Day 6, How to deal with files and other data streams. What’s a reliable way to get the last item in an array? ask for the -1 item, i.e. array[-1]. Finally, a logical reason to start arrays at 0 rather than 1 – so we can count backwards. Looks like the “then” part of an …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Learning Ruby – Day 5
Day 5 is all about objects and their methods. Remember a few months back when Apple introduced the Shuffle? Everyone was up-in-arms about it’s lack of screen and how it was useless an mp3 player without a screen is. When in-fact, the lack of screen simplifies and improves the device a great deal. Ruby is …
Learning Ruby – Day 4
Day 4 – Iterators. First, all chapters in programming books should start with quotes from Steve Martin (t). Second, what’s a language without a convoluted loop syntax to geek out on? Geeez. I thought the purpose of learning to program was the same as learning Arabic from the Defense Language Institute – “because you can’t.” …
PodSafeSound and the SpaceShots Rock
Tonight, listening to my “Getting Things Done” playlist while going through Day 4 of Ruby, the Spaceshots’ tune ‘I Promise the World’ came through the headphones. I picked up that tune last November, while subscribed to BlogDigger’s mp3 feed (which I highly recommend for 2-3 days at a time). I search for ‘spaceshots’ at iTunes. …
Don’t Make a Plan B
Related to the previous Thought of the Day – One Foot Forward, Repeat – today’s thought is: Don’t Make a Plan B Then there isn’t an out when Plan A gets tough.
First Crack 34. Get Your Own Radio Show By Dave & Huna
Two years after their first demo, Dave and Huna got a real, over-the-air, AM call-in talk radio show on March 6, 2005. They tell you what it was like and how to do it. More Stuff: AM 1500 “The Next Big Thing” Dave’s posts on the experience at doodledee.com “yes, i’ll be imagining all of …
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Learning Ruby – Day 3
Day 3 is all about strings, arrays, hashes, and ranges – abstract, geeky terms for buckets In Ruby, strings can be treated like arrays. Meaning it’s super easy to access substring. For example: theString = “It’s raining today” theString[13, 5] # returns ‘today’ Finally, I always thought substr() methods were an awkward solution for something …
First Crack 33. HourCar Brings Car Sharing to Twin Cities
Kurt Fischer, Program Manager for HourCar – Minnesota’s non-profit car sharing venture, and I sat down at Nina’s Coffee on Dale and Western in St. Paul. HourCar is planning to introduce car sharing to Minnesota in early May 2005. We talk about car sharing, who is a good candidate for car sharing, and how car …
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First Crack 32. The Tea Episode with Mindy Kelly
Mindy Kelly from Mrs. Kelly’s Tea and I talk selection, brewing, and finding the right tea. Listen to the Tea Episode with Mindy Kelly [16 min] Got questions about coffee or comments about the show? Call: 206-20-BEAN-1 Like the show? Support the First Crack Podcast
Auto Insurance Companies Gamble Double or Nothing
This morning, NPR reported on a study finding auto insurance rates in No-Fault states 20% higher and rising more quickly than in “Fault” states. In a No-Fault state, each driver’s insurance pays for their claim. Elsewhere the accident-causing driver’s insurance pays for both claim. This means insurance companies prefer the double-or-nothing gamble over having to …
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