Good news everyone...
Friday, June 27, 2008
It's good news if you like that kind of thing: first, the
new Futurama movie is very good (watch out for spoilers in this link); second,
Spain won against Russia (my prediction was, oh, so wrong); and third, an Arrested Development
movie is in the works.
I seem to know too much about this stuff, for a guy with no cable or satellite TV. Long live the internets...
Future predictions: the next Futurama movie will be as good as the last two; Spain will win Euro cup 2008; the Arrested Development movie will be funny (how can't it not? C'MON...).
Germany vs Russia == EuroCup 2008 final
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Yes, I'm calling it: the final will be Germany vs. Russia.
Yes, I know, Spain beat Russia 4 - 1 in the first game of the tourney, but Spain will find a way to crumble under pressure. Furthermore, there is only so much Iker Casillas can do--the man is a goal-stopping machine, but there are limits.
I may have mentioned this link before, but it's where I watch all the goals scored around the world:
futvolgoles.es.
Easy problem
Pick a number, any number. If the number is even, divide it by 2; if the number is odd, multiple it by 3 and add 1. Now, take the resulting number from the applied rule and continue the rule. Eventually, you will hit 1.
The actual problem:
is it true that any number you pick, for which the rules above are applied, will eventually reach the number 1?Seems easy enough. And it's either true or false. For example, lets start with 6. Our sequence is then 3, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. If you try it with other numbers, chances are that you will reach 1.
So, it's true enough. Or is it?
This is one of those easy-to-state number theory problems which no one has been able to
prove.
Wow! $80 for a painting...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
I guess it's not just a
painting.
Alma...
Sunday, June 01, 2008
I survived
Alma.
Woohoo!!!
Remote Procedure Calls are evil...Maybe...
Saturday, May 24, 2008
We have a large industry that relies on RCPs. In fact, Web Services are a form of RCPs, the web is a form of RCPs that works on top TCP/IP, mobile phones work in a similar paradigm.
Is it really that broken? I'm not as pessimistic--I mean, it kind of works, with its coupling and all its ugly history.
Someone at reddit said the
following:
Eight fallacies of distributed computing
As long as you understand above, RPC is quite OK.
A simple statement that covers quite a lot: everything is about the
OSI model. In other words, do your homework and things will work out.
Why isn't "refactor" a word yet?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Refactor is a word we developers use to mean that when we have
refactored something we have modified some part of a program, without changing the main functionality.
We refactor because we probably have found a better algorithm and wish to implement it, or because we have found a shiny new framework and wish to use it, or we have decided to changed the name of fields or methods to make them more descriptive. When done properly, refactoring is a good thing.
So it's a common word, but you won't find it in any dictionary. I guess we need to still use the grammatically correct hyphenated spelling
re-factor. In time, I guess, it will be accepted into the pages of every dictionary without the hyphen.
Complex words have an obvious evolution. A few examples:
never the less became
nevertheless,
E-mail became
e-mail then became
email,
Internet is simply known as
internet. Of course there are many more, but I want
refactor to get the respect it deserves.
UPDATE:
online petition to add the word refactor to all English dictionaries.
Microsoft apps can be cool
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
You have to try Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope. It's an incredible piece of software, with and incredible path of technological convergence.
It's hard to describe, so you have install it and play with it. If you have kids, who keep asking what colour black holes are, this is the toy for them.
worldwidetelescope.org.