Jan 16
Hi sports fans.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with an implementation of Ruby named MacRuby. MacRuby enables the use of Ruby as a programming language for the development of Cocoa Mac apps. I love this idea, and so I’ve had a bit of a play around with the Framework. My initial efforts can be found here: http://rivup.com/ Although the app is quite trivial in nature it did serve as an excellent learning platform, enabling me to get used to the layout of Xcode (I normally use TextMate) have a play around with interface builder, and get a general introduction to the Cocoa API.
Moving forward I can see MacRuby being an excellent way of enticing web programmers (like myself) into application development. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this up and running for iPhone development at some stage. At the moment we will alas have to be contented with Mac apps in Ruby. I also found the experience of programming Ruby with the Cocoa API’s very useful. This could be an excellent bridge into the writing native Objective-C code (although I’d much rather deal with the Ruby syntax).
One note on the current state of the MacRuby project. A lot of development is going on behind the scenes and in the rush some features of MacRuby are broken and others are buggy. There is a further abstraction of Objective-C development available called HotCocoa. This enables Ruby developers to write pure ruby applications without using Xcode and it’s companion tools. Alas HotCocoa appears to currently be broken, but hopefully will be back on track soon. I also found a few bugs with compiling Ruby files into binary format, so if you run into problems with that trying building your app without that stage.
Things I’d like to see in the future:
iPhone app support
The MacRuby framework and libs bundled as standard with future versions of OS X. This would remove the need to embed the entire Framework in each MacRuby app.
HotCocoa fixed.
Note: Hotcocoa is now fixed in the nightly builds.
Sep 26
Hi there everyone. I’ve been rather busy with client work and a new musical project recently, the blog has gone to pot a little bit. I’ll try and rectify that.
Below you will find a link to one of my Google Docs that I have maintained as a UNIX terminal cheat sheet. There are so many commands to remember with the terminal that it helps to have somewhere to look and quickly refresh the memory.
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Jul 10
Hi there gang. Thought that this might make mildly interesting reading. I’ll post again if I get any kind of a response.
Hi there John, my name is Ian. I don’t much like radio shows (the adverts) but yours is excellent.
I’ve written recorded and produced music for years. Not in the usual “I’m a music producer because I downloaded a copy of fruity loops and worked out what 4/4 is.” way, but in the other, you know, professional one. Four studios, a robbery, a dodgy Argentinean con-man, and a lot of music later I finally pulled the plug on my dream of making music for a living and settled in to making websites to pay the bills. I still have a studio (Stormont Studios) in Clapham, but it’s for the love not the money that I’m there. My apologies for the long winded tale, the point is approaching I promise!
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Jun 12
I’ll admit it. I was excited about the new iPhone. OK, I was really excited about the new iPhone. WWDC2009 came and the keynote was posted. I was still excited. The new iPhone (dubbed 3GS) looked great, some of the new features were just what I was waiting for before dipping my toe in the iPhone ocean. Copy and paste, directional maps, WIFI tethering. I could resist no longer, I would brave the expensive O2 contracts here in the UK to own this gadget. Yes they would tie me in for 18 to 24 months on an inflated tariff, but it would be worth it.
I rationalised over and over again. After all having access to things like directional maps would allow me to dispense with the notion of a TomTom. I could just get the TomTom app. I could also dispense with the need for a mobile broadband dongle, I could tether my MacBook Pro straight to my phone using the unlimited data offered with the pricey mobile contract. Unfortunately my worst fears as to the business ethics of those that operate mobile telecommunications here in Britain were proved correct. Boy is it horrible to be so right.
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May 21
This article refers directly to this piece on Wired: http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2009/05/features/the-hidden-censors-of-the-internet.aspx?page=1. I’m not about to repeat the facts in this article verbatim, rather I’m going to offer an opinion on it, so I suggest you read the Wired article first, don’t worry I’ll put the kettle on while you read it….. Done? Good, then I’ll begin.
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May 12
Web design. It’s got a lot of names these days. From Information Architects to Usability Experts, it can be hard just knowing what to call yourself if you wrangle pixels for a living! The choice of what tools to use to wrangle said pixels can be even harder. Here is a list of 10 of my favourites. I consider them all to be “best in class” for their prospective jobs, but if you have an alternate suggestion and would like to let us know why you prefer it, don’t keep it to yourself!
Before we get started, an admission: These days I am a total Mac convert, long gone are the days of building my own computers and cursing endlessly at Microsoft’s ineptitude. If you are not running an Intel based Mac system on at least OS X Tiger, you has my condolences but you should know that this list is not for you. Number 1 on any list of useful tools for the web professional that I write would be a Mac. That’s just me, but I thought I’d better explain who this information is aimed at as I’m not sure that all of this software is available for other computing platforms. Right, onwards!
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Apr 19
If you are looking for a way to remove the 3D dock that comes with Leopard then all you need are a few carefully typed Terminal commands.
First open terminal and enter this command:
$ defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
To change it back simply enter :
$ defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
Then Type:
killall Dock
Don’t fancy buggering about in the Terminal, then just download the DockDoctor app here and it will do it all for you.
Apr 17
Wp-forum is a great plug in for wordpress that intergrates a forum into wordpress and use a universal account. Its very good but I came across some issues in the installation.
If you are getting database errors when installing or after installation deactive the plug in and do the following:
Database fix:
I found the solution on a forum from a guy called camdagr8
On some hosting accounts you’re not a full admin of the db.
so on line: 1009 of wp.class.php when it checks for the db user level it returns if it’s < 8
Commented out lines ( basically delete the lines and add // ):
1009, 1010, and 1108
Skinning:
Make sure first of all you have copied the css from the wp-forum to your style sheet or linked it. Then just edit the css colors to match your scheme. Then go into wp-forum/skins and select images. If you want to change the new post image then on.gif and off.gif controls them. Play around replace images and soon you will have a custom skin.
Apr 8
If you would like to include blank spaces on your dock to organise it in Leopard, heres how:
1. Open terminal and type in the following code:
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}'
2. Next you need to restart the dock by typing:
killall Dock
You will now notice that next to the terminal icon on the dock there should be a blank space that you are able to move around at will, want another space? Repeat the above steps and you may have as many as you like!
If you would like the space to appear on the right side of your dock (on the side with your Trash) then replace the code from step 1 with the following:
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}'
Apr 2
Continuing on from some of Ian’s earlier posts about the physical side of things which make the internet tick, yesterday Google released once secret information about the make up of their servers and data centers.
Interesting to see how they do things. Read the whole article here.
