Programming Languages

The question around the office was "How many programming languages do you know?"
We used the metric of "have written 'Hello World'" - so that's not really "know" but rather, have seen. We also excluded "versions" of languages. I also excluded languages that I have edited / fixed something in but didn't really program anything, not even "Hello World". My list, posterity, in the best memory of chronological order:

1. BASIC*
   I started in BASIC on a CP/M machine, then moved to GW-BASIC (I still have some of these programs - haven't tried running them) with my first paid program, later to QBASIC and QuickBASIC and then Visual BASIC - also did some Apple BASIC.
   
2. Logo
   On several Apple ][s, naturally.
   
3. Pascal
   Middle school & high school classes.
    
4. Assembly
   My hello world was a program that showed some fireworks on the computer - got some help from an old BYTE magazine.
   
5. IEF*
   A CASE tool. Apparently its ancestor still sells (2007) from CA.
   
   
6. C++
   Couldn't be a university programming 101 course without it.
    
7. VBScript*
   Also counting VBA* in here - shudder
   
8. Javascript*
   Also counting Flash Actionscript* in here. Start in Flash 4 and so got another taste of "clicking in" code - which is frustrating for one who can type fairly quickly.
   
9. SQL*
   Specifically T-SQL, but also variations for JET and SQLite - probably even tweaked a script for MySQL at some point.
   
10. C#*
    
11. Java*
    
12. Lisp
    
13. ? Python
    I think I tinkered with this on my OLPC - maybe SCHEME / Squeak, but I don't recall for sure, so I don't count this one.

Forthcoming Ruby on Rails this fall. Hopefully eventually Clojure will get on this list.

* indicates a language in which I wrote code for money

Favorite 9 iPhone Apps

I was just chatting with an iPhone friend about Apps. I ran down the list:

1. Shazam - must have
   
2. Tweetie - Favorite iPhone Twitter app (Yes, I've tried Tweetdeck)
   
3. RemeberTheMilk - Keeps me organized
   
4. PixelPipe - Get your photos onto Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else - one step
   
5. Evernote - Type or handwrite notes on your computer, search them online or iPhone
   
6. TripIt - Email your convoluted travel plans to TripIt - it sorts them out, automatically puts them into Outlook and your iPhone
   
7. OpenTable - Check out what restaurants have available tables and book them.
   
8. Freshbooks - Time tracking, invoicing and online payments. The app is my mobile time card (n.b. buggy)
   
9. Facebook - I use this more than the "full" site
   

Recently, I've played a few games as well. It's Steve's fault.

Global Energy Needs vs. Solar Power Available

Here's why I like solar power: there is a ton of it available. Watching this video got me thinking about that again.

I certainly understand the benefits of diversification, not just using 1 type of energy. There are also the small problems of distribution and possibly storage when it comes to solar (lots of renewables have this problem, but solar and wind in particular - since they rely heavily on geography).

Let's assume that we can store or deliver to anywhere in the world any power that we generate anywhere in the world. If that were true (which it isn't), we'd might want to make 1 big solar power plant.  If we did, it would need to be about 22,903 km². How big is that?

About the size of the state of New Jersey. Or, if we dropped it in the Pacific Ocean, it's the blue polygon on this map:

That's non-trivial to build. But it's a mere speck on the face of the globe. That's how much solar power hits the earth on a daily basis.

 

Other areas on the globe close to 22,000 km²:

• El Salvador, Djibouti, Israel, and Wales are all slightly smaller
• The San Francisco Bay Area is about the right size
• Macedonia is somewhat larger
• Lake Erie and Lake Ontario together are double
• Lake Superior is over 3 1/2 times larger
• Haiti, Albania, or Belgium are all larger

I've done this calculation a few times, so I figured that I'd finally formalize it for my future reference.

Sources

• Note: I'm completely ignoring efficiency (and, as mentioned above, distribution, storage, and a host of other problems) for this mental exercise. I'm also pretending that we have but 1 such solar plant - completely ignore existing solar plants, solar panels on rooftops, etc..
• Image on Wikipedia: there are 89 PW hitting the earth
• We need 16 TW (mentioned in the video and also in the World energy resources and consumption wikipedia article), so that's 0.018% of the available
• The same wikipedia article on World energy states cross section of the earth: 127,400,000 km²
• So we need to cover 0.18% of 127,400,00, or 22,903 km²
• Saw the video on TreeHugger

Music Soundtrack

Continuing the fun lists. I saw this list elsewhere and it seemed fun and could be very unpredictable given what is sitting in our music library these days. So often when I visit music I am surprised by how important it is to me and how much I enjoy it. Sadly it occupies too little of my life (other than an occasional background soundtrack to work & driving).

 

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If your life were a movie...

1. Open your music library
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. Press the "next" button only once for each question
(don't cheat!)

 

1. Opening Credits: O.A.R. - One Shot. "I am walking on Spanish Stairs" Good start.
2. Waking Up: Amerie - 1 Thing (from Hitch Soundtrack). Good idea, I may add this as a wake-up ringtone if I make the iPhone clock
3. First Day in High School: The Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari. Hmmm... I'm not that old.
4. Falling in love: Count Basie - Swingin' the Blues. Not even my CD*, but OK, I can see this. 
5. Party Song: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons - Summer: Allegro non molto. By the Canadian Brass. I guess that is my kind of party.
6. Fight Song: Ottmar Liebert - Alameda.
7. Breakup song: Bet E & Stef - II N'Aurait Fallu. This is fitting.
8. Prom: Bach - Partita for keyboard, No. 2 in A minor. No dice. Take 2: Macy Gray & Santana - Amoré
9. Life's OK: Ruben Romero - Turquoise Jungle
10. Mental Breakdown: Ottmar Liebert - Heart Still/Beating - 2 the night (live). Ottmar was bound to make a repeat appearance.
11. Driving: Paco de Lucía - Alma Llanera. Perhaps more "driving" a mule or horse across the plain.
12. Flashback: Boccherini - Concerto in D Major for Cello and Orchestra (performed by Yo-Yo Ma)
13. Getting Back Together: U2 - Red Hill Mining Town
14. Wedding: Natalie Imbruglia - Intuition. This doesn't get played ever these days, but an enjoyable flashback listen.
15. Birth of Child: James Horner - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic soundtrack)
16. Final Battle: Sarah McLachlan - Train Wreck
17. Death Scene: Norah Jones - In the Morning
18. Funeral Song: Hoobastank - Did You
19. Closing Credits: Mark O'Conner - Appalachia Waltz (performed by Yo-Yo Ma). I couldn't have picked it much better.

 

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Well, there is a more rounded insight into my 7,382 item, 42GB music collection (though entire genres didn't get any airtime). I think I should put it on shuffle more often (and also throw more random things on my iPods), I forget some of the bits of music that are in there. Fun times. Try it out.

 

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* It's funny that after almost 7 years of marriage some music is still "my CD" or "her CD." Still very much represented by a venn diagram of "hers," "his," and some overlap of "ours."

Food I've eaten

One of the books that I'm reading slowly on the side is "To Die For: 100 food experiences to have before you die." I enjoy food, and I regularly look through John Gilchrist's (radio food critic for my area) book of recommended restaurants. I even built a Google Maps mashup to search for recommended restaurants geographically near an address.

So when I saw the latest post on the TastyPlanner Blog about a list of 100 foods to eat, it intrigued me.

Here then is my bolded list (34/100) from the list as originally posted on verygoodtaste.co.uk.

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Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

(PS. The list has generated a lot of questions, so I’ve created an FAQ for it over here!)

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How many of these experiences have you had?

Welcome Summer

Iced Black Tea Lemonade in hand.
Jack Johnson pouring out the open sunroof,
passing sunshine streaming in.

Welcome Summer.

http://tinyurl.com/5ta55a

I've been pinked!

Apparently someone with a love of Pink has graffiti-ed my Google Docs.