JSIL

Just a short post:.

I think JSIL:

Is the bees knees.

It's a .Net bytecode (CIL, "common intermediate language") to JavaScript compiler.

Despite the fact that I don't blog about it often, .Net, its frameworks, libraries, tool, and the C# programming language are safely #1 at the top of tech things I love. My .Net Micro Framework project (still in progress, but on temporary hiatus), is my attempt to blend C# with my enthusiasm for embedded development.

Keep an eye on JSIL, I think it will go places. It's the way Silverlight should have been done.

--P

Scala and Random musings

I've always been a programming language geek. I love learning new programming languages, though C++ and C# (and to a lesser extent Java and Ada) have paid my mortgage over the years.

I'm more of a fan of statically typed languages, but when I have to, I can feel my way around Python. Windows Power Shell is also a fantastic dynamic language that doesn't get the credit it deserves. I'll admit the syntax can take a little getting used to, and if you don't use it frequently, you will forget a lot of it.

For a reason I can't remember now, I recently read about Scala. (Wikipedia) I'd heard its name thrown around for a few years, but never really looked much into it. If a language is not available for production use for me, I have a little less incentive to check it out. Scala's primary platform is the JVM, and it can also run on Android's Dalvik without too much fuss. There is a .Net variant that uses the Java-.Net bridge/abstraction framework IKVM, but it is apparently not quite ready for prime time.

Lot's todo

All developers are familiar with the infamous "//TODO" comment in code. It means "I know this code is not finished and will need work", or "I have deadlines and Fred's code is broken so this is the best that can be done until he fixes his library".  The problem is that these thing can linger forever. I know, I'm guilty of it myself.

Who hasn't seen things like:

//TODO fix after June

(But that comment was checked in 2 years ago)

//TODO see Fred for a fix.

(Fred doesn't work there anymore, by the way).

Amongst the many code quality techniciques and policies, such as unit testing, treating warnings as errors, and using static analysis tools, I propose a system for dealing with a "TODO" - something that has been identified as needing rework eventually.

In my Android Game, I have recently started using a class to denote such beasts. Behold:

Build System Status Monitor

This is a project I did a while back.

"Indictron" (You might guess that I like to come up with goofy code names for my projects) is a device I use to monitor the status of the continuous integration servers for some projects I've worked on. It's a USB powered grid of LEDs run by an Atmel ATmega88 processor. The device is controlled by a Windows application that queries the build servers for the status of various projects and then sends commands over USB to the AVR chip.

I should take a moment here to say that I am not at liberty to say for what "build projects" I actually used this, so some details or pictures may be altered/redacted.

In full geek regalia: