I’ve finally finished at university for Easter where the last few weeks have been particularly hectic. I’ll mostly be spending the holiday writing my project report, but I’ve got some cocoa projects that I’ve been neglecting for a while now. I’ll be easing myself back in with a little freebie, which I hope to have complete by next week.
Cocoa its good to be back!
I’ve done something stupid (again!). I recently read a great article on avoiding the use of the float data type in financial applications. I said I’d forward the article on to a friend, but I can’t seem to find it. Does anybody know the article I mean? All help appreciated. Cheers!
[Update] I’ve found the article I meant. It was over at allocinit.net. I found it in a slightly unusual way however, that may be of use to others. I found the site to which it linked, and then used Google to search for sites that linked to the paper using the link: prefix. Lo and behold the site I was looking for was in the first couple of hits 
I’d just like to let everyone know that I’m still here! I’ve been snowed under with my dissertation, which has been moving along quite nicely. The cluster scheduling simulator is up 11,000 lines of code making it by far the largest piece of software I’ve written single handedly.
On the cocoa front, I’ve been working on a super-cool top secret application which I hope will be finished shortly. I’m finding switching between java and cocoa is getting easier, but it still takes me a couple of hours to really get in the zone!
I’ve also been writing a couple of cocoa tutorials, which I hope to release here shortly. I’ve been working on a tutorial for shell script Automator actions and also some notes on my experiences of creating importers for spotlight. If any body has suggestions for further tutorials let me know. I’m planning to focus on aspects I find/found hard (of which there are many).
I’ve recently wondered about how to recursively count the number of lines within a series of files within a directory hierarchy. The command that I came up with is:
wc -l `find . -name \*.java -print`
The output is very readable, since it prints both the filename and the number of lines.
Enjoy!
Technorati Tags:
Terminal, Shell Script
I was sorry to hear about the recent events at the Big Nerd Ranch. Just prior to their excellent Cocoa course all of the equipment was stolen and the classroom was burnt down. Well done to Emily and Jaye for getting things organized so quickly. I hope that you guys are back on track soon!
I picked up this tip when I was beginning to work with Ruby on Rails and Subversion. I added the following alias to my .profile file
alias svnaddall=’svn status | grep “^\?” | awk “{print \$2}” | xargs svn add’
This command takes all files in the present directory and flags them to be added in the next commit. This saves adding each of the files one-by-one. You don’t just have to use the command for Rails either- use it for everything. I do!
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OS X, Ruby on Rails, Subversion
I’ve just found out about a really neat trick at creativebits. If you hold the option key and drag you can select a freeform area of text. Cool!
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OS X
I’ve just come across some cool background images courtesy of Adam Betts. I like a nice plain background, and this hits the spot for me!
Now that I’m back from the Big Nerd Ranch I thought I’d write my own review, as it was the reviews of others that had finally persuaded me to book my place.
The instructor for the course is Aaron Hillegass, author of the highly regarded introductory text on Cocoa programming. The book forms the majority of the course materials, and quite rightly so. It is both well written and easy to follow. In addition to the book another 6 as yet unpublished chapters are used, covering concepts like advanced objective-c, a better understanding of bindings and CoreData.
I’ve been to many courses, but none have been so intensive. There is a lot to cover, but each concept is introduced with a short lecture, followed by activities with enough depth to challenge those that work quickly and those that like to work a little slower or apply the concept to something slightly different.
After a days hard work most students returned to the classroom to play around with what had been covered that day, or work on personal projects. During this time Aaron was available to iron out any wrinkles or help solve any bugs that cropped up.
The real value of the course can only be seen afterwards. I am delighted with how my personal projects have been developing since I returned from the course.
I went as a privateer, and had some initial reservations about the high cost of the course, although these reservations are now a distant memory! So if you have an interest in Cocoa programming or a need to program in Cocoa then book yourself a place on the course today (and if you can get your company to pay for it then all the better!).
I finally stumped up the cash for a new Intel mac. I went for the 20″ model as I thought the extra screen size would come in handy. I ordered it with a gig of RAM in one Dimm and ordered more from Crucial. I threw in a Aperture too. I’d been meaning to pick up a copy for a while but couldn’t bear the thought of it running on my G4 powerBook. I’ll post a review as soon as I’ve had a chance to play.
Now the all important question- Do I install Windows or not?