux on a regular basis.

I'm making another attempt at moving to irssi (from X-Chat) so that I can easily chat from different locations. Screen is my friend.

I'm a little bothered because I purchased my PowerBook the day that iLife '04 was announced, but didn't receive it. I qualify for the Up-to-Date program, but that costs $20.

Ross: Ryan in fact mentioned it to me by email. :-)

I'm interested in the mokeys.org journal system - being able to control who sees what posts makes so much sense. Nathan also mentioned this idea a few days ago.

When Worlds Collide

From Robert Love:

More Stubbies a few nights ago. It is easily my favorite bar in downtown Gainesville. I am going to miss this city.

I had no clue that UF had such an esteemed kernel and GNOME hacker. And he goes to Stubbie, no less! I think he'll be happy in Boston - from what I've heard, the beer only gets better.

In case you haven't been, Stubbie (I think that's the correct name, though it sounds weird when you're saying it) is a "t-shirt pub" in downtown Gainesville that has over 120 beers. In a city full of sports bars, it's paradise. I last went with Mark to celebrate the release of the new UF Calendar. Mark treated me to Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout and a Murphy's.

Now - why "When Worlds Collide"? Stubbie is apparently owned and operated by the daughter of a professor in the Chemical Engineering department, where my father worked. Weird.

Vim

Here's an interesting concept: making Vim into a Bonobo component so GNOME applications can use it. It's called gnome-vim (also vim-bonobo). Using Vim in Evolution is something that both concerns and intrigues me at the same time.

I found it through either Planet Gnome or Planet Debian; I can't remember which since the two are sort of blending together in my mind.

C++

I've pretty much forced myself into getting very comfortable with C and C++ this semester by taking two classes that require it (CAP 4730 and CEN 4500C) and another that will probably use it (CIS 4914). That's why I find this fake interview with Bjarne Stroustrup a little worrisome.

Movable Type

As you can probably tell, I've converted everything to Movable Type. Well, not everything - I still have about two years of old entries to format. I also need to bring various files back online - if you're really curious, the old site is available for now.

Not that you care.

CVS, bugs, validation

The idea of putting my home directory in CVS scares me.

When I first got comfortable with CVS, I thought it might be neat to put my entire home directory in CVS. I came to my senses, and decided against it. There are too many applications running that update too many files to reasonably keep track of things, and CVS wouldn't really help me. I would end up with log messages like "stuff" and "I'm leaving work, this is a commit". (Here's a link for those curious: Anonymous CVS access via ssh - something I've always wanted to work on.)

Work: We recently reached our 100th bug in Bugzilla (an off by one error, so silly). I also recently expanded my knowledge of CVS by creating a branch of one project. Keeping things in sync between the branches has proved interesting.

Personal: I'm really thinking about moving to Subversion. I'm curious to see if it supports branching any better, but to tell the truth, I don't think I would have the occasion to create a branch on school or home stuff.

I also made some effort to improve the security of my SSH keys. I went through all the computers I login to, removing old known_hosts, stripping authorized_keys, and adding passphrases where I didn't have them. I also installed Keychain where it was easily accessible (including my work machine - I was surprised to find a Debian package).