Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Tichu Project

I'm a Java head. Love it. Love Java. It wasn't even the first language that I learned, but I still love it. I think it fits particularly well with my learning and thinking style... general concepts, without getting into the nitty-gritty of things (like C). There's some order to it though, variable typing is a must for me to feel comfortable.

The best part of Java is the JavaDoc though and the libraries... as someone who can't hold more then 2 digits in her head at a time, I adore the way I need not actually cache knowledge about Java in my memory. So while I consider myself "good" at Java, I could not recite near anything to you on demand...

But, anyway.... Java. Yeah. Awesome.

However, in the real world of life where one strives to impress others, knowing more then just one trick is good. So I decided I should learn Python. I'm using Flex at work so I've already started dipping my toe into the waters of insanity- AS3 is a bit too loosey-goosey scripting like for me. But I hear so many good things about Python. All the cool kids are doing it. As is Google App Engine.

App Engine apparently comes in two lovely flavors- Java and Python... and rather then go for the known tasty option, I'm taking the opportunity to broaden my pallet. Python it is.

It's not going that well so far though.

Fucking lack of typing... I forget what I pass around! If I'm picking up code tomorrow that I wrote yesterday, how am I supposed to remember what everything is?? Also, blah, the documentation on line.... maybe I have to learn to read it first... but right now? I think it's ugly.

App Engine on the other hand is looking pretty awesome so far. Yay.

Hence the Tichu Project... it always helps to have a *reason* to learn something new. So I'm trying to code up an online multi-player Tichu game. Never heard of it? Neither had I really... my artist friend Mel is making a themed deck of cards for the game and I thought it would help us both if they were put to use in a public place.

So... yeah... it's my first personal coding project in quite some time... wish me luck.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Justification

The self conscious first blog post. Dread it.

Why am I starting another blog? Why not?

In college I was an avid user of Live Journal. While I've no desire to replicate angsty drabbles that were longer then any paper I ever had to write, I do miss writing. Journalling. Writing things down about my life and thoughts helps me remember them. I'm a very ditzy, fragmented individual with very little internal storage. As I age, time seems to move faster (as promised). Hopefully writing some things down will help me hold onto life, slow it down a bit perhaps...

I've already got a blog about things of quality. The Art of Sithel is a tightly controlled space to share my work in a publicly acceptable manner. Which is probably why I haven't posted there all to frequently. But I like what it is, what it hopes to be, and I've no desire to dilute it with, well, me.


Here I hope to just note... thoughts. Not the nitty-gritty LJ-ish details of day to day life... but thoughts, reviews, revelations... I've no idea why anyone would want to read it... but I've no reason to hide it so why not... I often enjoy stumbling across writings of people who I know or whose work I enjoy.