tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171404052011-10-22T14:23:25.219+01:00Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-72477933704425405112009-03-09T23:59:00.000Z2010-12-02T01:49:01.045Z

Hey Google,I really hate that as soon as I sign in to write (which inevitably leads to a few searches for links) you start recording every search result I click on.Where's the "No evil for me, thanks" checkbox?Blog end

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-21840252291915339992009-03-08T23:23:00.000Z2010-12-02T01:49:42.357Z

While I was writing this blog, these are some of the quotes I was reading.They are not all profoundly earth-shattering, but if they don't raise a few smiles then I am afraid your experience is insufficient for the current position.Unix stores the smarts in the user; Windows stores the smarts in the OS.If you can't traumatize a child at least once a day, what's the point of having them?This

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-72146549240399027802009-03-07T23:55:00.000Z2010-12-02T01:51:02.420Z

(Sorry for your trouble but (I like it, I like the links. To remind us there is something ... below us. I like that) in plain text that's merely more parenthetical.)And I'm an artistic coder  with sensitive moments when    scripts surge on the slide to ssh.No.It was more like one of Homer's "disastertunities" - first thought that popped into my head when I saw nothing was "About time I tried a

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01349518090079293409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-73506252038586837622009-03-07T22:45:00.001Z2009-03-07T12:21:48.640Z

A long time ago, well a few years back, in a land far far away (from any roving Death Stars) I wanted to expand the sound of my malleable music mp3s beyond the squeaky speakers of the little laptop.So, as is fitting for a young hero at the start of a quest, I wandered on down to the nearest large settlement. Slight problem with trolls along the way (see here for more details) but I arrived at the

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-4657768486332425312009-03-07T17:13:00.001Z2009-03-07T17:13:00.915Z

Today's a "head" day because of the confluence of a number of headings.Firstly the youngster (who's not any more as young as that page makes him look) allowed to wonder whether my common greeting of "Howya head" originated from Dublin or Wexford.I opined that it is Dublinese, but I ain't sure so I went online and quickly got side-tracked to the commoner phrase "How's your head", which turns out

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-43522357040450752182009-03-07T17:13:00.000Z2009-03-07T17:13:00.435Z

I'd like to take a quote from Matt Hackett completely out of contextwhich method is more readable is typically subjective, making that irrelevant and wonder about it for a bit.In the context I ripped that from, Matt was comparing "if" and "switch" (within the bigger context of JavaScript) and he went on to explicate the balances between efficiency and readability (and to quote his colleague

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-75652865805005671032009-03-07T12:18:00.000Z2009-03-07T12:18:01.002Z

Found an interesting project over there, but their wiki set me off a-ranting, and reminded me of some other blogs which got me a-thinking about languages, and if I can't rant here then WTF?The interesting project is "enough", and their goal is to "design and implement the computing platform of the future"Let's set up some points of agreement first (as in: if you don't agree with me on these,

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-68404436271647057652009-03-07T11:37:00.000Z2009-03-07T11:39:49.611Z

James Shore speculates on the difference between an old fashioned designer and one of those new-fangled continuous designers:The main difference is that a traditional designer invents a good design and a continuous designer reviews an existing design and comes up with ways to make it better.Interesting side-effect - the new guys have it easier: recognition is easier than inventionThere's no such

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-7086243237665109802009-03-07T11:10:00.000Z2009-03-07T11:10:00.876Z

[[ Darf ich dul go dtí an little boy's room. Please. Miss! ]]These links don't just grow on trees you know, please support our sponsors:I think perhaps the most important problem is that we are trying to understand the fundamental workings of the universe via a language devised for telling one another when the best fruit isOk, back again ? The redditors are gone, and that brief drunken fling with

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-36438967647730847262009-03-07T11:01:00.000Z2009-03-07T11:01:00.508Z

When you can kill yourself ?I was raped by the teacher of my second favourite subject.I was paid for the privelege. "Settlement" is something they paid for, not something I got, so payment only covers the holidays, not the ongoing effects. And the trauma turns out to be something (that it looks like) I need.If you were to talk to Freud, you'd be frustrated after a few minutes, especially after

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-75990008336460838302009-03-07T10:41:00.001Z2009-03-07T10:46:01.080Z

The first time you do something it's Science. The second time, it's Engineering. The third time it technol, ..., just being a technician.I'm a scientist, once I do something I want to do something else.I'm a Software Engineer. When I do something I want to repeat itreadablyreproduciblyreliablyso that the technicians can do it.There are 10 kind of peopleThose who don't know binaryThe assholes who

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-4527048419258828842009-03-07T07:03:00.001Z2009-03-07T09:51:07.915Z

(Some names have been changed to suggest subversion)I use at least 5 distinct logins on the LAN at worka.murphy (one laptop and many servers)builder (a few (virtual) servers)tracker (one server)root (on build and tracker servers, where I am root)root (on many test servers, where I'm just visiting)And on the home LAN there are three morea.murphy (one laptop)development (a few servers)IT guy (

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-25713888451785974822009-03-07T07:03:00.000Z2009-03-07T08:41:08.955Z

Where was I ?Oh yeah, I was reading.I liked Joel back when he knew a question or two, before he turned into one of those crazy bosses that approves things.If you have a couple of beers and a thirst for arcana, Stevey's another first on his first name (I'd love one of those) who rants a good question . 'Twasn't he who twitteredWhereas it is possible to read without writing, the converse is

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-37250300652792296932008-12-12T22:28:00.001Z2008-12-20T06:12:47.448Z

So there I am working away tonight, trying to install the latest build on some server, from home, with a dodgy net connection. ysh is still raising NotImplementedErrors so I'm taking the full log by copy-and-paste-and-run-and-copy-and-paste.Yes, I've heard of screen and the like, but I prefer going back-to-basics when considering a new feature, as it allows much more flexibility in discarding use

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-89843317993713107982008-11-25T00:10:00.010Z2008-11-25T03:12:50.390Z

The internet came back half an hour after I left for the office but the water was gone by the time I got home again. Got a few hours kip, woke up this "morning" and my wife was gone. Got a slice of toast, the peanut butter was gone. Tried asking you but I don't think you were reddi yet.But I keep coming back to the same old questions:When you get right down to it, what've you got, right, down, up

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902635691894805360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-42757339809738173742008-11-13T04:52:00.004Z2008-11-13T05:03:59.548Z

No bailouts required.And if you don't believe it,    you can copy and paste this to a doctest file: >>> class Cacher: ... def __init__(self): ... self.value_in_database = 0 ... ... def very_slow_database_access(self): ... return self.value_in_database ... ... @property ... def show(self): ... result =

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902635691894805360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-69507697333530502742008-09-20T04:35:00.004+01:002008-09-20T05:24:51.854+01:00

As you are following the standard procedure to install the Cisco VPN client you will come to an instruction which says you must run ./vpn_installStopHave you tried that already and seen errors likewhen you start the vpn servicecisco_ipsec.ko -1 Invalid module formatdmesg shows errors like$dmesg | grep ciscocisco_ipsec: version magic '2.6.22.9-1mdvcustom SMP mod_unload 686 ' should be '2.6.22.9-

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-32136488838946000972008-09-04T02:16:00.001+01:002008-09-04T02:21:39.754+01:00

Craig Duckett takes a swipe at the poor benighted Christians on one of his pages, with the (probably) unconsidered If all the words in the world were suddenly removed, isn't reality that which remains?To remove all the words means to remove all the people, so you are now on Unearth. Ask Jim Baggot (En passant, isn't it great how many Gedankenexperimenten start out on Unearth, and then proceed to

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-49866806397411192502008-08-23T06:56:00.002+01:002008-08-23T06:58:54.775+01:00

Ok, here's the thingI have this fag in a whalebone corset dragging his dick across my cheek, so I thought I should share.If you do not understand basic build jargon you're gonna be, like so bored already, so a quick sanity check: if 4.5/RC11 is the not the current candidate for the latest release you should go hereAnd here's the thing, it's the same thing (or slight variations) every time. What

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-79515263561790012062008-06-30T18:57:00.008+01:002008-08-25T00:05:45.974+01:00

This very nice blogger re-opened comments on his post too late, so I had to answer here: 1. When did you switch? 2. Which version of Windows did you switch from? 3. Which OS did you switch to? 4. Why did you switch to your current OS?1. September 19892. Windows 3.113. Xenix4. We could get 12 users on the same 80386 as used to be able to handle just one.Interesting fact from before Internet

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-21191130295620242152008-06-21T07:03:00.000+01:002008-06-21T06:21:11.978+01:00

Yes, we can.It's software, anything's passible

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-78303028917231284232008-01-25T02:50:00.004Z2008-02-26T02:33:48.342Z

Some rules for programmingIf I were you I wouldn't start from 1 at all, at allNo non-programmers in the environment.No less than one failing test to startNo more than one change between commitsNo less than one fix per runNo more than one idea at a timeNever less than one more bug to be found, ...No more than 2 whiskeys for prototypingNever drink alcohol before hitting "Send"As simple as required.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-6038731479899614092008-01-24T16:43:00.000Z2008-01-24T18:05:53.957Z

Sometimes being able to invent real email addresses while offline is worth the few measly currency units for a domain. The email below is a straight copy and paste from just before I hit "Send".Well, some names have been changed, obviously. Have you seen the size of the lads at The Breezes B&B ? Lovely scenery though. And a huge bay window to sit in and snap away. I'd recommend it if you're on

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01349518090079293409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-80801660704369717122007-12-06T01:40:00.000Z2007-12-06T02:23:49.345Z

Reg takes the "glass half full" view, Bob takes the "glass half empty" view, while Jonathan moseys up to the bar and declaims "That's not my glass, mine was full. Who's been drinking from my glass. Oi, barkeep..."Meanwhile I saw Ratatouille on the weekend and I think Monsieur Gusteau's book is relevant: "Anybody Can Cook", but Anton Ego phrases it more exactly: "Not everyone can become a great

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-15699415942932581522007-10-16T01:40:00.000+01:002007-10-16T04:06:19.097+01:00

Spent a wee while tonight adding a little common sense (and self reference) to the Open Mind Commons.I've been reading around and about it for quite a while now, and even went so far as to download version 2.1 about a year and a half ago. Never got a lot further than that with programming it but I kept a-reading and a-wondering, and tonight's excursion to their wiki brought my few doubts to the

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-29082525599351512662007-06-12T02:29:00.000+01:002007-06-12T03:38:11.733+01:00

Went along to Amazon tonight, as is my wont when I need a little retail therapy.Jeff and I: we go way back, he's been minding my cards and filling my shelves for over a decade now. Ever since he threw in some free post-its into his first parcel (with "The End Of Science" and "The Art Of War" !! No, seriously, I just checked.) I've been hooked.I especially like the recommendations, and have not

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1024793186054836992007-06-09T03:23:00.000+01:002007-06-09T04:16:17.440+01:00

While reading Mindware this evening I went to get the bottle of cider for a refill. And in turning to look for it I solved half the "problem" of reaching for it.Andy Clark makes a persuasive case for the lack of an homunculus in elaborating on the lower level connectedness of perception and action. He argues that we do not necessarily perceive, think, act; but that the action is already part of

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-59940385259834116682007-05-18T02:28:00.000+01:002007-05-18T03:20:44.154+01:00

Short version: use TestDisk. Get it now, before you need it. Download from here. Or get it on a boot CD, such as Hiren's. Then keep it near your PC.Longer version:I'm the buildmeister for a software company, and we build on 3 different Linux distros, so the build machine has 4 distros installed, each to its own partition. Plus a partition for the source code, plus a partition for the releases,

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-88010728249311727482007-05-01T05:07:00.000+01:002007-06-17T21:30:47.714+01:00

I'm long enough in the tooth now that there are few enough things to get me screaming at the PC, the Google bar's habit of stealing focus in Firefox is one of them, but this post by GraemeF was definitely another.I got suckered into reading it by the mention of "MetaCode" in the title, which remains a fascinating idea, but the feeling crept up that here was someone with all the right questions,

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-90377552176007141942007-04-13T23:10:00.000+01:002007-04-13T23:39:45.463+01:00

When you can invent your own course ?Stiff seems to have created (crafted) his own course, and it makes for very interesting reading. I seem to have opened 15 links in new tabs before I got from his blog to mine (not counting the links which went to Amazon, can't afford that these days).Given the quality of the links Stiff comes across as erudite and experienced, so it was a surprise to see his

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-74114540091307518652007-03-05T15:22:00.000Z2007-10-16T04:29:48.585+01:00

Mark Lutz remembered to "import this", but forgot to actually read it before announcing: "In Python, we say that explicit is better than implicit (that is, EIBTI)"Premature abbreviation is the root of all evil.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1159463945434345782006-09-28T18:17:00.000+01:002007-06-12T03:51:59.028+01:00

Because programming makes you feel a bit sheepish.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1153539133158839202006-07-22T04:21:00.000+01:002007-06-12T03:53:11.507+01:00

Why is IDEA better than vi ? It understands (more of) the language you are trying to writeWhy is vi better than IDEA ? You don't have to write Java !But seriously folks,

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1152111414705724692006-07-05T14:42:00.000+01:002007-06-12T03:54:57.024+01:00

In the canon of coders' religious wars tab-vs-spaces is one of the greats. Up there with brace-style as an enduring indicator of what coders like to do when there's no code to be written.So it might be good to see an actual advance in the debate: "elastic tabstops" as proposed by Nick Gravgaard.Of course this is a guarded welcome, becuase tabs-vs-spaces is a great ol' time-waster, and braces

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1151516782497213022006-06-28T18:37:00.000+01:002007-06-12T03:56:07.711+01:00

"Around here, we put the FUN in dysFUNctual", so "Please leave your values at the front desk", because the "bowling ball wouldn't"So, ..., click already.Why are you still here ?

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1150840803910494142006-06-20T21:50:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:13.066Z

Been reviewing more code, both officially (for those who work in the same cubicle farm) and unofficially (trying to use some free stuff).In the midst of some excellent code down on the farm and I came across this wee gem: if found == True:Ouch !If it was within the free stuff, I would have snickered and moved on. But this wasn't just reading some code, this was "A Review", and I've been

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1150834464792148932006-06-20T20:33:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:12.952Z

(One more thing that might be wrong if you cannot use all fonts in gvim on Linux)I've been happily vimming away for years, and enjoying the upgrade to vim 7.0 for weeks.So they give me this new server to play with, and I head off to set it up my way. Well not exactly my way (others will be logging in), but close enough.And naturally I set about installing vim 7 first.Had to edit a few details to

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1149167053172451562006-06-01T12:59:00.000+01:002007-03-14T07:17:28.051Z

I like managers.Well, ..., some of them.Well, ..., a few of them.Actually: very few of them.Ok, ok, just a pair of them.But I'd really like to be as foolish as the ones I do like.I remember one manager, who was a mate of mine when I coded in Silicon Valley, and he was some fool!You'd be in this meeting (or other), and you could see he just didn't understand what was going on. And the conversation

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1147689760885022932006-05-15T11:40:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:12.692Z

Sitting therapy:Sometimes I sit and think andSometimes I just sit

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1147184418014762572006-05-09T13:37:00.002+01:002006-11-14T16:58:12.579Z

That Joel guy keeps racking up the quotable quotes.His latest blog starts with the cute codetry(){ ...}catch(Exception *){ print("call customer service");}// i guess i'm done!But Joel carries on to notice that "One of the hallmarks of a broken system is when there's just no possible way that the programmer who is writing code that talks to customers can ever get feedback from those

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1146160001760817732006-04-27T16:44:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:12.205Z

I've been away for a while (couple of years in fact), but have recently returned to writing Java, and the most appropriate expression does seem to be "Aaaaaargh!"OK, so I've been writing Python for the last year or so, so I'm spoiled for expressibility. But Java is worse, far worse, than I remember.We know the classic examples of over-abstraction in Java, which leads to the obvious quesion: why

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1146128051978885512006-04-27T09:34:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:12.092Z

Quality Control, n: Assuring that the quality of a product does not get out of hand and add to the cost of its manufacture or design.On the other hand, the Linux philosophy is 'laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong one. 'Do it yourself'. That's it. -- Linus TorvaldsOr, to put it another way, if you see a long line of rats streaming off of a ship, the correct assumption is not: "Gosh, I bet

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1145981658308781712006-04-25T17:01:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:11.957Z

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1143258919362466562006-03-24T19:46:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.813Z

From 1.1 to 1.3So that we might abandon the Berkley back end and switch to Subversion's own fsfs back end. The Berkely installation has been a constant source of grief, requiring "svn recover" far too often. At least fortnightly, and it needs to be done by someone with root privelege on the repository server which is, of course, me. Always seems to happen on those days when I sank down gratefully

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1142449087076463112006-03-15T18:12:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.672Z

Been a while since I blogged at all - I've been up to my oxters in getting coPYcat running for presentation to the MSc committee, which brougt up a few "of course" points:Of course I only got it working in the wee hours of deadline dayOf course it doesn't actually work fullyOf course the real horrible bug turned out to be something sillyOf course they weren't actually interested in the running

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1139321591260293842006-02-07T13:13:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.553Z

When I can write Python instead ?Because I am trying to adapt an existing piece of software which was written in Lisp. Well, Common Lisp actually, but hey, I have no problem with commoners, some of my best ...Jokes aside - how many different dialects are there ? I seem to be entering a world where they take the "programmable programming language" bit seriously. Which is A Good Thing to my (wee)

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1138731839698259302006-01-31T18:07:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.440Z

When you can write your own language?Watch out for punchline in the script that follows. In particular I like the fact that the programmer wrote Python, but the program wrote "Pythonn", and the program runs in PythonnThis could be fun ! ... "Mython", "Highthon", "yThon" , ....An example for Pythonistas is belowmyths.pluralise() only adds attributes to a blank class, but there's no "punches" in

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1138111841994225492006-01-24T13:53:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.261Z

A few weeks back I saw a post from aimaz which used Python to download and look at a lastfm's user's topartists.Like many others I thought "cool", but primarily because it had never occurred to me that all that lastfm data might be available to me too. Doh !So I went off and did a wee improvement on aimaz' idea. The script finds all topartists for a group of users, then finds how often each

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1137164692183340402006-01-13T12:54:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.133Z

Seeing as you're here, you've probably seen the short version already, so here's the long version -A few years back, when I worked for another company, we used FogBugz for bug tracking. It was a good system - inexpensive, flexible and simple, and quite sufficient for our needs. Particularly nice features included the ability to handle customer emails easily, so easily that we added menu items to

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1134126103342603862005-12-09T10:37:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:11.019Z

I was creating a new issue about improving the searching for issues (love those self-reflexive ones) this morning when I got to the bit about:"This should be added to the Search Page so that the improvements can be combined with the other" ... thingies, yokies, whatchamacallems, ... predicates. Yup, that's the word - what does it mean?So away with me to dictionary.com, but they had no definitions

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1133533341814470582005-12-02T11:40:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:10.891Z

If you zoom right out past design and architecture and specification and business case ... a program looks like the phone system.If you zoom right in on the code it looks more like lego blocks: code is not so much written as it is assembled, coders constantly re-use the same blocks over, and over again.These blocks are used in various sizes and have been called different names:Marvin Minsky

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1133523321701061742005-12-02T11:32:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:10.780Z

Because it won't stay dead !AI is the vampyr of programming.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1133519374411276732005-12-02T10:22:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:10.644Z

When you can watch some crazy videos instead:There's the flashing house, the guy who lost his lotto ticket, some funny cats, the gourmet shot, a penny for the nice skeleton, and more over at the GVOD blog.But my favourite is definitely the Matrix Ping Pong.Thank you Michael (and the video-makers of course), that cheered me up no end.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1133173830168713762005-11-28T10:22:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:10.436Z

When it is (relatively) easy to set up another blog and put the clutter over there.I've taken out the musical listings, and put them in their own blog. And the Alabama 3 mix CD is nearing completion, so I'm publishing the lists over there. I've been mixing since early October, and the list of artists behind each track just keeps getting bigger - now averaging about 15 different artists per

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1132834606096669522005-11-24T11:58:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:09.997Z

We cause accidents.There are no laws in programming, and only one God: Murphy.How can there be laws for magic ?

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1132136255628958522005-11-16T09:52:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:09.865Z

In The Society of The Mind (21.1 The Pronouns Of The Mind), Marvin Minsky said:"We often say what we want to say in fewer words than might seem possible." (Unless we are coding COBOL, of course :) "Many people consider a pronoun like 'it' to be an abbreviation or substitute for another phrase used recently [...] In other words, pronouns do not signify objects or words; instead, they represent

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1131468642483907362005-11-03T14:30:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:09.474Z

Firstly - isn't that backwards?Shouldn't the tests drive the development ? And so shouldn't we try to generate the source from tests?No, it is forwards:Generating tests from source does not necessarily mean "source-driven" development - A test-generator might be used after source development, which was driven from the "most significant" tests written by the coder. In this scenario the generator

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1131528079599609462005-11-02T09:10:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:09.568Z

The natural state of test code is unwritten, especially when the tests are passing.Writing test code can shift your paradigm, as completely as C++ did when I knew C, or as swiftly as C when all I knew was COBOL. Well-tested code is blocks known to fit well in certain slot-patterns. And you can hammer those blocks into any shape you like, then refactor the shine on it till it becomes less like a

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1131530568515486482005-11-01T09:36:00.000Z2006-11-14T16:58:09.723Z

Other Engineers are bad analogies for Software Engineers. This is well known to all programmers who have sat through some Computer Science, and is a cliché to build masters. We are probably bad analogies for them as well, and I wonder what The Engineers heard about us ? Hopefully some of it was good.They are far more scientific than us, closer to the true knowledge that Science is really about

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1130497208657706712005-10-28T11:59:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.743Z

Tadhg, Joe, Tim, other coders who disturb my typing try to catch my eye and then wait for me to join them.No one else understands.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1130497143828352692005-10-28T11:53:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.623Z

Just found that I have to rename "branch" to "build", on an issue page. That could prove interesting.A good rename is a valuable refactoring: it allows one examine (in this example) how well I have distinguished and encapsulated the "branch" concept.Further, it is one of those (beautiful) self-regarding enquiries - one can't really examine the naming of "branch" without there being a reasonable

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1129718396823002722005-10-19T11:26:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.522Z

Because it is not finished yet. I'm not even sure if it fits onto that CD I burnt this morning.If you are here because you got a free CD, then let me know whether it fit, please.The artists are Alabama 3 (with a little help from Johnny Cash, [Site looks good, but doesn't work for me], and some movie dialogue thrown in for effect), and the tracklisting is:IntroOutlaw Fixin' To LiveLast Train To

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1129716728395642572005-10-19T11:01:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.407Z

What's the difference between an Irish meeting "at 9 o'clock", and an English meeting "at 9 o'clock"? About half-an-hour (boom-boom).Because to the Irish "at 9 o'clock" means leaving home then, and we'll all arrive where-ever it is within plus or minus of the intended event, as long as there's reasonable drink there. Ah no - coffee's fine at that hour, as long as it's decent coffee.But some of

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1129635645631256202005-10-18T12:19:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.311Z

Out of the mouth of ...Well he's not a "babe", but his diction is lacking and he can sound like that sometimes. Anyway, back at the blog:In order to read a "word" you will need to be able to take four things, group them (reasonably accurately) together into one thing, and remember that one thing.In order to write the word you will need to create one thing from four things, in the correct case and

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1129629433061757182005-10-18T10:56:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.205Z

This entry is a blatant attempt to attract English people to the blog.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1129628320045052792005-10-18T09:53:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.112Z

If you are here because you found a free CD, then the artists are Alabama 3 (with a little Johnny Cash thrown in for effect), and the tracklisting is:IntroOutlaw Fixin' To LiveLast Train To Mashville, Vol 1U Don't Danse To Tekno Any MoreExile on Coldharbour Lane("like the record U2 wanted Pop to be")Last Train To Mashville, Vol 2Live, Glastonbury 2005Honey In The RockLast Train To Mashville, Vol

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1131459724411720892005-10-15T13:49:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.846Z

"Doesn't it make you really f***ing furious to hear everyone being so bloody angry these days? We were always an angry nation. The national psyche had a big pink scar across it, usually in the shape of a Christian Brother's palm. But over the centuries we have learned to channel our deep, seething fury into traditional avenues, such as alcohol problems, violent domestic dysfunction or just

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1128742943978956622005-10-08T02:43:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:08.014Z

I need a Specification for AIVIPI.Keeping in mind that If I don't know what it is going to do then, sure as beanz meanz fartz, it won't do itI would like to test that these specifications have been met - so easy translation from specification to test case would help.I may not achieve the ideal specification on first draftOK, enough with the caveats, let's specify:The system shall: Help me to

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1128526575393558582005-10-05T15:56:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:07.905Z

Slight pause while I adjust my accoutrements, but these bagels deserve mention.I know nothing about bagels, not being a Yanqui, but "The Works" (with red onion, sesame, poppy & garlic) is a reason to come home in itself. Add some Wexford cheddar, some of Hugh's tomatoes, a few onions and you start wondering why you'd bother making dinner at all.Broadway Bagels - Céad Míle Fáilte in Cíarraí.

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1128443909252747432005-10-04T17:38:00.001+01:002008-11-20T23:31:00.961Z

AI is agitatingly interesting.I just can't get it out of my head, it has such arresting implications, and actual implementations. But still has room for mailing lists full of tomes that start with "I believe ...".Of course there is no such thing as "Artificial Intelligence", because there is no agreed definition of intelligence. Hence poor ol' Deep Blue takes on the champeen o de worl', beats him

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1127745932968115612005-10-01T15:40:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:07.595Z

Because I like it.Primarily I like Python for the same reasons as Eric Raymond, which I would abbreviate as - it works for me: it is much quicker and easier to write working software with Python than any other system I have used.And it works for others' - I started with Python about a year ago, and suddenly the promise that open source always should have had for me (that I'd be able to tweak

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1127898183672578122005-09-28T08:56:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:07.709Z

Because vi remains my favourite editor. Its USP (modal editting) is such a good idea that you wonder why it is still the only editor that uses it.The opposite, you have to use key combinations (control keys) in order to do commands, is so pervasive these days that it even infects those apps which have no text-entry.OK, OK! It is unusual, and may take a bit of getting used to, and I do have the

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17140405.post-1127742456811435182005-09-26T14:45:00.000+01:002006-11-14T16:58:06.968Z

Why blog ?Becuase googling what I am interested in never turns up anything substantial, so I guess I'll have to go make it myself, again.So what am I interested in ?Lotsa stuff, but this blog is going to be primarily about Artificial Intelligence and Python, or, as the title would have it :"Artificial Intelligence vs Programming Intelligence"

Alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04461864767711064154noreply@blogger.com0