i.justrealized

Google Wave Developer Preview presentation at the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O. To learn more visit http://wave.google.com

This is a good move perhaps, one of the new features of Java 1.6 Update 14 is:

Garbage First (G1) Garbage Collector

Garbage First, or G1, is a low pause, server style collector. G1′s primary advantages over the Concurrent Mark-Sweep (CMS) collector include incremental compaction, better predictability and ease of use.

Although G1 is available for use in this release, note that production use of G1 is only permitted where a Java support contract has been purchased. G1 is supported thru Sun’s Java Platform Standard Edition for Business program. Source: Sun

I got really tired of Java updates. I realized it never just updates to the latest, instead it keeps all the old ones which I see no need for.

And it works with Windows 7. I used to be using Xampplite but switched to XAMPP to take a look at XAMPP. I’m a little reluctant to switch actually. I always prefers things lean and don’t all the unnecessary stuff that comes with a full install of XAMPP.

I haven’t exactly thought of programming as a chore. And I am always quick to admit that I am not a good programmer, it just so happened to be what I do better in.

Lately, programming has been turning into a tiny chore and I hope it doesn’t enlarge itself. I overcome it partially by adding interesting things to do into the project so it felt a little more fun and probably can gain myself a little more satisfaction. I define “interesting things” to be something I never done before and have a high chance of getting it right. However, these “interesting things” aren’t good for me because I ended up having to maintain these interesting things.

My work generally involves – development, maintaining. I think I am supposed to squeeze testing and planning in somewhere in the steps but I don’t give a crap about those management level definitions.

Development is always the more fun part. You make something in 10 hours and watch it work. However you may end up watching it work for 10 days leaving your eleventh day in front of the computer debugging for the next 5 hours. This process typically recurs and the base case is the termination of product.

I don’t have a good solution for it but I need a constant feed of “interesting things”. So during maintenance, I added in those “interesting things” which is really just a curse. These “interesting things” come back and haunt me; and I end up having to maintain these “interesting things”. And during the maintenance of these “interesting things”, I added…

Wow, a 1964 modem. These things belong to the museum but not yet – this guy has it. What good is such devices when in a museum.

Background: This modem was given to me ~1989 by the widow of a retired (IBM?) engineer. Computerhistory.org has a Model B dated 1965, and I’ve seen a ~1967 Model C written up in a magazine. (Interestingly, incorrectly identified as being only 110 baud.)

Even better than seeing it in a museum, I decide to hook the trusty Model A up and make it talk to something. After some trial and error, I manage to get it to talk to a terminal server at work and use it to connect to a linux box. It’s ALIVE! So, 45 years after it’s creation, this antique modem gets to send data to and from the modern Internet. (From Youtube)

1964 Antique MODEM Live Demo

It’s a 1964 acoustic modem.

Ron Burk discusses the psychology of incompetence. The Psychology of Incompetence – Ron Burk – Ignite Seattle 6 – 2009-04-29.

Haskell hack

[via Yaxu.org]