Trust me…

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

• @Andysmith_JB Ouch. We’re off to Norwich for a few days, going to be just the three of us! in reply to Andysmith_JB #
• Looking forward for sometime away with my girls #
• @Mina_Timperley We were up about then too… in reply to Mina_Timperley #
• @Andysmith_JB ??? in reply to Andysmith_JB #
• Just heard Mike Lynch on the Radio, said that the best Grads are in the UK. #
• @timmartin2 Some people really do have too much free time! in reply to timmartin2 #
• Just paid a parking ticket for Charlie… how’s that work? #
• @james_dunmore Fedora’s backed by redhat… in reply to james_dunmore #
• @simon_dyson Yum’s pretty good… and most places offer rpms, except google that is! in reply to simon_dyson #
• @james_dunmore I use fedora at work, it seems more professional than ubuntu in reply to james_dunmore #
• @Mina_Timperley @AMYADAMS11 we all do! in reply to Mina_Timperley #
• Libby says…. h8;;;;kkkkkkkkyyyyyyuh78iiiiiinnn #
• @rich_urwin #fedora seems to have a habit of that! in reply to rich_urwin #
• @rich_urwin Plus I can’t afford the licence And this machine won’t run Windows 7 it barely ran XP in reply to rich_urwin #
• @simon_dyson What’s wrong with fedora… in reply to simon_dyson #
• @james_dunmore But Fedora 12 might be really good… in reply to james_dunmore #
• @rich_urwin Just picked ubuntu! Fedora seems too much like work in reply to rich_urwin #

Boost Documentation

Now I like the boost libraries, they let you do almost anything in C++ and make most things an order of magnitude easier, iff you know how the library works.

void rant() {

Some libraries have brilliant documentation but most provide just the wrong level of detail. Enough information to know that you’re almost doing it right but it still won’t compile and/or it segs in the most obscure way. The Interprocess library is my latest target - it has a lot of examples and a lot of hints and seemingly lots of functionality, I’m not saying that I want the authors to leave a breadcrumb trail for every possible way of using the library but if you’re going to give examples, explain them properly! And tell me what the functions do on the same pages that you talk about them.  Tell me how memory mapped files differ from shared memory, it doesn’t have to be overly simple - I’m using boost, I probably know what I’m doing!

I’m not even going to mention the python docs (though they have improved massively in the last few versions).

}

Good Hunting

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-22

• hum… ubuntu or fedora? #
• @AndiSmith Hope you’re not driving in reply to AndiSmith #
• @Mina_Timperley 11 tweets in a row are yours, either I don’t follow enough people or you tweet too much in reply to Mina_Timperley #
• New look Psonar @psonar blog is now up http://bit.ly/16Prnw ! #
• Thinks that giving Libby’s toys outrageous French accents may be wrong… #
• @AndiSmith I think Lewis has a lot more to prove now… in reply to AndiSmith #
• @AndiSmith …and McLaren /are/ going to have a fast car next year, Mercedes might not in reply to AndiSmith #
• @AndiSmith I think it’s a wise move really, I think he can challenge Hamilton - I don’t see what Hamilton has got that Button hasn’t. in reply to AndiSmith #
• @timmartin2 “and they’ve made the syntax as good as perl’s” that’s quite a claim in reply to timmartin2 #
• Wishes that Libby would go back to sleep #
• Is enjoying Them crooked vultures #
• @AndiSmith but a half german team becomes British too… in reply to AndiSmith #

Fun with Friends

Yesterday we had a great day bowling with Andi, Amy, JB, Abi and Shel. We haven’t seen them for ages so it was really good to catch up a bit and just have some fun! Libby enjoyed seeing her friends too and took an extra special shine to Andi ;).

First we met up in Starbucks for a brief coffee and then went to the Bowling alley at Freeport. After a complicated conversation with the dude on the reception desk we were ready to play! Andi showed everyone how to bowl by posting the only score that topped 100 but we had fun and Libby even had a go!

After that we went on the have lunch/tea at Frankie and Benny’s where Libby enjoyed at bit of almost everyones dinner! It was a day of good company, food and fun, thanks to everyone for coming.

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Good Hunting

The mad world of F1

Over the course of the last few years F1 has seen a lot of turmoil, from so called ’spygate’ to the breakaway series. All of these issues detracted from the sport in unsavory ways. This year really put all of that behind and got on with business, even the whole Singapore 08 scandal couldn’t get that much press coverage compared to the on track action. Next year looks to be even more eventful on track with up to six more cars on the grid, I do wonder however whether they will be six more cars worth watching.

Next year the lineup in F1 will be as follows (from formula1.com);

TEAM / CONSTRUCTOR
SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO / FERRARI
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO / STR TBA
RED BULL RACING / RBR RENAULT
AT&T WILLIAMS / WILLIAMS TOYOTA
FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM / FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
CAMPOS GRAND PRIX / CAMPOS COSWORTH
MANOR GRAND PRIX / MANOR COSWORTH
TEAM US F1 / TEAM US F1 COSWORTH
VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES* / McLAREN MERCEDES
BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM* / BMW SAUBER
RENAULT F1 TEAM* / RENAULT
PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING* / TOYOTA
BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM* / BRAWN TBA

Obviously this has changed now with BMW and TOYOTA pulling out and Mercedes buying Brawn, this means the return of the Lotus name but it also means that there will only be two manufacturer backed teams next year and that there will be at least four new teams who have never run an F1 car in anger before. So what does this mean for the world of formula one? Well it’ll be very different that’s for sure, the refuelling change was always going to make that the case but there will be a lot of newbies around next year and I’m guessing that means that the old names will come back to form. I expect McLaren and Ferrari to be vying for the championship next year and that there will be a lot of also rans. I’d also expect Williams and Renault to jump back up to form comparably but then again who would have bet on Brawn in January!

This means that I think Jenson Button has made the right decision moving from a team that I think won’t have the stamina to develop a championship car next year to one in McLaren that do. Yes he has to fight with Hamilton but I think everyone expects Hamilton to beat him and therefore I think the pressure will start on Hamilton to prove this and as we saw with Alonso it can have some spectacular results, I’m not convinced that everyone in the McLaren camp loves Hamilton, remember the lying incident where someone else took the fall for him.

With that move sorted out I guess the rest of the driver market will now fall into place and that we’ll see a lot of new faces next year. I’m just worried that we’ll have a two tier championship where most of the cars are making up the numbers, having said that if we hadn’t had Max’s cost cutting war there would only be eight teams on the grid next year. And I guess I could be wrong…

Good Hunting