The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Well, the master is returning this year with a new album on September 23! YES! I have just a little over a month to wait till I get to hear the latest offering. And of course, I need to plan where I'm going to be seeing him...and worship...=) No one does a show like ALICE!
Monday, August 18, 2003
Law Of Demeter
Excellent concept and this is an excellent article on it: http://www.javaguy.org/papers/demeter.pdf. The examples are in Java which makes my life easier at the moment. But, you would be amazed how ground breaking this concept is to a lot of folks. It's common sense to me and other object hard-core folks, but it is quite new to A LOT OF JAVA folks. Anyway, excellent article and explains the principle in a simple straightforward manner. All technical articles should be like this: Well-written, easy to digest, offers one concept, and keeps it simple.
Excellent concept and this is an excellent article on it: http://www.javaguy.org/papers/demeter.pdf. The examples are in Java which makes my life easier at the moment. But, you would be amazed how ground breaking this concept is to a lot of folks. It's common sense to me and other object hard-core folks, but it is quite new to A LOT OF JAVA folks. Anyway, excellent article and explains the principle in a simple straightforward manner. All technical articles should be like this: Well-written, easy to digest, offers one concept, and keeps it simple.
Remind me to never work at an amusement park
This is an awful story. Click here. It makes me glad I don't work in amusement parks. Ouch...Ouch...Ouch....If I ever work in a amusement park, I promise I will cut the hair...
This is an awful story. Click here. It makes me glad I don't work in amusement parks. Ouch...Ouch...Ouch....If I ever work in a amusement park, I promise I will cut the hair...
Saturday, August 16, 2003
Friday, August 15, 2003
Amen...And All you smart asses who put down the South...Take Note!
I got this emailed to me from my lovely wife
Fourteen Ways To Avoid A Good Southern Ass Whuppin
Issued by the Southern Tourism Bureau
To ALL visiting Northerners, Northeasterners,
North-westerners, Westerners and Southwestern
Urbanites:
1) Don't order filet mignon or pasta primavera at
Waffle House. It's just a diner. They serve breakfast
24 hours a day. Let them cook something they
know. If you confuse them, they'll kick your ass
2) Don't laugh at our Southern names (Merleen,
Luther, Tammy Lynn, Inez, Billy Joe, Sissy, Clovis,
etc.) or we will just HAVE to kick your ass
3) Don't order a bottle of pop or a can of soda down
here. It's called Coke. Nobody gives a
flying rat's ass whether it's Pepsi, RC, Dr.
Pepper, 7-Up or whatever... it's still a Coke.
Accept it. Doing otherwise can lead to an ass kicking.
4) We know our heritage. Most of us are more literate
than you (e.g. Welty, Williams, Faulkner). We are also
better educated and generally a lot nicer. Don't refer
to us as a bunch of hillbillies or we'll kick your
ass.
5) We have plenty of business sense (e.g., Fred Smith
of Fed Ex, Sam Walton, Turner Broadcasting, MTV,
Netscape). Naturally, we do, sometimes, have small
lapses in judgment (e.g. John Edwards, Al Gore, Bill
Clinton, David Duke). We don't care if you think we
are dumb. We are not dumb enough to let someone move
to our state in order to run for the Senate. If
someone tried to do that, we would kick his/her ass.
6) We are fully aware of how high the humidity is, so
shut the hell up. Just spend your money and get the
hell out of here, or we'll kick your ass.
7) Don't order wheat toast at Cracker Barrel.
Everyone will instantly know that you're a Yankee.
Eat your biscuits like God intended with gravy.
And do NOT EVER put sugar on your grits, or we'll
kick your ass.
8) Don't fake a Southern accent. This will incite a
riot, and you will get your ass kicked.
9) Don't talk about how much better things are at
home because we know better. Many of us have visited
Northern hellholes like Detroit Chicago, and DC,
and we have the scars to prove it. If you don't like
it here, Delta is ready when you are. Move your ass on
home before it gets kicked.
10) Yes, we know how to speak proper English. We talk
this way because we don't want to sound like you. We
don't care if you don't understand what we are saying.
All other Southerners understand what we are saying,
and that's all that matters. Now, go away and leave us
alone, or we'll kick your ass.
11) Don't complain that the South is dirty and
polluted. None of OUR lakes or rivers have caught
fire recently. If you whine about OUR scenic beauty,
we'll kick your ass all the way back to BA-STON HAA-BAH.
12) Don't ridicule our Southern manners. We say sir
and ma'am. We hold doors open for others. We offer
our seats to old folks because such things are
expected of civilized people. Behave yourselves
around our sweet little gray-haired grandmothers or
they'll kick some manners into your ass just like they
did ours.
13) So you think we're quaint, or losers, because
most of us live in the countryside? That's because
we have enough sense to not live in filthy, smelly,
crime infested cesspools like New York, Baltimore or
Boston. Make fun of our fresh air, and we'll kick your
ass.
14) Last, but not least, DO NOT DARE to come down
here and tell us how to cook barbecue. This will get
your ass shot (right after it is kicked). You're
lucky we let you come down here at all. Criticize our
barbecue, and you will go home in a pine box... minus
your ass.
I got this emailed to me from my lovely wife
Fourteen Ways To Avoid A Good Southern Ass Whuppin
Issued by the Southern Tourism Bureau
To ALL visiting Northerners, Northeasterners,
North-westerners, Westerners and Southwestern
Urbanites:
1) Don't order filet mignon or pasta primavera at
Waffle House. It's just a diner. They serve breakfast
24 hours a day. Let them cook something they
know. If you confuse them, they'll kick your ass
2) Don't laugh at our Southern names (Merleen,
Luther, Tammy Lynn, Inez, Billy Joe, Sissy, Clovis,
etc.) or we will just HAVE to kick your ass
3) Don't order a bottle of pop or a can of soda down
here. It's called Coke. Nobody gives a
flying rat's ass whether it's Pepsi, RC, Dr.
Pepper, 7-Up or whatever... it's still a Coke.
Accept it. Doing otherwise can lead to an ass kicking.
4) We know our heritage. Most of us are more literate
than you (e.g. Welty, Williams, Faulkner). We are also
better educated and generally a lot nicer. Don't refer
to us as a bunch of hillbillies or we'll kick your
ass.
5) We have plenty of business sense (e.g., Fred Smith
of Fed Ex, Sam Walton, Turner Broadcasting, MTV,
Netscape). Naturally, we do, sometimes, have small
lapses in judgment (e.g. John Edwards, Al Gore, Bill
Clinton, David Duke). We don't care if you think we
are dumb. We are not dumb enough to let someone move
to our state in order to run for the Senate. If
someone tried to do that, we would kick his/her ass.
6) We are fully aware of how high the humidity is, so
shut the hell up. Just spend your money and get the
hell out of here, or we'll kick your ass.
7) Don't order wheat toast at Cracker Barrel.
Everyone will instantly know that you're a Yankee.
Eat your biscuits like God intended with gravy.
And do NOT EVER put sugar on your grits, or we'll
kick your ass.
8) Don't fake a Southern accent. This will incite a
riot, and you will get your ass kicked.
9) Don't talk about how much better things are at
home because we know better. Many of us have visited
Northern hellholes like Detroit Chicago, and DC,
and we have the scars to prove it. If you don't like
it here, Delta is ready when you are. Move your ass on
home before it gets kicked.
10) Yes, we know how to speak proper English. We talk
this way because we don't want to sound like you. We
don't care if you don't understand what we are saying.
All other Southerners understand what we are saying,
and that's all that matters. Now, go away and leave us
alone, or we'll kick your ass.
11) Don't complain that the South is dirty and
polluted. None of OUR lakes or rivers have caught
fire recently. If you whine about OUR scenic beauty,
we'll kick your ass all the way back to BA-STON HAA-BAH.
12) Don't ridicule our Southern manners. We say sir
and ma'am. We hold doors open for others. We offer
our seats to old folks because such things are
expected of civilized people. Behave yourselves
around our sweet little gray-haired grandmothers or
they'll kick some manners into your ass just like they
did ours.
13) So you think we're quaint, or losers, because
most of us live in the countryside? That's because
we have enough sense to not live in filthy, smelly,
crime infested cesspools like New York, Baltimore or
Boston. Make fun of our fresh air, and we'll kick your
ass.
14) Last, but not least, DO NOT DARE to come down
here and tell us how to cook barbecue. This will get
your ass shot (right after it is kicked). You're
lucky we let you come down here at all. Criticize our
barbecue, and you will go home in a pine box... minus
your ass.
RIGHT ON! Article on Outsourcing
Here's an excellent article on the outsourcing mess. This guy hits it right on the head and it's something that us XP/Agile and Smalltalkers have been talking about for awhile. I think the smarter IT organizations will realize that they can get more done with less, but the less needs to be smarter folks. And how do you find and keep the smart people? Create an environment that inspires them and they will come. And to find out if you have a smart one, look at their code and put them on a "try before you buy" basis. India is nothing to be scared of. I think weeding out people that don't love programming is a good thing. Programming is not just a job, it's a passion.
I got the article from a friend of mine, Ram. Thanks Ram!
Here's an excellent article on the outsourcing mess. This guy hits it right on the head and it's something that us XP/Agile and Smalltalkers have been talking about for awhile. I think the smarter IT organizations will realize that they can get more done with less, but the less needs to be smarter folks. And how do you find and keep the smart people? Create an environment that inspires them and they will come. And to find out if you have a smart one, look at their code and put them on a "try before you buy" basis. India is nothing to be scared of. I think weeding out people that don't love programming is a good thing. Programming is not just a job, it's a passion.
I got the article from a friend of mine, Ram. Thanks Ram!
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Too Funny!
Oh boy! I had diet pepsi running through my nose on this one: The Paradise Pattern. I would suggest a port to C# would be just as advantageous....=) Yeah, it's poking fun at java again...=) But, it's too much F-U-N!
Oh boy! I had diet pepsi running through my nose on this one: The Paradise Pattern. I would suggest a port to C# would be just as advantageous....=) Yeah, it's poking fun at java again...=) But, it's too much F-U-N!
Ozzfest
Went to Ozzfest this Saturday. I missed two of my fave bands, Shadow's Fall and Killswitch Engage, but oh well...Cradle of Filth made up for it! They totally slayed. Voivod left a lot to be desired, but I did get to meet them and thank them for two great albums (Nothingface and Dimension Hatross). Finally, I was impressed with Marilyn Manson (I was expecting it to suck), but he put on a very good show. I was most disappointed with Disturbed (very average music and nothing to write home about...and what's the deal with beating up your mother?) and Korn (pure noise, hell, I wanted to beat up the singer after hearing his tripe and his really bad band). Finally, there was Ozzy and Zakk came out as a pimp. I could not stop laughing! Zakk and crew put on one hell of a show, but unfortuantely, try as he might, I think Ozzy is way over the hill. It was painful watching him, but the excellent backing band more than made up for it. Rusty, my bud that went with me, commented that Ozzy should only 2 songs per Ozzfest and then, I backed that up with Black Label Society being the headliners...Zakk is quite the showman and it would be great to see a full set of BLS...And hey, he can even throw in some Pride and Glory (which by the way, we stood in line to meet him, but he never showed! I wanted to beg for another P&G album!!!!!) Good time overall!
Went to Ozzfest this Saturday. I missed two of my fave bands, Shadow's Fall and Killswitch Engage, but oh well...Cradle of Filth made up for it! They totally slayed. Voivod left a lot to be desired, but I did get to meet them and thank them for two great albums (Nothingface and Dimension Hatross). Finally, I was impressed with Marilyn Manson (I was expecting it to suck), but he put on a very good show. I was most disappointed with Disturbed (very average music and nothing to write home about...and what's the deal with beating up your mother?) and Korn (pure noise, hell, I wanted to beat up the singer after hearing his tripe and his really bad band). Finally, there was Ozzy and Zakk came out as a pimp. I could not stop laughing! Zakk and crew put on one hell of a show, but unfortuantely, try as he might, I think Ozzy is way over the hill. It was painful watching him, but the excellent backing band more than made up for it. Rusty, my bud that went with me, commented that Ozzy should only 2 songs per Ozzfest and then, I backed that up with Black Label Society being the headliners...Zakk is quite the showman and it would be great to see a full set of BLS...And hey, he can even throw in some Pride and Glory (which by the way, we stood in line to meet him, but he never showed! I wanted to beg for another P&G album!!!!!) Good time overall!
Spammers, better run...
Read this article and let's start the ass whoppin'!
http://www.paulgraham.com/ffb.html
Read this article and let's start the ass whoppin'!
http://www.paulgraham.com/ffb.html
Paul Graham, CPS, Lisp, and Web Services
OK, so the major discussion this week on the lightweight languages list have been continuations. Paul Graham, who I am a big fan of and an extreme Lisp advocate, posted this link to one of his excellent articles. It talks about the way he implemented his web services in lisp and his design decisions. The interesting thing about the article is about how many extreme programming practices that he mentions (do the simplest possible thing, constant testing, test first, customer first, etc) and how a dynamic language can support the whole process. He also mentions using Continuation Passing Style to aid in keeping things in context for multiple invocations of the web services. I can clearly see where Avi Bryant and crew got some of their excellent ideas for Seaside! It also amazes how much the things that I embraced in the Smalltalk community come from the Lisp community. What amazes me even more is how much of this history is lost in the Java and corporate communities. It's amazing how many frameworks I see in Java that are subpar to things that I used in Smalltalk. Anyway, I think the scripting languages did not lose the history lesson and are continuing in the same tradition. I would much rather work in Ruby (or Javascript, Python, etc) than Java anyday of the week. Of course, ideally, I would love to work on Smalltalk full time because my days in that language were very enjoyable even though the circumstances of some of my projects was less than ideal. At least the language never got in my way!
Anyway, I must admit I love continuations now that I have played with them quite a bit in both Ruby and Dolphin Smalltalk. I think they can be easily used for handling contexts in event handling (think about mouse captures for drag and drop!) and any distributed service that needs context between invocations. It's amazing that this gem has been around for a very long time in the Scheme and Lisp communities. I'm even shocked to hear that people have a hard time with them. They seem very natural to me for the problems that we are trying to solve with them now. Nonetheless, they seem to have a bad reputation that I think is not warranted. They were a solution looking for a problem and that problem has been around, but we finally figured out what to do with it....Well, the Lisp and Scheme guys already knew what they were good for....=)
OK, so the major discussion this week on the lightweight languages list have been continuations. Paul Graham, who I am a big fan of and an extreme Lisp advocate, posted this link to one of his excellent articles. It talks about the way he implemented his web services in lisp and his design decisions. The interesting thing about the article is about how many extreme programming practices that he mentions (do the simplest possible thing, constant testing, test first, customer first, etc) and how a dynamic language can support the whole process. He also mentions using Continuation Passing Style to aid in keeping things in context for multiple invocations of the web services. I can clearly see where Avi Bryant and crew got some of their excellent ideas for Seaside! It also amazes how much the things that I embraced in the Smalltalk community come from the Lisp community. What amazes me even more is how much of this history is lost in the Java and corporate communities. It's amazing how many frameworks I see in Java that are subpar to things that I used in Smalltalk. Anyway, I think the scripting languages did not lose the history lesson and are continuing in the same tradition. I would much rather work in Ruby (or Javascript, Python, etc) than Java anyday of the week. Of course, ideally, I would love to work on Smalltalk full time because my days in that language were very enjoyable even though the circumstances of some of my projects was less than ideal. At least the language never got in my way!
Anyway, I must admit I love continuations now that I have played with them quite a bit in both Ruby and Dolphin Smalltalk. I think they can be easily used for handling contexts in event handling (think about mouse captures for drag and drop!) and any distributed service that needs context between invocations. It's amazing that this gem has been around for a very long time in the Scheme and Lisp communities. I'm even shocked to hear that people have a hard time with them. They seem very natural to me for the problems that we are trying to solve with them now. Nonetheless, they seem to have a bad reputation that I think is not warranted. They were a solution looking for a problem and that problem has been around, but we finally figured out what to do with it....Well, the Lisp and Scheme guys already knew what they were good for....=)
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
James Robertson
I've been reading Mr. Robertson's blog for a few days now and it's great to see he's as witty as ever. We butted heads a lot when I was at ParcPlace, but I always an intense respect for him. Anyway, check out his blog at here. It's clearly pro-Smalltalk and lots of anticedotes for the {} crowd. I think Mr. Robertson always felt I was on the Java side of the fence when I was ParcPlace, but I just felt ParcPlace should have fought Java harder and match it on features and marketing. Anyway, I love his enthusiasm and it's inspired me to try to take a more active role in the things that I like. Strangely, it's been reading his blog that has grown my interest in Python again. I still would pick Ruby if given the choice of Perl, Python, or Ruby. But, maybe that's because Ruby is like Smalltalk without the environment. Anyway, I got to go back to the java mines.
I've been reading Mr. Robertson's blog for a few days now and it's great to see he's as witty as ever. We butted heads a lot when I was at ParcPlace, but I always an intense respect for him. Anyway, check out his blog at here. It's clearly pro-Smalltalk and lots of anticedotes for the {} crowd. I think Mr. Robertson always felt I was on the Java side of the fence when I was ParcPlace, but I just felt ParcPlace should have fought Java harder and match it on features and marketing. Anyway, I love his enthusiasm and it's inspired me to try to take a more active role in the things that I like. Strangely, it's been reading his blog that has grown my interest in Python again. I still would pick Ruby if given the choice of Perl, Python, or Ruby. But, maybe that's because Ruby is like Smalltalk without the environment. Anyway, I got to go back to the java mines.
Sunday, August 03, 2003
KISS and Aerosmith
Well, I was one of the fortuanate this Saturday to witness the opening night of the Kiss and Aerosmith tour. Kiss are child hood idols of mine. When I was little, my world was simply Batman, Hulk, and Kiss. I was disappointed with Kiss when I saw them on their supposed "farewell" tour, but I think that was because Ace Frehley was doing good to hold the guitar (I'm sorry, but it's painful to see one of your heros to have fallen off the crest). Well, last night, they gave me the show I had wished when I saw them on the farewell tour! THEY ROCKED! They were everything I thought they would be when I was a kid. They didn't play everything I wanted them to (ala Calling Dr. Love, Charisma (hey, I can dream right?), Radioactive (yeah, I know, it's one of my all-time faves), Strutter, Two timer, etc). But, they covered most of the other bases. I swear I hope they never retire and they keep Tommy Thayer. He did exactly what Ace should have done the last time I saw them...=) The only thing I could do without is the canned Beth (get a damn keyboardist out there and do it proper! Karoake sucks!). So, since I've lived in this area for a short time, I've gotten to see Alice on Halloween and now Kiss on opening night! This place rules! Oh yeah, how was Aerosmith? The enitre was almost everything Done With Mirrors and post. In other words, very little classic Aerosmith and a lot of ballads. Tyler's voice seemed blown and they all looked tired except Joe Perry. I think he gave a great performance. I figured since Kiss only played 70's stuff from the classic line-up that Aerosmith would follow suit. Oh well, at least we got to hear some of their new "blues" album which was cool, but nothing mind blowing....The highlight of the evening was Kiss! I hope they never retire because I will never grow tired of Gene doing the blood and fire breathing thing. Much like I will never tired of Alice getting his chopped off or him holding himself up on crutches during 18. Can I just say it, last night "I WANTED THE BEST AND I GOT THE BEST!" I've now seen all of my childhood faves in concert and most of my fave 70's acts (now, if I could Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Halen (with roth), I would be set...).
Well, I was one of the fortuanate this Saturday to witness the opening night of the Kiss and Aerosmith tour. Kiss are child hood idols of mine. When I was little, my world was simply Batman, Hulk, and Kiss. I was disappointed with Kiss when I saw them on their supposed "farewell" tour, but I think that was because Ace Frehley was doing good to hold the guitar (I'm sorry, but it's painful to see one of your heros to have fallen off the crest). Well, last night, they gave me the show I had wished when I saw them on the farewell tour! THEY ROCKED! They were everything I thought they would be when I was a kid. They didn't play everything I wanted them to (ala Calling Dr. Love, Charisma (hey, I can dream right?), Radioactive (yeah, I know, it's one of my all-time faves), Strutter, Two timer, etc). But, they covered most of the other bases. I swear I hope they never retire and they keep Tommy Thayer. He did exactly what Ace should have done the last time I saw them...=) The only thing I could do without is the canned Beth (get a damn keyboardist out there and do it proper! Karoake sucks!). So, since I've lived in this area for a short time, I've gotten to see Alice on Halloween and now Kiss on opening night! This place rules! Oh yeah, how was Aerosmith? The enitre was almost everything Done With Mirrors and post. In other words, very little classic Aerosmith and a lot of ballads. Tyler's voice seemed blown and they all looked tired except Joe Perry. I think he gave a great performance. I figured since Kiss only played 70's stuff from the classic line-up that Aerosmith would follow suit. Oh well, at least we got to hear some of their new "blues" album which was cool, but nothing mind blowing....The highlight of the evening was Kiss! I hope they never retire because I will never grow tired of Gene doing the blood and fire breathing thing. Much like I will never tired of Alice getting his chopped off or him holding himself up on crutches during 18. Can I just say it, last night "I WANTED THE BEST AND I GOT THE BEST!" I've now seen all of my childhood faves in concert and most of my fave 70's acts (now, if I could Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Halen (with roth), I would be set...).
Monday, July 28, 2003
Excellent Pro-Smalltalk article
So, I was reading stuff this morning and came across this article. An excellent expose on comparing the complexities of Java and Smalltalk. It is very pro Smalltalk (like I would put a pro Java stance on this site!). ANYWAY, ENJOY!
np: Junkyard Jazz (CD from Boston street performers...Playing on trash cans and other stuff)
So, I was reading stuff this morning and came across this article. An excellent expose on comparing the complexities of Java and Smalltalk. It is very pro Smalltalk (like I would put a pro Java stance on this site!). ANYWAY, ENJOY!
np: Junkyard Jazz (CD from Boston street performers...Playing on trash cans and other stuff)
Things that make me smile
So, I was driving in the car this morning and thought about the things that make me smile. I was smiling from ear to ear on my way to work and I caught myself. Why was I smiling? And then, I remembered and it made me giggle. Yes, I am crazy, but that's besides the point! Here's the stuff that makes me smile:
My wife's sleepy glowing face in the morning (she has a slight smile and she looks so CUTE!).
My dog sleeping (I see a theme here....hmmm....).
The thought of being at my goal weight.
Happy vacation memories.
Figuring out some problem that had been plagueing me.
Thinking of programming in Smalltalk and Lisp.
Monkeys...Any monkeys...
Listening to an album that I love.
Hearing a riff for the first time and I go "MY GOD....I GOTTA LEARN THAT!"
Talking with good friends.
I thought I'd list off ten. So, what makes you smile?
now playing: Grand Magus-"Grand Magus" (Rock done the right way!)
So, I was driving in the car this morning and thought about the things that make me smile. I was smiling from ear to ear on my way to work and I caught myself. Why was I smiling? And then, I remembered and it made me giggle. Yes, I am crazy, but that's besides the point! Here's the stuff that makes me smile:
I thought I'd list off ten. So, what makes you smile?
now playing: Grand Magus-"Grand Magus" (Rock done the right way!)
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Continuations
Alright, I played arounda little bit with continuations in Dolphin Smalltalk and it was great! I worked on the Generator code that is in Hal Fulton's excellent book on Ruby. I rewrote the code in Ruby originally and had a lot of problems with it, but could not find the problem. Well, I ran the exact same code (same design and layout) in Dolphin and it worked perfectly. I think Ruby might have a problem with its local variables in its continuations, but I'll keep playing with it before I pass judgement. I did the Fibonacci number scheme which is boring, I know. But, the thing I love about continuations is the possibility of writing direct code (placing items in a stream) and using the continuations to get the next values. This is great for not only web navigation, but the handling of large amounts of data! Imagine writing code that processes the input stream as its coming and then writing directly back out to the output stream without the need of bringing both completely into memory. My next project is to do a PipedInput/PipedOutput stream implementation using continuations instead of threads. This way you could use the pipe within a thread, but still write your code in a more direct and accessible way.
Alright, I played arounda little bit with continuations in Dolphin Smalltalk and it was great! I worked on the Generator code that is in Hal Fulton's excellent book on Ruby. I rewrote the code in Ruby originally and had a lot of problems with it, but could not find the problem. Well, I ran the exact same code (same design and layout) in Dolphin and it worked perfectly. I think Ruby might have a problem with its local variables in its continuations, but I'll keep playing with it before I pass judgement. I did the Fibonacci number scheme which is boring, I know. But, the thing I love about continuations is the possibility of writing direct code (placing items in a stream) and using the continuations to get the next values. This is great for not only web navigation, but the handling of large amounts of data! Imagine writing code that processes the input stream as its coming and then writing directly back out to the output stream without the need of bringing both completely into memory. My next project is to do a PipedInput/PipedOutput stream implementation using continuations instead of threads. This way you could use the pipe within a thread, but still write your code in a more direct and accessible way.
Monday, July 21, 2003
Birthday
Well, I recently celebrated my 32nd birthday! You can check the pictures out here! The really cool thing was that my wife, Michelle, bought me the green and blue Smalltalk-80 books!!!!! I've waited and wanted these books for many years and now they are in my possession. Quite literally these are the proverbial holy grail of OO in my opinion! If you like, you can check out the picture!
I've been envious of the Dolphin Smalltalk guys for their pictures with their books, so here's mine!!!! Anyway, I'm going to eat some cake and send some emails to friends!
Well, I recently celebrated my 32nd birthday! You can check the pictures out here! The really cool thing was that my wife, Michelle, bought me the green and blue Smalltalk-80 books!!!!! I've waited and wanted these books for many years and now they are in my possession. Quite literally these are the proverbial holy grail of OO in my opinion! If you like, you can check out the picture!
I've been envious of the Dolphin Smalltalk guys for their pictures with their books, so here's mine!!!! Anyway, I'm going to eat some cake and send some emails to friends!
Monday, July 14, 2003
FS1R
I think I might have found THE synth! I've been wanting one of these things for awhile and I finally got one! I was somewhat at first to get one because of the mixed reviews (hard to program, no support, etc), but the sounds that I had heard had me hooked. Anyway, nothing prepared me for what was in store when I fired this puppy up the first time! OH MY GOD! This thing is simply amazing. The sounds are incredible. I was jamming to several of the presets in no time when my jaw was not resting on my keyboard...=) I can't wait to start programming this little beast! I was pouring over the manual and it is very skimpy, but that's the fun of a new synth is break it to make it do what you want. I love all of the human-like synth voices this guy has already and that make it all worth it. The coolest thing is that this synth has no samples in it (if you listen to a lot of the presets, you will swear that a ROMpler is underneath, but nope it's pure FM goodness!). Now, if I could get some time off from work (12 hour days leaves little time to synth out).
I think I might have found THE synth! I've been wanting one of these things for awhile and I finally got one! I was somewhat at first to get one because of the mixed reviews (hard to program, no support, etc), but the sounds that I had heard had me hooked. Anyway, nothing prepared me for what was in store when I fired this puppy up the first time! OH MY GOD! This thing is simply amazing. The sounds are incredible. I was jamming to several of the presets in no time when my jaw was not resting on my keyboard...=) I can't wait to start programming this little beast! I was pouring over the manual and it is very skimpy, but that's the fun of a new synth is break it to make it do what you want. I love all of the human-like synth voices this guy has already and that make it all worth it. The coolest thing is that this synth has no samples in it (if you listen to a lot of the presets, you will swear that a ROMpler is underneath, but nope it's pure FM goodness!). Now, if I could get some time off from work (12 hour days leaves little time to synth out).
Being Positive
It seems it is overtime again here at work. And the one thing that I find the most difficult is simply staying positive. You might ask me, "Blaine why do you want to stay positive during overtime?" It's a mental state that I like being at and I hate feeling negative and run down. Being positive lifts your spirits and lets you soar while you have people trying to weigh you down with albatrosses. It's also distressing when you look around and there's nothing but "soul crushers" around you that would love to see you fail. So, to weather these trying times, I try to keep a positive attitude. It's hard and I fail a lot, but it's lofty goal worth obtaining. When I'm feeling positive, I'm more productive and sure of myself. So, what do I do to keep my spirits up? Simple: Funk music and my wife. She knows how to put the right spin on things when I'm feeling down. And well, funk music is all very positive and has a great outlook on life despite obstacles in your way (my faves are Graham Central Station and Parliament in case you're wondering). And one more thing before I end this blog, positiveness spills over to other people. I for one would rather cheer people on than put them down. I want to bring everyone up and I think if everyone did this instead of being "grouchy" or "putting down someone else" then this earth would be a lot better to work and play in...So, think funky...=)
It seems it is overtime again here at work. And the one thing that I find the most difficult is simply staying positive. You might ask me, "Blaine why do you want to stay positive during overtime?" It's a mental state that I like being at and I hate feeling negative and run down. Being positive lifts your spirits and lets you soar while you have people trying to weigh you down with albatrosses. It's also distressing when you look around and there's nothing but "soul crushers" around you that would love to see you fail. So, to weather these trying times, I try to keep a positive attitude. It's hard and I fail a lot, but it's lofty goal worth obtaining. When I'm feeling positive, I'm more productive and sure of myself. So, what do I do to keep my spirits up? Simple: Funk music and my wife. She knows how to put the right spin on things when I'm feeling down. And well, funk music is all very positive and has a great outlook on life despite obstacles in your way (my faves are Graham Central Station and Parliament in case you're wondering). And one more thing before I end this blog, positiveness spills over to other people. I for one would rather cheer people on than put them down. I want to bring everyone up and I think if everyone did this instead of being "grouchy" or "putting down someone else" then this earth would be a lot better to work and play in...So, think funky...=)
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