| More programming stuff and living the Dooj life |
[May. 21st, 2008|12:07 pm] |
So it seems like my brain really wants to be a programmer and do programmery things. (I have a deep-seated and deep-seeded desire to have helpless machines do my bidding, you see.) Already i'm piling up ideas and design sketches for things both related to work and personal: computer-assisted songwriting; a hand-rolled CMS for my music website; another lightweight hand-rolled CMS for my personal website; concept-level categorisation and info extraction systems. And so on.
Which is just as well really because i'm not really going that well with music. I think the last Daily says it all: the studio's just not in good shape for writing. I've really lost interest. It happens every so often — i'm about ready to put it down to a renewed interest in reading and getting fit again, plus a strange new interest in computational linguistics, plus learning Python and doing programming at home.
It helps to be able to roll directly out of bed into some clothes, work from 7:30am until 4:00pm then have the rest of the afternoon to myself. If you can get away with keeping hours slightly out of sync with normal office hours, i highly recommend it: commutes are shorter because traffic is kinder, the afternoon feels way longer, more time to relax after work, etc.
Oh and to all the people who i told i'd buy a theremin: i may have to disappoint you. It may not be a good week to buy one. Mainly because this is more useful, if $550 more expensive. But nowhere near as much fun, all the same. And no association with Thomas Grillo either. |
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| Python and programming languages |
[May. 17th, 2008|10:40 am] |
First, it's all true. Well probably.
As a programmer of not particularly much experience, i offer here a few thoughts on the different languages and ways of bossing computers around which i work with day-to-day, or have worked with.
- Python is something i've been learning lately as a go-to language for personal stuff. It seems like a brilliant language for just getting things done. Python will prod you until your code reaches a certain level of niceness. Its Windows implementation doesn't suck chunks. Its OO-ness and the ease of use as such makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Really really really like Python. So far. Where it falls down a bit is online documentation, which is to be expected when i'm used to working with the following two more mature and better documented languages...
- Perl is what we use at work for everything except my stuff. (I'm special.) Perl, having been designed by a linguist, feels more like a proper language than typing instructions at a computer. Perl has a feel to it that almost hints at computer programming poetry; it's got a sort of graceful yet smart-arsey aesthetic to it. It rightfully exudes "hacker" vibes. It is a good go-to language for the sort of stuff that the Web needs. The poetic element is missing somewhat from Python, but on the other hand Perl is quite slutty in terms of what it'll let you get away with and Python's OO paradigm makes Perl 5's look a bit weak. CPAN is also brilliant and poos all over anything that Python has on offer in terms of immediate usefulness and documentation quality. Also regex gives me the horn, but of course i get Perl-flavoured regex in...
- PHP is what my project runs on. PHP is somewhat Perl flavoured, except.. all the cool stuff is missing. And it doesn't enforce any sort of programming standards at all; it's a complete slut and will let you get away with anything. It does not have an operational difference between arrays and hashes. They can intermingle. To extend PHP you used to have to compile other stuff in. And it only got try/catch syntax in PHP5. It's possible to be a completely style-less oik with PHP and never go any deeper; Perl at least gives you obvious toys, and Python at least forces you to engage with OO. All that said, it's damn easy to pick up PHP and build websites with it, and the online documentation is well spiffy and there are things like PECL which i haven't checked out much yet that hold promise.
- Javascript is sort of meh as is, but gets much less annoying when you have something like Prototype, jQuery or Mootools to do all the tedious stuff for you (like getting features such as AJAX to work seamlessly on every browser using the same syntax.)
I mention this only because i was checking out Ruby today; at first glance, Ruby looks like the bastard offspring of Perl and Python. But Ruby very rarely seems to travel without something called Rails, and dear fucking Gods the hype about how quickly you can do stuff with Ruby on Rails is deafening. (As is the counter-hype of horror stories about how it doesn't scale gracefully, which is comforting.)
Run out of things to say here. Heehee. :) |
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| Maths |
[Nov. 28th, 2007|11:28 pm] |
Tone conversion. I don't understand the maths in this because i don't understand how logarithms work yet, i just got it off a website and took for granted that it would work. And it does.
I need to do more trust exercises like this, i think, instead of being too nervous about not understanding everything to just go ahead and use it. But it's like they say, you learn more when shit breaks.
As an encore i will port it to JavaScript and then Perl. "One day".
Plans for the Perl EP are stewing meanwhile; many little 30-second microtracks, including a glitch track called $@. (That's some Perl non-humour there.) |
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| Woke up after reading 'Programming Perl' again.. |
[Nov. 17th, 2007|02:15 pm] |
..unnhh fugg'n sub wakeup { yawn; }; grep ($_ ~= m/dreams/) @stuff_in_brain == 0; # aww; $ENV{'place'} == 'bed'; if (human_hours(`time`) < (0800) roll_over; ponder(@stuff_in_brain) );
etc
Also i have until the end of the weekend to get past 30000 words to stay on track with NaNoWriMo - that's 4353 words to write and change. |
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| Things i am learning.. |
[Nov. 15th, 2007|03:57 pm] |
So today it was decided that i should probably learn Perl to do this thing i'm working on, since doing it all in JavaScript will break some accessibility/unobtrusivity principles. Wouldn't want that.
The problem is that i don't know Perl. At least, this morning at around 10am i didn't..
Today i've gone through Learning Perl in two and a half hours this morning and i'm onto Intermediate Perl this afternoon. I couldn't find a print version so i'm making do with an online version instead. (Eyestrain makes Dooj say ouch.) Programming Perl was extremely comprehensive but a bit hard on my brain for the sheer onslaught of stuff it covers in a short space of time; Learning Perl was nice and easy because it didn't cover anything too mind-melting, and Intermediate Perl is starting to turn up the learning curve. I found a natty little pocket reference guide for Perl too which has lots of useful lists in it at Borders for $21 too. Yay.
I've come to the preliminary conclusion that PHP makes Perl look like Japanese for its sheer compact complexity and power. There's something about Perl that's scary, something that's beautiful, something that compels me to express myself with it. It's going to be addictive stuff, i can tell.
Back to it then. Oh and if anyone's wondering, i should be crossing the halfway point of this novel during tonight's writing session.
(Edit: quoted! And now i'm going to bed.) |
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