Subtle Array

Why Android Won’t Dominate

Android could have completely dominated 10 years ago, but not today. It’s a different world now. People are very busy, and don’t have enough time to research countless options, or learn complex features. This is what makes iPhone and iPad so appealing. There’s only 1 of each device, and they’re both very good, easy to use products.

Ada: For General Purpose Programming

I’ve been researching and experimenting with programming languages for the last couple of years. I’ve done more than a fair share of dabbling, and I’m ready to get some work done now.

Of the languages I tried, Ada compelled me the most. It has incredibly clear and readable syntax, it’s well equipped for parallelism, and it has even been battle tested by the military.

It has a nice IDE, GUI toolkit, and web development framework:
http://adacore.com/gnatpro
http://adacore.com/gtkada
http://libre.adacore.com/tools/aws

Yandex: A Great Alternative

Whenever Internet search is brought up in a discussion, most people here on the west coast of the planet only mention Google or Bing. And on the topic of email, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo are usually the only providers that are referenced. But there’s a really nice search and email alternative that’s rarely talked about here in The States, and that’s Yandex.

I’ve been taking Yandex for a test drive for the last few weeks, and I really like it. The search results are relevant and clutter free, and the email on the desktop and mobile is easy to navigate and responsive. Notifications on my mobile work especially well, even better than the pre-packaged email app.

I’m not sure why more people here aren’t taking about Yandex. Maybe because it’s Russian? People in European countries have no issue with using American products. I don’t see why we should have issue using a European one, especially if it’s as good as Yandex.

Facebook…

Someone I know made a good point. Since my Facebook URL is listed on many of my old business cards, I should register an account to protect my identity. If I do make a new account, I’m not going to use it. It’ll just be a placeholder.

Readability and Catch: Improving Productivity

I recently discovered the usefulness of read-later apps. They’re nice because they remove the need for constant bookmarking, and often include the option to clear up webpage clutter so text is easier to read, particularly on mobile devices.

Of the read-later apps I’ve tried, I liked Readability the most. It’s available for iOS and Android, and it has an intelligently designed mobile app, and add-ons for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

http://readability.com

Catch is like Evernote but better. It has a simpler interface, password lock, and the mobile app and webpage work very well together. If you want a notes app with the features of most notes apps centralized into a single location, and is better than the default option on your iOS or Android phone, I highly recommend Catch.

http://catch.com

Github vs. Source Forge

I don’t think I’ll be using Github anytime soon. I’d rather just zip up my source files and upload them to Source Forge than deal with trying to manage repositories through the command line. I have nothing against command line, but I find using a GUI to be far more convenient for most file management tasks.

Team Work vs. Working Solo

When I did animation, I would try to do as much as I could on my own so that I wouldn’t have to do as much networking, or worry about people abandoning the projects, and I’d only have to explain the ideas to myself, and review and critique my own work. It made everything a little more tedious, but I got through it.

Today I’m working as a freelance programmer, and there are some side projects that I’d like to see realized. But again, I’m faced with the choice of whether I should try to assemble a team, or just learn the other languages that I need to know to complete these projects on my own.

I’ll probably just end up doing the work myself, but a side of me kind of wishes that I didn’t have to, or rather - I wish I didn’t feel more comfortable working this way. It would be nice to have a team.

Problem With The Extrovert Ideal

I’ve noticed that a lot of people seem to judge a person’s value based on how well they can communicate rather than on the quality of their work.

I’ve been reading a book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain, and it makes some excellent points about this. A lot of very talented people are being overlooked simply because they aren’t talkative or social.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with charismatic people who love to hang out, but I think it would be in our best interest if extroverts weren’t the only kind of people we took notice of.

Diaspora & Google+ discussion threads