Flickr usability delight

I like the Flickr upload system so much, I think it deserve a post :)

Simple, nice little effect (the green mark pop's up) and so simple to use.
You know what is happening, you don't have to look at Ie/Firefox toolbar and wonder: "is it actually uploading something or is it just stuck ?"

Technorati tags: flickr

Bruce Eckel disgressions about languages

Bruce Eckel is the author of Thinking in Java.

Actually the part which I found the most fascinating is the "digression" part :)

But it turned out to be a non-event. The people who didn't want to change stayed with the earlier version of the language, and those who moved forward saw the costs and the benefits, and opted for the benefits.
Apparently Ruby is also planning code-breaking changes to the language, primarily to take out the Perl-isms (a move I heartily applaud, and one that makes Ruby that much more attractive).
And the Java designers should certainly take notice, especially because the people they are so worried about offending with language incompatibilities are still using Java 1.1 with no plans to change; they aren't even paying attention to these discussions.
In the meantime, Java continues to ossify, pursuing its endless quest to produce the perfect program through static type checking, by adding more and more. The good thing is that people are finally beginning to see that static type checking is useful in small amounts and intrusive in large amounts (although I suspect this realization won't reach the main group of Java designers for years to come).
The bad thing is that, in the meantime, we get abominations like Java "generics"; via daily use people are finally beginning to see what I tried to explain years ago -- Java "generics" are far more painful than helpful, just like checked exceptions. But I digress.

I don't have such strong feelings against generics because it make sense in a "java only" world.
Since I discovered (and understand) ruby dynamic typing, my view on typing completely changed but I doubt one can understand what it brings until you actually use it.

Static typing is just for "making the compiler happy" it just make you loose time and productivity, dynamic typing is so much more powerful but like all powerful toys you can burn yourself (put 2 different type of objects in the same var is one of the possible ways).

You should read the rest of the article: Python 3K or Python 2.9? it's really interesting!

Technorati tags: ruby python

Java generics and interface

Vincent asked me if it was possible to specify that a generic parameter must implements a specific interface. Well that's possible but instead of writing:
T implements MyInterface
you need to do:
T extends MyInterface
Here's the full code listing:

public interface Toto {
    public void execute();
}

public class TotoImpl implements Toto {
    public void execute() {
        System.out.println("execute");
    }
}

public class Foo <T extends Toto> {
    private T t;
    public void setObject(T t) {
        this.t = t;
    }
    public T getObject() {
        return t;
    }
    public void doSomething() {
        t.execute(); 
    }
}

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Toto toto = new TotoImpl();
        Foo foo = new Foo();
        foo.setObject(toto);
        Toto notCastedToto = foo.getObject();
        foo.doSomething();
    }
}

update: thanks to nico to point that > and lt; wasn't display in the code, making it pointless ;)

Technorati tags: generics java

Eclipse Tip of the day

Just discovered the only shortcut you should remember in eclipse: Ctrl+Shift+L.

Bring up the list of shortcuts ;)

ps: Apparently, you need to have an editor open.
ps2: I can't do a print screen because eclipse think I'm trying to do a shortcut :p

New Office, New Desk

The Joost team just moved in a more "spacious" bloc in the building (pictures).

I trade my Vincent H with a Francois G. I won't have flaming discussion about "ligature" ;)
But I'm pretty sure Francois has a lot to say about burgers ;)

Technorati tags: joost toulouse

Google History

The google web history actually exist for a long time, they only made official release recently (4/19/2007).

I've been one of the early adopter, it's sometimes useful to find something that you didn't found interesting at first glance but few weeks/months later you finally realize it was something you want to bookmark or show to someone else.



An interesting side effect is that you know you average query, for me:

• Started on Jun 2005 (27 month)
  
• 4564 queries
• that means an average: 170 queries per month

What is yours ?

Technorati tags: google history

Google and personal informations

Sometime people get worried that all their data belongs to Google and that often leads to "Google knows everything about you" syndrome :)

Even if I also share those concerns, I think that Google is still made of normal human beings and they are not "that" clever. Just take a look a those 2 screenshots:


in google calendar

in my iGoogle page

One would have expected them to somehow "guess" that, don't you think ?

Technorati tags: google personal

Impressive Image reduction technique

Impressive new technique to resize an image without altering the overall impression, you just need to pass though the first few minutes to see a live example ;)

Enter the matrix: Fighting robots

I know many robots fans, that only lack some Artificial Intelligence and you 're done !

IMac and cables

Ok may be Apple find a way to make my think "I want to buy an iMac" ;)

I hate all those cables, if only they could disappear...

Don't want to be picky but even the iMac could remove 2 unnecessary cables: the keyboard and the mouse one. That would leave only one cable! Joy!




My dream computer would be something more original, steampunk for example :)