Programming as Art

“Demo writers went to great lengths to get every last ounce of performance out of their target machine. Where games and application writers were concerned with the stability and functionality of their software, the demo writer was typically interested in how many CPU cycles a routine would consume and, more generally, how best to squeeze great activity onto the screen. Writers went so far as to exploit known hardware errors to produce effects that the manufacturer of the computer had not intended.”

Programming as Art: IHC’s Fave Demos

Photoshop Express

The editing features on Photoshop Express are really, really fast. It’s amazing how many different effects you can apply at the same time like color saturation or soft focus. You can apply them accumulatively then you can -- at each step -- reverse your decision and when you are finally happy with what you have you can commit your changes. This is the photo editing software by far.

I uploaded one of my favorite pictures from France and touched up the color saturation (my camera has a tendency to wash out colors when there’s flash involved. It was super easy to specify how large the image should be on the embed instead of manually adjusting the height and width in the URL.

It’s still in beta, so it has some kinks to work out. But beta seems to be the new Gold Master these days. Umm, like Gmail. Love Gmail, but seriously, it’s still in beta? What’s it been, four or five years? I guess they think by leaving beta on a product, they insinuate that they are still working to improve it. Great, please do. And things on the web applications really don’t have version numbers. I get that. But please, take off the beta. It’s like leaving the screen protector on your new phone. Eventually you have to take it off and own it.

It’s about that time

Now that I am done traveling, for the time being, I guess it’s time I found a job. I have kinda looked at some postings, but nothing has really jumped out at me. I don’t just want any job. Maybe I am being a little naive, but I wanted something special for my first “real” job. I have a couple friends who are well-situated in their code monkey lives. They seem to like it, but they barely know what they are working on. You gotta get in on the ground floor of a project I think. Once it’s well established, you’re just completing someone else’s vision, good or bad. With bosses and more bosses.

All that said, I kinda just need to get a job at this point. I am broke and can’t travel anymore. And there is only soo much ramen and so much Star Trek: STTNG reruns I can endure. I have however learned of the arts of ramen from The Official Ramen Homepage. Some of my favorites include:

• Corn and Broccoli Chowder
• Vietnamese Shrimp Soup
• College Ramen Omelet (my friends and I totally did this before I found this)
• Easy Peanut Sauce Ramen Recipe (it’s good, I swear)

I really need to get a job. Anyone?

How to Recognize a Good Programmer

Got this one from Slashdot. I am thinking more about how I need to market myself as a programmer. I guess I always thought I would just talk to fellow developers, but this guy made me think about the business people I need to talk to. Especially if I go the start up route. A little long, but there’s some good stuff here. It’s a good read for anyone looking for a job.

How to Recognize a Good Programmer

New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time when everyone pretends that this year will be different. Set huge goals that are mostly unattainable. So in keeping with that, here are my resolutions for this year:

• Get a freaking job
• Try to catch up with old friends
• Start looking for just the right bike (an Indian, please)
• Do something with all my photos
• Update this blog more often

How many of these will I actually get done? Well, I think I will go crazy if I don’t manage to get a job this year. Student loans are such a killer. Whatever happened to socialism? Sigh.

It’s funny how my parents keep talking about writing, say, “2007” on the their checks, for like a month into the new year. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check.