WEEK 47 2012
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Saturday 24 November
2012
Saturday - Feeling better.
Figured out part of a problem with iOS I've been working on. It doesn't actually work, but that's just a detail. Xcode is so baroque and the implementation changes so rapidly that getting something to work even after you figure out what you need is always a rather tedious chore.
I've been mulling over a new PC, probably a laptop, mostly for working
on stuff for clients that requires Windows. I don't want Win8,
apparently it's different enough that almost no old programs will run.
Even Office 2007 has problems, judging from complaints seen in online
forums. Plus it's expensive and one more computer to maintain and keep
track of. One alternative is to use the MacBook Pro, and install a
Virtual Machine on it.
There are two big VM competitors here- Parallels vs Fusion,
and they are about equal. Parallels ($60) has a few more options,
Fusion ($50) is perhaps a tad more stable in the current release. On an
I7 dual core with 8GB of ram they would probably run Win2k or Xp as
quickly as my old laptop. Since you actually install the Windows OS on
the virtual machine it should be possible to run VbScript and such. And
I could use Microsoft Access, which isn't available as a native OSX app.
OSX does have Bootcamp (a dual boot option) for free, but this means
that the Mac and Win OS's can't talk to each other. It is probably
better for very demanding applications, Autocad and such, but I don't
do much of that sort of thing these days. Bootcamp also implies that
you need to keep up the whole Windows anti-virus/malware/update
lifestyle, whereas with a VM you can probably just avoid using the
internet and be just fine.
Lunch at the Thai place with friends, then pizza again with them later.
Heh. The
ladies, horrified at learning that I bought simple white 300tpi sheets retail
the other day, kindly spent time amidst their Black Friday foraging to pick me
up a nice set of 600tpi cotton sheets. I now have orders on just how to wash and dry them, before putting them on the bed, as well.
Apparently Ross has stuff besides clothes - who knew?
Friday
- Not feeling too well. I wasn't yesterday morning either, but aspirin and pink stuff did the trick. Today, not so hot.
Book #83 was Bite Me: Big Easy Nights, by Marion G. Harmon. This is set in the same universe as the Wearing the Cape
series, but follows the adventures of Jackie, who became a vampire (but
a good one) instead of a 'superhero', when she travels to New Orleans
to visit the grandmother she didn't know she had. Light (mostly),
short, fun.
Recording a *.WAV file:
I was wondering how to do this, then remembered that Xp had a simple
voice recorder under the standard Accessories folder. So I plugged in a
mic and tried it - and it worked fine. So, that's nice. (Actually the
first time around I tried to use an IR tether - same size, same shape,
same color and same jack - and it just wasn't working! Like I said, I wasn't feeling too good. )
Thursday 22 November 2012
Thursday
- Over at my friends Roger and Sheryl for Thanksgiving. It was kind of them to invite me again!!
It was a nice spread, excellent turkey, wonderful mashed potato's, and all the trimmings. And, as my host put it, "The dinner bit is just an excuse for pie!".
Wednesday 21 November 2012
Wednesday
- Still working away on the app. I have sounds, selection, view
controllers, arrays, nsuserdefaults and so on. I spent some time
cleaning up the code today, as the "throw everything at the wall and
see if anything sticks" method of programming can leave a lot of
noodles on the paint after a while. I spent an hour or more trying to
figure out what I was doing wrong with the simple AudioToolbox, then
realized it was probably the same old audio problem the MacMini has had
for a while. Moved the code over to the MacBook Pro and it worked fine.
As far as
I know that's the only real problem with the MacMini, other than being
slow and limited in RAM.
I really should use the MacBook Pro more, but I have to buy a special
dongle for the video out to use a full sized monitor, and then register
it with Apple before I can do even 'ad hoc' provisioning to the iPad, and I'm
saving all that for expensing to the new company in the new year.
One interesting this is that I have a scene set-up in viewDidLoad.
However I want to have it automatically update after a certain time,
and sleep(someTime) just keeps the whole view from loading for whatever the someTime
is, no matter where I put it in that module. I guess there is some sort
of app delegate work around, or maybe NSTimer stuff, but I was hoping
to avoid complications. It's these little "gotcha's" that are driving
me to drink... When testing the AudioToolkit the pause worked, so I'm
not sure what the difference is.
I'd forgotten a book from last week, Book #82 was The Hydrogen Sonata, by Iain M. Banks. It was another of his Culture
novels, and deals with the concept of a civilization achieving
singularity. The McGuffin is that there may be a reason for a
particular civilization not to ascend, so our protagonist spends most
of the book searching for a 10,000 year old man with a memory that may
change things. Events are made interesting by various parties -
scavengers waiting to swoop in on the high tech leftovers after the
civilization is gone, members eager to suppress the record that may
keep them from ascending, and so on. Mixed in with the usual Culture Minds.
The ending was a bit of a let down, but as Bank's doesn't usually end his books on high notes I guess I can't complain too much.
Tuesday
- More app work. Today was mostly creating a prototype SETTINGS page,
and getting the settings from UISwitches to work appropriately, passing
the values through the NSUserDefault bundle stuff to other views, like the main DISPLAY.
Apparently the correct way to do this is what I would call antiquated -
the equivalent of writing to a file, closing it, then opening it in
another subroutine when you need a setting. I mean, I did this all the time in FORTRAN, between different executables, but I
thought that was a relic of the past.
iOS and Objective-C are ... baroque.
I was looking for system sounds to be used as audio prompts, for
example. And, apparently, there are none, at least none available by
default in Xcode. Just bizarre! You have to import your own beeps,
bells, bongs, etc.
Not a big deal, I have to have spoken audio prompts anyway; "Touch the Ball", "Good Job", "Try Again",
and so on. I'll probably have someone who enunciates a bit clearer than
myself to the real stuff, just like with the art work, but I need
placeholders for this now. I suppose there is something on the PC or
MAC to save to a *.wav or *.aif file.
Monday
- Working on the app mostly. Slept in, so I ended up working late into
the evening, which in turn wound my brain up and gave me insomnia. So I
did some fiction reading, late at night.
Book #81 was
Pawn
of Prophecy, by David Eddings. This is an old paperback copy,
probably bought new at the local Book Nook (RIP) or possibly the B.
Dalton's
here in town (RIP). The paperback whose cover matches my copy
was printed in 1986, so it's fair to add this into the yearly count I
think. I mean, 26 years, that should count as new enuff ;-)
The book itself is one of the better 'quest' and 'group of companions'
books. Edding's had a knack for plotting, world building, and writing.
It hit's a lot of the common tropes, but that's OK, it is even a little
comforting.
Sunday
- Another nice day.
The app is coming along. But it's interesting how advancement sometimes
just serves to make clearer how much more there is to do. And it's the
little things that get me, stuff I assume would be easy ... and isn't.
At least not the first time. But I'm making progress.
