. .

general

How the Other Half Lives

February 10, 2011 15:00:00.000

One of the things that's been a real revelation to me in this job is the whole "how the other half lives" thing. What do I mean by that?

Well, back when I worked at Cincom, it was pretty easy for me to push stuff out to the web,and to access whatever I wanted to see on the web. I worked from home, on a machine I had full access to. At this new job, I'm seeing how things are for software developers in big shops:

  • Locked down, developer level access only Windows clients
  • Firewalls that block everything - streaming media, tons of blog sites, anything related to video games, and so on

Now, the blockage makes sense to the IT department - after all, you don't want your proxy server taken down when everyone wants to watch the latest viral YouTube video. On the other hand, it makes it clear to me how some of what I was doing at Cincom didn't always reach the target audience. Tutorial videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook? Blocked. Public Store Repository? Blocked. Heck, the only reason that the audio and video I hosted on the Cincom servers is accessible is because that site isn't a "known" streaming service.

Fortunately, I still have my personal machine, and once I get to working at home more often I'll be back on the public net more continuously. For people working fulltime in a large organization's office though? The wider net really only exists before and after work, and that means in between family obligations.

That's why all of the social media outreach I'm so in favor of can't be the only thing you do. At this point in time, there are still a ton of people who won't ever see it - at least during working hours.

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

web

He Complains Too Much

February 10, 2011 13:46:53.000

I'd have more sympathy for Tim Bray's rant about ajax usage and weird url strings if twitter.com/timbray fell on the floor. But look gang - it actually goes to his twitter stream. Sure, along the way it redirects to the funky hashbang url and picks up the ajaxified stuff he goes on about, but still - the simple url actually works.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Pharoconf Today

February 10, 2011 7:51:13.873

There's a Pharo event going on today - you can follow the news via Twitter.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

js4u

JS 4U 31: Defining Your Own Class

February 10, 2011 7:32:54.703

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at creating your own Javascript classes. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.

Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.

To watch now, click on the image below:

Class Creation

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: ,

Enclosures:
[js4u31-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 1982809 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 45: Processes in Smalltalk

February 9, 2011 9:53:56.872

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at the process model in Smalltalk. While the screencast uses Pharo, the same principles apply across at least Squeak, Pharo, Cuis, and VisualWorks. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

Smalltalk Processes

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u45-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 8247422 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

Macintosh

Mac Problems

February 9, 2011 8:23:32.110

I can't get the daily screencast posted - my MBP seems to be unable to connect to the wifi here (even though every other device I have can).  This leads me to believe that I have a hardware issue of somekind. I have a call into Apple, but with the ice/snow storm in progress here in Dallas, I doubt I'll make it to the Apple store until I get back home.  Sigh.

Update: The good news is, it's not the Mac - I walked a short distance to a McDonalds, and the wifi connects just fine. The bad news is, I now need to talk to (probably clueless) hotel staff. Bah.

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

weather

More Ice?

February 8, 2011 7:43:04.752

This looks like fun:

At least it warmed up while I was back at home, and all of last week's ice went away....

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

js4u

JS 4U 30: Creating New Objects

February 8, 2011 7:13:45.302

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at creating your own Javascript objects. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.

Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.

To watch now, click on the image below:

Cookies

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: ,

Enclosures:
[js4u30-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 2437881 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Smalltalk in NYC

February 7, 2011 22:29:38.673

Arden Thomas will be talking about Polycephaly at the next NY STUG meeting:

This presentation discusses some basic strategies for how Smalltalk can leverage multi-core computers, and the results of using a new simple framework that is now included with Cincom’s VisualWorks and ObjectStudio.

February 24th at 6:30 pm

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

games

That Podcast Returning

February 7, 2011 13:59:36.353

We'll be posting a new edition of "That Podcast" this week - Michael Fincher and I will be doing another round on "Dead Money" now that I've successfully gotten through it. 

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 44: The Squeak File List Tool

February 7, 2011 0:18:38.899

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at the file list tool (editor) in Squeak. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

Swap Squeak Buttons

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u44-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 3602590 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

games

Fun with Minecraft

February 6, 2011 23:57:28.679

I have friends who have done some very cool things in Minecraft, but I was pretty pleased with how this room came out. I mostly dug stuff up while my daughter made the interior look nice:

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

podcastAAC

IM 16: Refactoring (AAC)

February 6, 2011 11:27:00.131

Welcome to episode 16 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave Buck and I talk about an upcoming refactoring course he's giving over the web, and we touch on a number of topics related to refactoring. You can get registration information for Dave's course at simberon.com

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

Technorati Tags: ,

Enclosures:
[im16.m4a ( Size: 18478609 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

podcast

IM 16: Refactoring

February 6, 2011 11:26:45.031

Welcome to episode 16 of Independent Misinterpretations - a Smalltalk and dynamic language oriented podcast with James Robertson, Michael Lucas-Smith, and David Buck. This week Dave Buck and I talk about an upcoming refactoring course he's giving over the web, and we touch on a number of topics related to refactoring. You can get registration information for Dave's course at simberon.com

You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or any other podcatching software) using this feed directly or in iTunes with this one.

To listen now, you can either download the mp3 edition, or the AAC edition. The AAC edition comes with chapter markers. You can subscribe to either edition of the podcast directly in iTunes; just search for Smalltalk and look in the Podcast results. You can subscribe to the mp3 edition directly using this feed, or the AAC edition using this feed using any podcatching software. You can also download the podcast in ogg format.

If you like the music we use, please visit Josh Woodward's site. We use the song Troublemaker for our intro/outro music. I'm sure he'd appreciate your support!

If you have feedback, send it to jarober@gmail.com - or visit us on Facebook - you can subscribe in iTunes using this iTunes enabled feed.. If you enjoy the podcast, pass the word - we would love to have more people hear about Smalltalk!

Technorati Tags: ,

Enclosures:
[im16.mp3 ( Size: 13404233 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

weather

Does Weather.com Know Something?

February 6, 2011 10:48:23.971

Glaciers covered the entire state of Maryland and no one told me:

These graphics glitches are getting pretty amusing :)

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

JNIPort Ready for Squeak, VisualWorks, and Pharo

February 5, 2011 16:16:50.030

JNIPort is now working in Squeak, Pharo, and VW:

JNIPort is a Smalltalk library which allows Java code to be invoked from Smalltalk. It acts as a bridge between the world of Smalltalk objects and a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) where Java code is executing.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

news

Waiting For News

February 5, 2011 9:58:11.172

I haven't tried "The Daily" yet, but John Gruber's review isn't making me more interested:

Why wait for The Daily when you can open Mobile Safari and see the home page for any of your favorite news sites in 10 seconds? The point of native apps is to provide a better experience than websites can offer. Watching a splash screen rotate a “Loading…” spinner for 80 seconds isn’t it.

I'm frequently on very slow wifi at hotels now, so that 80 seconds might turn into gosh knows how long for me. He makes a great point bout how Flipboard gets something in front of you fast, and then continues loading in the background. That's what this sort of news app needs to do.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

A First Look at Smalltalk

February 4, 2011 16:40:02.000

A software developer shares his thoughts on Smalltalk - it's a good read, focusing on Pharo.

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

weather

Winter in Dallas

February 4, 2011 15:29:47.589

This is very unusual for Dallas - an ice storm is one thing, but having three days of sub-freezing weather (keeping the ice on the roads) followed by a couple of inches of snow? That's weird. Here was what I faced leaving the hotel to get to DFW this morning - bear in mind that there's pretty solid ice under that mess:

I-635 was better near the airport, but here's what it looked like near the hotel:

The airport was no joy, either:

It's not all bad though - I'm catching an earlier flight only because of a delay, so I do manage to get home a bit early :)

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

smalltalk

Alice's Restaurant and Collections

February 4, 2011 9:38:48.000

Where did some of the Smalltalk Collection protocol come from? Well, according to this relayed recollection from Dan Ingalls, it came from Alice's Restaurant:

But I recognized it right away, here’s how “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” transitions from the littering trial to the draft:
"Came to talk about the draft. They got a building down New York City, it’s called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected."

If that's true, it's hilarious :)

Technorati Tags:

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

weather

More Exciting Weather in Dallas

February 4, 2011 7:24:27.293

Keeping in mind that there's still ice on the roads (4 days after the ice storm, mind you), this is what I woke up to today:

Looks like another day of working from the hotel - driving in to the office yesterday had some white knuckle moments, and getting to the airport later today will be enough excitement for me...

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

st4u

ST 4U 43: Recovering Lost Code in Squeak

February 4, 2011 7:19:57.193

Today's Smalltalk 4 You takes a look at recovering lost code in Squeak using the change list tool. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube. To watch now, click on the image below:

Swap Squeak Buttons

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[st4u43-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 5384000 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

science

Spray on Skin

February 3, 2011 14:10:40.000

This is just really, really cool.

Technorati Tags: ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

media

Make that Content Available

February 3, 2011 9:41:07.000

Who knew? The media's theory about making content available during brief "windows" drives up piracy rates outside of those windows. TechDirt explains:

One of the main reasons why people access unauthorized copies is because they can't get legitimate copies. The movie industry is so infatuated with "windows" that it doesn't seem to realize that restricting how people can access their movies only drives more and more people to unauthorized means.

That, and the fact that the media outfits are consumed with the idea of selling you N copies of the same content, where N equals the number of devices you own. Here's a hot tip: if I have the DVD, I shouldn't need to buy a digital copy to put on my iPad. So long as I bought the DVD, I should be able to make use of that content on a personal basis any way I want. Sure, if I start selling copies, or even giving them away, that's a problem. If I want to watch on another device? Not so much.

Technorati Tags: , ,

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This

js4u

JS 4U 29: Cookies

February 3, 2011 7:20:20.869

Javascript 4 U

Today's Javascript 4 You. Today we take a look at dropping and reading cookies in Javascript. If you have trouble viewing it here in the browser, you can also navigate directly to YouTube.

Join the Facebook Group to discuss the tutorials. You can view the archives here.

To watch now, click on the image below:

Cookies

If you have trouble viewing that directly, you can click here to download the video directly. If you need the video in a Windows Media format, then download that here.

You can also watch it on YouTube:

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Enclosures:
[js4u29-iPhone.m4v ( Size: 4031719 )]

posted by James Robertson

 Share Tweet This