Alex Hoffman

Random thoughts and ramblings

View Vim Colour Scheme Samples

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Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.


Jamie Zawinski, in comp.emacs.xemacs
via Dive Into Python

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Advanced Topics in Programming Languages Series: Python Design Patterns (Part 1)

Excellent pattern talk. Largely around Python - but of interest to any language.

Speaker: Alex Martelli

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Many "classic" design patterns (for C++/Java) are "workarounds against static typing".

 

The design patterns Smalltalk companion

Authors

Sherman R. Alpert  IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY
Kyle Brown  Knowledge Systems Corp.
Bobby Woolf  Knowledge Systems Corp.

Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc.   Boston, MA, USA

Pages: 444  
Year of Publication: 1998
ISBN:0-201-18462-1
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Borg Design Pattern (Monostate)

... the Borg design pattern (http://code.activestate.com/recipes/66531/) by Alex Martelli, that works great on 99% of the time when you need a singleton, and yet remains freaking simple.

The Original Borg Pattern by Alex Martelli:
class Borg:
  __shared_state = {}
  def __init__(self):
    self.__dict__ = self.__shared_state
  # and whatever else you want in your class -- that's all!

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Installed Inconsolata font for Vim

http://bit.ly/c1LUjw

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My new solution to the MS technology treadmill

Well, let's call it a resolution...

Never read watch or consider any articles or presentations about Microsoft projects or libraries that aren't publicly released. I'm going to ignore anything ctp, alpha, beta or preview.

I'd rather be better at what's there, than what's coming.

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Managed code access to NumPy and SciPy via IronPython might be a compelling reason for some http://bit.ly/cr9zgy

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Why IronPython and IronRuby?

From a Managers perspective, am questioning whether embedded scripting is really the only benefit that IronPython/IronRuby offer. Running Django or Ruby On Rails on IronPython/IronRuby is surely just of technical interest.

Sure there are always edge-cases, i.e. a throwaway or trivial project being undertaken by a Ruby/Python expert that might need to access existing .NET libraries, but outside of that?

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My iPhone's default (map) location is wrong, so trying to set it via SkyHook - http://bit.ly/9f24zd

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