07.31.05
Windows Vista and a “Vista” on Enlightenment
Some days ago a “Windows Vista” thread started in e-users mailing list, which for those who don’t know is the users mailing list of the Enlightenment Window Manager/Desktop Shell (E16/17).
In those posts a link to a forum which posts Windows Vista snapshots, previously known by the codename Longhorn. Beta 1 is here and the snapshots are public and they are nice. However, M$ keeps babbling about good security features, and other “many” niceties which they always talk about which reminds me political campaigns. Windows however is all about usability anyway, which is what make windows what it is… however, in my personal oppinion it is losing points.
Linux is winning points every single day. As distributions get more and more friendlier, people start using Linux, which they do if they do not get scared. Most people I know think Linux is a bug some wierdos mess with. Well, it is not. Linux is stable (kernel 2.6), distros are friendlier and installations cannot be easier. Hardware installation is simple and most hardware is linux-compatible. And Linux provides stuff for the children and stuff for the adults, for experts and novices, you get distros for your needs, whichever they may be. Just choose wisely! The problem is the choice… you have all the freedom you want… you want linux? you get to pick the distro, the window manager, the cd recording application, the terminal, the browser, the mail sender, the internet messaging application, the office suite, … and the list goes on… and better… LOSE THE CRACKS. This is all free!! and developed by a bunch of people in their spare time which will, most of them, reply promptly to your feature requests and bug reports. I have chosen Gentoo Linux (after trying RedHat, SUSE, slackware, and Mandrake) and E16 (after KDE and Gnome). And it provides the best FOR ME. I’m sure most people tastes are different and that’s why Linux gives you the freedom to choose what’s best FOR YOU. One thing I know… you’ll get what you ask for with all the security features, niceties and other stuff a Linux Kernel 2.6 and Xorg provide. And yes, Linux can do real transparency and shadows and everything you love in the yet-to-come Windows Vista which is not a blasting high-tech Windows as I’ve already heard. It’s in beta 1, so by my calculations, with beta 2 next year, you’ll be able to get a first “usable” release in early 2007 which will provide a lots of bugs until the first SP1 or something which will be in mid-2007…???
Oh well, where will I be then? Where will Linux be then???
Right now, I can provide you with these snapshots takes right here, right NOW from my desktop running Gentoo, Kernel 2.6.11, Xorg 6.8.2, E16, Engage, Firefox, Gaim, Gkrellm, gv, Eterm and a nice background from rasterman. If you like this, wait a little bit more for a stable E17 and then… I’ll convince you! (Oh, and you’re thinking… da’hell, he doesn’t know Mac… well, you’re wrong but Mac is a completely different league)
Well, I could talk a bit more about skippy/Expose2 or fade-out/in window but I’ll leave that for next time… Hope you feel Enlightened!
07.27.05
ROOS – Rose Object Orientation for Scheme
Some time ago I created a wishlist for the scheme language (particularly for the PLT Scheme implementation) and my prayers have been answered. There is already a GUI Builder, and now it shows up ROOS, another object system for scheme which has a persistence layer which enables objects in this system to be inserted into a DB transparently. And on their way, they also developed initial bindings for GTK+2. We’re on all set on the right track! :D
07.22.05
PLT-Scheme 299.108 released
MzScheme and MrEd are now version 299.108 in the SVN repository trunk.
The changes are related to Unicode and SRFI-75:
* Changed `char-lower-case?’ and `char-upper-case?’ to match the
Unicode “Lowercase” and “Uppercase” properties, instead of SRFI-13.* Added `string-upcase’, `string-downcase’, `string-titlecase’,
`string-foldcase’, and `char-foldcase’.* \U in strings and characters allows up to 8 digits (again) instead
of 6.* In case-insensitive mode, symbols are case-folded instead
of downcased (usually the same thing, but not always).Matthew
Call for participation on an “Exposé” for E17
Call for Participation
======================In order to implement a functionality similar to Max OSX’ Exposé
(http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/), we are looking for people
willing to contribute in any helpful way. In particular, the following
positions are open ;-)- One or more project leader(s)
Deeper knowledge of the e-libs would be a requirement, also the general
management and organization of the project would be part of the task.- Worker bees
People willing to contribute to the code, all different levels of
experience welcome.- Testers
Even if you don’t feel ready to do some coding you may be a valuable
help
if you can take some time every once in a while to do code testing and
write
high quality feedback reports.It’s not clear if this will eventually lead to a real (sub-)project, that
depends vastly on the reactions to this call. Therefore, please spread
this
call around, but don’t forget to point out that the primary coordination
point – until an own infrastructure has been set up – is the
“enlightenment
user mailing list”:http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=enlightenment-users
07.10.05
Como chumbar a…
É raro no meio académico existirem Professores que se dêem ao trabalho de criar algo que “ajudem” os alunos para além do que é normal, ou seja, resolução dos exercícios, resolução dos testes/exames, aulas de dúvidas extra, etc. De facto, até ontem só conhecia o Prof. José Luís Martins do Departamento de Física que há alguns anos que passava sugestões de como estudar para o exame no qual, sempre achei interessante, uma das sugestões era: “Dormir muito bem na noite anterior ao exame.” Ora, ontem soube (através do meu irmão) de um Professor no Dep. de Engª Electrónica que foi… muito mais longe. Publicou algumas notas sobre como chumbar à cadeira que lecciona. Retirei o PDF que se encontra a seguir do site da cadeira na secção de Material de Apoio onde nesta data se encontra.
Na minha sincera opinião, o documento está excelente, com muita ironia, humor, e excelentes sugestões de como NÃO chumbar no exame.
Como Chumbar no Exame de IRT (PDF)
07.03.05
Convincing your friends recursion is better than imperative looping
While surfing the USENET on comp.lang.scheme I found this nice discussion on recursive/imperative loopings:
Comp.lang.scheme post
Which is accompained by the article in DeveloperWorks (IBM): “Mastering Recursive Programming”
Very nice reading…
