FigBug

I remember when I was learning to program in C I once put a semi-colon on the end of a #define. Statements end in semi-colons, seemed like a fine thing to do and didn't stand out when I was looking for the error. The compiler errors were of no help. It took days to find.

It took a long time to learn to read errors messages and interpret them for what the actual problem is. Forgetting the semi colon on the end of a class in C++ is another one that will making baffling errors, though I think most modern compilers now say "did you forget a semi colon?"

It takes time to learn all these common simple errors that are impossible to look up in a reference book. (Though now you can usually google them)

I remember getting so frustrated that I couldn't figure out how to cast a function pointer to a C API correctly in C++ correctly that I gave up and switched the entire project to C.

These are the only onse that really stick out in my mind, but there were many more.

If I wasn't clear, my question was the opposite, not is there still demand to run 32-bit software, but is there demand for new 32-bit software from people who can't run 64-bit.

I've assumed anybody with a almost 10 year old computer doesn't get that much new software. I tend to release supporting the last 2 or 3 OS releases and 64-bit only and haven't received any complaints.

Is there still demand for 32 bit apps? The last 32-bit mac was released in 2006 and the last OS 32 bit OS in 2009?

I'm doing it now for my first Android app and the JNI isn't as bad as I expected. I'm using juce and it has a bunch of macros that reduce the JNI calls down to 1 line, and there are a classes to convert the types. The UI is all in a webview anyway. It took me under two weeks to learn the Android tools and get a pretty significant app ported.

But I was horrified at how bad the tools and emulator are. I spent more time trying to get things to work rather than porting code.

Angry Birds most likely was written (at least partially) in C++ as Rovio has confirmed that they used Box2D, a C++ physics engine, as the engine for Angry Birds.

All the major mobile platforms support C++. Android through the use of the NDK. Windows phone has support C++ since version 8. iOS has supported C++ as long as there has been the app store, either through Objective-C++ or C++ libraries with a C interface.

For $30 an hour I hope they are employees, not contractors, otherwise they are getting ripped off. Bill out rates for employees are usually a lot higher than their salary. The company has to pay for non-billable hours, office space, medical insurance, benefits, computers, tools, etc. In my previous experience, the bill out rates for sub-contractors is usually a lot closer to what they actually get paid since they need to cover all those costs themselves.

My contract did not specifically mention salary though it was argued it was covered by the general confidential information clause. I'm used to working for the government where salary is publicly available, so I didn't even think twice about mentioning it.

It came up when we were reviewing another consultants report, and he had put his compensation in the report. I made a comment of surprise about how much he was being paid, which pretty much gave away I was getting less and they were paying more.

On a recent contract I took, the end client told me what they were paying for my services -- about 6x what I was getting paid. They were pretty annoyed, and I was threatened with legal action for discussing financial matters with an end client. I haven't heard from either side since December, so I'm guessing that contract is pretty much dead.

Something with nixie tubes

I've been contracting for 4 years. I have received 1 job via my website. The rest have been through contacts, primarily through people I previously worked for when I was a full time employee. I've got a few through people I know from cycling. Cycling is apparently the new golf. http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/04/business-net...

I find events and conferences to not be much use, unless they are very specific to your industry.

SEEKING WORK - Remote Only (Victoria, BC)

- Mobile developer (iOS)

- Desktop Developer (Qt, Cocoa, Juce, Win32, MFC)

- Firmware Developer (ARM, dsPIC, AVR)

- Languages: C, C++, Objective-C

- Expert Witness

Personal page: http://rabien.com/ Company page: http://motusdesign.ca/ GitHub: https://github.com/FigBug

Mechanical, Electrical & Firmware engineer associates available as well.

roland@rabien.com

I recently worked as an expert witness and had to write a report, I haven't written anything since University ~15 years ago. Writing a technically accurate report about source code for a non-technical audience was amazingly difficult. It was fun, but stressful. Each sentence has to be able to withstand a cross examination, sometimes it took hours to write a single sentence.

I'd do it again, and I recommend anybody that gets the change to do it as well.

Do you know how private preserve compares to just pumping the air out, which is what I currently do?

Looks pretty cool, but isn't cork on the way out? Will it work with a screw top as well?

Currently I'm working on instrumentation amplifiers and the analog signal can't travel very far. So each one has its own AVR controlling it. Then there is a high powered micro that collects and stores all the data.

Or, there may not be enough pins. May use a small micros to watch all the user interface buttons (think like a keyboard controller) which communicates to the large micro.

It really depends on what you are doing. If you compare mA/MHz, the M3 will probably be lower than the AVR. If your micro is busy a lot, you maybe get lower power consumption from the M3. If your micro is idle most of the time, the AVR lower power states will probably be more efficient than the M3.

I think they do. One one hand, for building complex embedded systems it sure is nice to be able to get an Arm processor, Linux a high level language etc. Getting all that setup takes time, but it's worth it since it since the rest of the development goes so much faster.

But, I still use a ton of AVRs and similar small memory micros. For each big micro I use, they have a few small micros in support. It's so much easier to do hard real time without an OS, or pipelines, etc. When you can just count instructions and know the timing.

As the bigger micros continue to move down market, the small ones will get even smaller and lower power and open up new markets.

I do this too, but I don't try and enforce it on anybody. I really enjoy working alone.

Desktop apps are basically stuck where they were 10 years ago, and I don't see them advancing much in the next 10. Office, Photoshop, etc will still be getting upgrades every couple years. All the investment will be in what the new hot platform is.

That's probably what I should do. I bought a book on usb and started learning a bit about the protocol. Are there any good Libusb projects that would be a good example? Most I was were for using libusb to talk to an existing device class. I'd like a sample that contains both device and host?

Do you know if it supports non-standard baud rates on OS X> (Maybe Linux too?)

I use FTDI because I can easily run comm ports at 3 Mbit/s. OSX (and I think Linux too) does support comm ports at non common baud rates. I'm looking for a way to add decently quick USB comms to a device without writing my own drivers. FTDI seems like the only option. Using HID is limited to 64KB/s.

Looks more functional than my real hand. I had an arm reattached which I believe was the wrong choice. (Doctors argued against, parents argued for) Now I'm stuck with a useless hand that no doctor will remove. I'd rather just have a stump and optionally a prosthetic. But I don't understand why so many prosthetics try and appear real and end up in the uncanny valley. They are robot arms, make them look like robots.

Dynamically link to all Qt libraries. Release all changes made to Qt source code.

LGPL requires that the user be able to replace the LGPL portion with an updated / modified version. This is usually accomplished with dynamic linking. Since the iOS store requires apps to be signed and disallows dynamic linking, there is no way for the user to modify the LGPL portion. I assume other app stores are similar.

GPL is disallowed for similar reasons, no way for the end user to recompile and app from the app store and run it on their device.

Yup, QList, QVector, QString. There are a lot of reimplementations. I tend to find them a lot easier to use than the C++ counterparts. What type of problems were you having?

I don't think this is actually true, as they can fly across the gulf of Mexico (500 miles) non stop.

After reading the footnote, I still don't get it.

Does anybody get the comment about Bill not actually sitting on the notebook? I've re-read the original several times, and it still understand it as Bill sitting on the notebook.

There were six shuttles and had 25, 28, 10, 39, 33 & 0 missions each for a total of 135 missions and killed 14 astronauts. Not that impressive a record for something that was originally intended to do 55 launches a year.

Something I find more impressive is the B52 Bomber, first flew in 1952, finished production in 1962, expected to be in service until 2040. Will be in service for almost 100 years.

If like an aircraft, you were doing 1 hour of maintenance for every 10 - 20 hours driving, I'm sure your car would be more reliable.

Arm licensing fees are about 1% - 2%, so these new chips would be less than $0.98?