Pixelmator

The just-announced Pixelmator is a new image editor that leverages Core Image and various other Mac OS X technologies (via John Gruber). I’m not crazy about the HUD-heavy interface, but on the other hand GraphicConverter’s dialog boxes look ancient and Photoshop Elements has an increasingly Windowsy interface with frustrating window management. I’ve been using GraphicConverter for the last few weeks and, once I got my mind out of Photoshop mode, it was pleasant to use. I’d forgotten about this gem for too long. I have no idea whether Pixelmator will tempt me, but what’s clear is that unless Adobe updates Photoshop Elements to make it universal they will have lost me as a customer. I only do occasional graphics work, so there’s no way that I’d pay $550 to update to Photoshop CS3 when its only advantage for me compared to Elements is not being really slow.

The Trouble with Checked Exceptions

Anders Hejlsberg:

Frankly, they look really great up front, and there’s nothing wrong with the idea. I completely agree that checked exceptions are a wonderful feature. It’s just that particular implementations can be problematic. By implementing checked exceptions the way it’s done in Java, for example, I think you just take one set of problems and trade them for another set of problems. In the end it’s not clear to me that you actually make life any easier. You just make it different.