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This script enables you to control your computer via text message. Think of it almost as a version of SSH over text message. It is designed to intelligently and quickly check unread Google voice messages. If certain parameters are passed, it runs the command you send and returns the result. Where autocorrect follies meet sysadmin nightmares.
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Usborne's 1983 classic Introduction to Machine Code for Beginners is an astounding book, written, designed and illustrated by Naomi Reed, Graham Round and Lynne Norman. It uses beautiful infographics and clear writing to provide an introduction to 6502 and Z80 assembler, and it's no wonder that used copies go for as much as $600. How did you learn machine code?
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I had almost forgotten that book but not quite. One of the few useful computing books I ever got out of a public library, a true classic.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Terrence Dorsey wrote: How did you learn machine code?
[ranty...]
I remember my math teacher in 10th grade programming hex codes into a 4K machine. I actually learned BASIC first on a PDP/11, and HP calculators were a bit like machine code, by the time I finished high school I was writing assembly language in 6502 with opcodes, not machine codes, though I could tell you what most opcodes were in hex. Wrote a bunch of image processing algorithms in 8086 and 80286, but then finally compilers got good enough that I could write performance code in C and coerce the compiler to produce what I wanted with various "hints." Lots of fun - I must say, nowadays I'm actually feeling rather dulled to the whole programming environment, OOP has lost its allure, functional programming is cute but ultimately a niche and can be done well enough in OO languages, and things like Ruby and Ruby on Rails feel like klunky hacks - when it works it's cool, when it doesn't it's hours googling for someone on stackoverflow that spent even more time figuring out the solution and was kind enough to post it. Not to mention how klunky the supporting technologies like javascript, jQuery, css, html feel. It's rather depressing how pathetic the web development environment and technology stack kludge actually is, and more depressing is that we all seem to just accept it. How did we get into this situation? Machine code was elegant, capable, and processors and hardware was well spec'd. Nowadays I read about how pathetic or non-existent the documentation for technology "X" is (like ajax support in Rails) but nobody seems to give a damn. We've come a long way, but have we really?
And don't forget - all those fancy layers of DI, IoC, OOP, reflection, dynamic, LINQ, etc.......it all compiles down to machine code. 
Marc
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People are always looking for the easy way to to hard things. Some tools do make the job easier others just make it easier to do badly or easier to do only if you're doing it exactly as the tool designer envisaged which you almost never are if you're doing something new.
Z80 machine code I could handle, it was human scale and the addressing modes were simple. Intel's mess on the other hand I'm still struggling with. Overall I always found really low level programming too slow, like a really stiff typewriter it could never keep up with my thought processes or I couldn't slow them down that much and remain creative. I too started with BASIC and that was cool until you ran out of RAM or you ran out of variable names you could remember to keep unique.
I moved directly to C++ without going via C really in order to get scoped variables. OO was just introduced another kind of scope which was great and namespaces gave me yet another scope dimension. I never really needed or wanted anything more than that.
I remain determined that the next time I return to Web development on my own account there will be C++ and the Web Server de jour and nothing else on the server side. Pure HTML from templates on the client side and anything and everything else will be autogenerated. I'm stubborn like that 
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Matthew Faithfull wrote: Pure HTML from templates on the client side and anything and everything else will be autogenerated.
Hmmm...you've just given me an idea for how to crawl out of the primordial ooze of web development.
Matthew Faithfull wrote: I'm stubborn like that
Me too!
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: Not to mention how klunky the supporting technologies like javascript, jQuery, css, html feel. It's rather depressing how pathetic the web development environment and technology stack kludge actually is, and more depressing is that we all seem to just accept it.
I feel that way about all this CRAP!!! we're expected to accept as 'standards' (HTML/DOM). 
Committees for standards make unbearably slow progress. 
This is equally disadvantageous because of a larger user base which just grows from their ponderous time scales to appease interested parties (usually corporate bodies). This just adds more resistance to change and feeds back into the process.
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dusty_dex wrote: we're expected to accept as 'standards' (HTML/DOM).
What's particularly annoying is that the so-called standards are only implemented partially, or with deviation. I just today did an "inspect source" on a web page and grimaced in disgust as I saw 3 if-else blocks to handle differences in IE 7, 7, and 8, and this occurred in numerous places throughout the HTML.
Marc
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6502 opcodes which had to be converted into string format so that it could be called from ATARI BASIC.
A nightmare. BBC Basic had a built-in assembler which was far more friendly. I can be thankful for not having to enter code via hex keypad (KIM-1) or horror of horrors; toggle switches of the MITS Altair. 
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dusty_dex wrote: or horror of horrors; toggle switches of the MITS Altair.
That stuff was cool! I remember in 8th grade being taught by the chemistry teacher how to enter the bootstrap code into the PDP/11 with toggle switches. Unfortunately, he didn't teach me what exactly I was doing and why. It was only later that I realized I was entering opcodes and toggling the "increment memory" for each binary code.
But yeah, I'm glad we don't have to do that anymore.
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: I remember in 8th grade being taught by the chemistry teacher how to enter the bootstrap code into the PDP/11 with toggle switches.
Did he deliberately not have a serial line to a terminal?
What a bastard. 
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dusty_dex wrote: Did he deliberately not have a serial line to a terminal?
The machine was hooked up to a teletype with a good old punch tape for saving programs. Which wouldn't work until you booted the computer.
Marc
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C++11 feels like a new language. I write code differently now than I did in C++98. The C++11 code is shorter, simpler, and usually more efficient than what I used to write. This poses challenges: How do you present C++? What techniques do you recommend? What language features and libraries do you emphasize? Presenting C++11 as a layer on top of C++98 would be as bad as representing C++98 as a layer on top of C. C++ must be presented as a whole, as the powerful tool for design and implementation that it is, rather than a set of independent features. The Fourth Edition of The C++ Programming Language attempts that and should become available in a few months. Bjarne Stroustrup's personal tour of C++11 and a preview of his book's 4th edition.
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Most people understand that Windows is used by a variety of people who have a variety of needs, ranging from corporate server to workstation to POS terminals to home PC and beyond. Most people accept that whenever Microsoft updates Windows, it has to balance the competing requirements to find some kind of workable compromise. There is however another set of competing requirements that many do not really register, even those that call themselves power users or are IT admins. It is a conflict between developers/programmers and Microsoft itself. Developers are ultimately the ones who write applications used by users whereas Microsoft develops the OS these applications run on. A common shared goal between the two is the desire that applications previously written continue to work. Is Modern API the clean break Microsoft needed from Win32 (and Silverlight and WPF and...)?
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The "modern" API doesn't seem to be a "clean break" since it doesn't replace anything -- it provides no solution for desktop applications. Its something new which is currently limited to only windows store apps. Am I missing something here? Maybe I just don't understand the "modern" API well enough?
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As many programmers gain experience, they start to learn more and more about what happens behind the facade, about Garbage Collecting and overall memory management. Sadly, I see many programmers filled with half right knowledge and wrong conclusions especially in the field of Garbage Collection and Performance. I saw attempts to "optimize" C# code, which did, if anything, slow down the program. So let us take a closer look at the modern Garbage Collectors, how they work and what problems they want to solve. I am going to explain the specific Java implementation, but don't worry, most of them work fairly similar. If GC really worked, it would throw out most of my code.
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Google allegedly assigns version numbers late in the process, but what is known is that this next release will implement upcoming API level 18. If you follow the progression there’s a likelihood this will be Jelly Bean MR2 (Management Release 2), where Android 4.2 was management release 1. Based on some other discussions and sources I also suspect this might be Jelly Bean MR2. All of that is really just semantics however, what really matters are what specific features are coming and which of those Google touched on during I/O. What new features do you want to see in Android?
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Working features
Faster Facebook app
Updates that wont reset all you settings and Icons
Possibility to uninstall apps that you don't want (and haven't installed yourself)
That's all, then I'll be a happy trooper! 
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011
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Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
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And if your lucky, you might get to be one of a few people to ever get the update!
.-.
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,| _\=/_ .-""-.
||/_/_\_\ /[] _ _\
|_/|(_)|\\ _|_o_LII|_
\._. |\_/|"` |_| ==== |_|
|_|_| ||" || ||
|-|-| ||LI o ||
|_|_| ||'----'||
/_/ \_\ /__| |__\
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Let’s try to find all possible ways to visualize a ludicrously small data set of two numbers. Afterwords, let’s try to pick the best visualization. With such a tiny dataset, you would think we would complete both exercises in less than 5 minutes. Yet, we spent more than two hours without having actually accomplished either of the two tasks. Not only was the number of possible ways to visualize two values far higher than expected, but also each single visualization method admitted multiple and interesting variations and opened new questions and discussions. The unit, meaning, interpretation and context of the values often determines the best visualization.
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Three months ago, celebrated video game publisher Valve did something completely out of character: it fired up to 25 workers, in what one employee dubbed the "great cleansing." At the time, co-founder Gabe Newell quickly reassured gamers that the company wouldn't be canceling any projects, but it just so happens that one project managed to get away. Valve was secretly working on a pair of augmented reality glasses... and those glasses are still being built by two Valve employees who lost their jobs that day. Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson created Technical Illusions to make illusions reality.
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With WWDC just a few weeks away, I thought it’d be beneficial to the Internet at large to compile a working list of everything that is expected of Apple during their Keynote and subsequent “State of the Union” addresses in order to appease the Internet. Failure to introduce each and every one of these features and updates will result in another stock price plummet, calls for Tim Cook’s ouster and an infinite amount of comments on tech blogs decrying that Android is superior to Apple’s iOS. 50 serious suggestions for improving Mac/iOS development. What would you ask for?
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I'm with him.
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A $15m computer that uses "quantum physics" effects to boost its speed is to be installed at a Nasa facility. It will be shared by Google, Nasa, and other scientists, providing access to a machine said to be up to 3,600 times faster than conventional computers. Unlike standard machines, the D-Wave Two processor appears to make use of an effect called quantum tunnelling. This allows it to reach solutions to certain types of mathematical problems in fractions of a second. Effectively, it can try all possible solutions at the same time and then select the best. Some skeptics say this isn't real quantum computing. What do you think?
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I am an ASP.NET MVP, author of an O'Reilly title "Building a Web 2.0 portal with ASP.NET 3.5". I have written 48 articles on CodeProject. In this installment we talk to Omar Al Zabir, a four time MVP legend on CodeProject.
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In this series of articles, I'm going to go through some of the mistakes I frequently see people making who are attempting to write benchmarks in C#.... If you reward people for making a measurable improvement in memory usage, don't be surprised if time performance gets worse, and vice versa. If you reward improvement rather than achieving a goal then you can expect that they'll keep trying to make improvements even after the goal has been achieved (or worse, even if it is never achieved!) Eric Lippert thinks you're probably doing it wrong. Here's what you should be measuring.
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A memory allocator's responsibility is to manage free blocks of memory. If you've never read a malloc implementation, you may have assumed that calling free simply causes memory to be released to the operating system. But acquiring memory from the OS has a cost, so allocators tend to keep free chunks around for a while for possible re-use before deciding to release them. Inside a very basic malloc implementation.
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Today I got caught up reading a back and forth in twitter about a proposed assertion syntax for Ruby testing frameworks. It was interesting, but yet again it was about how to make tests 'read well.' It's hard to disagree with that, right? Well, I don't in principle, I just think about the amount of time we spend trying to warp programming syntax into English and I wonder whether it is really worth it.... The thing I wanted to blog about is the clash between this natural language style of programming and the other sorts of programming we do. The code should tell a story. Often, it's a tale of woe.
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In this post, I’m going to show you how I made a Lisp to Javascript compiler. I really enjoy programming in Clojure but have often thought that the JVM isn’t always the best platform for scripts due to the slow JVM start-up. So, I decided to implement a simple version of Clojure that compiles to Javascript and can be run on top of nodejs. Compilers are notoriously hard to understand and therefore make for great mind-bending exercises. Exactly my idea of weekend fun. Let's compile all the things to JavaScript... the language everyone claims to hate.
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As a die hard refactorer, but also pragmatic programmer, I often have a tough time articulating to other developers when a refactor is important and when it is gratuitous. I can imagine many people look at decisions I've made about when it is and isn't appropriate and think it's simply a whim or "when I feel like it". To clarify this for both myself and any future victims/co workers involved with refactoring decisions I may make, I submit this 10 item checklist. Note, writing test cases is a form of refactoring.
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You should only ever refactor when you look at your code and think: that stinks.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
me, in pictures
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Google delivered some news for users of its Cloud Platform stable of services at its I/O event on Wednesday. Its Compute Engine service — which competes with Amazon Web Services — will now be available to all users, not just those willing to shell out $400 for support. But it also announced the addition of the most commonly requested feature for its App Engine platform cloud: support for the PHP programming language. I was really hoping for a COBOL to JavaScript compiler.
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Open source software simply wouldn’t exist without the countless volunteers who give of their time to contribute to projects. These volunteers are the maintainers, contributors and advocates that make the OSS world go round.... While it may appear that its up to these contributors to take the initiative to put themselves out there, it’s important to remember that its also up to the project creators and maintainers to help pave the way. If an open source project has no contributors, how open is it?
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The plans for Strongbox started nearly two years ago. Kevin Poulsen, investigations editor at Wired magazine, described how he built the tool with Aaron Swartz, who took on the coding for the project. Strongbox runs on the open-source DeadDrop. Through Strongbox, sources can securely and anonymously contact the New Yorker by accessing the New Yorker’s network on the Tor Project. Aaron Swartz's parting gift: safety for wistleblowers.
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I find Google’s evolution quite intriguing. While I think there’s always a danger to judge Google (or Apple) in terms of rumors, I think it fair to try and infer their product strategy from their actions and announcements.... Here are a few thoughts from the announcements at Google IO so far. Note that I’m just going by the announcements. It may be that when these are released as actual products to the public some of my concerns may already be addressed. What do you think of Google's announcements this week?
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Google used its biggest event of the year to reveal a major overhaul to Google Maps, an ambitious messaging initiative called Hangouts, and a redesigned Google+ filled with new features. The three-day long developer event is taking place between Wednesday, May 15th and Friday the 17th for 2013. Google has a lot in store for the event, and you can follow along here for the latest. Not even Google provides a one-stop source for all their I/O announcements.
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CodeProject.TV interviews Zeeshan Syed, Founder of Hak Studio and one of the recent winners of AngelHack Global in San Francisco. Our coder interviews are going video! Tune in and meet Zeeshan Syed.
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GIT works great with the new Team Foundation Service (TFSvc?). I’m an old school Tortoise guy (SVN, Hg, GIT), but I had to laugh at the little branding touch they through in when doing a pull. Notice the Visual Studio logo in ASCII art. I’ve actually been using it for some time, but I hadn’t notice that until today. The good news is that this is just GIT.
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And the Git extensions crash VS2012. Go figure. I tried with all extensions disabled, but only uninstalling the Git extensions stopped the crashes. I like Git, but I will stick to the command line for now, thank you very much.
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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Your signature there had me trying to read your name backwards for a second!
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Heh. I figured out how to do that from XKCD. Love that webcomic.
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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I watched the dotNetConf .NET Open Source Panel last week. It was a bit disappointing to hear defeatism in the voices of OSS project leaders, because .NET’s future appears to rely entirely on the success of open source software for .NET. Here are a couple reasons... It feels as if Microsoft has shifted focus away from .NET, and with the focus goes resources and innovation.
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Terrence Dorsey wrote: It feels as if Microsoft has shifted focus away from .NET, and with the focus goes resources and innovation.
And we're surprised how???
Marc
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WinRT only applies to store apps running in full screen (without addons) in the new Win8 interface. So it doesn't replace anything since it doesn't service the desktop app needs. And everything is not a web app, so it would seem there's still plenty need for desktop apps and nothing new seems to be replacing that. Yet you hear these cries that X, Y, or Z are "dead"... Its a bit confusing to figure out where they're headed with this. Maybe they're not even sure themselves
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In order to understand Asm.js and where it fits into the browser you need to know where it came from and why it exists. Asm.js comes from a new category of JavaScript application: C/C++ applications that’ve been compiled into JavaScript. It’s a whole new genre of JavaScript application that’s been spawned by Mozilla’s Emscripten project. Emscripten takes in C/C++ code, passes it through LLVM, and converts the LLVM-generated bytecode into JavaScript (specifically, Asm.js, a subset of JavaScript). This is how we get the Unreal engine running in a browser.
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I have had a love/hate relationship with regular expressions in the past. Reading or writing a regular expression typically made me feel like I was toying with a broken Rubiks Cube. However, after I would fiddle an expression into submission, almost by accident, and it did its job, I would become enamored with its brevity and power. It wasn't until I re-adjusted my thoughts on the nature of regular expressions that my fear of them turned into pleasure. After you read this long tutorial on regex, you could probably summarize it using regex.
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Terrence Dorsey wrote: After you read this long tutorial on regex, you could probably summarize it using regex.
What I want to see are the unit tests for validating a regex parser.
Marc
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At the end of a CMS collection its possible for some objects to not have been deleted - this is called Floating Garbage. This happens when objects become de-referenced since the initial mark. The concurrent preclean and the remark phase ensure that all live objects are marked by looking at objects which have been created, mutated or promoted. If an object has become dereferenced between the initial mark and the remark phase then it would require a complete retrace of the entire object graph in order to find all dead objects. This is obviously very expensive, and the remark phase must be kept short since its a pausing phase. This isn't necessarily a problem for users of CMS since the next run of the CMS collector will clean up this garbage. Part of a series on implementing GC in a Java app.
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A few month back, Apple quietly slipped a very nice Objective-C to Javascript bridge into WebKit.... This new API supports straightforward embedding of the JavaScriptCore interpreter into native Objective-C projects, including reading and writing variables and object members with appropriate type coercion, calling methods on JavaScript objects, and directly binding Objective-C objects into JavaScript. It seems likely that this API is going to become public in Mac OS X 10.9 (where JavaScriptCore is already a public framework), and it might be a hint of an eventual public API on iOS. Either way, a new option for building hybrid JavaScript apps is here. The start of Apple’s evolution away from Objective-C?
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