Category: Software & Technology

Why schools are turning out programmers that can’t program

Joel always writes insightful and funny articles on computer science, and his latest doesn’t disappoint: The Perils of JavaSchool.

I remember being totally enthralled when first learning pointer arithmetic, recursion, and such things. I loved it. I’m amazed any school would be willing to give a degree in computer science to people who can’t do these things — they are fundamental programming concepts!

Delphi 2006 is wonderful.

Delphi 2006 is wonderful.

Really, it is. Borland has fully redeemed themselves for the less-than-stellar Delphi 2005. After the third update and some unofficial patches, Delphi 2005 was okay (and indeed I was using it regularly and enjoyed it)… but

Delphi 2006 is wonderful!

It’s stable and has lots of great features to make a programmer more productive. There’s not much more I can say about it — I just like it!

I’m working on the next version of Daily Bible and Prayer and my usual semi-annual update of SwordSearcher, and I am just as happy as I can be using Delphi 2006 for the work.

One great bonus for users of my software: Delphi 2006 has a more efficient memory manager, so compiled applications actually run faster. I’m looking forward to the new releases.

(Oh, and I haven’t blogged much recently because I’ve been busy programming!)

My Mac Adventures Concluded

It’s been two months since I’ve blogged. I’ve been busy — busy working on Bible software for Mac. As many of you who frequent my blog (and watch development of SwordSearcher) know, I’ve been working on getting my Bible software ported to Mac OS X.

First, let me say that Mac OS X is great from a user standpoint. It looks good, is stable, and for the most part is easy to use (though whether or not it is any “easier” than Windows is debatable).

However, there are reasons why the Mac has only 2% of the computer market. And spending lots of money and time on Mac software development has made many of these reasons even more clear to me.

Bottom line: What takes me minutes to code in Windows can sometimes take hours on a Mac. A big company with lots of cash can afford to fund development on Mac and Windows concurrently. And if I were designing a trivial application, I could too. But SwordSearcher is not by any means trivial, and I’ve finally accepted the reality that I need to focus on one platform. So Windows it is.

I am quite sorry to have to make this report as I know many people have been awaiting SwordSearcher Mac. And I really, really wanted to make it. But with limited time and money (that’s me), one needs to set priorities, and as long as Apple can’t get even 5% of the computer market and until they come up with better development tools, my priority will be Windows software.

I want to send a heart-felt thank-you to the many people who have emailed me on this issue, especially the Mac users who have extended me their encouragement. I truly am sorry to not be able to complete this project. But hey, sometimes you have to know when to cut your losses and move on!

Here’s an interesting short blog about the problems Apple faces in capturing more of the market: What will it take for the Mac to grab 5 percent of the PC industry?

Penguins to Linux companies: cough up the cash!

Linux companies: cough up the cash!

“Letters demanding US$5000 for use of the Linux name were originally dismissed as a hoax. But according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Open Sauce king is dead serious.”

Now this is ironic. For years now we’ve been told by the Penguin Squad that software really wants to be free (as in birds). Apparently, it wants to be free, but you better pay up if you want to call it by name!