Kathy & Gary Will at the Accelerator Centre today.



First YouTube post!

This is from tuesday after the big snowstorm:



I tried to videotape and run the GPS at the same time today so you could hear the cool english accented lady driving instructions (in 100 meters, enter the motorway). But the GPS voice turned off while I was filming :-(

For some reason Java doesn't have a very good reputation. Java EE is a total hash. Don't even go near it. Java SE is kind of mixed. Yes, it works in the sense that you can write GUI apps that run on Linux, Windows, and Mac. But. It will look ugly on all platforms. It will be slow on all platforms. It will make your processor overheat.

On the other hand, all the cool kids use it. No, wait, they're using Ruby now. Well, anyway, the schools are teaching in Java. It kind of mostly does most of the things you need for decent OO. There's TONS of open source code out there to do everything you want. Apache turns out boatloads of the stuff. There's libraries to do everything. The syntax is easy to use, blah blah blah. But still. Slow & ugly.

The thing is, that Java was originally written to run on embedded devices, way back when it was called Oak or Elm or some kind of tree anyway. That's why it has all this crazy security sandbox stuff built in. And today, the one place where Java really, really shines is in embedded devices - specifically on mobile phones.

Java ME is great. It does just what it needs to do. Sure you're inside a sandbox and you can't steal the user's private information and send it back to your server. But that's a GOOD thing. I don't want you to write your app to record every single one of my conversations without my knowledge. A mobile phone is a very personal place. Have you ever noticed that people will loan their computers but not their phones? It's a personal device.

Anyway, Java ME has just the right feature set. Unlike SE and EE there aren't a gazillion different APIs, there's a small set and if you really need some function they don't provide, maybe you shouldn't be doing that anyway. Or you can snag it from open source. I love the way that they restrict your choices in so many ways. Want to load a URL into a specific application on the phone? You can't. All you get is platformRequest() and the phone decides what to do with it. I like that, especially since the phones are getting a lot smarter about what they can handle.

I don't know, to me, Java ME has just the right amount of stuff in it. Not too big, not too small. Just right.

NB, I'm going to experiment with allowing comments. Believe it or not, I've been blogging for SEVEN years and I've never allowed comments before.

It's been a while since I blogged here! There's buckets of stuff going on at Semacode Corporation but nothing I can talk about right now. I've entered the stealth zone! However I can say that We Are Hiring (must be willing to live in Waterloo)!

I just ordered a Nokia N95 8GB. What can I say, I'm very excited. Yes, I know I've already messed around with it plenty but I'm excited about actually owning one. For whatever reason I've refused to purchase an iPod forever (who wants to carry two devices) and so the N95 will be the first all-in-one device that I actually get to carry around all the time. And travel with. Etc. I guess one of my fears though is that I will become the kind of blackberry zombie who's always checking his emails, interrupting meetings to answer emails, etc., etc. I'll have to not do that.

Oh yeah, and as for the iPhone? I don't know ... I just don't like that touchscreen, and the sliding effect when you switch photos and stuff makes me sea-sick. So no go with that one (as expected).

Is Ruby on Rails the best thing ever or what? I've been doing some web sites on the side and it's so fast and productive. I'm re-educating myself. The last time I did serious web programming was pre Web 2.0. Back when XML was the Best Thing Ever. Only 2 years ago. Now Javascript has grown up and we have wonderful things like Prototype and the unobtrusive technique. And firebug, cool! Making interactive websites is so much more fun now.

Here's a useful collection of visual design patterns for websites. Good for when you're trying to decide just what your login box should look like.

Here:

http://semacode.org/weblog/archive