Recently on Flickr - Black and White Edition
I have uploaded new pictures to Flickr. Here they are - unsorted and uncommented. These ones are missing color.
Archive 30.1.2012 - 10.3.2012
Recently on Flickr
I have uploaded new pictures to Flickr. Here they are - unsorted and uncommented.
wbond/sublime_package_control. This is quite interesting - it seems like an ecosystem around Sublime Text 2 is slowly being built, similar to vim or TextMate. This will make the integration of extensions easier in the long run.
JulianEberius/SublimeRope. Very interesting - an integration of Python Rope (a refactoring library for Python code, written in Python) into Sublime Text 2. This will then provide refactorings directly in ST2 - one of the features I have learned to love in PyCharm (especially syntactically correct rename and extract method) and which were previously missing in ST2. I should probably take a look at it, although for projects where I need refactoring, I tend to go straight to PyCharm, simply because many other things come with it (e.g., the integrated debugger). Lately, I tend to switch between editors for simple things and IDEs for large projects, even if you then have to learn different operations - the use cases are just too different to handle with just one tool.
HyperCard, Visual Basic and the Importance of the Novice Developer. Interesting article that puts HyperCard in relation to Handheld Developer. And after playing around with Handheld Developer, I would say they are not completely wrong - it is a nice visual environment for creating iOS web applications with integrated hosting with which you can quickly put together a prototype and even get server-side scripting in JavaScript. Ok, it is not quite cheap, but there is a test version to see if you could have fun with it. The applications are actually not so fixed on iOS, because in principle it is just HTML5 and JavaScript - and should therefore also work with Androids (I have not tried that yet).
mtravers/heroku-buildpack-cl. And yet another Lisp link - here someone has relied on Heroku's buildpack-capable stack and built a buildpack for Clozure CL, so that you can also put Common Lisp in the cloud through it. Although this then has less similarity with Google App Engine, but rather with something similar to Amazon EC2.
Heroku | Clojure on Heroku. And even more Lisp. With Clojure, you can now also work on Heroku, the cloud platform. This might be an alternative to, for example, Google App Engine (on whose Java incarnation Clojure also runs).
Deep down inside, I'm still a Lisp fan. That's why the ecl-iphone-builder by Terje Norderhaug is very interesting to me - with it, you can compile a version of Embeddable Common Lisp for the iPhone or iPad and then deploy it to an iOS device via Xcode, start a Swank server there, and then connect remotely - and then play around or program with Lisp on the iPhone. Ok, the binding to the OSX APIs is still a bit brittle.
Room 101: The Miracle of become:. One of the corners where Smalltalk clearly differs from all other languages I have had to do with so far (except Common Lisp, but that's different, because everything is possible there), is the become: method, with which two objects in the running system exchange their identity - so that after the call all references to a after a become: b then refer to b and vice versa. This explains what this means in practice.
Chrome can be cracked in five minutes | Products | futurezone.at: Technology-News. Oy Gevalt! I think some people need to rethink things now. No, sandboxing is not a guaranteed solution for security, it is at best a single component of a complete solution. And yes, making programs more complex also increases the complexity of the security situation. And eventually, there will be a breakthrough like this. (and no, the other browsers are no better, Chrome was just considered "secure" for longer and after the last Pwn2Own it was considered "uncrackable" by some)
[[[New App]] Impressive: AIDE Is An IDE That Lets You Write And Compile Android Apps On Your Android Device, Begs For The Yo Dawg Treatment](http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/03/06/android-gets-a-native-ide-lets-you-write-android-apps-on-your-android-tablet-is-begging-for-the-yo-dawg-treatment/). Android development on Android devices (preferably tablets). That is so meta.
Vagrant - Virtualized development for the masses.. Looks good, you can quickly set up a development environment based on BSD or Linux via the command line - and then work with it without having to manually install a bunch of things. Basically appliance templates that can be installed via command line tool. And a whole range of systems are offered as hosts (including OSX, for example). So, for example, also a very easy way to set up a LAMP stack or something similar under OSX.
PySide for Android thp.io. That sounds very interesting - this way I would have a much more favorable programming language at my disposal to build Android programs. However, the start time of Activities written in Python might be quite significant due to the loading times of the Python stack and the Qt libraries. But for building a few small tools for personal use, that shouldn't matter.
Robin Wong has tested the Olympus E-M5 and posted a mountain of sample photos. Looks very promising already, and the dynamic range tests also show good results. It will be exciting to see when the first pixel-peeper sites jump in and publish measurements, but based on the samples I would say that the E-M5 comes - at least at the lower ISO values - quite close to the Sony NEX series in terms of dynamic range.
Hyper-V, Virtual Machines, Drive Letters, Madness, Microsoft
Yupp, the above combination is really not great. Scenario: Hyper-V machine, several virtual machines, some with snapshots, various very long-running installations and a lot of work in these machines. New machines are created based on existing images, which are each generalized with sysprep and prepared for first use and then configured.
Enter the system administrator: a new virtual machine created, sysprep running, unfortunately not in the virtual machine, but on the Hyper-V server. It was then gone. First panic attack.
Colleague has revived the (of course remote) Hyper-V server and put it back into the domain, I get on. All configurations still there, all virtual machines still there. Not a single one of them works. Second panic attack.
Trying to edit virtual machines, no go - the configurations are not accessible, Hyper-V thinks they are all on drive C:. Checked, oh, the drives I: and J: (where the machines were before) are no longer there, have different letters. Ok, letters reversed and Hyper-V restarted. None of the machines run, they still think they are on C:. Third panic attack, as I realize that no configuration changes can be made.
Well, even in the configurations and the registry there is nothing about this mysterious C: - where does it come from? After a long search, found, for each virtual machine and for each snapshot Hyper-V places symbolic links under NTFS. These are located under %systemdrive%:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V in the subdirectories "Virtual Machines" and "Snapshots" and point to the real target files. And in a magical way, all of these pointed to C: - apparently "corrected" NTFS at startup defective symbolic links that point to non-existent drives. Great.
So the links were recreated (first only an unimportant server, so I can see if it works). Of course it doesn't work, because Hyper-V ignores the nice new symbolic link. Permissions are wrong. Icacls can fix that - "NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\
Found, while swearing, that a Frenchman also had problems with this - Microsoft in its great wisdom has localized the names. Under the German version, therefore "NT VIRTUELLER COMPUTER\
pyprocessing - A Processing-like environment for doing graphics with Python - Google Project Hosting. Processing, for Python. It's already in the title.
Former Federal President Wulff receives the honorary salary. We (the taxpayers) are now seriously paying the bargain hunter 200,000 euros every year, until the end of his life. Expensive fun. And of course, a resignation because of the revelation of his creative financial management and his many friends is very political. And then the backbencher in the Bundestag is still surprised about the political disillusionment.
41MP Nokia 808 smartphone hints at pixel-binning future for small sensor cameras. I also raised an eyebrow at first reading - 41 megapixels in a phone sounds ridiculous, and Symbian doesn't really sound future-oriented. DPreview takes a closer look at what these 41 megapixels actually mean - the chip is significantly larger, so the pixels aren't really smaller than those in normal 8-megapixel phone cameras. Multiple pixels are combined to create a typical target image in the 5-8 megapixel range (the full resolution is also available as an option) to improve noise and other artifacts. Therefore, it is most comparable to the Foveon concept, where the pixels are simply placed in front of each other instead of next to each other. However, Symbian is not future-proof regardless of the photo part.
Temporal Keys, Part 2 | Experimental Thoughts. One always learns new things about PostgreSQL - this time PERIOD, a data type that encompasses time spans, and EXCLUDES, another form of constraint on tables, with which overlaps of time periods can be avoided in the data design together with PERIOD. In Dynamics AX, there is something similar in the form of Date Effectivity, which goes a bit further because it also includes automatic creation of new areas, gap-free timelines, etc., while this is only the basics for non-overlapping data records. On the other hand, this can be used much more broadly, as you can formulate any EXCLUDES constraints.
ResponsiveSlides.js · Responsive jQuery slideshow. I am a fan of Bin and Lightbox, but I also like this small library at first glance - it is simple and easy to use and does not do a thousand things at once, but simply shows images in a slideshow. Specifically for animating header graphics, for example, this could be quite interesting.
6: Sony infrared conversion service. Interesting - if I ever have a Sony (and have 250 euros to spare - so probably never), I could take advantage of this. Infrared photography without filters is quite interesting.
Carnival. And now please take off the paper noses, okay?
Juliana has never experienced anything like this before, so we went to the Rosenmontag parade in Münster. I have no idea when I last attended a carnival parade, it must have been over 30 years ago. Well, fortunately, the parade in Münster is largely staffed by Dutch carnivalists, otherwise it would have been quite boring and colorless. And you shouldn't expect current political comments - in Münster, no one had to change the carnival float because of a (former) federal president.
The Julia Manual. Hmm, not yet sure what to think of this language, but it does sound interesting - a kind of Matlab, but based on LLVM and linguistically significantly renovated, with some interesting ideas (e.g., Julia expressions are stored internally in a Julia-specific data structure, so that real macros can be implemented).
German Keyboard Layout under Parallels, VMWare, BootCamp and VirtualBox - Info - Schirmacher. Because I needed it just now - this moves the special characters that you do need occasionally when programming to keys that are more Mac-like. Not perfect, but much better than the standard PC layout, as the MacBook usually doesn't have any markings for these special characters, so you would otherwise search for them in vain.
Mac Developer Tips » How to Uninstall Xcode. There is also an official way to get rid of XCode. Just linking to it, because unfortunately XCode can dynamically load what you need from the internet, but not get rid of it - for this you are allowed to delete the XCode stuff and then reinstall it (smaller). Just the iOS stuff alone takes up 6G, so you can save a lot if you don't plan to program the iPhone.
Xcode, GCC, and Homebrew. Looks good - Apple provides a bare-bones GCC package with all frameworks, so you no longer need to load the monster installer from the AppStore, but can make do with a 170 MB package and still use Homebrew to compile open source OSX programs (at least as long as they don't use explicit XCode features). Especially if your own programming takes place in other IDEs and with other languages, it's quite nice to be able to do without the 8 GB that an installed XCode occupies. I'm seriously considering whether I should also give my Air this slimming cure.
stochastic-technologies/goatfish - GitHub. Looks interesting, a small Python module that uses SQLite as a persistence layer for arbitrary objects. Not at the level of an ORM, but rather at the level of a more complex key-value store. Quite interesting for the usual small hacks where you need object persistence quickly, but due to the simple structures, you don't see much sense in a developed data modeling - or if you don't know yet how the structures will look like during prototyping.
Hidden in this Concatenative IRC Log from 6.1.2012 you can find something from Slava, the Factor developer, about its (so Factor, not Slava) future - a few bug fixes for 0.95 he still plans, but then for him the project is basically finished. Too bad, because Factor was always interesting to play around with and one of the more exciting language projects, but in recent times it has become somewhat quiet around it. Now I know why. Whether the community has enough power to continue where he stops is rather questionable given the size of the community - yes, a few people are active and also quite more active than him, but Slava was often the driving force (haha) in the development and integration of new concepts and ideas.
generateDS 2.7b : Python Package Index. A colleague just found this, looks quite interesting - it generates Python class structures from XSD files. Not that something like this is absolutely necessary in Python, but we were just discussing how to generate a Django model from an XSD, this tool could be a starting point.
zenphoto-publisher - Lightroom 3 Publisher plugin for Zenphoto. Maybe I should take a look at this - with this I can export directly from Lightroom to ZenPhoto. I usually have my pictures in my blog, but for larger quantities it's a bit cumbersome, so an alternative site for galleries would be quite practical, especially since I can then integrate ZenPhoto into WordPress again.
"Collection Publisher" Lightroom Plugin. Hmm, that looks good - I could easily manage my Photos folder in Dropbox from Lightroom if you let it create virtual copies automatically (which you can specify in the Collections), you don't even step on each other's toes when it comes to changes (and it doesn't take up extra space in Lightroom, only in the Dropbox folder).
CoRD: Remote Desktop for Mac OS X. Hmm, let's take a look, it should be good - better than Microsoft's client.
I still like to read him and think he was one of the better Extra 3 people. Here he explains why copyright might not be so great from the perspective of a copyright holder. Draw your own conclusions about what this says about the EU Commission, which still wants to ram through ACTA at all costs and is now pouting because of the protests.
Because it's not a copyright but a rights management agreement. Example: The Süddeutsche Zeitung printed interviews and texts about productions from my company. We put it - proudly, of course - on our homepage. A law firm sent us a cease and desist letter, and we pay the Süddeutsche 500 Euros each time for content that is based on our copyright. Another example: Westdeutscher Rundfunk, in a big publisher appeasement of the WAZ group, opened its archives. Result: If I show an old contribution of mine, both the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and WDR can sue me; the only one who definitely does not have rights to his work is me - the copyright holder. ACTA significantly strengthens the power of marketers against consumers and copyright holders; it is a suicide attempt for idea-driven economies. The fury of many pirates to abolish copyright at the same time makes it difficult to demonstrate.
via Die Woche: Wie geht es uns, Herr Küppersbusch? - taz.de.
Pork tenderloin in mustard sauce
This time it's quite simple and straightforward, so here's just a rough outline of how to prepare it. Two weeks later, I modified the recipe a bit, adding some extra spices (ginger, hot paprika, and coriander) to the sauce, which Juliana liked even better - a nice spicy sauce. So here's the preparation:
- Cut the pork tenderloin (previously remove the skin and tendons) into 2-3 cm thick slices
- Finely chop one onion and one large clove of garlic
- Quickly and sharply sear the tenderloin pieces
- Remove the tenderloin pieces and place them in a baking dish (or as I did, in an oven-safe pan)
- Sauté the onions and garlic
- Deglaze with white wine
- Pour half a pot of cooking cream over it
- Stir in 2-3 large teaspoons of mustard
- Season with pepper and salt, add ginger, coriander, and hot paprika to taste
- Pour the sauce over the tenderloin pieces in the baking dish
- Bake in the oven preheated to 200 degrees for about 35 minutes
We had bread and salad with it. Delicious and not much effort.
IdleX - IDLE Extensions for Python. There is actually a project that aims to enhance IDLE and teaches the rather neglected standard IDE of Python a whole lot of new tricks.
Practical Common Lisp - Crawling InterfaceLift with Common Lisp - second try. Interesting run through a simple project in Common Lisp using Quicklisp. It really makes a lot of things easier than if you program raw in CL and manage all the packages and systems by hand. However, you should not necessarily run the example script, as it violates the terms of use of InterfaceLift (and is not really nice to their servers).
arskom/rpclib - GitHub. Since I recently had soaplib, this is the successor to it. The colleagues have probably already gained some experience with it (positive experience).
Aaseevergnügen
Inspired by the Alstervergnügen in Hamburg, we had our Aaseevergnügen today. Okay, it lasted a few days longer, and there were no sausage stalls or beer stands directly at the Aasee (although, as seen in the pictures, some Münster residents tried to set up), but there was definitely a lot going on. No surprise with this weather. And yes, I even dared to go out.
Howto to rebuild Debian packages. Since I had to do it again - especially important is the hint about dch --local blah, so that you get version numbers that differ from the official ones and are not automatically overwritten with the current version from the Debian repository.
Laurence Tratt: Fast Enough VMs in Fast Enough Time. Interesting article by the developer of Converge (a language that picks up and combines ideas from Lisp - macros - and Python - indentation for scope and parts of the syntax) about RPython, the base language behind PyPy. This way you also understand a bit more what role RPython plays exactly (namely the implementation language for interpreters that automatically get a JIT).
Google Wallet PIN cracked on rooted Android devices | The Verge. Well, that was quick. I can't help but smirk. Google should really have better people implementing such things.
ladon 0.7.0 : Python Package Index. And this one sounds a bit like my old Toolserver - so a simple way to provide Python code as a service. SOAP is also supported.
suds. Just a SOAP client for Python, but explicitly mentions the important binding styles (RPC/Literal, RPC/Encoded, and Document/Literal).
About — soaplib v2.0.0beta documentation. And another newer SOAP library for Python, also with significantly more activity than SOAPpy.
PySimpleSOAP - Python Simple SOAP Library. Sounds like I want to check this out, as it includes some features missing in SOAPpy (and since SOAPpy is no longer being developed, this is interesting).
Smile and SmileLab Home Page. Hmm, maybe not uninteresting for playing around - data analysis and graphical preparation with AppleScript in a scripting environment. Features look quite interesting (diagrams, XML, TCP, HTTP server and client ...) out.
Tour de France: Cycling pro Contador banned for two years. Good that this silly fuss (caused only by the Spanish cycling federation acting in a rather absurd manner) is finally over. Even if the revocation of Tour victories only elicits yawns these days (and Armstrong was unfortunately allowed to keep his wins).
python4delphi - Embedding Python within a Delphi application. Tutorials allegedly also work with Lazarus and Free Pascal, and probably rudimentary also under OSX. Could be interesting for one of these crazy projects that keep haunting me.
Lawyers consulted for this research are also surprised that Wulff allegedly made his name available free of charge to a law firm for more than 15 years, without being compensated for it or making arrangements for a later return to the firm. For example, the managing director of a large law firm that employs former government members calls Wulff's account to tagesschau.de "absolutely unrealistic": "That a politician provides his reputation and thus also his contacts out of pure charity is not known to me, lavish fees are usual" explained the lawyer, who does not want to be named.
via Bundespräsident Wulff verschwieg Beziehung zu Geerkens. Sometimes you don't need to write anything more about the news, sometimes they just speak for themselves.
Back from Amsterdam
Back from the course, lost my mind and a few things in my notebook bag, which a Dutch car thief took with him when he broke into our car (no, not the mind, it just suffered in the three weeks before). Well. Life sucks sometimes.