I went to Damian’s talk yesterday, and only thereafter did I realize that his “scary hacker” & “mad scientist of Perl” monikers are not unfounded. I do not wish to spoil his future talks so I won’t go into too much detail, but here’s an abstract of what he talks about:

Watch in mesmerized terror as Damian hacks code in five unrelated languages (none of them Perl). Along the way, you’ll also learn about modern archaeological techniques, bidirectional cross- dressing, Ancient Greeks hackers, improbable romances, the real Club Med, why programmers shouldn’t frequent casinos, the language of moisture vaporators, C++ mysticism, conversational Latin, state machines on steroids, feeding the dog the old-fashioned way, the shocking truth about anime, programming without variables or subroutines, the Four Voids of the Apocalypse, Microsoft’s new advertising campaign, what the Romans used instead of braces, drunken stonemasons, the ancient probabilistic wisdom of bodkins, how to kill a language with a single byte, and the price of fish.

It might sound strange (and scary), but he indeed covers all the topics stated above.

Without ado, Damian started his laugh-your-ass-off presentation, with pokes here and there to all manners of programming languages. E.g. “… all civilized languages use the curly braces to mark the… oh wait i can hear a sssssssssssssssssssssssss… must be the python users”, “Lisp is a delicate mixture of porridge and toe-nail clippings…”.

The point of the talk was to demonstrate that “languages shape the way we think” (a direct quote) and that there is value in learning many languages (even dead ones). Current programming languages are based off the Von Neumann architecture and this hasn’t always been the case, and it won’t be so forever. We should not totally forget about functional programming and logic programming because they give us a way to think differently, allowing us to have a clearer view of the big picture, and making more informed decisions.

That said, one fun thing I learnt yesterday is this: spucatum tauri (Latin for Bullshit).

David Crow seemed to be in his usual shape today for more fun and frolics! Good recovery David, my best wishes!

The presentations today started a bit late because we were missing a projector. No projector, no presentation. The issue finally got resolved around 19:15 and soon the 1st demo started:

Domainer.com

The people from Domainer.com came just looking for feedback, after 2 and a half years from conception. The product they demo’ed consisted of a neat looking web-interface used to “administer” and publish web pages. The interface being very ajaxified, allowed drag and drops, menus poping up and about, all the pretty stuff.

They claimed that some people are responsible to maintain up to 100 domains and they want to provide an easy interface to publish content and modify their themes and layout. Pages would be generated from drag & drop menus and themes & layout would be changed at the click of a button.

The essence of what they want to achieve is essentially captured by “frontpage plus”. They are to offer full hosting services as well.

FeelingBullish.com

Riding the web 2.0 bandwagon, the people at Feeling Bullish aim to build a community and use the wisdom of the crowd along with the human desire of recognition for hopefully accurate shared financial knowledge. The demo consisted of an overview of the web-interface, and the different recommendations and ratings the web-app offers for users as a result of the collective opinions.

The demo started with stocks; Each company on the stock market has a page which contains plenty of statistics and other information, as well as ‘bullish’ ratings such as sell, buy, hold etc. which are essentially the collective wisdom they talk about.

These ratings are obtained by the predictions of users. The more accurate the prediction of the users turn out to be, the more their ‘reputation’ increases. More reputation == more credibility == more effect on the bulllish rating system. They plan to support blogging as well, for news headlines etc.

The people they target are more from the financial sector than from the techie world, attempting to create something like Investment 2.0. They haven’t figured out a business model yet, but as Leila & Sutha accurately put it, having a thought out monetization plan is sooooo web 1.0!

Paruba

The name Paruba is interestingly inspired from a Seinfeld episode where Kramer says this word with no apparent meaning. Again, a very ajaxified interface greets us for this demo. In this word I made up, I’ll try to explain what they’re trying to do: social book-shopping. Basically, they are banking on this current society’s trend towards consumerism and its mantra: you are what you buy.

They provide a web application to showcase what you possess, to display what you might desire (for a wishlist, wedding list etc) or just to discover new products. Lots of drag & dropping, fade ins and outs ensued. The presenter talked about how the team needed to invest personal stakes in the project to build enough motivation (he called it “pain”… he must not enjoy developing! ) to steer it towards completion.

As per the previous presenters, a very web 2.0 startup trend with the business model (or lack thereof) manifests itself here, although they did learn ruby on rails developing it.

The Glove

This demo is cool and is very reminiscent of the NES power glove. The glove itself is basically a presentation tool created to make presentations more intuitive to the viewers. In my opinion, it just serves to attribute the status of ‘geek’ to the presenter more than being a must-have piece of equipment, but it does free up the hands. Its like using a wireless mouse without needing to move the mouse on a surface to move the cursor, so it might actually make it more intuitive for the presenter as opposed to the viewers!
What he presented was a visual representation of networks of files and/or data. He used it to represent websites in a tree structure, in 3D. The glove helped navigate through the tree, as well as to control the camera. A web designer by trade, he uses the application as well as the glove to clients, showing them how crappy (and disorderly) their websites are, as well as showing them pretty tree-like structures standing in for ideal websites. Rotating, zooming in files, moving leaves of the tree were what we saw.

Damian Conway

This man is such a joker. He circumvented the “no powerpoint” rule of DemoCamp by using vim presentation slides. Rather humourous slides and ASCII art kept us entertained. He showcased many new features of Perl 6; a rethinking of keywords to make them more intuitive, reduced syntax complexity, writing an http client in around 15 lines of code, and finally cool new functions (all, any, etc) which are implemented using parallel computing. Perl 6 is also completely object oriented (unlike Java!) and can now have a Java-like syntax. He reminded us that code obfuscation will still remain a feature of the language for years to come, for more confused fun!

A riot, this guy is not to be missed tomorrow @ Bahen Centre, room 1180 from 18:30-21:00!

Conclusion

All in all this democamp went very well, as usual. It was nice being able to eat & consume alcoholic beverages while sitting through the presentations, although I doubt 150 people would fit the location. Great job everybody for organizing this again successful DemoCamp.

For many months, I’ve resisted the incessant raves about Ubuntu, a Linux distribution. People are generating lots of hype around Ubuntu, heralding the distribution’s solid choice of application, intuitivelychoice of programs and general usability. Ubuntu (as well as other linux distributions) seems to have a fair amount of following with rabid zealots and fanboys. After going to Jeff Waugh’s talk at the University of Toronto last november, it became apparent that Ubuntu was promising to be a viable platform for enterprise use. After receiving the 10 CDs I ordered (for free) from Canonical, I gave in.

Previously on the machine was installed a dual boot setup: the Grub boot loader was used to choose booting in either Windows XP Pro or Suse Linux Professional 8.2 (the latest version as of now is 10.1).

The Live CD

I popped in Ubuntu’s live CD and was greeted with nice videos and .ogg sound files (basically a free version of the MP3) in a folder on the desktop. As with Fedora Core (another free linux distribution), Ubuntu uses the gnome desktop (similar in appearance to the Mac OS X interface) , which is in my opinion simpler to use than KDE (a windows inspired desktop environment).

The live CD detected the sound hardware correctly as well as the monitor’s optimal resolution and refresh rate. The live session also offers Open Office 2.0, which can be run off the CD. Full networking support was enabled and I was browsing the Internet in no time. Impressive I must say. Although I did not intend to install the distribution, the live CD really sold it to me! Clicking on the installation link on the desktop, I was expecting a long and complicated affair.

The installation

The first step of the installation involved choosing partitions. As opposed to windows, a linux environment requires the use of a swap as well as a root partitions. As an advice for linux newbies, I recommend having at least one home partition where you would store your user-specific information, so that when the time to update the system comes, you can change everything and still keep your files.

Already having partitioned my PC for Suse, I chose to format the partitions containing the said distribution and install Ubuntu instead. Much to my surprise, along with the keyboard type, language and timezone, that was the only information I needed to enter, and without ado, the installation started. That’s VERY easy, I thought. Talk about user-friendliness! Windows on the other hand asks a zillion questions before installing.

30 minutes later, the installation finished. I was prompted for a user name and password and the system would reboot. Geez, that IS impressive… I was only asked to enter information TWICE! After clicking on the reboot button, I was crossing my fingers hoping that the installation would not mess with my carefully (and manually) configured grub boot loader.

Booting for the first time in Ubuntu

When I saw that the pretty graphical (and high-res) Suse boot loader was replaced by a text-only one, I shivered at the thought of having to modify the configuration files for everything to work (although Ubuntu also uses grub). Much to my surprise (and delight), Ubuntu correctly detected my configuration and proposed a multi-boot menu that works OUT OF THE BOX! Very thoughtful are the guys at Canonical! As with the live CD, the hardware as well as networking had been detected and configured properly. Time for a spin in the menus.

First click in the top menus, directly to THE killer app

Checking out what was installed, I found quite a few things. Some desktop applications like a calculator, dictionary, text editor, terminal, email software, camera image software, sound & movie players/recorders and CD rippers were found. Not a bad package, but that’s not gonna cut it for me. Going through the System>>Administration menu, I chose to open the Synaptic Package Manager. This, my friends, is the holy grail of all package managers. User friendly, better than YaST, this is something Windows does not have. I enable the ‘universe’ and ‘multiverse’ repositories in the settings to get access to community-maintained applications. Just typing in the search box what I want (for now emacs, eclipse, amarok now supporting last.fm, j2sdk, python, ruby, vlc), I mark them for installation and at the end click on the ‘install’ button.

Boom. The computer doesn’t blow up, but Synaptic briskly downloads the files and installs them. All dependencies resolved, no headaches, no problems. Now THIS is a frickin REVOLUTION! Everybody running Linux has met with a condition known as ‘dependency hell‘. Well, HELLO, the problem is solved.

Impressions

Ubuntu is indeed an easy to use and to maintain linux distribution. I encourage anybody to try the live CD, give it a whirl and see if you like it. Personally, the only reason I still dual boot right now is Microsoft Outlook. A walk on the mac side of the fence might be an option for me in the near future, or even using virtualization software like VMware or WINE. Ubuntu’s only problem is the fact that it cannot contain proprietary software. Out of the box, the system does not play files formats such as realplayer, wmv etc. However, those deficiencies can easily be fixed with the Synaptic Package Manager, the star of the show.

Here are some additional programs and guides to get you on the way of getting a fully loaded Ubuntu rig:

• EasyUbuntu
• Automatix and here for help.
• Mark Pilgrim, author of Dive into Python, wrote an essential software guide while switching from Mac OS X to Ubuntu.
• For beginners to the GNU environment, here’s a handy guide.
• A guide to using Linux for web development.

For those wanting to have an impression on Compiz & XGL on Ubuntu 6.06, keep your browsers peeled for an upcoming article. Used together, compiz and XGL provide enough eye-candy to match and even best (YouTube footage) all the Windows Vista & Mac Os X’s of the world.

Watch out people, the coming OS wars promises to be captivating!
Be good and have fun!

The OS rant and where the Goatsees come from

Before I talk about Ubuntu on a later post, I have to let this rant out. I think I’m becoming like my mother; whenever a word is attributed a wrong meaning or when it is mis-enunciated I feel the bizarre urge to correct the mistakes (not that there’s anything wrong with that! thanks mom). What I can’t stand here, in this context, is when people talk about an ‘OS’ or operating system. This has been bothering me for a few years and I now have the chance to express myself to the world, so to speak. Today, you my dear reader will have to endure my accumulated frustrations. =)

What people commonly refer to as an operating system is actually a package comprising of a graphical user interface and a bunch of utility programs. The actual operating system is actually a small portion of the package and according to wikipedia:

“An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. The OS performs basic tasks, such as controlling and allocating memory, prioritizing the processing of instructions, controlling input and output devices, facilitating networking, and managing files.”

Anybody who’s taken an operating systems course knows that. Nevertheless, I guess the marketers at Microsoft and Apple thought calling their package an OS is easier on the people buying them. Even GNU gave in and calls itself the ‘GNU operating system’. (GNU is used in virtually all common linux distributions even if they attempt to dissociate themselves from what is generally considered ‘Linux’).

Hell, someone could have named Mac OS X as ‘Mac Env X’ or even ‘Mac Sys X’ instead. Indeed, OS does sound cooler. But let me tell you, I’d put my hand on fire that even if you call it ‘the Mac Goatse.cX‘, all the cool kids 3 generations from now will think that’s the hottest word ever. So, for the purpose of this article, let’s rename all OSses (as per the Microsoft definition) Goatsees (as per the poor guy’s ass).

The Goatse monologues

Now that we’re covered with the always long introduction, we can get started with the protagonists, Linux, XP and X:

1. Linux is the kid that could. He’s not in the ‘cool crowd’ but he tries hard. He’s the hardworking kind; he does all the really important stuff and generally does it well, but he’s not popular with the ladies (or men, depending on his sexual orientation). To put it blunty, he is sometimes plain ugly. He’s been recently found trying to get rid of his acne (with big servings of Compiz & XGL). But to really succeed, he’ll need to fix his broken social skills: he only talks to geeks. Regular Joe’s don’t understand him.
2. XP Win is the token rotten politician (i still believe politicians are not all rotten; i.e. some are stupid). She is a girl that appears to be charming and cute, but in reality, has got a very rotten core. Promiscuous, she allows anybody to touch her most private parts. Her doctor, Dr Microsoft (and father) regularly administers vaccines for her STD’s. She tries to look all important and she’s a popular girl (mostly because she is easy to use) but in reality, the most serious jobs are done by Linux and his cousin Unix. A copycat by trade, her family has always seemed to mimic what people in the Mc Os family do as far as her attire is concerned. She’s actually a good person and tries hard, but don’t be surprised if she cheats on you.
3. X Mc Os is the youngest sister of the Mc Os family. Irish in origin, she’s a beauty… and she’s smart! She went to the same university as Linux, and needless to say all the geeks like her! Although she recently asked her friends to call her with fierce cat names (Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, etc), she’s really a cutie and should be called ‘Hello Kitty‘ instead as she seems to like cocoa a lot, and her room is painted in aqua. She is generally considered very hip, and she’s adored by the art students(lookie, phil’s picture is on this page!) all over the place. She is trying to get to do more important things, but she’ll have to go over Linux’s and XP’s dead bodies. Although she might appear to have all the good qualities, at her heart she is a gold digger, and will not hesitate to use her charms for you to remain tied to her forever (and we, like candy to a kid, adore her sexy curves =) ). All in all, she’s an amazing person and is soaring in popularity, but she does not have Linux’s good and generous heart.

I can’t believe I wrote something like this. ZOMG, I am such a geek.
I shall end this post on a high note: Three dead trolls in a baggie, at the tune of Every OS sucks.