DonationCoder.com
Best Of Blog
view older items

Saturday July 26, 2008

IDEA: prompt Properties>Comments, when creating link for exe

When I (seldom) go to Start > All Programs, or (almost always) Quick Launch (True Launch Bar) to search for whatever program I am in need of, very often I cannot remember the name of the program in question, or I cannot remember if I am in need of program A, B, or C - because I cannot recall their features!

All shortcuts have this tooltip feature, point to the link and a tooltip can tell you what the linked program can do, but very few programmers use the feature. I also forget myself to type in such informations, when I create the shortcut.

So, my idea is for some app to prompt the Properties > Comments to pop up, whenever a shortcut is created for an exe file. This way, when I find a new program that I would like to test, I can copy the description of the features, from the site, and when the program has been installed and a shortcut must be created, this app 'you' are about to author, will force me to remember to paste that description into Properties > Comments. And from now on and for ever I can merely point at the shortcut and remember what the heck it was that this particular program was supposed to be able to do.

    Click here to download the utility written by DC Member Skrommel to solve this request..

posted by Curt donate to Curt - Today at 07:32:00 PM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 4 comments)


New App! File/Folder Date Organizer

This little app will search through a selected folder and
reorganize everything in that folder (keeping relative paths intact) into
dated folders.

need an example? ok:

let's say you have the following folders

c:\my stuff\something old (files in this folder are dated Feb. 2005)
c:\my stuff\something new (files in this folder are dated Mar. 2008)

Select 'c:\my stuff' as the search folder and you'll end up with this:

c:\my stuff\2005-02\something old
c:\my stuff\2008-03\something new

seems simple and useless... that is, of course, unless you have literally
hundreds of folders and random file sitting in that folder!

How does it work?

All files in the root folder are treated as separate entities and put into
their respective dated folders based on their own file date.

All folders in the search directory are kept in the exact path structure
as they sit in that folder. The date is determined by the newest file date
found within that folder and it's subfolders. Because of this, it ideally
works with folders that only have one level of subfolders within itself.
If you use this in folders that have multiple layers of nested folders,
the files/folders being moved to a dated folder will all be grouped by the
very latest file within that entire tree!



    Click here to read more and download..

posted by seedling donate to seedling - Today at 04:55:00 PM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 2 comments)


The D programming language - an interview with the author

D takes C++ and incorporates elements from more modern programming languages such as ruby,python,java,etc...
I find this particularly interesting because D remains a true systems programming language, with many of the original concepts that make me stick to C++ in it.

Recently featured on the OSNews blog was an article on compuworld with the author of the D programming language, Walter Bright.

It looks like D has come a long way since I last tried it, and they are getting ready for their 2.0 release (alpha has been released now).

D is not without it's problems, for example, it's standard library has been forked and is not compatible with the original stdlib. Bright addresses this and other criticisms on the language in the article above.

Very interesting read!

posted by Gothi[c] donate to Gothi[c] - Today at 10:51:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 3 comments)


Friday July 25, 2008

GalaXQL - Cool interactive sql tutorial toy

Someone submitted this through the suggestion form and i tried it -- very fun and cool.

Great way to learn a little sql database stuff.  You learn while you manipulate the universe  Thmbsup

Cross platform runs on windows and mac and source code is available.

Quote
Follow the instructions by your virtual teacher. The teacher can understand several possible mistakes that you may make, and gives hints on what may have gone wrong. You can skip to any chapter in the tutorial whenever you want.

Use the query editor to interact with the database, and to complete the assignments given by the virtual teacher. In case of syntax errors, SQLite (the database engine used in GalaXQL) returns helpful, human-readable error messages.

http://sol.gfxile.net/galaxql.html

Author seems like a cool guy too and there are lots of other fun things on his website, including an active blog: http://sol.gfxile.net/index.html

From the last lesson in the program: "Also, send the author some mail! One of the biggest motivations for writing free software like this is getting comments from people, and it's always nice to hear when people find your programs to be useful."

So if you use the program send him an email and say hello (contact button is in upper right on blog page)

posted by mouser donate to mouser - July 25, 2008, 07:22:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 2 comments)


HEXelon MAX 6 - free mathematical calculator currency converter units converter

HEXelon MAX 6 is a free mathematical calculator, currency converter, and units converter.

More screenshots

Features:
Quote
  • Language versions: English, Polish, Czech.
  • Solves math expressions like: Sin(Pi)-Root(-8;3)+3
  • Creates user's functions (e.g. surfaces, volumes, and so on). Publishes in Internet. Receives from Internet.
  • Program shows position of bugs in math expression made by user. Descriptions of bugs help solve a problem.
  • Prompter shows functions, variables, constants. Simply press SPACE key.
  • Exchange rates table and currency converter are update from Internet by one click.
  • Units converter makes easier to convert various units.
  • 14 categories of units: length, temperature, pressure and so on.
  • Creates user's variables.
  • Numeral systems: binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal.
  • Measures of angle: radian, degree, gradus.
  • 5 sets of keyboards configured ba a user.
  • 3 calculators - user can calculate three various math expressions.
  • Button Undo and Redo.
  • History of math expressions.
  • Comprehensive Help.

posted by PhilB66 donate to PhilB66 - July 25, 2008, 07:17:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 1 comment)


Wednesday July 23, 2008

DonationCoder/Veign Programming Contest Results Posted

A month and a half ago we announced a programming contest here at DC, to give away an amazing programming prize generously donated by long time DC forum member Chris Hanscom.

Three people chose to enter the contest, with entries that could not have been more different.



Complete DC newcomer Eric Wong blew everyone away with not one but two unusual entries that were extremely impressive from a technical/programming standpoint.  His first program, Webcam Signature, uses a computer webcam to identify and track a colored object and let users create signatures from it.  It's described by eric (VideoInPicture) on this thread, and has it's own full and beautiful website along with a video demo: here.


Eric's second submission, coded in only a couple of weeks, is called Circle Dock, and is a wonderfully cool implementation of a circular floating toolbar/dock/start menu.  Eric describes it in this thread and has another great website for it complete with a demo movie: here.




Long time active DC participant Eóin entered a very polished professional program for managing sets of windows system services.  His program is called ServiceProfiles, and is described on this post has a website: here.  It's a program we expect many power users would find immediately useful and valuable:




Sometimes poster and long time DonationCoder chatroom participant hollowlife1987 submitted Btts, a complete standalone torrent tracker, complete with it's own web server (made in C# with asp.net).  It's a pretty impressive accomplishment and a very cool demonstration of what can be done combining asp with C# in a standalone tool.
blogimage




We AGONIZED over who to give the prize to.  All of them really deserved it for different reasons.

It's a strange prize to give out because it's such a varied set of tools that very few people on planet earth would have real use for more than one or two of the components in it.  We decided to ask the participants to tell us honestly how they would use the prize if they won it.. We do this quite a bit at DonationCoder because we try very hard to be fair and put things into the hands of those who will benefit from them.

This was actually the primary way we decided who to give the prize to -- not by deciding which program or programmer we liked best, but by deciding at this stage who we thought could most use it.

In the end we decided that there will be no single "Winner" but that:
  • We will give the MSDN giveaway prize to Eóin.
  • And we will create additional prizes for the other 2 entrants; both Eric and Hollow will get $250 in cash to spend as they wish (hopefully on programming related stuff!), and we'll endeavor to find some other gifts for them as well.
  • And all entrants will get a custom mug commemorating the contest (hey this is the best prize of all) and free web hosting for life.



So congratulations to the 3 winners, tied for first place: Eric Wong (VideoInPicture), Eóin O'Callaghan, and Hollowlife1987.

You should all be proud, and on behalf of DonationCoder and Veign, thank you for making this forum and site a more enjoyable and educational place to hang out.

I hope you will all keep us updated on your programs and future work.  Eric in particular we cannot wait to see what software you develop next(!)

posted by mouser donate to mouser - July 23, 2008, 01:42:00 PM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 21 comments)


DeVeDe - Convert files for DVD playing

DeVeDe is a(nother) video converter, but with the sole purpose of producing DVD's viewable on a TV using a standalone DVD player

Features (from the site)


I'll start by saying that I have (until recently) had no interest in or requirement for anything like this, hence my knowledge of all things relating to video editing, conversion, production, etc is practically nil, and as such, I have absolutely no qualifications for writing this review...

Recently though my inlaws purchased a shiny new HDD camcorder...

how is that relevant?  well, for a start they are techonogically challenged.  They really shouldn't have any tech whatsoever, period.  They didn't seek any advice regarding their purchase, just what the salesmen told them on the day (I think you can see where I'm going with this....)

...

DeVeDe on the other hand was something of a revelation.  Not only was it dead simple to use, but I understood what it was doing, and I got good results (choose the output format (DVD, VCD, SVCD, CVD or DivX), add my files, answer the prompts, and I'm done!!)

The interfaces are logical, clean, and simple, with all the common functions ready to hand, and the lesser only a click away.   

    Click here to continue reading the full minireview now..

posted by Target donate to Target - July 23, 2008, 01:26:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 7 comments)


Tuesday July 22, 2008

Dictators in free and open source software?

I know this is controversial, but i tend to agree with the general premise that it's helpful to have one person (or two), who is for all intents and purposes in charge of making final decisions and riding herd over a project.

This short essay talks about why:

Quote
Some people seem to challenge the idea that most (if not all) free software projects need a benevolent dictator—that is, somebody who has the last say on every decision. They are quick to point out Linus Torvalds’ past “mistakes” (see the brackets): using BitKeeper to manage the kernel, not allowing “pluggable” schedulers in Linux, etc. As a software developer, I feel that a dictator is absolutely necessary in every free software project. Here is why.

http://www.freesoftwarema..._and_open_source_software

ps. While i agree with most of the points I don't don't agree it has to be one person for life -- i see no reason not to rotate people in charge. And i think when a project has only a few core developers, a normal informal equal-responsibility situation is fine.  I think this need to have one designated person in charge really becomes useful mostly when the group starts getting bigger.  My experience is that some things will just never get done unless you have a designated person to crack the whip and make sure everything that needs to get done does in fact get done.

posted by mouser donate to mouser - July 22, 2008, 02:54:00 PM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 4 comments)


Wordle: Create Beautiful Word Clouds

Quote
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

This is a Java applet, so you will need Java installed and enabled in your browser, to be able to use this.

http://wordle.net

Beautiful stuff.

posted by app103 donate to app103 - July 22, 2008, 04:16:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 13 comments)


Linux needs more haters

We all love to hate Windows (or a version of it), but where's the Linux hate? Say no more, the Linux Hater's Blog has you covered, where 'Linux users' are labeled 'lusers' for short. Even ZDNet's Jeremy Allison adds his take on what's good to hate about Linux:

_______________________________

Reading the LinuxHaters blog is a wonderful way to waste an afternoon. The premise behind it is that Linux is so awful that the blogger must rant about a particular problem they have had with the operating system, and describe it in great detail at least once per day. Every reply is labeled a “flame”, and the people responding don’t seem to know (or maybe they just don’t care) that the whole blog itself is a way to goad fanatical Linux supporters into attacking the author. Usually they complain that the author just “doesn’t get it” as to why Linux really does work well in this particular case. I must confess I enjoy reading the replies sometimes more than the blog posts themselves....

LinuxHater really doesn’t hate Linux, despite the name. No one takes that much time to point out flaws in a product that they completely loathe and despise. The complaints are really cries of frustration with a system that just doesn’t quite do what is desired (albeit well disguised). A friend pointed out to me that the best way to parse LinuxHaters blog is to treat it as a series of bug reports. A perl script could probably parse out the useful information from them and log them as technical bug reports to the projects LinuxHater is writing about. Deep down, I believe LinuxHater really loves Linux, and wants it to succeed.


posted by zridling donate to zridling - July 22, 2008, 03:53:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 9 comments)


Monday July 21, 2008

Article: take a peek into MS Windows development

Here's an interesting article, written in 2006 by a guy who activelly worked in windows Vista.
It's interesting to see the whole process involved in making such a giant product, and how things sometimes don't come out the way they were expected.

http://moishelettvin.blog...ws-shutdown-crapfest.html

To be honest, I actually like the feature mentioned in the article (it's Vista's shutdown button), except for the fact that it comes predifined to "sleep", which makes no sense. After changing it to "shutdown", I think it's a giant step better than XP's dialog.

posted by jgpaiva donate to jgpaiva - July 21, 2008, 08:28:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 6 comments)


Racer Review: Fun 3D racing

Game NameRacer
Game URLhttp://www.racer.nl/
PriceFree, open source (I *think*) closed source

Racer is a single and multiplayer off/online racing game with massive modding capabilities. Currently in beta stage, it has been in development for what appears to be several years (it is a one-man w/ volunteers setup). Allows the player(s) to race, drive or do anything else behind the wheel of a car on almost limitless downloadable tracks and in almost limitless downloadable cars.

    Click here to continue reading the full minireview now..

posted by wreckedcarzz donate to wreckedcarzz - July 21, 2008, 02:49:00 AM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(read 2 comments)


Sunday July 20, 2008

ycombinator list of ideas they'd like to fund

http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html

Quote
When we read Y Combinator applications there are always ideas we're hoping to see. In the past we've never said publicly what they are. If we say we're looking for x, we'll get applications proposing x, certainly. But then it actually becomes harder to judge them: is this group proposing x because they were already thinking about it, or because they know that's what we want to hear?

We don't like to sit on these ideas, though, because we really want people to work on them. So we're trying something new: we're going to list some of the ideas we've been waiting to see, but only describe them in general terms. It may be that recipes for ideas are the most useful form anyway, because imaginative people will take them in directions we didn't anticipate.

posted by urlwolf donate to urlwolf - July 20, 2008, 04:23:00 PM
social bookmark this story (permalink)
(leave a comment)


view older items

Where are the ads? DonationCoder.com is funded by donations from readers like you. If you find this site useful, please consider becoming a supporting member by making a small one-time donation, in the amount of your choice.

DonationCoder.com | About Us