Canon PowerShot G11 (possibly the best PowerShot ever), 15 second exposure time, no other special settings were used with the camera. Not exactly newspaper-worthy, but still neat to see, nonetheless.]]>
Although I thought Apple started off a little too defensive yesterday, when you boil it down, I thought they did the right thing. If you're having a problem and a case can fix it, here, have a free case. If you already bought a case, they'll refund the money you paid for that case. If you bought an iPhone 4 and the problem keeps you from being able to use or enjoy your phone, they'll take it back, no restocking fee, no questions asked...
The iPhone is a consumer product. It's like off-the-rack clothing. It's not custom tailored to any one individual. It's the product of a long series of design decisions trying to make the best product for the largest section of the population. If you're an outlier - if you're one of those people for whom the issue is preventing you from using the phone, put it in a free case, or bring it back. Apple will give you your money back, AT&T will let you out of your contract. No questions asked, no restocking fee. You're then free to go find a phone that works better for you.
If you want or expect more than that, you've got pretty serious entitlement issues. If you don't want to do that because you think you can't find a better phone, then maybe you need to re-assess your own perspective.
As displays and content display engines get more complex on mobile devices, so will the need for more complex layout. While there is only so much screen real estate on an app phone, going from an app phone to a larger device will mean readers will have higher expectations on presentation of content. Remember, just because there is higher resolution on the iPhone's retina display, it doesn't mean that you can fit more content on the screen, it means it just looks nicer. Adobe has begun to figure this out with the recent Wired application, though that clearly still needs work before releasing it to the mainstream.]]>
Most terms and concepts that we use to create layouts for print apply in the digital realm; fonts and point sizes are still the same, and typesetting is still a synonym for composition, but finding a suitable replacement for pasteboard is going to be tough.
What really needs to happen is the technologies (e.g., schemas and languages) used to create and view our digitally-viewed content need to evolve to better manage dynamic layouts that adapt to the variety of screen sizes users will expect the content to present nicely within them. That's worth a lot of money to the people that care about a good user experience.
{key:data, value:data}. When a key is accessed, it is essentially going down the list looking for the first record with the given key and acting accordingly based on whether it finds one or not.
on MakeDictionaryWithValuesAndKeys(someValues, someKeys) -- (list, list) as OCDictionary
set newDictionary to MakeDictionary() of me
tell newDictionary
set valuesAdded to addValuesForKeys(someValues, someKeys)
end tell
return newDictionary
end MakeDictionaryWithValuesAndKeys
-- simply call with:
-- set newDictionary to MakeDictionaryWithValuesAndKeys({"ack", "greeble", "ponies"}, {"ACK", "GREEBLE", "PONIES"}) of me
script OCDictionary...end script block within the MakeDictionary() subroutine.run{} MakeDictionary() subroutine makes for a fully working script.MakeDictionary() -- as OCDictionary
set testDictionary to MakeDictionary() of me
hasKey(aKey) -- (object) as booleantoggleDataIntegrityChecks() -- as booleangetKeys() -- as listsetValueForKey(aValue, aKey) -- (object, object) as booleanvalueForKey(aKey) -- (object) as object or (kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound as string)"kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound".addValuesForKeys(someValues, someKeys) -- (list, list) -- as booleandictionaryIntegrityCheck(verboseFlag) -- (boolean) as boolean
on run {}
set testDictionary to MakeDictionary() of me
tell testDictionary
(* Basic Operations *)
(* Add a value and Key *)
log "setValueForKey(oop, OOP)"
set valueForKeySet to setValueForKey("oop", "OOP")
log valueForKeySet
(* Add a list of values and keys *)
log "addValuesForKeys({ack, greeble, ponies}, {ACK, GREEBLE, PONIES})"
set valuesAddedForKeys to addValuesForKeys({"ack", "greeble", "ponies"}, {"ACK", "GREEBLE", "PONIES"})
log valuesAddedForKeys
(* Get and set values for keys *)
log "setValueForKey(\"Luc Teyssier\", OOP)"
set valueSetForKey to setValueForKey("Luc Teyssier", "OOP")
log valueSetForKey
log "set myValueForKey to valueForKey(OOP)"
set myValueForKey to valueForKey("OOP")
log myValueForKey
(* Get all of the keys and iterate through the pairs *)
log "set theKeys to getKeys()"
set theKeys to getKeys()
log theKeys
log "iterate through all keys"
set lastKey to (count theKeys)
repeat with k from 1 to lastKey
set theKey to item k of theKeys
set theValue to valueForKey(theKey)
log {theKey, theValue}
end repeat
(* Operations That Will Cause Errors *)
log "toggleDataIntegrityChecks()"
log toggleDataIntegrityChecks()
log "setValueForKey(emptyValueList, emptyKeyList)"
log setValueForKey({}, {})
-- nothing should be added to keys or values,
-- but since we turned off data integrity checks,
-- we get it added but the report catches it
log "addValuesForKeys(unmatchedValueList, unmatchedKeyList)"
log addValuesForKeys({"Kate", "Charlie"}, {"Jean-Paul Cardon", "Bob", "Juliette", "Concierge"})
-- we should see errors in the log and nothing added
log "keyFound to hasKey(supercalifrajilisticexpialidocious)"
set keyFound to hasKey("supercalifrajilisticexpialidocious")
log keyFound
-- we should get back a false here
log "set theValueForKey to valueForKey(supercalifrajilisticexpialidocious)"
set theValueForKey to valueForKey("supercalifrajilisticexpialidocious")
log theValueForKey
-- we should get back the kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound error message here
(* Check to make sure our data is clean so we don't mess up operations later *)
log "set dictionaryIsSafe to dictionaryIntegrityCheck(true)"
set dictionaryIsSafe to dictionaryIntegrityCheck(true)
log dictionaryIsSafe
end tell
end run
on MakeDictionary() -- as OCDictionary
script OCDictionary
(* Public properties *)
property kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound : "kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound"
(* Private properties *)
property __keyValuePairs : {}
property __kOCDictionary_NoStoredKeys : -1
property __kOCDictionary_KeyNotFound : -2
property __kOCDictionary_InvalidKey : -3
property __kKeyIndexErrors : {__kOCDictionary_NoStoredKeys, __kOCDictionary_KeyNotFound, __kOCDictionary_InvalidKey}
property __checkDataIntegrity : true
(* Public SubRoutines *)
to hasKey(aKey) -- (object) as boolean
set keyValueIndex to __indexOfKey(aKey) of me
if keyValueIndex is in __kKeyIndexErrors then
return false
end if
return true
end hasKey
to toggleDataIntegrityChecks() -- as boolean
if __checkDataIntegrity = true then
set __checkDataIntegrity to false
else
set __checkDataIntegrity to true
end if
return __checkDataIntegrity
end toggleDataIntegrityChecks
to getKeys() -- as list
set keyList to {}
set keyValuePairCount to (count __keyValuePairs)
if keyValuePairCount = 0 then
return keyList
end if
repeat with thisKeyValuePair from 1 to keyValuePairCount
set theKeyValuePair to item thisKeyValuePair of __keyValuePairs
set theKey to key of theKeyValuePair
set end of keyList to theKey
end repeat
return keyList
end getKeys
to setValueForKey(aValue, aKey) -- (object, object) as boolean
if __checkDataIntegrity then
set aValuePassed to __dataIntegrityCheck(aValue)
set aKeyPassed to __dataIntegrityCheck(aKey)
if not (aValuePassed) or not aKeyPassed then return false
end if
set keyValueIndex to __indexOfKey(aKey) of me
if keyValueIndex is in {__kOCDictionary_NoStoredKeys, __kOCDictionary_KeyNotFound} then
set newKeyValuePair to __makeKeyValuePairWithKeyAndValue(aKey, aValue) of me
set end of __keyValuePairs to newKeyValuePair
else
set theKeyValuePair to item keyValueIndex of __keyValuePairs
set value of theKeyValuePair to aValue
end if
return true
end setValueForKey
to valueForKey(aKey) -- (object) as object or (kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound as string)
set keyValueIndex to __indexOfKey(aKey) of me
if keyValueIndex is in __kKeyIndexErrors then
return kOCDictionary_ValueNotFound
end if
set theKeyValuePair to item keyValueIndex of __keyValuePairs
set theValue to value of theKeyValuePair
return theValue
end valueForKey
to addValuesForKeys(someValues, someKeys) -- (list, list) -- as boolean
set keysCount to (count someKeys)
set valuesCount to (count someValues)
if __checkDataIntegrity then
if keysCount ≠ valuesCount then return false
if keysCount = 0 and valuesCount ≠ 0 then return false
if keysCount ≠ 0 and valuesCount = 0 then return false
end if
set keysCount to (count someKeys)
repeat with thisKey from 1 to keysCount
try
set theKey to item thisKey of someKeys
set theValue to item thisKey of someValues
set newKeyValuePair to __makeKeyValuePairWithKeyAndValue(theKey, theValue) of me
set end of __keyValuePairs to newKeyValuePair
on error
-- fail silently
end try
end repeat
return true
end addValuesForKeys
to dictionaryIntegrityCheck(verboseFlag) -- (boolean) as boolean
set dictionaryIsClean to true
set keyValuePairCount to (count __keyValuePairs)
if keyValuePairCount = 0 then return (dictionaryIsClean = true)
repeat with thisKeyValuePair from 1 to keyValuePairCount
set theKeyValuePair to item thisKeyValuePair of __keyValuePairs
set theKey to key of theKeyValuePair
set theValue to value of theKeyValuePair
set theKeyPassed to __dataIntegrityCheck(theKey)
set theValuePassed to __dataIntegrityCheck(theValue)
if not theKeyPassed or not theValuePassed then
set dictionaryIsClean to false
if verboseFlag then
set recordErrors to {}
set end of recordErrors to "__keyValuePair(" & thisKeyValuePair & ")"
set end of recordErrors to theKeyValuePair
if not theKeyPassed then
set end of recordErrors to "key is null or is an empty list"
end if
if not theValuePassed then
set end of recordErrors to "value is null or is an empty list"
end if
log recordErrors
end if
end if
end repeat
return dictionaryIsClean
end dictionaryIntegrityCheck
(*
Private Subroutines
All error checking is done before we get to these methods, so these should not be called directly.
*)
to __makeKeyValuePairWithKeyAndValue(aKey, aValue) -- (object, object) as record
(* Factory method for key-value pair records *)
set keyValuePair to {key:aKey, value:aValue}
return keyValuePair
end __makeKeyValuePairWithKeyAndValue
to __indexOfKey(aKey) -- (object) as integer
(* This subroutine combined with the __keyValuePairs property is really the crux of the whole class *)
if aKey = null then return __kOCDictionary_InvalidKey
set keyValuePairCount to (count __keyValuePairs)
if keyValuePairCount = 0 then
return __kOCDictionary_NoStoredKeys
else
repeat with thisKeyValuePair from 1 to keyValuePairCount
set theKeyValuePair to item thisKeyValuePair of __keyValuePairs
set theKey to key of theKeyValuePair
if aKey = theKey then
return thisKeyValuePair
end if
end repeat
end if
return __kOCDictionary_KeyNotFound
end __indexOfKey
to __dataIntegrityCheck(newData) -- (object) as boolean
(* This offers only very basic checks: null or empty lists *)
if newData = null then
return false
end if
try
set itemCount to (count newData)
if itemCount = 0 then
return false
end if
on error
-- fail silently
end try
return true
end __dataIntegrityCheck
end script
return OCDictionary
end MakeDictionary
]]>The hard part is the last ten percent, sure, or even the last one percent, but it's the hard part because everyone is busy doing the easy part already....The secret is to seek out the work that most people believe isn't worth the effort. That's what you get paid for.
We submitted an in-depth proposal to Apple that we create an iPhone-only product that uses native Cocoa objects, supports 100% of their API, works perfectly with multitasking and battery life, but uses a variant of the revTalk language to use these objects and APIs, and then translates those into native code. While a significant engineering departure for us from the current revMobile path, this solution would have resulted in perfect-quality iPhone-only applications impossible to distinguish from native applications...Steve Jobs has now rejected our proposal and made it clear that he has no interest in having revMobile available on the iPhone or iPad in any form...The analysis we read both on Apple.com and on many blogs suggest that their main target might be Flash. Clearly this is not the case.
