Author: pav
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((((DO SOMETHING!) SMALL) USEFUL) NOW!)
This LISP-like phrase is the personal motto of the “father of ASCII” Bob Bemer.
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In Defense of Bubble Sort
Bubble sort is an algorithm with a very bad reputation. Robert Sedgwick, in Algorithms in C, notes that bubble sort is “an elementary sorting method” and “it does much more work” than it needs to. Donald Knuth is much more harsh when he states “the bubble sort seems to have nothing to recommend it, except…
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First Day of the Year
Welcome to 2016 day one. Imagine if on today we could accurately predict what will happen in 2016? We could write a blog post with predictions and then gloat when they all come true! Here are some of the outcomes I would like to be able to predict: Which movie will win best picture? Which…
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Last Day of the Year
It’s December 31st 2015 and the so-called last day of the year. It sounds so final. 2015 is over and done with. If I had anything that had to be done in 2015 and didn’t get done, well, It’s game over. But really it’s not the last day of anything important. Sure, it’s the last…
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Identity used to sign executable no longer valid
The last thing I wanted to do on a Sunday morning is write a blog post about an an Xcode executable problem. What I had planned to do is test my most recent Swift 2.0 SpriteKit game on my iPad and iPhone. Last night I got a “Identity used to sign the executable is no…
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Quick Thoughts Apple Watch Sport, AppleTV, Magic Trackpad 2, iPad Pro
This year I had a lot of Apple product to buy. Other than buying a new iPhone every couple of years the rest of my Apple gear didn’t need updating. iMac, MacBooks, and iPads got a little faster, a little thinner, and a little more expensive but not so much that I really needed break…
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Four Tips for Xcode Storyboard Users
Apple’s Xcode Storyboard is both your best friend and your worst enemy when it comes to developing state-of-the-art iOS, Mac OS X, tvOS, and watchOS apps. Sometimes, what would be really hard, like associating a function with a gesture is quick and easy. Sometimes, what should be easy, like toggling a property, requires hunting down…
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Fun with Core Graphics and Swift Part 2
Hey, you have 10 minuets, don’t you? Then you can add pinch and rotate gestures to our fake-genigraphics app. I didn’t realize it would be this easy. But sometimes Apple’s developer tools engineering team does something amazing–and gesture recognizers are super amazing. A good way to start is to read the UIGestureRecognizer Tutorial on Ray…
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Fun with Core Graphics and Swift
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… I was a computer graphics artist. Specifically I was a Genigraphics console operator. I worked the night shift creating illustrations and slides with vector graphics for big corporations. This was the early 1980s and fast, cheap personal computers with color graphics had not quite been…
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The Desktop Strikes Back
I was surprised and delighted by Microsoft’s introduction of the Surface Pro 4 and and Surface Book. I have a feeling that Microsoft is doing something really interesting: Bringing back the general purpose personal computer. Wait, wait, I know what you are thinking! It’s all about the phones and pads and the Internet of things!…