Comments for Michael Tsai's Weblog http://mjtsai.com/blog Mon, 12 May 2008 05:08:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 Comment on Habeas by Patrick Klos http://mjtsai.com/blog/2004/01/12/habeas/#comment-293674 Patrick Klos Tue, 06 May 2008 15:49:09 +0000 /?p=751#comment-293674 How can Habeas be serious about stopping spam when their web page to report violators doesn't ask anything about the original spam email, the sender or the recipient?!? Sure, the form suggests near the bottom to "Please forward the email you received to complaints@habeas.com.", but why wouldn't they just include that instead of sending you to some useless form if that's the real way to report violators?!?!? I get the impression they're just a wolf in sheep's clothing! How can Habeas be serious about stopping spam when their web page to report violators doesn't ask anything about the original spam email, the sender or the recipient?!? Sure, the form suggests near the bottom to "Please forward the email you received to complaints@habeas.com.", but why wouldn't they just include that instead of sending you to some useless form if that's the real way to report violators?!?!? I get the impression they're just a wolf in sheep's clothing!

]]> Comment on Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby by Jess http://mjtsai.com/blog/2002/11/25/perl_vs_python_vs_ruby/#comment-293222 Jess Tue, 06 May 2008 03:23:19 +0000 /?p=92#comment-293222 Hi, Very interesting posts! I have been using perl for many years now, and have also been involved with much Java and some .Net. I have toyed with Ruby and Python, and both, while "ok", just didn't do it for me. I agree with several other posters though, in that good, readable code is "documented code". Any code is going to be difficult for another programmer to know exactly what the previous programmer wrote and why. Many times now I have revisited my old code, only to find that I hadn't documented it. Other times, I have found documented code in whatever language, and it is sooo much easier. Looking at other folks code (ahem, Java developers listen up), I find the lack of try...catch... disturbing, and the constant drone in logs about java.nullpointer...blah...blah..blah completely disgusting. test your variables please, it will make all of us very happy! But then again, Perl's syntax doesn't bother me at all, and I can usually read right through (its kind of like a warm blanket ;-). It also goes to point out that I agree (with whoever now ;-), that knowing multiple languages is invaluable. Those that only bother with one are destined to be the guy that gets laid off when the company moves on without them. As someone who has worked in everything ranging from Windows/VB -> Solaris/Java -> Linux/PHP/Perl, I have only found my skills getting stronger with each new task/project. Much of any language is going to be planning, and figuring out what works, does so consistently, and provides benefits over other languages. Oh, I also agree that Perl is the swiss army knife hell. I have never found a language so powerful, and so "suited' to UNIX. Oh, for the old guy, I agree that sed/awk/ etc were fairly easy, but man, what a pain in the arse, and to boot, I had so many of those darn things running around, I thought I was going to lose my mind ;-). Hi,
Very interesting posts! I have been using perl for many years now, and have also been involved with much Java and some .Net. I have toyed with Ruby and Python, and both, while "ok", just didn't do it for me.

I agree with several other posters though, in that good, readable code is "documented code". Any code is going to be difficult for another programmer to know exactly what the previous programmer wrote and why. Many times now I have revisited my old code, only to find that I hadn't documented it. Other times, I have found documented code in whatever language, and it is sooo much easier. Looking at other folks code (ahem, Java developers listen up), I find the lack of try...catch... disturbing, and the constant drone in logs about java.nullpointer...blah...blah..blah completely disgusting. test your variables please, it will make all of us very happy!

But then again, Perl's syntax doesn't bother me at all, and I can usually read right through (its kind of like a warm blanket ;-).

It also goes to point out that I agree (with whoever now ;-), that knowing multiple languages is invaluable. Those that only bother with one are destined to be the guy that gets laid off when the company moves on without them. As someone who has worked in everything ranging from Windows/VB -> Solaris/Java -> Linux/PHP/Perl, I have only found my skills getting stronger with each new task/project.

Much of any language is going to be planning, and figuring out what works, does so consistently, and provides benefits over other languages.

Oh, I also agree that Perl is the swiss army knife hell. I have never found a language so powerful, and so "suited' to UNIX. Oh, for the old guy, I agree that sed/awk/ etc were fairly easy, but man, what a pain in the arse, and to boot, I had so many of those darn things running around, I thought I was going to lose my mind ;-).

]]> Comment on Bye Matlab, Hello Python, Thanks Sage by leonard http://mjtsai.com/blog/2008/05/03/bye-matlab-hello-python-thanks-sage/#comment-292418 leonard Mon, 05 May 2008 06:39:50 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=1721#comment-292418 If you're interested in using Python as a Matlab replacement, you might also be interested in taking a look a Reinteract, a Python shell that builds in plotting and dependent recalculations. http://fishsoup.net/software/reinteract/ If you're interested in using Python as a Matlab replacement, you might also be interested in taking a look a Reinteract, a Python shell that builds in plotting and dependent recalculations.

http://fishsoup.net/software/reinteract/

]]> Comment on NSObjectInaccessibleException by Mark Dalrymple http://mjtsai.com/blog/2003/08/23/nsobjectinaccessibleexcep/#comment-292017 Mark Dalrymple Sun, 04 May 2008 19:31:14 +0000 /?p=623#comment-292017 Leopard has multiple threads enabled by default, so folks may run into this problem on Tiger when it works fine on Leopard. Leopard has multiple threads enabled by default, so folks may run into this problem on Tiger when it works fine on Leopard.

]]> Comment on ReadyBoost by Christiaan http://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/02/04/readyboost/#comment-291027 Christiaan Sat, 03 May 2008 09:39:34 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/02/04/readyboost/#comment-291027 readyboost will only work with a stick of max 4GB - Must be FAT32 - Must be formatted - Must have a speed of at least 2.5MB/sec readyboost will only work with a stick of max 4GB
- Must be FAT32
- Must be formatted
- Must have a speed of at least 2.5MB/sec

]]> Comment on I Believe Anti-Aliasing Is Not Addictive by Horace Ho http://mjtsai.com/blog/2002/11/09/i_believe_anti_aliasing_i/#comment-288536 Horace Ho Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:51:23 +0000 /?p=66#comment-288536 I _hate_ font anti-aliasing. I love XP for it gives me an option to turn a-a off. I _know_ Apple products come with style and beauty. But, please respect a user like me and give us an option. I _also_ know I don't have to bother what's on Mac OS and keep using XP. In the case, Apple please create an Win32 version if iPhone SDK ;-) Thanks, and options please. I _hate_ font anti-aliasing. I love XP for it gives me an option to turn a-a off.

I _know_ Apple products come with style and beauty. But, please respect a user like me and give us an option.

I _also_ know I don't have to bother what's on Mac OS and keep using XP. In the case, Apple please create an Win32 version if iPhone SDK ;-)

Thanks, and options please.

]]> Comment on RegexKit by Michael Tsai - Blog - TransactionKit http://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/09/10/regexkit/#comment-283937 Michael Tsai - Blog - TransactionKit Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:32:50 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/09/10/regexkit/#comment-283937 [...] from the developer of RegexKit, provides a thread-safe, lock-free replacement for NSDictionary/NSMutableDictionary. The design [...] [...] from the developer of RegexKit, provides a thread-safe, lock-free replacement for NSDictionary/NSMutableDictionary. The design [...]

]]> Comment on From Win32 to Cocoa by LKM http://mjtsai.com/blog/2008/04/21/from-win32-to-cocoa/#comment-283019 LKM Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:49:45 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=1707#comment-283019 In my opinion, .NET/C# (or many of the other neat supported languages) is a lot nicer and more developer-friendly than Cocoa/Objective-C. Also, Visual Studio is braincandy. It makes everything so easy and seamless that your capacity for writing code actually starts to deteriorate to the point that it becomes difficult to be productive in a plain text editor (or a less "advanced" IDE such as Xcode). The issue with .NET is that you often have to call through to the old APIs to get the cool Windows functions, and this is where things start to get really, really messy. In my opinion, .NET/C# (or many of the other neat supported languages) is a lot nicer and more developer-friendly than Cocoa/Objective-C. Also, Visual Studio is braincandy. It makes everything so easy and seamless that your capacity for writing code actually starts to deteriorate to the point that it becomes difficult to be productive in a plain text editor (or a less "advanced" IDE such as Xcode). The issue with .NET is that you often have to call through to the old APIs to get the cool Windows functions, and this is where things start to get really, really messy.

]]> Comment on Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby by Michael http://mjtsai.com/blog/2002/11/25/perl_vs_python_vs_ruby/#comment-280048 Michael Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:11:45 +0000 /?p=92#comment-280048 Brian: Certainly, it can only help Python's popularity, however I was under the impression that Python was already more widely used than Ruby. SpamSieve is written in Objective-C, however I use Python in EagleFiler and DropDMG, as well as during the development process for all my apps. Brian: Certainly, it can only help Python's popularity, however I was under the impression that Python was already more widely used than Ruby. SpamSieve is written in Objective-C, however I use Python in EagleFiler and DropDMG, as well as during the development process for all my apps.

]]> Comment on Perl vs. Python vs. Ruby by brian http://mjtsai.com/blog/2002/11/25/perl_vs_python_vs_ruby/#comment-279980 brian Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:12:21 +0000 /?p=92#comment-279980 Now that Google has released the Google Apps framework which is authored in Python, do you think that Python will become a more popular choice than Ruby? Did you program SpamSieve in Python? I've been a SpamSieve user for many years (and love it). Now that Google has released the Google Apps framework which is authored in Python, do you think that Python will become a more popular choice than Ruby?

Did you program SpamSieve in Python? I've been a SpamSieve user for many years (and love it).

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