Getting more unixy

I reckon that using command line tools properly is one of the signs of a good programmer. Even though I know this I have never really put concerted effort into learning about them.
I have always worked on windows as my primary dev platform - maybe that's why. Windows command line support is crap. The same old cmd.exe that has been there for years. Difficulties scrolling, adjusting the amount of detail you see etc. It is as if the people at Microsoft never thought that an expert is going to use our software. Someone who is not afraid of sharp edges and speed.
Powershell came along then. Seemed like a big improvement, but after my initial excitement it turned out to be squarely pointed at sysadmins of which I am not one.
I heard about cygwin years ago and have used it a little, but not to the extent that I get to on the current job. It's not as good as working in a proper unix shell (I use Ubuntu at home, so know what the good stuff feels like) but it is a huge leap from the muck that comes with windows out of the box. What's really disappointing about windows command line support is that they have been touting various resource kits for years. They seem to consist largely of the command line tools that their platform lacks. Would it have been a huge step down to just include these tools in the default distro and concentrate on the flashing lights?

Anyway via cygwin I am getting to use sed for my work. This is a pleasure. Not an easy one, but worthwhile all the same. I used it in anger - well productivity as it happens - just today. I need to keep piling on the command line experience and knowledge.  That's the way to be a satisfied nerd.

Automated photography with gphoto

I said in my last post that I was going to work on my composition with the Rule of Thirds, or take 100 pictures of something around the house to get more comfortable with my camera. I will get to these things, but I got side tracked quite pleasantly last night by the gphoto library.

There are a number of different things that you can do with gphoto, but image capture was what I was after. My plan is to write a simple program that takes photos of a single subject over a range of discrete aperture settings. I will then repeat this (programmatically) for a discrete range of shutter speeds. This should give me a grid of image results. Most will be rubbish, but the idea is to educate myself about how these variables interact.

That will be 2 dimensions. You can control a lot more than that with gphoto, so the sky's the limit. Nothing to stop me adding things like ISO to the mix along with other more discrete parameters like white balance.

Teasing out a problem with setting the apertures at the moment, but as soon as I get somewhere sensible with this I will post results and the scripts I used. Gphoto works with a large number of different cameras, so the grid making script will be reusable by most people.

Photography habit - some direction

I have been using the red-x app for a few weeks now and it is working quite well. I didn't put much effort into what tasks I would pick initially as I just wanted to see if this process would work. The idea is to motivate me to get into some new habits. So what habits did I pick and how did I get on?

Photography.
I got a nice digital SLR at the beginning of this year. It has lots of features and even beyond those technical aspects there is the art of photography to get a handle on. Tall order. I thought that practice would get me somewhere, so I added photography as one of my daily tasks in red-x. Mostly this involved taking pictures of my baby daughter, but other subjects featured too. I have been doing this for almost a full month (yes almost every day). It usually only takes a couple of minutes, but sometimes if I have more time I will spend longer. I have learned a lot about the controls in that time. I think at this stage it is time to put some direction into this, so I am creating a list of tasks that I will aim to complete as I learn more about photography.

Rule of thirds.
This is about composition which is probably one of the most important aspects of photography. A good place to start too as it is not related to the technology of the camera. Just set it to automatic mode and see what you can do.

Lots of photos of something dull.
Obviously you can pick something interesting, but it does not really matter. The point here is to try out as many of the settings in your camera as possible and see what happens. A good idea here is to try some automatic mode shots along with some semi auto shots and see what your camera 'thinks' is a good idea. Using these as a starting point you can move away along one of the axes of the image. (By axis I mean a variable that you can adjust to change your image - for example aperture).
Take all these photos in one go. A hundred or so is fine, but as many as you need to fiddle with those switches. If you have any extra equipment like lenses or flash you might want to give these a spin too, but that's up to you. The main camera body is what we are trying to get a handle on here.

I am going to start with those, but I will add some more as I come up with them. This looks like a pretty good list too.

Red-x android app

I am calling the new app red-x (after the Jerry Seinfeld motivation method) for now. It's still not released, but I am going to put it on the Android market place as a free download soon to see what people think of it.

I have been using it in its half functional form for a bit over a week now. So is it working for me? Well kinda.

• I had not been exercising and am getting something done most days now. 
• I had put a task in there to read the news every day. This too is going well, but then again there is a lot going on in Ireland at the moment, so reading the news is compulsory. 
• I have been chipping away at the android programming too, which was one of my other tasks. 
• I got a nice camera early this year and had not really used it. I decided the remedy to that was to take at least one photo every day. This I have been doing with no gaps and have learned a lot about the camera and taking photos as a result. 

That's pretty much the idea of this simple app.

I think I may have too many daily tasks in there to keep track of at the moment. Something which I might limit before I release the first version. Sometimes I feel a bit harried by the weight of all those things to do. I am going to try to persist for now though as I want to see what the benefits are of this forced habit forming.

The happy planet index

I stumbled across this idea while ago and was very taken with it. It gets to the core of something I think about a lot. Happiness. I have read a few books on the subject and reckon that it beats grubbing for money any day of the week.
The idea is to divide your 'happiness' by the amount of the earths resources you consume. Focusing on that number should encourage a person to do the simple things that will make them happier, rather than the complicated things that will not.
Lots of people pursue money as and end in itself. Focusing on happiness is more likely to see a person viewing money as a tool to achieve a more worthwhile goal. I reckon it is probably a lot easier and more worthwhile than climbing the greasy corporate pole anyway.

Proactivity advice from Jerry Seinfeld

I read this a while ago and thought I would give it a try. Instead of a wall chart I am going to use a little app that I wrote for my phone. It is like having a few of those wall planners that Jerry used and ticking off the daily tasks as you go. It's pretty simple at the moment and not ready for release, but it seems to be working for me. It lets you add a number of tasks that you would like to complete every day - stuff like 'exercise', practice some writing. Whatever you are trying to get into your routine.
So far I have Exercise, write this blog, read some of my novel (I didn't write it, Michael Connelly did), learn some Android programming and practice some unix tools. I reckon its important to avoid adding too many daily tasks to this as you could become swamped and never get anywhere.
More on the that tomorrow.

What are we were for

On the blog that is. The bigger question can wait.
I have been ticking stuff off lists for as long as I can remember. From school all the way through college and then work. In my family life and career. I have tried out as many different effectiveness techniques as you care to name and so I decided to write a bit about my efforts. This might help me to be more effective and also might give somebody else a few pointers.
To start with I am going to go through the 7 habits - I read this book years ago and have reread it a few times. I have a few of the derivatives of this book as well - first things first and the like. I have always been a big fan of Dr. Covey, so I am going to apply one of the habits per week for 7 weeks. See how I get on.
The first one is Be Proactive.
Not much more to be said about that. Everyone knows what it means and agrees that its a good thing. I decided on this approach last night and since then I have exercised (a brisk walk, but better than nothing), done some reading, practiced some programming (I do this for a living, but the stuff I am practicing at home is Android development. I want to program my phone.) and a bunch of other chores around the house. Remember this was only done between getting home from work and going to bed, so not a bad result for a first day. I will count yesterday as day one of be proactive.
After I get through the 7 (presumptive I know, but I have high hopes) I will go on to some of the other authors and presenters that have inspired me.