Geekery

"The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a program patch and a user with an idea."
- computer saying (taken from the Wiz Biz by Rick Cook)

A friend's (rialian) journal this morning has inspired me to talk a bit about my own computer geekery. :) First, I'd like to start off by saying that I am STILL totally and completely in love with my Mac. :) It is the best operating system I have ever used, and I mean that. :) By far superior to any variant of Windows, as well as superior in every way to the older Mac OSes.

It's also the first operating system that I've made real strides in learning to actually program on. :) So far, I've made a program with the following capacities:

- standard application about-box with program icon, version number, and developer's copyright notice.
- window fades into existence from transparency to opacity on program start.
- window fades out of existence from opacity to transparency on program exit.
- program downloads xml file from the internet as datasource to display the day's date and a short inspirational message.
- if xml file is not found, program displays default offline-mode message and a short random quote from a local xml file.
- program displays two images, one when music is playing and one when music is not playing.
- program contains a button to start the music playing. When pressed a second time, the music is paused. Pressing it a third time will resume it, etc.
- program contains a button to speak the text displayed through voice synthesis. Pressing the button a second time stops the speech.
- buttons respond to natural (non user-initiated) end of both speech and music by reverting to the non-playing state appropriate for each button. Image state responds to natural end of music similarly.
- pressing the speech button while music is playing stops the music. Pressing the music button while the speech synthesizer is speaking stops the speech.
-both buttons dynamically change titles depending on what state they are in.
-the program quits on window close.
-the program has a custom application icon.

This is a great deal more advanced than any program that I have made previously, and I am slowly coming to understand many programming concepts that have previously eluded me. I am very happy with this, and I feel I am finally making real progress with programming beyond BASIC. Now... back to trying to figure out custom windows in the skinning sense. I've got several demo aps that do it, and some documentation about it, now I just have to translate it into english. :) Yes, I know this is one of the least-useful features in a program, but it always looks so spiffy and I just want to know how it's done. :) People are much more impressed by basic computer programs if they're skinned to look more advanced than they actually are.

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a rigged demostration."
- programmer's restatement of Murphy's reformulation of Clarke's law (also from the Wiz Biz).