mattmecham.com

Thursday is for slacking

At the top of each PHP file in IP.Dynamic I've added the date I started writing that file. I figured that it'd serve as a reminder of when the file was written and be handy when it comes to maintaining and updating the files. I can't rely of the ctime and mtime values in the filesystem as I have a habit of copying files instead of starting new empty documents.

For kicks, I wrote a quick PHP script to parse each file for this date and print out a list of them whilst counting the day of the week it was started on. The results are below:

[Monday]    => 21
[Tuesday]   => 35
[Wednesday] => 39
[Thursday]  => 11
[Friday]    => 32
[Saturday]  => 0
[Sunday]    => 0

Apparently Thursday is a quiet day for the creation of new files.

Regex is fun

During the writing of the cache class for IP.Dynamic, I hit a bit of a snag and had to regex my way out of it. The finished regex is this:

#(?!{)((?:\$[\w\_\-]+?)\[(?:["\'])(?:[\w\.\_\-\'"\[\]].*)
(?:["\'])\])($|\s|;|<|\.|\+|\))(?!})#

(Wrapped onto two lines to prevent it breaking the layout).

Should be pretty obvious what it does.

Band of Brothers

I have a keen interest in World War II. I don't know why I do and I don't know where it came from. Maybe it's the sheer scale of it and the thousands of stories that have been told that drew me in.

For me, one of the stand-out stories of WWII was the story of the volunteers that formed Easy Company, 506 PIR, 101st Airbourne Division. It's a gripping real life tale that's far superior to anything that Hollywood could dream up. I've read Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers book twice. Once before viewing the HBO mini-series and once after. For those that don't know, the book chronicles the tale of Easy Company between 1941-45. The story starts when Easy Company formed in Toccoa, Georgia under the shadow of the Currahee mountain (Currahee translates to 'We stand together' which became the company's motto). They trained hard under the sadistic rule of Captain Herbert Sobel. Ironically, Sobel became a loner and drifter in later life and tried to take his own life and failed. He was bitter towards Easy company and when he died, not even his sons turned up for his funeral. The story moves on to their training in preparation for the jump into Normandy ahead of the D-Day invasion and carries them through some of the hardest and most bitter fighting in the European campaign. They held the line in Bastogne in the "Battle of the Bulge", liberated part of the Dachau concentration camp and were the first to reach Hitler's Nest in Austria. They suffered horror, tragedy and some dramatic highs and lows. The Easy Company survivors describe their personal accounts of the war. The confusion, the senseless death and wounding of their friends, the "chickenshit" ways of some officers and the admiration for the bravery of others. 

While Stephen Ambrose does a great job of wrapping up these many testimonials into a cohesive single story, it is a work of fact and doesn't very often disclose the emotion of the men other than in reproducing their letters to their loved ones. It is an overview of what happened and why it happened. This is where Private David Kenyon Webster's  memoir "Parachute Infantry" fills in the emotional gaps.

David Webster was badly misrepresented in the HBO mini-series (which is otherwise excellent and fairly faithful to Ambrose's book). The series painted him as a shirker and a loud mouth. Reality couldn't be further from that character. Webster was a sensitive and well educated man. Educated at Harvard he volunteered for the 101st and originally trained with "F" company before requesting a transfer to "E" company after the D-Day jump. He could have used his family's connections to either avoid the war or to sit it out comfortably in administration but he wanted to experience war as a private. He was a self confessed "goldbrick" (he never volunteered for anything) and was often frustrated at his officers for their stupidity and idiotic ways. His personal account is a very raw and emotive story. It's easy to think of those G.I.s as emotionless fighters who knew what to do and were always ready for the fight. Webster sets the record straight. He writes about being scared, wanting to cry and the desire to dig "a thousand foot deep and pull the mud in after him" when under attack from artillery (a giant with iron finger tips picking his way to him). He was no coward though. He followed his orders and did his job. He fought bravely even if he was scared and always thought about self-survival. He hated war but knew that it wasn't going to go away so he figured he may as well get stuck in at the front and get it over with.

He wrote to his parents often and on one occasion he wrote that he knew that he wouldn't survive his next jump and they should prepare themselves for his death. He told them that death isn't unexpected in the army and seeing your friends "machine gunned in the face" (this happened to his platoon leader in Normandy) is part of life and not considered shocking or surprising.

He did survive the war thankfully and he wrote most of this book in the 1950s. Unfortunately he never got to see it in print. Publishers wanted stories of bravery and rose-tinted tales of the war. They didn't want a story of courage, fear, confusion and hatred of life as a soldier. Webster died in 1961. He had a keen interest in sharks and wrote many books on them (also not published until Jaws was released in the 1975) and went out one night in his boat and was never seen again. After the success of Ambrose's book and the subsequent HBO series, it was finally put into print.

Another member of Easy company "Wild Bill" Guarnere was described by Webster as fearless and brave. Guarnere's war came to an end with a "million dollar wound" in Bastogne during the "Battle of the Bulge". He lost his leg when an artillery shell exploded above him during a fierce shelling which injured his friend Joe Toye. Guarnere ran from the safety of his fox hole to help him. Guarnere is still very active in getting the old Easy Company men together for reunions and his grandson, Gino, runs his website, which, I'm proud to say, uses IPB.

I'm thankful for the freedom these guys fought for and hope that no one else has to go through what they did. Their tales show us the very best and the very worst of the human soul.
 

Time really does fly

Has it really been three years since Charles and I started up Invision Power Services? It seems incredible that it was so long ago and that it seems like only yesterday. It's a testament to the hard work of everyone thats ever been involved with Invision Power Services that we've come so far and achieved so much. From the ashes of Ikonboard we announced a new PHP forum system called "IBForums" and resold hosting accounts to generate an income to fund our development work.
Three years on and we're on the verge of releasing our newest product: Invision Power Dynamic and updating Invision Power Board with new technology for a point release that should really be a major new version number. It's definitely a very exciting time. Invision Power Board has been through many changes but has come through some tough times to keep our competition on their toes.

Invision Power Dynamic has been a very interesting product to develop. I've learned more in the past few months than I have in the past few years. I like to continually challenge myself and I never want to get too comfortable doing what I do. IP.Dynamic certainly has been a challenge. From DOM through LDAP to RSS, there's been something new to learn and digest along the way. I've written a whole bunch of classes which can be used in our other IPS products which will help speed up development of IPB and its related products.

Right now, I'm developing the "components" framework of IP.Dynamic which will enable code authors to manufacture add-ons to IP.Dynamic and allow the end-user an easy way to install them. It's all database driven which negates the need to 'hack' any current source files, such as the CP menus and such which is an annoyance in IPB. If this works out the way I want it to - expect to see it included in IPB at some point. IP.Dynamic will come with a bunch of pre-installed (and undeletable) components, such as RSS read and feed features for easy syndication. The back-bone of the project is completed, the content blocks, content groups and page management is all done and flexible enough to allow these components to interact with them without introducing reams of new code. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the design and execution of the system and look forward to the alpha testing phase which is right around the corner.

In other news, legal downloadable music still has a way to go before people will dump peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing for their free and illegal downloads. For example, I wanted to purchase Athletes latest album, Tourist. I was surprised to see iTunes list the album as they are very thin on the ground for lesser-known Indie bands. Unfortunately (and for reasons unknown) they only sell the partial album. They don't sell track #7 which makes the entire album more expensive to purchase at 79p per song opposed to £7.99 for the entire album not forgetting it's a song down. I hopped onto a P2P network and downloaded the missing track in under 4 minutes - for free. I wasn't left with a lot of choice.

Update: A quick look on iTunes shows the entire album for download now. I've just purchased the missing song. Hurrah.

I'm a mactard

I came across a webpage so shockingly stupid, I wasn't sure whether is was a parody or just an inaccurate review. Parts of it were outright parody and others were echoing comments I'd read elsewhere around the 'net. Regardless, I had to comment on it. I like Macs, I use Macs daily and they suit me fine. I don't consider myself a Jobs worshipper and I don't watch the Mac expo web streams hanging on his every word. I'm, in that regard, fairly normal.

I present: Mac Mini - The emporer's new computer by Jorge Lopez.

Ok, here we go.

Both the Apple hype machine and Jobs' reality distortion field have kicked into overdrive this year with the recent release of the bold, innovative and affordable G4 Cube...oops I mean the Mac mini.

All right, you get that one. I too though "G4 Cube" when I heard of the Mac Mini.

While the hardware is about roughly equivalent to a Windows PC circa 1995...

The cheapest Mac Mini comes with a 1.25GHz G4 processor and 256mb RAM. Now, it's no powerhouse - especially when you're used to 3.6ghz figures, but does it compare to a Wintel specificiation from 10 years ago? I'm not really going to spend valuable seconds looking up the spec of a '95 computer, but I'm guessing we're talking Pentium 1 at about 500mhz. I get that he's probably being sarcastic and it's probably a parody, but this is paragraph two which sets you up for the rest knowing that he's not going to give it a fair review.

Oh, did I forget to mention that the Mini has no PCI slots either?  And no floppy disk drive?  Well, no wonder they got the unit to be so small.  No keyboard or mouse either.

The Mac Mini is marketed at people who think a PCI slot is some kind of ornate letterbox. Macs got rid of the floppy drive years ago with the original blueberry iMac and we've got along just fine without floppy disks.

I could get a Mac mini computer for $499 and have no keyboard or mouse, no serial ports, no way to connect a printer, no PS/2 ports, no floppy drive, no 5.25" bays, no PCI slots, no speakers, and no Windows XP.

No PS/2 ports? Why would you want ancient technology when you have USB ports? No way to connect a printer? We're back to USB ports. I can't think of a single decent printer manufactured in the last 3 years that doesn't offer USB connectivity. Get rid of that '93 laserwriter you cheapskate. No floppy drive - covered that. No PCI slots - don't care. No Windows XP? Well - erm - some might consider that a good thing. Sounding more like a parody.

The Mini boots up into a stripped-down operating system which Apple calls OS X, similar to the stripped-down WindowsCE OS found on many handhelds.  The mini OS is going to be a significant hurdle for many buyers who are used to Windows or have favorite Windows software packages they need to use.  Think of it more as a first computer for your daughter or niece than as a machine to get any serious work done and you’ll get the point of the Mini and its target market. It might also be the perfect computer for grandmothers or autistic children, for example.

A stripped down OS like WindowsCE? A stripped down OS? A unix backbone with some original and innovative features (expose, hello!) is stripped down? That's where you start to lose any last remaining hope that this is going to be a serious review.  That's like saying Unix isn't a capable OS. That'll get loads of bearded weirdos posting on alt.unix.doesnt.suck. Autistic children? Ouch!

The Mini has got some built-in software for basic computer functions, but it can’t do many common things as well as its grown-up brothers in the Windows world can.

Hilarious!

For example, there is no Outlook Express for email, but Apple includes a program called Mail, which is like a stripped-down email client that can’t execute scripts or open attachments without user intervention.

Mail is a stripped down email client? Compared to what? Hal 900? I'm beginnging to realise that this reviewer is confusing "nice, clean UI" to "stripped down and featureless". It can't execute scripts and open attachments without user intervention? THANK GOD!

Secondly and possibly even more glaringly, there is no antivirus program shipped with the Mac.  In today’s climate of non-stop worms, trojans and viruses, releasing a computer with no virus removal software is irresponsible on the part of Apple.  The OS X comes with some system maintenance utilities, but essentials such as a defragmenter or a or registry cleaner are notably absent.  I would expect a Mini to get really slow and unstable within a couple months if you can’t perform any routine maintenance tasks on it.

OS X doesn't need industrial strength anti-virus software because of a distinct lack of viruses for the OS! Yes, Macs aren't mainstream and so hackers aren't interested. That's a well known Mac-fact. A registry cleaner? This isn't Windows you know. We don't need no stinkin' registry to clean!

I did a google to see if there were Mac versions of any of my favorite applications; unfortunately I ended up disappointed every time. There are very few first-person shooters for OSX.  There is no Mac version of WeatherBug to check the temperature anywhere in the world.

Wow. How on earth am I going to live without the knowing how warm it is in Spain? I know, I'll google it! Or better, download one of the gazillion such programs for the Mac. Oh, and my PS 2 disks don't play in my xbox - what's that about?

My Office 2003 CD would not install, despite claims I had heard from Mac fanboys that OS X is compatible with Office.  Heck, the Internet Explorer icon isn’t even out on the taskbar by default, it’s buried in the c:\applications folder. 

Well kiddo, sorry to be the one to break this to you - but you'll need to purchase the Mac version of Office. It's called Office X. It works pretty well. Oh, and there is no C drive in OS X.

$499 sounds like a decent price at first, but consumers need to be aware that once they add on the basics like a keyboard, monitor and mouse, plus shell out for some antivirus software, the Mac mini price is scraping the ceiling of $1600, hardly a “computer for the rest of us.”

You're going to spend $1200 on a keyboard, mouse and monitor? Gold plated by any chance?

I conclude that if this wasn't a parody, Jorge didn't actually understand the concept of a computer not being Windows-centric and found it hard to come to terms with an OS that didn't need bleach thick anti-virus programs and didn't need a complete OS reinstall every 3 months along with a nice hard disk format.

Don't bother telling me you own a Windows computer and don't need to re-install the OS every 3 months. I'm still waiting for my Windows lap-top to crash.