Friday, July 17, 2009

Learning GTK+ with C++

And boy do I miss C# already.

I learn new program languages as quickly as I get the Jones. Usually I want to join some open source program movement and advance it to the point where I'm happy with what ever I'm using and move on. Sometimes I just get interested in something and want to try it. I try and I learn and then again get bored and move on. I guess this is why I was a contract worker for so long. My latest passion is GTK+ and C++. It all looks like basic C from back in college. I was hoping that my C# work now would be closer to the standard I'd use learning this. No dice.

I found one of the reasons I can learn so quickly is the availability of high quality tutorials. Learning from a tutorial is different from just learning from reading a book. You actually have to do your homework and do the exercises. You have to get it wrong learn from the mistake and get it right. For example when I learned C# from the book I was handed by a System Architect I couldn't get my mind around the new syntax. I would leave off the trailing semi colon on every line and complain VB was easier. Now when I code in VB I forget to not add the semi colon.

So with that story in mind I found a web page with a lot of great tutorials called ZetCode. I found a lot of articles and ebook (html web pages that act like a book) tutorials. One reason I'm missing .NET and C# is that this book would be somewhere else. Like a printer friendly page or something. Also they talk about the functions that will be called and worked with but they never define them the way they would be in the object browser on Visual Studio. I like reading about function CreateWidget(string ,string, object()) I at least know what I could shove into that object and get some kind of strange error. Anytime I get an array of objects I know I'm going to error that out.

My problem with the layout and not being able to get a pdf is me being picky. I want to read the whole tutorial before I actually do the tutorial. I know I need to do the tutorial but once i read it I'll gain some kind of knowledge of what I'll be asked to do and type. It will save some on the retyping and where did I go long and what is that curly bracket for. This doesn't stop the tutorial from doing it's job and being a good tutorial.

The lack of methods and functions described like an it is in the object browser doesn't distract from the tutorial either. The information I want exists it's just in another document. The document I won't understand anyway. That's why I went out searching for a tutorial. I didn't understand the object browser always either. Now I just know enough to be dangerous with it.

I'm glad I could tell you about my pet peves.

Living with the iliad

Hey I had some time with my ebook reader. Since the death of my car I'm having more time then I normally would. I read on the train to and from work. I've been using it on a new project at work to review documents. I've been doing studing for my MCTS for work.

On the train ride I love the thing. I have access to the books I most want to read. I notice I don't always read what I should be reading. May be the 16 gig memory card is a little big. Maybe the activity of filling it is also a little much. Right there is the trashy novel verse .NET Framework 2.0. and I pick? Yep I wanna see what happens when dude get's caught cheating. Every time.

I love the SDD meetings at the office with the Iliad. I take notes on the pdf. I go back to my desk and I merge them. SWEET!!! re email out notated pdfs. WIN

I sit on the sofa and read my study documents. My actual test pdfs and my test king pdfs I feel so ready