Log

The Joys Of Smoking.

So far I've been using GTK's GtkTreeView in ListPatron. While this works fairly well, editing and manipulating columns is quite a hassle. For instance, it is practically impossible to select a column, let alone more than one column.

Someone on #gtk+ (FreeNode IRC network) pointed me to GtkGrid. I've done some research on grids for GTK 2.+ versions, but couldn't really find anything useful. Must have overlooked GtkGrid. After some searching in the Gnome mailinglists, I stumbled upon this link

When GtkGrid was first suggested to me, I thought to myself "This is gonna require a major rewrite of ListPatron", which I didn't like at all. But when I found GtkGrid's homepage, I was much delighted by the following comment on the site:

Not only that I'm reusing existing GTK+ code but I'm also trying to make the API for GtkGrid as close as possible to the GtkTreeView API. Changing your code from one to the other is just a matter of changing 2 lines.

Guess I'll be rewriting ListPatron to use GtkGrid instead.

Only thing that's bothering me is this:

First of all, for version 0.2.2 you will need to apply the patch grid-0.2.2.patch to GTK+ if you want to use the Combo renderer

ListPatron isn't using Combo boxes for cellrenderers yet, but I was planning on using them. Now, I don't want to force people to recompile GTK just so they can use ListPatron with Combo boxes in the sheets. I still have to find out if it's just for version 0.2.2 that this patch is required, but if it's also required for future versions, I'm not sure I'll be happy with that.

Update:
Some problems:

• Development seems to have stopped.
• It's missing some features I need

When I find the time (hahaha, I always say that) I'll e-mail the author and ask him what's the status on the project.

Ooh, a major bug crept into v0.1 of ListPatron. Apparently, if you loaded a ListPatron file, it wouldn't save that file anymore. Only new files were saved. Saving also still worked if you used Save As... Stupid! It's fixed in the v0.1.1 release. (Also fixed the README, which said you had to have GTK development headers for v2.4.6, where in fact you needed v2.4.14).

Did some more work on the Nethack Statistics. (Script attached to the end of the file)

It's still much to slow. Running it on my logfile with 288 lines takes 8 seconds. 1 Second would even be too much for such a small file. Of course, the Bash script is horrible, and it calls on grep and cut way too often. Perhaps I'll rewrite it in PERL or something.

The Corrupt Stack Frame picks up a +6 SegFault.
The Corrupt Stack Frame wields a +6 SegFault!
What do you want to wield? [- a or ?*]a
a - a blessed +3 debugger called GDB (weapon in hand).
You miss the Corrupt Stack Frame.
You miss the Corrupt Stack Frame.
The Corrupt Stack Frame hits! The Corrupt Stack Frame hits! --more--
The Corrupt Stack Frame hits! Your debugger seems less effective!
You miss the Corrupt Stack Frame.
You kill the Corrupt Stack Frame!

Whoot! cvs commit

But wait... --more--
The Corrupt Stack Frame's medallion begins to glow!
The Corrupt Stack Frame looks much better!  The medallion crumbles to dust!--More--
The Corrupt Stack Frame hits! The Corrupt Stack Frame hits! --more--
Your debugger seems less effective! --more--
The Corrupt Stack Frame spreads to your other code!--more--
The Corrupt Stack Frame hits!--more--
You die...--more--
Do you want your possessions identified? [ynq] (n)y

d - A repository full of broken code.

I'm debuggin ListPatron :)

I have joined in the online IRC Idle RPG game on #nethack-idlerpg (Freenode), in seek of fame, fortune, high levels and extraordinary ammounts of idle time. I'm kind of chatty, so this might become a problem.

The goal of the game? To be idle. Yes, that's right, idle. Do not speak a word. Do not disconnect, do not /quit, /nick, etc. You're not supposed to do anything! All is controlled by the RNG (Random Number God). Of course, people playing nethack knew al along that absolutely everything is in control of the RNG, so this is nothing new to them.

Here are my player statistics and my position on the world map.

This is the most useless thing ever! I like.

Coincidence has it that after my post on the DVORAK keyboard layout (sorry, can't link to it. BBcode is broken), a discussion about the same topic has now emerged on slashdot. I'll quote some of the more interesting posts: (some contents stripped)

Ironically, QWERTY was actually designed to slow down the typist to prevent jamming the keys, and we've been stuck with that layout since.

Stop perpetuating myths .

All the "evidence" to support that theory comes from a single paper (all three links point to it). If you are will to read a reasoned rebuttal to it then read this.

Short version. The two authors are economists who don't know crap about typing. Dvorak wrote a 500 page book about just typing of which only a small part was about his alternative keyboard. So, believe the suits or believe somebody who actually knows what he's talking about.

In reply to the post about the rebutal. I don't really find the rebutal all that reasonable. First of all, it's highly unscientific and reads more as a rant than any really thought-out rebutal. (much like this post) I mean, with captions like this "Claim: Dr. Dvorak Was a Mercenary Huckster", who will take you seriously?

The rebutal tries to smoothen out the bumps that the "fabel" artcile has made in the claim that DVORAK is superiour. For instance:

The "Fable" article takes a direct swipe at Dvorak's motives; pointedly mentioning that he owned the patent for his keyboard, and, in the same breath, that he received at least $130,000 for "studies." The clear implication is that Dvorak was out for profit and used grant money for his marketing R&D.
…
What about Dvorak's patent? The article's authors might like us to think anybody who holds a patent is a fraud. I doubt it. The article doesn't mention that Dvorak sank a good deal of his own money into building Dvorak typewriters (Cassingham). On the face of it, that does show vested interest, but it also shows that Dvorak believed in his invention!

So what? He may or may not have been after monetary gains, who cares? That's not the point of the "Fable" article, it's a mere example. The point is that there is no scientific evidence of DVORAK's superiority other than the studies done by Dvorak himself, and those were biased. You can't change the facts. Maybe Dvorak actually is a better layout (whatever that means), but it'll have to be proven by independant back-up studies, not by perpetuating a myth for which there is no evidence. The rebutal article contains tons of this kind of flawed reasoning.

Really, some people just don't seem to understand how science works.

The Fable article does not attack the superiority of DVORAK. It attacks the methods with which that fact was established.

My oppinion on the whole matter is quite easy: I don't care if QWERTY is better or worse than DVORAK. Really, if you can point out some good evidence of the fact that either one is better, I'll probably agree. (don't forget to define 'better'). However, do not keep perpetuating myths just because you heard someone else claim DVORAK was faster.

Cool online strip

Well, this study suggests that there is no proof for the fact that DVORAK is actually a better/faster keyboard layout.

But the evidence in the standard history of Qwerty versus Dvorak is flawed and incomplete. First, the claims for the superiority of the Dvorak keyboard are suspect. The most dramatic claims are traceable to Dvorak himself, and the best-documented experiments, as well as recent ergonomic studies, suggest little or no advantage for the Dvorak keyboard.

There's a theory called the Broken Windows theory which states, roughly, that once degredation starts, it will soon become worse if not attended too. The theory further suggests that the degradation has more influence than one might expect.

This theory is usually brougt in relation with vandalism and crime. I found an interesting transscript of a speech which goes a little deeper and links it with discussions, debates and perhaps all social interaction.

Interestingly enough, I've recently witnessed this behaviour on the Rec.Games.Roguelikes.Nethack newsgroup in this thread (Scroll down to the first post by Wavy_G).

A quite common scenario. Of course Wavy_G is a troll, that much is obvious from his other posts. However, had "Antti V V Vierikko" never fed the troll (ironically, by stating "YHBT", which means You Have Been Trolled, he actually feeds the troll. A common error) there would have been no problem. Next up comes "BWIGLEY", and trolls some more. *Blam* The thread explodes and the troll (whomever it was that was trolling) succeeds.