tola

I’m having a real problem understanding the idea of an SDK. The entire concept is becoming more and more spleurgh (if you don’t mind my making up words). The concept makes sense when tit ties in with a particular IDE. And here’s the problem - why should anything tie into an IDE? The advantage of using something like Ant is that it allows you to build both inside an IDE and outside.

I built a “build bot” a while ago which took its own parameters and called csc.exe from the command line to help do building - because my knowledge was small, it seems that I had missed the point of msbuild. This takes the same project files that Visual Studio produces to do the same builds.

The only problem I have now is that I don’t know if there is a mono alternative to msbuild. If there is, that would be awesome, becuase I can define the build just as I would a java ant build, and know that it would work no matter what kind of system you where going to build for.

So is a SDK actually more then libraries? When it comes to mobile development, they seem to be libraries, maybe some tools which integrate into a particular IDE (for example Eclipse) and maybe also an emulator or test tools of some kind. Perhaps also, with an SDK is just a marketing thing - that you expect with an SDK a higher level of support. 

Why am I writing this? Well, I’m currently struggling with the Windows SDK for .Net 3.5 - I’m having massive problems with it and its compatibility with the Visual Studio C# Express. It would be nicer if instead of complex SDK installers (and from my experience, it is the installer which is the problem) they had Library versions or just “unzippable” folders to get the tools out. 

Anyways. Windows SDK and Visual Studio do not like to be installed in that order - Visual Studio first, THEN the Windows SDK (or at least, if you’re using Express editions because you’re an indie development like me)

If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values: they're hobbies

Jon Stewart

Its ridiculous. I was in full time employment BEFORE I graduated from University. I've not had a day of unemployment during that time. I've been in work for longer then I was at uni, and for all but 6 months of that time, I have been earning more then the minimum repayment levels.So when, on the 4th of April this tax year comes to an end, FIVE YEARS LATER how come that it is that I still owe six grand?

This is ridiculous (not to mention the fact that the SLC lost more then £800 of my repayments in the previous tax year that they then had to find.

Ok so some of you are aware that I'm writing a Novel, and some of you are aware of the slightly annoying news recently that if I want to sell it for charity I have to rewrite massive chunks of it, but I've actually made massive progress over the past two three days on basically what would be a prelude book, if any of them had been released. But they havn't so basically I'm writing book one. I'm aprox 6.5k words into it, and loving the changes that I've had to make.

I now have a war mad elvish magi who flies a steam punk Zeppelin, dropping Orcish assassins onto human forts, not to mention the taurenic warrior race that seeks harmony in the universe.

This Will Be Cool

Soo yeah..hi. Still alive and stuff for anyone that still bothers checking this what with my incredibly slack postings.

Got marriage date/venue/dress n whatnot with minimal fuss but I shalln't bore people with details. Suffice to say invites shall be going out to the family over the next few months/as soon as I pull my finger out and get em sorted.

Buying a house, see mchicago and his numerous pictures. If you want more images you'll have to ask him more questions :D

Got an iPhone which I'm currently posting from, rather nifty though a bit yupiesque but Ive found some useful molecule manipulation and periodic table programs linked to an all you need to know chemical data reference program, which make me feel less dirty.

Uhh that's about it really, recovered from appendicitis, still have that chemical analyst job, still haven't won the lottery or blown myself up.

Bye then :)

Ok I must be turning into the worlds most annoying person to know. More links about our house, to answer the questions that where posted before: Lets start with why we arn't moving in yet...

Walless

Ok this is *our* house, see no walls. Not good Bits of the Master Bedroom

To answer about the "loft" thing, this is bits of the master bedroom. Theres a walk-in-wardrobe (and I am tempted to build a wardrobe robot to pass clothes out. This, obviously *isnt* our house but the show room. We are thinking about putting our bed against this wall on the right so we can look up, through the skylight to the stars.... awwww z Bits of the master bedroom

showing showerroom door. The alcove there is where the foot of the bed would be and I'm probably going to have to make a chest of drawers ... DIY!! OOH I CAN DO DIY ooooh ooh.. oooh.

ooh The showerroom

showing a sink... mmm interesting. And sinky.

You Are An INTJThe Scientist

You have a head for ideas - and you are good at improving systems.
Logical and strategic, you prefer for everything in your life to be organized.
You tend to be a bit skeptical. You're both critical of yourself and of others.
Independent and stubborn, you tend to only befriend those who are a lot like you.

In love, you are always striving to improve your relationship.
You have strong ideas of what love should be like.

At work, you excel in figuring out difficult tasks. People think of you as "the brain."
You would make an excellent scientist, engineer, or programmer.

How you see yourself: Reasonable, knowledgeable, and competent

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Aloof, controlling, and insensitiveWhat's Your Personality Type?

So Saturday was slightly expensive, but we now kinda own a share in a house. That is a 0.5% share of a home. Soon to be bigger and better. Not a lot of photo's at the moment, but here are some of the fateful moment:

Kaz and Mum outside our new house

House at this point is for sale!!! Kaz Reserving House

Not anymore mwhahahaha Its this one

The house

Just people that don't update or comment. If you want back in then just leave a comment :-)

Hello, I'm alive again. I've been kept quite short recently, but I'm growing - they killed me before but I'm coming back stronger then ever. Soon they will be unable to defeat me and my massive strength.

Mwhaha haha haha haha ha ha.

I've been working very hard over the past two days on a spreadsheet which emulates the 1988/1989 interest rate change, and with a couple of handy excel/google spreadsheet functions I managed it. I now have a model for repayments of a mortgage that is a fixed-rate for five years which then exits straight into May 1988 (@7.5%) The pattern then increases till the mortgage reaches 15% (which is an unrealistic level again) within a year and drops back down.

What's interesting is that we could still afford it (for the target amount).

PMT(InterestRate, NumberOfPeriods, Principal, FutureValue, PaymentsDue)
Calculates repayments for n per year

CUMPRINC(InterestRate, NumberOfPeriods, Principal, Start_period, End_period, PaymentsDue)
The CUMPRINC function calculates the amount of principal repaid in between a specified range of periods.

CUMIPMT(InterestRate, NumberOfPeriods, Principal, Start_period, End_period, PaymentsDue)
Similarly the CUMIPMT function returns the interest paid in between a specified range of periods. 

When I was young, I used to have a book or a poem or something which started like this:

"Deep in the dark green Congo
Where the sun hardly goes
There lived a whistful Pongo
who sang softly though his nose"

Now, if this isn't enough to make you go down and get a copy of this book - it gets better. He becomes a pirate on a pirate sloop and everything.

But I can't for the life of me find it on Google and I really want to know what it is.

I hate cooking rice. Its really difficult! I can do the entire rice-in-a-bag cooking, but Kaz dosn't like it, instead, I should be making fried rice, which is actually a whole other level. Let's just consider this for a moment. You have to cook it not once, but twice. Why is this? What was wrong with the just boiling it but NO you have to fry it first. Plus I'm a clumsy fool so I usually get the entire oil amount wrong and everything begins to go wrong.

Anyways. I'm cooking for her tonight a thing in a tin foil tray which is from Morrisons, so that just goes in the oven for 20 min, and the rice. It might be pasta by the time I've finished with it.

So I don't get to write here very often, and as previously stated I would provide a happy post for everyone to see that my life really isn't that bad. Ok....

erm...

hrm...

No seriously, everything is going perfectly fine. I'm working hard on a top secret project. Secret plan 7001 I suspect - I haven't had many secret plans since I hit 7000, so that's pretty unusual for me, and also unusual for me, I actually feel that my job means something.

For those of you who know about it, the WoW guild is going well. VoA and OS are basically on farm, Nax is proving a little more interesting. I've become more and more annoyed with other guilds and players though - the latest advertising one which got to me was:

myRandomGuild is a new non-hardcore raiding guild which is looking for new fun members. only apply if well geared and have full raid experience. All content on farm (10 man only). Raids 3/4 nights a week.

How many issues can you see in there? Its just another raid guild who are elitist and demand gear over personalities. After the stew got back together, I'm still amazed at how many people came back, and how many who come back to WoW go "wow, can I get back in". Its kinda nice that is - not because we're aweseome (we are) but because its a nice place to be.

This weekend promises to be rushed and lack of rest - We're meeting with the Vicar and Kaz has trying on session in the afternoon, that and dinners with both parents (mine sat, hers sun) and then lots of driving on either side is just exactly what I need after a week of work.

I've also started on django/python this week - why? See secret plan 7001. Now everyone can stop having a moan at me about my perfectly rational fear of languages beginning with the letter P.

Job interview in Peterborough on Monday. Hooray!

I feel so crap. I ruined a friendship which I've really valued because of being an idiot. I'm really hurting right now.

I'm going to give lj and forums a break for a while. Clearly I don't have enough sense to be using them :-(

I got the pub job, in the end. Went in for 2 1/2 hours today so they could see if I was any good and I was fine.

Had an email about a job application I made at the beginning of December and I've been offered an interview on the 12th of January. Hooray. The man from the pub hasn't got back to me after I left an answerphone message - does he want new staff or not? Hmph. I also sent a CV to a local school that needs a science technician. Looks like all the applications I've sent off in the last month will finally be looked at now that everyone's buggered off back to work, so hopefully this is when I'll start reaping the rewards of applying for every job under the sun.

Uhh.. ok. The biggest problem I have with EAGLE Cad (and I only have the freeware version here - my job lets me use design tools at work, but most of the stuff I talk about on here is actually for home, and I’m trying to finally get some of it online as part of my “open source” roots.) is…

the lack of parts. Too often I come across a custom part that I want to incorperate in my circuit. When I draw my circuits by hand, thats not a problem, but to get these things online, I need to digitise them, and scan’s of my lab book just really arn’t suitable.

This time, I found the need for a particular Triode - the 6S7L - now, before people start asking me questions about Triodes and Valves in general, I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve ever used them and I’m getting quite excited over the prospect. But, Eagle Cad just dosn’t contain the parts for some of these devices, so more and more I’ve been building my own versions.

Because EagleCad is designed to go from a schematic straight to a board layout, I’ve found that I’ve been using the schematics as close as possible, but I really have been just throwing pins at the package file, meaning that if anyone where to convert my schamtics to boards then they will certainly a) be wrong and b) could be quite ammusing.

Anyways, this:

is the current working diagram. Yes I stole it. The book in question actually, “22 Radio and Receiver Projects for the Evil Genius” was a Christmas present, and I’m getting quite annoyed with the number of typing mistakes I’m finding in it. I wouldn’t say its the best book - you have to be a genius (or be good at pretending to be one) to understand some of the bits in it, but forging onwards … high voltage valve radio soon.

      

Happy New Year all, stayed in and watched Father Ted here.

I also have a cold again, lovely, lovely. Rang up about a job in a pub today and was asked to ring back tomorrow, I suppose it is New Year's Day. FIngers crossed I'll get it, my parents reckon the place is understaffed and I'd imagine they're having trouble finding someone because the pub's in a village and people don't want to travel out there to work. Luckily I don't mind. Honestly, I'd clean loos for a living if it meant having a job.