Brandon Moon's Website

On CS and Metaphors

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:22:25 -0700

4 <- This is a four <- This is a meta-four

There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

To err is human; to make real mess, you need a computer.

(Got any more? Post them in my survey on my website!)

Kudos to Sprint

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:09:53 -0700

So, as most of you know, I just recently switched to Sprint for my phone service, mostly because of the Palm Pre. The phone is amazingly awesome (as I've mentioned before) but I thought I'd give a little tribute here to Sprint.

Honestly, I've had some of the best customer service ever with Sprint. Nothing like what I experienced with T-Mobile. Yeah, Sprint's coverage is spotty sometimes, but it works almost everywhere I've needed it to. The only trouble I have is at my home in Salt Lake, oddly enough, but it turns out it's a bit of a dead-zone on any network.

The thing I've been most impressed with is this: I have (unfortunately) had to return my Pre twice. The first one had a bad headphone port, the second had an ear piece that was starting to cut out. I have not had to pay a thing to get them replaced, and most of the time it only takes one trip to the store for them to figure out what's wrong and give me a new one. True I pay $7 extra a month for the insurance that lets me do this, but still... I'm impressed.

We'll see if my opinion stays up high for them as time goes on, but so far, kudos to Sprint for good service!

Work work work...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:07:12 -0700

I am surrounded by 3 big LCD screens, 2 for a windows box, 1 for a mac, I have a tablet PC on my left, a netbook on the right, and my super-phone in the middle of it all. Life is good.

(The netbook is being borrowed for the moment, and this picture was taken with my phone.)

Ahh, the good old days...

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:28:35 -0700

Interesting how we become so accustomed to the new and glamorous that we forget the legacy of what went before. Pong, in it's day, was probably fascinating and captured the attention of so many people. Why then, nowadays, do we find it so boring?

Apple thinks I'm so stupid, they're selling me an underpowered laptop with no keyboard

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:55:57 -0700

In case you're wondering, Apple is the bug zapper, and the mosquito represents all the people Apple has fooled into wanting to buy the iPad.

I mean honestly, when are you going to use the iPad? Not while you're out and about, because you're going to use your phone for that, and not in your home, because you already have a computer that does the same things better. After all, it's the same Internet (despite what Steve Jobs might have you think).

Think about it, there are two main situations where you will be browsing on the Internet:

Looking up something quick:
You're going to use your phone for this, because it's right there in your pocket. Why waste time pulling out your iPad? (If you have an iPad, you're going to have an Internet capable phone, it's almost guaranteed).
Actually trying to get something done:
You're not going to use the iPad for this either. You're going to use a real computer because it has a keyboard.

So what does that make the iPad? A toy. A toy for people with too much money and nothing to do. Don't waste your money guys, just get a better phone.

Random Happenings

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:59:18 -0700

It's been a week full of interesting adventures. I'm trying to get in the habit of pulling my camera out and photographing some stuff. That way I'll have more stuff to post! Here's a few photos from the weekend:

We played a rousing game of Settlers on Sunday. Notice the smug face of Matt (who won) and the not-so-enthusiastic face of Jason.

This is a silly game my group of friends likes to play, called the "lap game." My dignity won't allow me to play it.

We did a service scavenger hunt for FHE. Matt got really into it. Look at him rearranging that living room!

Snow Art

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:05:19 -0700

Thought this was a rather impressive snow sculpture:

Mac Musings - Part 2

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:30:10 -0700

I'm super bored sitting here in Provo between holidays, so I guess it's finally time to write part two of my Mac review.

We'll start with Objective-C. Objective-C is a language used primarily on the Mac for development of Mac and iPhone programs. Objective-C is to C a little like C++ is to C. It's the same language, but with some object-orientedness built in. And the syntax is wacky! Not necessarily bad, just... different from almost any other language I've dealt with (Remember, Mac = different). Once you figure it out, it's not too hard to read.

The real catch is memory management. Like C, Objective-C is unmanaged. Which means I have to take out my garbage. Only Objective-C tries to do this for you, and often when you instantiate an object, it's already been put in the "clean up after this method finishes" pile. You have to explicitly say "I want to hold on to this!" Caused me a lot of grief, and took me weeks to solve.

All in all, it's a decent language. Not one I would choose, but I guess once you're used to it... I don't understand why it has to be different, but that's Apple...

Other than that, I've been fairly pleased with my Mac experience (minus the keyboard and mouse of course). The window management system (i.e. the dock and expose and all that) is OK. I wouldn't say it's better or worse, just that it's (once again) different. Windows are implicitly grouped by application, and Alt-Tab (sorry, Cmd-Tab) switches between applications, not windows. Nice in some cases, but frustrating when trying to switch between windows in the same application. This is where expose comes in (and spaces I guess). That's how you really get to the window you want. I used to wonder why Windows never tried to imitate expose (well, until 3D flip anyhow). I realize now... you don't really need it in Windows! Cuz you have that handy bar at the bottom that shows you ALL your windows, not just applications! (At least, until Windows 7...) Seems we still can't decide which is the right way to do something.

You can tell that Mac has spent a lot of time on their UI. While stylistically I don't like it much, it is extremely smooth, and does feel really nice. Windows is only just catching up in some regards. Linux has all of the technology, and none of the design.

Anyhow, I'm really tired with this topic. So... that's it for my Mac musings. Unless I come across something else I really don't like... then we'll see.

You may now call me "Master Moon"!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:30:48 -0700

I did it! I defended my thesis. The battle was long, the opponent fierce, but I vanquished him and came out on top! Now I just have to jump through a few more hoops to get it all submitted and my classes finished, and I'm good to go!

P.S. This is one of my new favorite sites. These images come from explodingdog.com, check it out!

Job Decisions

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:05:35 -0700

Well, it's time to make a decision. After interviewing for several months with several different companies, it's come down to deciding between two offers. Which do I take? Which is the best for me? If only it weren't so hard to decide...