Java 5 Generics
Jan 24, 07:57 PM
I just wrote up a pretty long description of a system I developed to associate Java 5 enums with database tables at runtime. I’m looking for feedback on the method since I’m not really 100% happy with it. I recently tried to extend it by caching the Lookups in a HashMap and I got frustrated with it pretty quickly. I couldn’t seem to get the generic wildcards to play nicely with the templated methods. Since there are really no absolutes in Computer Science, when faced with a new technology I usually push it too far to see how it breaks down. The whole experience has me questioning if the complexity of the generics system in advanced usage is worth the benefits. And I know I’m not the first person to question generics
(read more..)New Year in Tokyo
Jan 8, 08:21 PM
Well, I’m back from Tokyo and still recovering from jet lag. While the last trip I made to Japan was a one week whirlwind introduction to the country this trip was more my speed. After a long flight with a stopover in Dallas, a two hour bus ride (complete with traffic jam delays) from the airport, a meet up with Asako in Shinjuku, and a 10 minute taxi ride to Asako’s parent’s house near Shibuya and I was there. Simple as pie.
(read more..)Kristin's New Album Available
Oct 8, 03:38 PM
Some of you may know my good friend Kristin Hoffmann who was recently signed to Interscope records. Her newest album is now available from various sources including iTunes.
Kristin is one of those people who would be making music even if nobody was listening to her. We’re all lucky she enjoys performing and sharing it with us. If you like singer/songwriters then give her a listen or better yet, check out one of her shows. Stand out tracks include Falling and Silhouette.
(read more..)Apple dropping the Java Cocoa Bridge?
Jul 11, 11:27 AM
Sometimes I wish when apple takes something away, they would give a clearer idea of what they are thinking. Case in point, I am really hoping that Apple has some sort of alternative in mind here and is not just dumping on Java’s parade when they say, Features added to Cocoa in Mac OS X versions later than 10.4 will not be added to the Cocoa-Java programming interface.
Huh? Really? I mean, Java programmers don’t want to learn Objective C… and didn’t Apple drop the Objective C interface to the newly free-as-in-beer WebObjects in favor of Java?
Apple has historically put Java and Cocoa together as 2 of the 3 pillars of the Apple framework stack. At the last developer convention, they pushed XCode 2.0 as the way to develop apps for the mac in the future, gunning for Codewarrior users. I really couldn’t figure out why they were going after other IDE’s other than to boost their own XCode’s market position, but I really thought that their overtures that Java “just works” were sort of a subtle nod to Java as a fully supported platform.The thing is that XCode’s Java support is really piss poor when compared against Eclipse or even Net Beans (so I’m told). And while Apple may be able to compete with a development environment that costs hundreds of dollars, I think they will only drive Eclipse users away from macs. Lots of people want to be able to use Apple kit to develop for non-apple systems. If Apple would drop a few more developers into the Eclipse foundation, perhaps they could get a little more respect from the Java community.
The only positive spin I could see from this is that perhaps they are recognizing the Eclipse/SWT platform’s momentum and are deciding not to compete there. They have already written an article about Eclipse and OSX, and Eclipse’s SWT library uses Carbon (not cocoa) so it wont be harmed by Apple’s decision here. Perhaps this is a sign of an impending rise of Eclipse’s status on OSX?
So In the end, I’m really going to hope that this is not a sign that Apple is moving away from Java… as much as “you should develop Cocoa applications using Objective-C to take advantage of existing and upcoming Cocoa features” makes me think otherwise.
(read more..)A Game for Four
Jun 23, 01:09 AM
I was recently reading Bram Cohen’s (of bittorrent fame) blog about three person games and was inspired to come up with my own four person game.
I remember when I was little on vacation in Cape May with my parents reading a magazine article about a string quartet. In it the second violinist was talking about the natural difficulty in keeping four instruments balanced.
There is an interesting 3 person card game in Germany called Skat that was taught to me by some Germans once. It is played with a smaller deck (only 7, 8, 9, 10 and face cards) and has similar play to Hearts or Spades where players have to win tricks. The rules are quite complex but It does have an interesting part in the beginning of each round where players bid to decide if they want to play against the other two.
This has an interesting effect of balancing strong players against 2 weaker players. Here is a little game I came up with to try to recreate that player vs. group dynamic. It’s really just intended as a thought experiment for me although I welcome any ideas or feedback. Click through for the rules…
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