What’s New

RSS feed for the Java glossary

2009-11-04

• new JDK versions: Sun has released two new versions of the JDK, 1.6.0_17 and 1.5.0_22.
• Submitter: Nev version of the mini PAD Submitter which submits your PAD file to 112 websites.

• PWSafe: Password manager keeps your passwords secure.

• interweb: Mangling of the words internet and web. It is a word put into the mouths of technopeasants to mock them.

• Oracle TopLink: I persistent object inteface between Java and Oracle SQL databases.
• Apache MyFaces: A JSF implementation to make coding servlets easiers for inexperienced programmers.
• JDBC connection pooling: Options for sharing JDBC database connections.

• pronunciation: Where to learn how to pronounce various words.

• blogs: At the foot of many pages on the website is now a ling to the corresponding blog, not just the Java glossary.
• Newbie Java Blog: At the foot of every page is the Java glossary is a link to the new Newbie Java Blog where you can ask questions without fear of being ridiculed or put down for not already knowing the answers.

• FastCat: Streamlined replacement for StringBuilder.

• search engine ranking: How to improve your search engine ranking without cheating.
• monetise: A buzzword meaning putting ads on a webpage.

• JDBC connection pooling: Improving performance with a pool of JDBC connections.

• cathedral and the bazaar: Eric S. Raymond’s famous essay on writing open source code where he argues for full openness of the source during development.

• Downloadable fonts: How to use CSS font-face to embed fonts in your web pages so you can use fonts on your pages that your users don’t have installed.
• JDK Installation Polisher: Student project to write a program to properly finish the installation of a JDK or JRE, doing the various steps you have to do manually now.

• JDisplay new version: New version of the tool that creates the colourised program listings all over the website. It now adjust fontsizes, so that if you don’t have the fonts I used to design the layouts, your fonts will be adjusted to the same size as mine, so that your layouts should look better. This works with the Applet style display used for large listings but only partially with the listings rendered with css style sheet used for smaller listings.
• Fontshower new version: FontShower now displays true font heights.
• BitTorrent Vocabulary: Explanation of the terms you need to understand how BitTorrent works.

• Read C Structs: Student project to read/write C/C++ structs.

• concatenation: String concatenation with the + operator.

• new version of Submitter: Submitter now submits your PADs to 112 websites.

• compact footers: New page footer layout is more compact, especially if you have a wide screen.

• alien method: A method you call for which you have no control over the code, and further don’t even know what the code does, other than the method signature.

• Kindle Cracker: Student project to figure out how a Kindle works to permit cheap uploading of your own materials into the Kindle.

• headers: More compact headers at the top of each page. If you have a big enough screen, they will now fit on one line.
• CDN: Content Delivery Network. A geographically distributed network of servers that serves a page from the server closest to the user.

RSS feed for various ethical concerns

2009-11-06

• Musings on despair and futility: Four rebutals to depair and futilty-thinking.

• Stupidity: American private excuses himself for killing kids because he needed the money.
• Who Asked You?: American who fits the stereotype of the Ugly American complains about stereotyping Americans.

• Afghanistan Lies: Four obvious lies that Americans repeat endlessly to themselves about the Afghanistan war.

RSS feed for the Gay and Black glossary

2009-09-12

• Donald Strachey: A series of detective filmes feauture a gay couple. Highly recommended.

Around I have written an essay 2009-11-03 on what I do about my HIV.

On 2007-01-05 I got a trial set of new glasses. The magic of them is that now I can see in 3D. Up to this point I have seen the world in 2D, as though it were a photograph. I feel a bit like a kid wandering about staring at things and watching the magical 3D effect. The odd thing is they also create fake 3D when I see text on a contrasting colour. It looks as if the text is jumping out at me. I think this is caused because the lenses are so thick they bend red and blue light different amounts.

In 2007-04 I my energy returned for a while. Previously I could barely stay awake 8 hours a day. I am not sure what did it. Possible suspects:

• Cutting out bread entirely from my diet. I have diabetes.
• Drinking more coffee.
• Disinfecting the bathroom and kitchen daily.
• Return of longer days.

On 2007-09-09 I learned that my CD4 counts had steadily climbed from under 200 to 630 mg/l, a record high. (High is good.) I am doing some experiments to determine which, if any, of my medication are responsible for low energy, nausea and diarrhea.

Around 2009-04-01 my energy levels started to improve. I am not sure why. It may be that I am eating less, especially less bread and sugars. It may be I am focussing more on computer programming which I thoroughly enjoy, now that Bush is gone, and his antics don’t monopolise my thoughts.