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Recent Posts

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17051
Find And Run Robot / Re: Make web search in current opened browser
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 05:24 PM »
ok i understand what you want.

i think the most elegant solution would be by elaborating on an idea we've discussed several times on DC and i am tempted to code -- which would be a standalone web browser middleman.

The browser middleman would be configured in the above screen, with rules specifying which real browser it should send urls to.  in your case you would want it to send the url to whatever browser is already running.  [The main use for this browser middleman idea was to open certain patterned urls in some browsers and others in others, and others blocked, etc. ]
17052
LaunchBar Commander / Re: Can I run two separate instances (local + USB)?
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 05:13 PM »
so I was thinking of LBC picking up only the  configuration files that were present when LBC itself was first started.


well certainly that would be easier.
17053
LaunchBar Commander / Re: Can I run two separate instances (local + USB)?
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 04:14 PM »
so you insert stick and up pops the launchbar from that stick.. remove it and it dissapears?

that's a very cool idea..

same could be done regarding individual items on a bar -- hide when drive is removed, show when inserted..

i'm trying to think what the best way to do it would be.. i probably could register a hook that is informed about drive insertion and removal, and auto detect lbc files in root of drive, and do the reverse when disconnecting them... i like it. adding to todo list.
17054
Living Room / Re: Someone needs to expand our WikiPedia article
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 03:40 PM »
I think it might also be worth thinking about the fact that anyone who is considering adding to the wikipedia page of a site they are part of, has to be really wary of posting something that might be viewed by others as self-promotion.

Because there is so much spamming and attempts to game the system and do underhanded marketing on the internet, sites like wikipedia are patroled by people with good intentions and hair triggers just looking for the slightest excuse to remove a page.
17055
Living Room / Re: Someone needs to expand our WikiPedia article
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 03:32 PM »
Thanks!

I often link to this article i wrote when i want to explain DonationCoder in such cases:
https://www.donation...icles/One/index.html
I think this is already linked to on our wikipedia page, i just mention it in case it's useful to point out to someone.

17056
Developer's Corner / Re: Python Language Annoyances
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 03:21 PM »
From the link above also comes a mention of this nice article on Good vs Bad Redundancy in programming languages:
http://dobbscodetalk...s.html&Itemid=29

A good redundancy detects faults by having two independent paths to the same result. A failure in one path does not affect the other, so the discrepancy in result indicates an error.  A bad redundancy is distinguished by either not providing a checkable result, or by having the redundant paths dependent on each other in such a way that an error in one path propagates to the other, so the wrong results agree.
17057
Find And Run Robot / Interfacing FARR with QUIX?
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 02:13 PM »
Lifehacker wrote a story today about Quix, which is a browser bookmarklet that you install in your browser and can then send commandline-like commands to.

http://quixapp.com/

It's reminiscent of http://yubnub.org/ but works inside the client browser rather than over the web.

Anyway, i was wondering if any of the FARR JS gurus can think of a way to maybe let farr send quix commands to the active browser -- might offer a neat way to use it.
17058
Find And Run Robot / Re: Make web search in current opened browser
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 02:10 PM »
i *think* this is what you want:
Screenshot - 2_9_2010 , 2_07_46 PM.png
17059
Living Room / Re: Someone needs to expand our WikiPedia article
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 02:07 PM »
Of course this is all my fault! By interacting with the existing page, it has been flagged to an admin, who has set the clock ticking!

Ironic isn't it? Ugh sometimes life is confusing.
17060
Developer's Corner / Re: Python Language Annoyances
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 02:01 PM »
Excellent link -- that page does a very good job of explaining why implicit variable declaration is a bad idea, and has some good links of its own.

Direct link again: http://blog.dev-scen...riable-declarations/

Let's just make sure we don't make the situation more confusing with your example above.  There are two similar but *not* identical issues raised in your example, the first is about requiring explicit declaration of variables, and the second is about static typing of variables.

Roughly speaking (there is some fuzzyness and refinement in the language community), this is explicit declaration without static typing:
[Select]
var x = "12";
var y = 13;

This is explicit static typing:
[Select]
string x = "12";
int y = 13;

I'd argue that the first case, explicit variable declaration, should be taught in language design 101, and there is no excuse for EVER allowing implicit variable declaration.

The case of static vs. dynamic typing is much, much more debatable -- and much easier to make a case for the value of dynamic typing (or it's variations) in many cases.
17061
Developer's Corner / Re: Python Language Annoyances
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 01:06 PM »
the importance of declaration for readability's sake.

I should have said in my original post why implicit variable declaration is such an incredibly bad idea -- it's not an issue of readability, it's much more fundamental and important.

Surely there must be a witty concise design principle term that covers this issue, but i can't recall what it might be so i'll just try to describe it as best as i can:

When writing code, there are a huge number of ways to make mistakes.  No one writes perfect code all the time every time.

When an error in your code triggers a syntax error, or a fatal runtime error or exception -- the problem is often trivial to identify and correct.

The bugs that keep you awake all night (or all week or all month in some nightmare scenarios) are those that do NOT cause a program-halting error, but whose effects are only seen indirectly, and happen silently, in some mystery location in your code, far away from the source of the problem.

The reason that requiring explicit variable declaration (keep in mind we aren't talking about static typing now, i.e. saying what kind of data the variable holds; we are just talking about declaring that you are going to be using a variable named xyz) is so important, is that it is an immense safeguard and aid in locating a particularly common and hard to otherwise identify bugs.

Forcing the programmer to explicitly declare variable names that are going to be used is important because it allows the language to flag as errors any occasion where the programmer misspells a variable (or uses a variable name outside of its lifetime scope, etc.).

This happens frequently.  And without a requirement for explicit variable declaration, instead what happens is that the program often marches on using invalid data without any sign that something is wrong -- leaving the programmer to try to figure out why the values being computed are not correct.

17062
LaunchBar Commander / Re: Can I run two separate instances (local + USB)?
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 12:40 PM »
I don't think LBC will care in the slightest, though i'm not sure if you are wanting to actually run two separate copies of the LaunchBar Commander executable at the same time, which should be fine but one has to wonder why someone would do such a thing when one instance of LBC is designed to be able to open multiple dock files at the same and have them be in different locations on the disk.
17063
Screenshot Captor / Re: Capture rounded corners in Vista
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 04:16 AM »
i'm going to take another look at it.. i'd love to hear if other vista users are experiencing same thing.
17064
DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Newsletter for February 9th, 2010 - "Valentine Computing"
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 03:56 AM »
Newsletter for February 9th, 2010
"Valentine Computing"




1. Newsletter Editorial

Greetings everyone, and happy upcoming valentine's day.  If you have a carbon-based loved one in your life, might I suggest that you turn off the computer for the day and spend it with them.  Or else set up a lan network in your house so the two of you can chat via instant messenger.  If you don't have a human loved one in your life, don't stress it -- plenty of posts in this newsletter to excite your neurons.

And now let's get down to brass tacks.  If you haven't yet heard about and checked out the software creations unveiled on January 1st as part of our NANY (New Apps for the New Year) event, that's the first thing you should go check out -- several of the entries have continued to flourish and are worth your attention.

And if those applications aren't enough for you.. I'm excited to be able to highlight another wonderful surprise to emerge from the Coding Snacks section of our forum.  The Coding Snacks area is a place where anyone can come and post an idea or request for a new freeware utility -- and where coders hang out and implement these requests.  Recently someone posted a very clever idea to combine standby/hibernate modes with a computer restart operation, and it resulted in a very cool utility called Boot Snooze which you can read about below.

Let's see what else.. Well I put lots of posts in the "Your input requested" section of this newsletter (section 2), so if you've never posted on the forum before, why not pick one of those threads and add your thoughts.



2. User-to-User: Your Input Requested

We welcome everyone's participation on the forum, no matter what your level of computer knowledge or how long you've been a DC member. If you're still waiting to make your first post, see the links below for some good places to jump in.



3. DonationCoder Software Updates

In addition to the larger programs on DonationCoder, we are seeing more and more software released and shared by DC members.  We always love to hear what DC members are up to, projects related to software or otherwise.  The real buzz lately has been about Boot Snooze -- a unique and cool idea first suggested on the Coding Snacks forum and then implemented by resident hot shot coder Skwire.  We've also been blown away by the activity and interest around CircleDock, which just got an important new update release.



4. Website Discoveries, Debates, and Discussions

What's new on the world wide web? What fun new sites have forum members discovered?  What's the current hot topic and debate? Let's find out..



5. Fun, Games and Amusements on the Web

If you've read the newsletter up to this point, take a break and check out some of the lighter fare from the forum - humour, videos, and games..



6. Hardware Help

While we talk a lot more about software than hardware on the DC forum -- that doesn't mean we don't have some pretty serious discussions about computer hardware and building custom computers.  The last month has seen a bit more of this than usual, maybe because people are getting that new-year itch to build a new computer..



7. General Software Discussion

Almost half the posts on the forum fall into the category of general software discussions, questions, recommendations, etc. This is one of the most active sections of the DC forum and a great resource if you're trying to solve a software or hardware related problem. We get so much traffic on this board that we've split the recent content into to sections in the newsletter - general software and specific software discussions.



8. Specific Software Discussion

This section of the newsletter draws attention to some of the standout discussions about specific programs that have been started since the last newsletter.



9. Developer's Corner

If you're not a programmer, don't let the title of this section scare you away - there is likely something of interest to you here! It's more than just a forum for the discussion of software development, it's also where we discuss web design, entrepreneurial struggles, and general productivity issues.  It's great to see that the section has been pretty active recently.



10. News You Can Use

DC Member Ehtyar produces wonderful weekly summaries of important tech/computer/security news articles that he comes across on the web.  A big hit on the forum.  We were wondering how he keeps up the pace and when he would collapse from exhaustion, but it seems it's finally happened, so he's taking a break for a few weeks.  Hopefully we'll have a volunteer to fill in during his absence.

17065
General Software Discussion / Re: Generic Card/Board Game Prototyping and Playtesting Tools
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 03:34 AM »
New virtual table app for the iPad:
http://www.gametableapp.com/
17066
General Software Discussion / Re: Some nifty tools: Rizone
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 02:29 AM »
Not sure why i didn't notice this before -- some very cool and unique stuff here (Beep Codes Viewer for example) -- thanks for sharing  :up: :up:
17067
Living Room / Anyone playing Mass Effect 2 game yet?
« Last post by mouser on February 09, 2010, 01:35 AM »
I've noticed over the years that I don't get much enjoyment out of playing computer games.. but I still love reading video game reviews, and vicariously enjoying the magic ability of a video game to transport you into a imaginary world.

The latest game that has really captured my attention (on paper at least) is Mass Effect 2, which is a science fiction video action game with a very heavy focus on storytelling and emotional relationship between characters.

Has anyone played it yet? What did you think?

Here's from a recent review:

It's often been asked if it's possible for games to make people cry. Mass Effect 2 sidesteps the question by leaving it up to you whether you want to commiserate or smirk cynically at the pain of others. It would come across as contrived in many games, however the writing here is strong enough that it feels authentic when a character breaks down in tears. And fortunately, the drama has been leavened with a healthy dose of humor to keep things from getting too heavy.

17068
Living Room / Re: VALENTINES CODY: THE GAME!
« Last post by mouser on February 08, 2010, 08:33 PM »
Funny :)

This website let's you make quick games for the browser using your own images -- could be a fun site for people to make joke games staring photos of their loved ones.
17069
General Software Discussion / Re: pastecopy.net
« Last post by mouser on February 08, 2010, 05:24 AM »
Just for the record, you can do both clip merging, and pasting of multiple items in different form fields by following instructions in Clipboard Help and Spell help section entitled "Advanced SendKeys Method of Pasting".
17070
Living Room / Tale of a Would-Be Spy, Buried Treasure, and Uncrackable Code
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 11:59 PM »
Another nice real life spy story:

When officials searched the aspiring spy, they found a paper tucked under the insole of his right shoe. On it were written the addresses of several Iraqi and Chinese embassies in Europe. In a trouser pocket they discovered a spiral pad in which Regan, who had been trained in cryptanalysis by the Air Force, had written 13 seemingly unconnected words — like tricycle, rocket, and glove. Another 26 words were written on an index card. In his wallet was a paper with a string of several dozen letters and numbers beginning “5-6-N-V-O-A- I …” And in a folder Regan had been carrying, they found four pages filled with three-digit numbers, or trinomes: 952, 832, 041, and so on. The spiral pad, the index card, the wallet note, and the sheets of trinomes: The FBI suddenly had four puzzles to solve.

17071
General Software Discussion / Re: SubmitToTab - a Firefox add-on
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 11:09 PM »
Form Control Context Menu doesn't seem to work for me either  :(
17072
General Software Discussion / Re: SubmitToTab - a Firefox add-on
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 05:54 PM »
Miles and Darwin, are you sure you dont mean to be posting on this thread?
The current one is about a specific plugin.
17073
Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 04:50 PM »
Here's the book I'm planning to start on next week:
http://www.amazon.co...ience/dp/1405122889/
Screenshot - 2_7_2010 , 4_47_16 PM_thumb.png

I'm a very big fan of Randy Gallistel ("Organization of Action" and "Organization of Learning" are very much under-appreciated in neuroscience community i think).

Anyone who wants to read along with me is welcome to order it and discuss; haven't seen the book in person yet so i can't vouch for it's quality ahead of time.
17074
Developer's Corner / Re: Is a website login script something people on DC need?
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 04:45 PM »
Personally i think code like this is desperately needed.  I calls these "User Management Systems" as opposed to "Content Management Systems (CMS)".

For a coder developing a web application, there is an abundance of heavy bloated CMS frameworks, and an almost complete absence of UMS frameworks.  And I have found myself choosing a CMS as a starting point just to get the user/group management, when what I would have really preferred is an actively developed and powerful UMS -- without all the crazy content management stuff.

One thing I can't tell from looking through the site is what kind of support for Access Control Lists it has -- this is an important aspect in my view -- a way to assign and manage generic permissions for users and groups.


Meta comment: This is a good example where the thread would be easier for people to find and notice if it wasn't a poll but was titled more directly, like for example "Quadodo and other User Management / Login Frameworks", etc.  Please everyone when you post remember that people may be searching for and browsing threads in future weeks, months, years, and you want to make it easy for them to anticipate the contents of a thread when reading it's title.
17075
Living Room / Re: Itching to put together your own pc from parts, but need help choosing parts?
« Last post by mouser on February 07, 2010, 03:02 PM »
Maximum PC has a series on this as well:

http://www.maximumpc...gs/price+parts+guide

Screenshot - 2_7_2010 , 3_00_36 PM_thumb.png
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