Learn Python In 10 Minutes

Original - 2006.01.30
The blog Poromenos' Stuff has the posting 'Learn Python in 10 minutes.' This is half tutorial and half cheatsheet. You will need to find additional resources to really learn Python but it does give you a good start.

Update - 2006.01.31
Here is a quick reference for Python 2.4.

The Ascent - A Wooden Clock Kit

The blog KrazyDad has an interesting posting 'The Ascent - A Wooden Clock Kit.' It sounds like Jim had a great time putting the kit together. The kit is from Wooden-Gear-Clocks.com.

Hello World In Over 150 Languages

Wikipedia entry 'Hello World Program' shows you how to write the famous Hello World program in over a 150 different languages.

Create Your Own 12 Sided Calendar

Ole Arntzen has an interesting site that shows you how to make your own dodecahedron calendar.

Convert Your Pocket PC Into An iPod

Lance Robinson posting 'Convert your Pocket PC into an iPod in seven easy steps' is a fun read. Step 1 just had me rolling on the floor.

St. Louis Weather Control Device - The Arch

I think this totally explains the weird weather the St. Louis area experiences each year.

http://www.failedsuccess.com/index.php?/weblog/more/arch_weather_story/

Sorry. I just can not help myself. :)

Western Digital Has 500 GB Hard Drives For The Desktop

WOW! You can now pre-order the new Western Digital Caviar SE16 SATA Hard Drive for $349.99.

Tech Info:
7200 RPM
16 MB cache
300 MB/s transfer rate

New Blog On Linux

I must be crazy. Today I started a new blog 'Wicks Linux.' I have moved all the linux posting to the new site.

Lisp Is Sin

I came across Sriram Krishnan's post 'Lisp is sin.' the other day. One of the elements of this posting is a rebuttal to Joel Spolsky's article 'The Perils of Java Schools.' I have read both articles and would like to throw out my two cents. The major conflict as I see it is, Sriram is making the point that Visual Studio is for all types of programmers from the super genius to the novice to the hobbyist programmer while Joel is for the super genius programmers and criticizing how Java hides the difficult tasks making it hard to tell the great programmers from the bad programmers.

In my current job I like software and programs that are easy to work with and provide a simple easy to use API. This allows me to focus on completing the task at hand increase the likely hood of hanging the program off to someone else to support. When I am at home I enjoy struggling with software and programs. I use these struggles to increase my knowledge. I want to figure out how to make hard tasks easy.

One of my issues with Sriram's posting is how he is cramming the solution to every problem into the C# view of the world. I like learning new programming languages because it changes how I view the world and how I approach problems. I have a fundamental view that there is always more then one way to solve a problem. What I have found is by learning different programming languages I have more ways of solving a problem. My work has a policy what we develop must develop in one specific language. So one day I was fighting with a piece of code written by another developer who left the company last year. I took a step back from the code and said if I was working in language X how would I solve this problem. In one of those light bulb moments the solution to my problem jumped into my head. I was able to fix the code in a few hours instead the three weeks everyone else around me was thinking it would take to rewrite the code.

Now for something slightly different. Dave Roberts' posting 'Commentary on "Lisp is Sin"' brings up some interesting counter points to Sriram's article.

List Of Search Engines

I missed this the first time around. Lifehacker.com has post 'Seek and Ye Shall Find: Top Ten Alternative Search Engines.' I am tried a couple the search engines. I am impressed at how well each of the search engines stayed in its area of focus.

Flying Car Captured On Google Earth????

I want my flying car now.

The Register has a picture of what could be a flying car. Let me know what you think?

Google Reader

Original - 2005.10.09
Google has released its Reader program. Google Reader is a web based feed reader. I am not sure yet if I am going to try it out.

Update - 2006.01.20
Over are Niall Kennedy's Weblog there is a posting entitled 'Google Reader API'. One could use the information in this posting to extend or build their oen feed reader. I think I will have to look a little closer at Google Reader now.

Games For The Brain

Exercising your mind has never been so fun. Games for the Brain offers more than 30 games that gives you a mental workout.

Technical Reference Cards

Here are few refernce cards coving programming, database, administration, text editors and server admin for Windows and *nix.

Grafpup LiveCD

Grafpup is a Live CD for digital imaging professionals and graphic artists. This distro includes: Gimp-2.2.9,Inkscape-0.42, Scribus-1.2.3, Cinepaint-0.20-1, Bluefish-1.40, Icewm-1.2.23, Opera-8.5, Gxine media player and Ted word processor.

Tweak Your PC

Original - 2006.01.11
Diabolikal has an interesting article 'Tweak your PC and make it run faster.' I have applied a few of the tweaks. My computer does seem faster. I did not establish any base-line measurements so I can not quantify the improvements.

Update - 2006.01.13
The site Connected Internet has 'More Ways To Speed Up Windows XP.'

.NET Developers Blog

Today I came across .NET Developers Blog. This blog is an aggregation of .NET developers who are not employed by Microsoft.

Tips To Becoming A Better Developer

Steve Eichert has a posting entitled '7 Tips for becoming a better Software Developer.' I have been following many of these tips for years and found them to be vary effective.

I have just a couple of minor tweaks and enhancements. In Tip 1, Read, I would add trade magazines to the list. I have found an understanding of both the programming world and the specific industry you are currently working in to be critical to my career growth. In Tip 4, Blog It up, blogging about the things you don't know about from Tip 3. This provides you with content for your blog and a blog is a great place to collect knowledge that you can look up again.

I would like to also propose the addition of another tip. Get involved in your local user groups. User Groups provide you a great place to network with other professionals in the programming world. I also encourage you to give a presentation for the user group. This gives you a safe place to develop public speaking and presentation skills.

St. Louis Java User Group - Jan. 2006

The St. Louis Java User Group held there January meeting. The topic tonight was HttpUnit. HttpUnit emulates portions of a web browser, including form submission, JavaScript, basic http authentication, cookies and automatic page redirection, and allows Java test code to examine returned pages either as text, an XML DOM, or containers of forms, tables, and links.

The demos and sample code were simple and straigth forward. There appears to be some constentance issues with HttpUnit API. It also appears that HttpUnit is no longer being worked on since the last update was Oct. 2004. The presentation has peeked my interest in unit testing a website. I also think a more updated tool will be in order.

nUbuntu

Network Ubuntu (nUbuntu) is a collection of network and server security testing tools. The point of the project is to keep Ununtu's easy of use and add the necessary tools to test security.

26 Steps To 15K A Day

Over at Search Engine World there is a post '26 steps to 15k a Day' which was originally posted as 'Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone' from Web Master World.

Not one of these items jumped out as new or profound piece of wisdom. This is one of those times where the whole is greater than any one part. You can use this list as a check list to make sure that you have covered most of your bases.

Ultimate Boot CD

I wish I would have found this a few days ago. I was helping my father with his computer and needed a couple of tools to solve the problem. It took me about an hour to find, download and burn the tools I needed. If I had the Ultimate Boot CD in my bag I would had the problem fixed.



There is a UBCD for Windows.

Where Have I Been?

I have not been blogging for that last few days because that thing I call 'my life' got in the way.

My wife and I are talking about what home improvement projects need to be done this year. We are considering getting the house ready to sell. We still have not decided if or where to move to.

I am taking more time with my son. I need to take him to the pool two days a week to help get him comfortable with the water. He is 3 and half and has been taking swim lessons for a year and an half now. I am not happy with how slowly his swimming skills are developing. Being Dad I know who is to blame and what I have to do to take care of the issue.

My wife and I have started teaching our son to read. This is also taking alot of effort and going slowly.

Over the holiday I bought a new 200 Gig hard drive so I felt compelled to install the new drive. I also figured that this would be a good time to reconfigure a couple of machines. I have been installing Ubuntu on two boxes. I have installed one box in server mode this is also the box I installed the new hard drive in. This is a big step into the linux world for me. The default install does not include a GUI. I am learning how to configure and administer the box just through the command line. The other box I have installed with a GUI. I have had a few issues with the installs. My problems came mostly from hardware issues. I think I am in good shape now.

I have been thinking about my blogging activities. I need to make some changes. I need a new look for the new year. I am talking with my wife about getting her to blog. She is in need of an outlet for some of her creativity. I am also considering what my blogging goals for this year should be.

PHP Tutorials

I am not sure if the tutorials are any good but the site GoodPHPTutorials.com implies they are. There is a lot of information here that will take some time to go through.

Free Online File Storage & Sending

Sometimes I have the need move large files between two computers that are not directly connected. Over at the blog CG (Creative Guy) the posting 'Free online file storage/sending' contains a large list of resources that will allow you to move files.