sethd.org

Interesting Modules 2010-09-03

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:43:00 -0700

Const::Fast: A replacement for using constant and Readonly. The code is ridiculously simple. The primary problems with the other modules? Readonly is built on top of tie() (so can be quite slow), and constant simply wraps the value in a sub call and so (among other things) you don't get interpolation for anything declared with 'use constant' since you aren't dealing with a scalar.

36th Birthday

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:21:00 -0700

Somehow I have made it to my 36th birthday.

Book Blogging: Startide Rising

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:03:00 -0700

Startide Rising is a book by David Brin. I've read a few of Brin's works. Namely I have read Sundiver and Kiln People. I enjoyed both of those books, but I had a very hard time getting into Startide Rising. Why? I think, at it's core, I don't buy the premise, or can't imagine it. I think I lack the imagination to buy into the idea that people and dolphins (and chimpanzees!) will be working together as equals. The dolphins can speak English and can move about in harnesses that have arms and legs. I tried to imagine this but I never quite bought it. I didn't believe what I was seeing in my mind!

This was actually the second time I have attempted to read this book. The first time I got about 20 or 30 pages in and gave up. This time I was able to finish and there were certainly very enjoyable parts of the book. I just can't recommend the book as a whole.

Android Tethering and Linux

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:21:00 -0700

My phone was automatically updated to 2.2 a few weeks ago. I'm just now discovering what new features are available. So far the one that I know I will use the most is tethering. The even better news is that it is a snap to use with Ubuntu Linux.

I use GNOME which comes as standard with Ubuntu. Part of GNOME is the Network Manager. Simply connect your phone to the USB port on your laptop or desktop, turn on USB Tethering, and network manager does the rest. You should now see a special device show up in network manager. Make sure it is selected and you can immediately start using your phone as a gateway to the internet.

Interesting Modules 2010-08-21

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:43:00 -0700

MooseX::POE: A Moose wrapper for POE::Session. Write POE modules using Moose. There is also a set of modules in the POEx namespace that purport to do something similar, but MooseX::POE seems to be maintained.

Moose Presentations

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:43:00 -0700

I was upset that a Moose presentation on Presenting Perl was missing. I took a look at the Moose website and found a lot of them.

Check them out. Most of them are pretty good. I'm definitely jumping on the Moose bandwagon.

Time Spent In Sequoia

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:21:00 -0700

Sequoia National Park has some very large trees. It has what is supposed to be the largest living thing in the General Sherman tree. And it is very large. It's not the tallest, it's not the widest, but, by volume, it is the largest living thing on earth.

This park was also crowded, but it did not seem quite as crowded as Yosemite. Some of the places I visited are the Crystal Cave, Moro Rock, Crescent Meadow, and some other things.

This park is about a 2-3 hour drive from Yosemite and definitely worth it. I just wish I had had time to go to King's Canyon which is attached to Sequoia.

Good Perl Video Presentations

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:43:00 -0700

A while back I mentioned some slide shows that introduced a number of things including DBIx::Class. Now there are videos of different talks, but on the same topics. One is on DBIx::Class and the other is about DBIx::Class::DeploymentHandler.

I also didn't know about the site Presenting Perl. Not a whole lot there at the moment, but it's worth keeping on eye on it.

UPDATE: Ah, just noticed a presentation on Moose. I need to check that out.
UPDATE: Ah crap, that appears to be the one link that doesn't work! Unbelievable.

Time Spent In Yosemite

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:21:00 -0700

During my time in Yosemite I stayed at the Yosemite Lodge. The first night I was in one of the more expensive rooms and the following two nights in a cheaper room. They both seemed fine to me. Reservations typically need to be made at least a year in advance.

The first thing I noticed about Yosemite is that it is very crowded. Tons of cars. The second thing I noticed is that there are a lot of foreign tourists. Especially from Germany and France (but I also heard quite a few Italians, English, etc...). Granted we went in August and August is a big vacation month pretty much everywhere. So if you go some other time there may be fewer people. A surprise to me is that the park is open year round. One thing I would highly recommend is that you use the shuttles when you are on the valley floor. So much better than driving.

We didn't have a great deal of time and so had little time for lengthy hikes. We instead concentrated on seeing as much as possible in the time we had. We went to Glacier Point, Bridalveil Falls, and pretty much all of the other major sites. This takes a good day and a half and you'll get plenty of small, easy hikes in. If you have more time there are lots of longer, more difficult hikes.

Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks 2010

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:21:00 -0700

Just got back from a week long vacation to Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park. King's Canyon National Park was also on the plate but we simply did not have the time.

Unfortunately no pictures. I wanted to use my phone, but I forgot the charger and it ran out of juice after about 36-48 hours. At that point it was more useful as a brick than a phone (or camera).

More details soon.

Interesting Modules 2010-08-03

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:43:00 -0700

Parallel::Iterator: A module that provides a 'parallel map' function. It transparently utilizes multiple cores, performs IPC, and other stuff.

Several Months With A Smart Phone

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:21:00 -0700

I have blogged two previous times about my Nexus One smartphone. I have now owned it for a little over two months. What do I think? I'm not convinced it was worth it, but I'm still not certain I want to get rid of it. I do like being able to read my e-mail from anywhere, I get occasional use from the IM application (Meebo), and being able to web browse on demand has its uses. However I don't believe I use it nearly enough to justify the extra expense for the 'data plan'.

Interesting Modules 2010-07-30

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:43:00 -0700

Path::Dispatcher: a dispatcher that can work just about anywhere. It works (roughly) analogously to the way mod_perl works when matching URIs and dispatching to URI handlers. This code can work in any context including the command line.

Recent Interesting Talks

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:43:00 -0700

These really aren't that recent, but I just discovered them. They also aren't 'talks' (well, they were talks, but the talk itself was not recorded), but, instead, slideshows. Nevertheless I found them all interesting.

I've been using DBIx::Class recently. It's the first ORM I've ever used and it seems seemless. Here is a slideshow introducing DBIx::Class. Another detailing the much newer DBIx::Class::DeploymentHandler.

Plack is another interesting platform I've been unable to use as of yet. But here is a slideshow that has some very impressive example code.

Book Blogging: Bloodbrothers

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:03:00 -0700

I've read a number of Richard Price books. Namely Clockers and Lush Life. Bloodbrothers is Price's second book and I found it very different from those other books. This book seemed more personal and less like the highly detailed, well-researched novels that his other books are.

The book is primarily about a recent high school graduate with the nickname of Stony. He has a brother, a father, and a, possibly crazy, mother. His dad is distant but very much wants his eldest son to follow in his footsteps as an electrician. Stony is drifting and is non-committal to the good union job.

The characters are well developed, but (I may be spoiled by endless movies with similar characters) they seem derivative. Of course this book was written in 1976, but I'm not reading it then, I am reading it now. Anyway, if you've seen any movies about working class Italians in New York you will recognize these characters. A decent book but I'd rather read Clockers again.