New direction in programming

I had lots of fun learning Silverlight at work, but fun doesn't last forever. I finished the website and joined a big project in asp.net. It's not as easy as Silverlight was, but that's a great thing. Silverlight alone is not much more than a Flash replacement (a good one imho, but still), it's the .net framework that gives it its power.

So I'm not learning Java anymore. I finished the school assignements I had in Java and have no intention of going further in that direction (but let's wait for the semester to begin and see what school brings). I'm learning asp.net.

Does that mean my Silverlight blogging is over? I hope not, but now I will only have my free time for that. And if you know me or have read the colorful paragraph on the right, you know how little free time I have and how much stuff I try to fit in it. Still, I love Silverlight and will do my best.

Betrayed about threads

I might be getting a little bit paranoid here... but people have been lying to me a lot recently, all about threads in Java.

Here's the deal: I have this team project, right? I'm writing a thingy that has a GUI and is supposed to check for new messages and display them to the user. It's a huge step for me, but humanity has done it already.

A teammate told me I needed an extra thread to do that. "Because you can't make the main thread check for messages, because the GUI would be irresponsive, because the GUI thread would be busy."

I told that to Boyfriend. He said it was untrue and that by scheduling work for the GUI thread, I could do the thing without a single thread.

Without a single thread. You gotta be kidding me, right? How can any work get done without a single thread?

Mmm, yeah, whatever, don't take that post too seriously, I'm just writing for the fun of writing, and here's the whole deal about threads in java explained if you care.

What the geek is up to

Here's what I'm up to right now:

• Jobhunting. I didn't get the internship I was applying for and I'm really disappointed. So, the search goes on.
  
• Working out. I've finally updated my gym routine and my other blog (the details are over there).
  
• Learning how to make a GUI in Java. Like this. Because, as you all know, I'm learning Java.
  
• Studying, studying, studying. Finals are coming. Actually, one has already come, psychology, and I passed.
  

Announcements

I have two major announcements for whoever tries to keep track of my life.

1. I have completed the operating systems course. That's great news. Otherwise, I'd have to take it again and that would be another few months of hard work, and this time, I wouldn't learn much. Plus, that's the hardest course at this faculty. This means that if I could do it, I can do anything. Well, actually, that means I can get a bachelor's degree in CS at the end of this year (unless I screw something else up), and with all the classes I have done in advance, my master's degree will be only seven classes away.
   
2. My Google Summer of Code application has been rejected. I'm a bit disappointed, but that was to be expected. Maybe next year... I'd love to work for OLPC a bit, so maybe the next GSoC would be a great opportunity. Maybe. We'll see what life brings.
   

Now, I can focus on completing the classes I have until June and start thinking about my next career move. And I'm learning Java.

Apache Tuscany SDO Java from a Java illiterate's point of view

Today (as yesterday and the day before), I'm working on my team project. I have to use the Apache Tuscany SDO Java thing and write in Java. Well, as I might have mentioned before, I don't know Java, so it's a lot of fun. I don't really get the examples. They often assume (well, why wouldn't they) at least basic Java knowledge. So one tutorial has code samples, and I'm like "Wait! There has to be some imports at the beginning, what are they precisely?" Another one has constructors. Fine, but what's "this"? What's "super"? Time to read an introduction to Java constructors.

The official documentation is a bit incoherent and incomplete. It's also quite divided between the "readme" files and the website and you don't always know where to look for the things you need. So, whatever works for me, I'm writing down here. I'd be happy if that helps anyone or someone has something constructive to add.

Meanwhile, I'm learning Java.

Installing, installing, installing....

Today is a pretty typical geek day. Basically, it means sitting at the computer all day long.

Having formatted my hard drive on Friday, I re-installed Windows XP from my recovery CD. Then I installed Ubuntu 7.10, only 34 days before Ubuntu 8.04 is out (you can get the beta if you can't wait, but I don't like the word "beta", or read a review here).

Sunday was Easter, so all I did was install The Sims 2, among with the expansion packs: Open For Business, Bon Voyage and Free Time. Then played a lot.

On Monday, I continued celebrating and installed Visual Studio C# and Visual Web Developer, both express editions of course. However, I didn't even have the time to run one of them.

Today, back to the serious stuff. Right now, getting the 204 important security updates Ubuntu has got for me. Then, installing Java and Eclipse. Then, Sugar, because One Laptop Per Child has been accepted for Google Summer of Code and I'd love to do something with them. Then, Thunderbird, which I'd love to see working under both Linux and Windows, using the same mail folders of course. Then, some SVN client, then, the libraries I need for my team project, namely Tuscany SDO and Apache Maven. Then, getting to work.

Ah, an entire day at the computer. I'm feeling so good right now.

School goes on.

The team project meetings have been rescheduled. Me not happy. But, that means I start at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. Actually, I'm not sure wether I should had come to the meeting yesterday or not, but I believe that if you have any doubt whether you should go to school or not, stay home.

So I spent the morning home. I did some yoga: two sun salutations. They were hard, but I know I'll get back in shape soon. I made some chicken. I cut my hair in order to look more like a decent human being rather than a coughing and coding creature (is there a point to hiding the sad truth anyway?).

I went to school. First, a networks lecture. I am interested in networks. Since today, but I am. I am interested in security so networks knowledge is important for me. Sadly, the teacher had throat problems and only gave us some general information. 15 minutes and we were free. I went to the lab and learned some Java.

Then came my favourite subject, error correcting codes. It's the continuation of last semester's class, focused on cyclic codes. I liked the linear block codes lecture a lot and got 90% at the final exam, so it's no wonder I went for the cyclic codes as well. Huge was my disappointement when the lecture turned out to be another algebra revision! It was hard to take in the first semester, as every single student knew everything already, but twice? Why? What was I supposed to do? Turned my laptop on and played The Sims.

The next class was an introduction to LaTeX. I played Need for Speed on Xbox at my boyfriend's place.

That was a nice day. But today isn't bad either, as I went to the networks lab and was done with school for this week at noon! Now I have the whole rest of the week for quality time with operating systems (which means I'll be busy and won't be blogging my best, sorry about that).

First day of school

Hello from school on the first day of the new semester.

Don't be fooled - the old one isn't exactly over yet. I am still waiting for my scores of the operating systems lab. Once you get your score, you can fix your code and send it again and get 75% of the poins. We have time untill next monday. Sure, my group will have a bit longer, as we would have to fix two assignements in a week, wich would be cruel, still, I'm not happy. I can't wait to be done with it.

Anyway, as you can see from my schedule, today is Artificial Intelligence day. First, a lecture. I overslept (as planned, the lecture notes are avaliable on-line).

10a.m., a lab. Now here's something I love about my school:

"So, I assume everyone here knows Java."

Yeah. Let's take a look at our program. First, you have "introduction to programming" and "programming methods" in Pascal. Then "object oriented programming" in SmallTalk with a bit of C++. Then "concurrent programing" and then "operating systems", both in Ansi C. Anyone sees Java on the list? (Anyone sees something that I could use in real life or that could get me a job?)

I'm learning Java.

(In parallel, there's the team project we'll be writing this semester (during the first semester we just did the documentation), in Java. We're supposed to meet on Tuesdays but the teacher is trying to reschedule it on Thursday or Fridays, violating my holy right to a 4-day week-end. Gotta fight for my right!)

Back to my day. Right now, free time, which I used to get a lunch and now I'm back at the lab (gotta learn Java). Then AI class at 2 p.m. Then groceries shopping and studying home. I let my Brother use my laptop for a presentation and I'll have it back in the evening. I wonder how I'll survive my first afternoon without it.

Can anyone recommend a good Java tutorial?