A peek into the messy mind of a dreamer.
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Programming is interesting. Sure, it can be very frustrating at times, but generally it is interesting. Especially the slight orgasmic high when you solve a problem that has been bugging you for more than half the day. Sadly, these problems are generally minor. I could have solved this much earlier if I wasn’t so stubborn.

I’m working on an iOS App that needs to retrieve some data from an online SQL server. Using PHP as a middleman for inserting data and retrieving data. The retrieval is a bit of a hassle, or at least I thought it was. I needed to parse the data into XML first, then let the App parse the XML for viewing as a list/table. My problem was the SQL to XML via PHP part. I couldn’t do a full retrieval of topics and posts because of how the data is organized in the users, topics and posts tables. But of course, it wouldn’t have made sense to. Why retrieve everything, when at some point there’s probably going to be too much data? So I broke it up into two separate retrieval functions, one for just a list of topics, another for posts on selected topics, which is what I should have done from the start. Took me long enough to realize how stupid what I was trying to do at first was.

Now for the fun part. *Click Publish, swipe three fingers up, select Xcode*

Mac OS X.

October 10th, 2011 | Posted by kale in General - (0 Comments)

Raymond lent me his spare Macbook Air, a first generation one with a 1.8GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM, and a minuscule 64GB SSD. Which to be honest isn’t so bad. I’ve been storing the larger files on my thumbdrive, so far so good. Don’t really need much anyway. Spent the last couple of days living off this Macbook, and I’ve gotten quite used to working with Mac OS. Expose, or Mission Control as they call it now, is really useful for window management. But I think the biggest difference usage wise is this awesome multi-touch trackpad. It was kind of sad and ominous that when I only just started using, and enjoying Mac OS, I hear about Steve Jobs passing away. Rest in piece.

On another note, I ran into this blog earlier today. http://uow-assignment.blogspot.com/ And subsequently this one as well, that it links to. http://des-ourdiary.blogspot.com/ It made me think about my own FYP, last year. So full of regrets… *sigh* I wish I could have written a last entry like that for my own FYP blog as well. http://kalestarler.com/fyp/diary/

Oh, yeah. Have to mention this. I finally, finally officially cleared my course at UOW. 1 year and 3 months late, but better late than never. Finally hit level cap for that Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (Multimedia and Game Development). Wonder what I would be doing now if I had cleared that one last module in session 1 2010 instead of session 3 2011?

Been a while.

October 4th, 2011 | Posted by kale in General - (0 Comments)

Been a while since I last wrote here.

Are things finally looking up for me? Am I headed in the right direction? I sure hope I am.

Anyway, I’m typing this from within my Snow Leopard VM, and its not too bad. Running Xcode and the iOS Simulator works well, but without QE/CI I can’t run iWorks. Anyway I really just installed this Snow Leopard VM just so I can turn my Lion dmg installer into a bootable thumbdrive, hehe. So that I can install Lion and try out the newer Xcode. Won’t be working on this Dell for long though, because boss RS offered to loan me his 1st gen Macbook Air, which for me would be great. Will still setup the VM for app testing I suppose?

I’m very behind on my to-do list. It’s accumulating at such a frightful speed, I can’t keep up, lol. Especially when there’s so much on my mind, so much for me to be excited about, its quite difficult to focus and concentrate. But bit by bit, I’m going to get it all done, and bring myself to where I want to be.

In other news, I broke my Desire Z again, towards the end of my ICT. Ordered another replacement LCD, making it the second one I’ve bought since I got this phone. But damn, it’s taking ages to come. Shipped on 1st Sept, and it’s already 4th Oct. Grrr. Had I known, I would have paid for the fastest shipping, I miss my Android. The replacement cover I ordered for my Dell reached in less than 2 weeks, why is this LCD taking so long to come?

Love Android.

August 4th, 2011 | Posted by kale in Geek Writings - (0 Comments)

While walking to Shop & Save to buy groceries, I was able to go online, reset a password, log in to a student portal, retrieve a timetable, save it as a PDF, and send it to someone via Gmail. All this while walking around shopping for groceries, with ma’ Android in one hand.

I love Android.

Eirmerdean. And other things.

April 19th, 2011 | Posted by kale in General - (0 Comments)

I want to get started. Novel, animated film, game. Dream. The structure is slowly coming together, the ideas, the game mechanics, the plot. And from so many sources of inspiration.

Cleaned out the workhorse today. Can’t believe the amount of dust trapped in the Studio 1555′s cooling array. I’ll take care of it, and it will take care of me.

I’m supposed to be learning Maya and building that demo reel, but i found myself surfing most of the day. Watched a lot of nice videos on animation and game development though. Puts things in perspective.

The only way to find out if the path you want to take is the right one is to walk down it. Worse come to worse, walk back.

New earphones. And some thoughts.

April 16th, 2011 | Posted by kale in General - (0 Comments)

Just bought a new pair of earphones, Sennheiser OMX 181. To replace the dying JBLs. They served me very well, and were great for listening, but not much use now when only one side has sound. Seems like the cable where the connector is got damaged. I guess that’s why L-shaped connectors are better…

Yesterday was the UOW graduation ceremony at SIM. And I wasn’t there. Regrets? Hhhmmmm.

 

What was it I wanted to achieve again? Am I close yet?