OMFG, I'm am such an idiot. @$#^%!@!!!

I was working on my first app when I thought of another app that the empeg desperately needed. So I took a several day break from application A to write application B. My reasoning for this was that I was going to use the menu structure from app B in A. So I spent maybe 20 to 30 hours working on this new program and I finish it. I am so proud, 'cause it's my first big app and frankly, its really fscking good!

So I go to riocar.org to post it before I write it up here and (get this) there is another app (that I'd never heard of) that did more or less the same thing already posted to riocar.org. %^^$%&$%&. How frustrating!

The app was a text file viewer that allowed you to browse your empeg and view text files. Mine was still a little better (IMHO) as it had a nice menu structure, command line options, and customizable font and line spacing (changable from the menu). Mine also did automatic word wrap so words were not broken up across a line break. Mine also allowed you to view paragraphs that were longer than the display (This one cuts off a line that fills up more than the display.)

Jeez, I'm already using past tense. I still get to use the new menu structure and directory implementation in the app I'm still working on. I suppose I'll still post it here and at riocar.org once I tidy up the source and write a readme. Darn, what a bummer.

John

P.S. Application A I'm still working on and is about 80% complete. It is a job control app that lets you start and stop programs from the hijack menu. I think it will be very valuble because this way you won't need to have apps like emptriv running every time you are using your empeg. This way the player will have more memory availble for caching, and you be able to start files whenever you want, even if you are away from your computer (like in you car.) Basically this program will be attached to your init and start every time you boot your empeg (its memory footprint is very reasonable.) Then, via a hijack menu, you can bring up a list of common apps that you use or browse the file structure for an unlisted app. You can also close (technically SIGINT, so they can do cleanup) programs that you no longer need. Hopefully noone has secretly written this also!!!

P.P.S I was going to call the viewer empedit, because I was (or maybe still am) planning on having it be able to edit files with the remote. (I was going to see if we could address the read write issue of the drives in the car at the same time.) I'm not going to worry about this until I get the job control one finished though.

sounds good!

It is a job control app

Ever worked for IBM?

Rob

Thanks to jheathco for the other viewer implementation, btw. (Seriously!) It's a nice clean source that let me look at another way to handle the way I implemented something. I'm still going to clean my source up and post it so we can have-- get this-- two empeg file browsers and text viewers!

John

Don't kick yourself too hard, this world has room for more than one text viewer app!

Ever worked for IBM?

Apparently if I had helped implemented JCL at IBM (see below) I wouldn't need to be taking computer science at university right now. Sounds scary . Actually, I just dove headfirst into Linux/C/Linux Programming a few weeks ago as part of a summer break self-improvement project. (Chose that over a job while I still could.) For the teaching, I started with the K&R and I'm working on Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by W. R. Stevens. (And, of course, the internet.) For the expirience, well-- I'm programming for my favorite toy. What I've chosen to write is simply what I want my empeg to do that it can't.

A quick googling for "IBM job control" turned up this:

Job Control Language (JCL) IBM's supremely rude script language, used to control the execution of programs in IBM OS/360's batch systems. JCL has a very fascist syntax, and some versions will, for example, barf if two spaces appear where it expects one.

Most programmers confronted with JCL simply copy a working file, changing the file names. Someone who actually understands and generates unique JCL is regarded with the mixed respect one gives to someone who memorises the phone book.

I think I'll wait 'til I get that mainframe in before I start on that.

Don't kick yourself too hard, this world has room for more than one text viewer app!

Ah, I've gotten over it. It was fun and most educational.

You don't ever actually sleep do you? I mean, really-- It's 4:48 AM over there.

John

You don't ever actually sleep do you? I mean, really-- It's 4:48 AM over there.

Just as I hit "reply" on this message, a bird began to sing its first song of the morning just outside my window.

Normally, I'm not up this early, but I was awakened by the need for some Tums tablets about half an hour ago, and couldn't go back to sleep. (Ate spicy food last night before bedtime.)

hehe. im always up till 5:00am but no one post on the board that early

That explains the asshair post....

-Zeke

johnmc3,

Keep goin with your text viewer! Mine was just a quick shot at getting something I wanted to use to view directions and such. I'd be very glad to see you improve on a new one with more features, etc. I'm sure everyone else would too.

Definitely looking forward to Application A - I don't want to have everything sitting in memory the whole time. Calling apps up only when they're needed is the sensible route.

In reply to:

---

Mine was still a little better (IMHO) as it had a nice menu structure, command line options, and customizable font and line spacing (changable from the menu). Mine also did automatic word wrap so words were not broken up across a line break. Mine also allowed you to view paragraphs that were longer than the display (This one cuts off a line that fills up more than the display.)

---

If you share your code, you might find that someone has the motivation to combine the best features of both. Coding time is never wasted, unless the result is discarded. (Even bad code can serve as an example of what to avoid!).

Bad news and good news:

The bad news is that I haven't been able to work on my programs recently, and won't be able to until the weekend.

The good news is that I got a summer job way better than I thought I could get. Like an awesome one. I'm writing software that oil drillers use on site to compute optimum drill pressures, depths, cost / benifit analysis of different types of drilling, etc. (Yes, I live in Texas.) I've going to learn learn a #$@&load of programming, my co-workers are cool and helpful, the future résumé potential is huge, and the pay (for a sophomore in college) is great!

In my interview, I described the stuff I'd done for my empeg as an example of programming I'd done on my own! Anyone else used their empeg to get a job?

Anyway, I hope to finish up one or both these programs this weekend, otherwise I'll release the source.

John

Teehehee. Well I'm at the same job I was at when I bought my empeg, so it hasn't been a selling point yet. But I'm currently "investigating other employment opportunties" and if it came up, I would feel comfortable discussing the coding I've done on the empeg during an interview. But that would be after I discussed a lot of the other stuff I've done for my real job(s).

real job(s)

hehehe, this works best when you haven't had any other real jobs. (or no programming jobs, at least)

Anyone else used their empeg to get a job?

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think Hugo and Rob might have...

Are you going to put your text viewer app up as it looks like the kind of thing i want !

Yes, your posts were what gave me the idea. Jheathco's implementation does much the same thing, although if you need fully explained installation instructions, wait for me to finish mine. (hopefully this weekend)

You can ftp a text file of, say driving directions, then view them in the car with this (while music continues to play).

John

You have no idea how much fuel will save me

Nothing kills fuel ecomony than driving 30 miles in the wrong direction

Hopefully it will get me to holland