Presentation at BarCamp Orlando 2008
Sunday, April 6th, 2008 Posted in Software development | No Comments »I gave a presentation at BarCamp Orlando on 5 April 2008. Here is a link to my presentation, Data Analysis with Python.
My current Gentoo Linux setup
Monday, November 12th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »This post is a reminder to myself more than it is intended for anyone else. Well, that's most of this blog. Gentoo is a great distribution of Linux, but you have to install everything yourself. This is a good ...
ODEPACK re-released
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »Minutes ago I uploaded a tarball containing my re-release of ODEPACK, a standard numerical tool for the solution of systems of ordinary differential equations. The algorithms and numerical code are identical to the distribution found on Netlib, but everything ...
Direct access to C++ containers from Python
Thursday, September 13th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »In previous examples, I've shown how to pass Python lists into C++ using Boost.python. Because Python lists can contain a mixture of objects of different types, C++ has to use extract<type> to determine what kind of data to get ...
Mixing objects of different types in a Boost.python list
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »Demonstration Code--mixing objects of different types in a Boost.python list In Python, a list is allowed to contain objects of various types. Using Python's introspection capabilities, it's easy to process a mixed list because you can just test each list ...
USPTO tries peer review for software patents
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched a trial program to subject software patents to peer review online. Naturally, the big software companies aren't exactly publicizing this. We all know that a lot of stupid patents get issued. ...
Example: using an extractor class in Boost.Python
Sunday, April 15th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »The documentation for the Boost.Python extractor class is not terribly enlightening for a new user. The examples given in the tutorial are code fragments, and it's never clear exactly what the context is or what they are supposed to accomplish. ...
“Ubuntu” actually means “eats your config files”
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »The Dapper-to-Edgy upgrade was surprisingly smooth, once I figured out how to do it. Unfortunately, the new version overwrote my "/boot/grub/menu.lst" so I could not boot Windows. I have enough experience with Linux that this was a five-minute ...
Ubuntu is an African word that means “devours your soul”
Monday, March 12th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »When it comes to Linux, I'm a Gentoo guy. Go ahead, make fun of me and call me a ricer. Then go try to do something difficult on Redhat or Ubuntu, and come back and tell me what you ...
Python calling C++ calling Fortran
Thursday, March 8th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »I got it working a while ago, but I haven't had a chance to update my eager audience. I built a simple simple simulation tool using this crazy combination of languages. It's a library written in C++ that uses the ...
Subtle aspects of using Boost and LAPACK
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »I spent part of the afternoon wrestling with LAPACK integration in a C++ program, using the unofficial Boost bindings. I learned a couple of interesting things. test.C is a file that demonstrates them. 1. You need to create column-major ...
The need for 3D technical drawing software
Monday, February 26th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »Today I was reminded again of the need for a new kind of technical drawing software. Here is the problem I am facing: I want to create a vector drawing of a three dimensional structure. Right now, I can either ...
LISP is cool but annoying
Monday, February 26th, 2007 Posted in Software development | No Comments »I spent today organizing my personal finances in GnuCash. I also spent a few hours customizing a report, which unfortunately means hacking in Scheme, a "dialect" of LISP. Don't get me wrong, I actually like LISP/Scheme quite a ...
