July 01, 2003
The Matrix Reloaded: The Abridged Script

The Matrix Reloaded: The Abridged Script

Very funny. By the same author: The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring: The Abridged Script (in which I was particularly amused by the MtG references, and the Elijah Wood put downs), and loads more.

Posted to Funny by Simon Brunning at 05:23 PM
Text Processing in Python

Looks like David Mertz's Text Processing in Python is out. I can't see myself holding out too long on that purchase.

Try before you buy - read Text Processing with Python online.

Just one criticism - why-oh-why another one-chapter Python tutorial at the beginning? I really can't see the point. Virtually every Python book has one of these. You don't get this with, say, Java books. They assume that you know Java already.

Also interesting from the pen of David - Why list comprehensions are called list comprehensions.

Posted to Python by Simon Brunning at 03:32 PM
Open source = higher quality

Interesting. In Closed source versus open source in a model of software bug dynamics, Damien Challet and Yann Le Du of the University of Oxford show that open source software has less defects than closed source, other circumstances being equal.

I'll have to try this on on El Presidente - "It's your fault that the software I wrote is crap. You insisted that it be closed..."

Via Azeem Azhar.

Posted to Open source by Simon Brunning at 02:50 PM
Back in Amsterdam

And the weather is gruesome.

Tomorrow, either London or Madrid, I don't yet know.

I'm getting very bored of planes and hotels now, it has to be said.

Posted to On the road by Simon Brunning at 01:03 PM
Eclipse 3.0 M1

So many new toys today! Eclipse 3.0 M1 News

Check out the method call hierarchy, the new Quick fixes, the code generation improvements and the new style checks - these all look cool to me. I'll be doing some Java work in a couple of days...

Oh, and good luck jEdit! You've got my vote.

Posted to Java by Simon Brunning at 12:45 PM
Email on the road...

I was previously using beer.com for my email on the move. Sadly, it's been pretty unreliable, though, so I've had to switch to Yahoo.

This is a shame, 'cos I'm sad enough to think that a beer.com address was pretty cool. But it was bouncing mails sent to me, and those that did arrive were not becoming visible for an hour or two. Yahoo, though not cool, works fine.

Hotmail? Wouldn't touch it with yours, mate.

Anyone had any notable experiences, good or bad, with a free web-based email account?

Posted to The Internet by Simon Brunning at 10:38 AM
Java 1.4.2

Java 1.4.2

Another new version of my day-to-day workhorse. I've not upgraded yet, but when I get the time...

Posted to Java by Simon Brunning at 10:26 AM
Python 2.3

Python 2.3b2

I've upgraded, and as usual with Python, It Just Works.

Cool stuff in there - see Andrew Kuchling's What's New in Python 2.3 for details.

Update: See also Alex Martelli's What's New in Python 2.3? for another overview, less exhaustive (which isn't like Alex), but which covers some of the most useful enhancements in some detail.

Posted to Python by Simon Brunning at 10:13 AM
UK Blogmeet

UK Blogmeet

On the off chance that I'm in the UK at the time, this sounds like fun.

Posted to Blogs by Simon Brunning at 10:09 AM