It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I guess my computer teacher's encouragement got me started. I'm using 'Think Python' and tinkering around with that, already wrote a couple of scripts. It's turning out not to be quite as unpleasant as I'd feared. I may even try to get some certification in this and add it to my resume if it pans out. At the very least, it prompted me to boot up in Xubuntu for the first time in a long time.
(Oh, how excited I was when I saw that the system updates included a change to the Nvidia drivers. How disappointed I was when I found that it had no effect on the screen tearing.)
I actually have a project I'd like to work on, though it's still something of a pipe dream at this point.
I have a friend who's a department head (events/main programming) for an anime convention that's occurring this October. This year, they're finally letting him restructure the back-end the way he wants to, so I'm trying to help him out with that. We have almost no budget (well, actually, NO budget), and one big problem has always been the dissemination of relevant information. I suggested using twitter, as it can easily be utilized by anyone who has a cell phone with texting. This would allow us to not only disseminate relevant information rather quickly, but would also allow us to communicate rapidly with the ground-level volunteers, which is something we've never had before. We could also use this to keep track of events, presenters, emergencies, etc. While this may help quite a bit, there's also a possible complication in the number of twitter accounts we may end up using. I was wracking my brain about it until I got an idea while my intro to computers class was going over how to program simple things in visual basic 2008. What if I just write a program that can manage, organize, and catalog everything for us?
I know, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. The most complicated script I've written thus far is this (in python)-
Quote
print 'What the hell!?!?!'
user_reply = raw_input('Who fucked my wife?! ')
print "Well then,", user_reply,"IS A DEAD MAN!!!!"
But then again, I just started learning today. Then again, I have no idea just what is considered progressing quickly with this sort of thing.
I'ono. I guess I'm asking if anybody has any experience with this sort of thing, or tips, or even encouragement. This will probably be the first time I've had to just downright teach myself something from scratch and then apply it as quickly as possible.
Shane? Do you recommend I start with visual basic and use that to write the program I want, or should I stick to learning how to use Python? Does my idea even sound feasible in the first place? Will I be required to write it in a specific language (like java or MySQL) in order to get it to work in the first place, considering it involves managing and utilizing twitter's online service? (and if that's a stupid question, I apologize. I'm still a little new at this.)
I recommend you avoid Visual Basic like the plague. Python should satisfy most of your programming needs, but as for Twitter, it all depends on how the API is written.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 12, 2011, 12:10:30 AM
I recommend you avoid Visual Basic like the plague. Python should satisfy most of your programming needs, but as for Twitter, it all depends on how the API is written.
Got it. Is there an equivalent IDE for python that you would recommend? I mean, what little I used of Visual Studio in that computer class seemed pretty straightforward.
And I'm still having some troubles with getting Ubuntu to work properly on my computer, so I may have to stick to programming in Windows for now. One of these days, I'll have enough money saved up to build a computer that I can actually use Ubuntu on. :-P
I'm an old-school programmer, so I just type. But you can Google for python and IDE and see what other people recommend.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 12, 2011, 12:10:30 AM
I recommend you avoid Visual Basic like the plague. Python should satisfy most of your programming needs, but as for Twitter, it all depends on how the API is written.
And of course they taught us Visual Basic in High School...
I do have some experience in Java. What is your opinion on that?
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 12, 2011, 09:45:41 AM
I'm an old-school programmer, so I just type. But you can Google for python and IDE and see what other people recommend.
Would I be better off learning to use an IDE for making a GUI, or do you recommend sticking to typing? Do you have any difficulties with making a GUI this way?
Quote from: surhotchaperchlorome on August 12, 2011, 12:20:22 PM
And of course they taught us Visual Basic in High School...
I do have some experience in Java. What is your opinion on that?
Good idea, terrible implementation. Buggy, bloated, and more trouble than it's worth.
Quote from: Virgil0211 on August 12, 2011, 12:25:55 PM
Would I be better off learning to use an IDE for making a GUI, or do you recommend sticking to typing? Do you have any difficulties with making a GUI this way?
Probably get an IDE. That's what I would do if I were learning it today.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 12, 2011, 12:29:41 PMGood idea, terrible implementation. Buggy, bloated, and more trouble than it's worth.
Naturally. >_<
It sounds like you'd recommend Python. What about Perl?
Perl is useful but overrated. At this point I'd say it's even obsolete.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 12, 2011, 01:13:23 PM
Perl is useful but overrated. At this point I'd say it's even obsolete.
What coding languages do you personally use, and which ones do you plan to learn in the future at this point?
If you were my age (24), and planning to learn programming languages so that computer programming becomes a potential career path, which ones would be best for you to focus on?
Also, slightly off topic, but...
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png)
(mouse-over text)
"To anyone who understands information theory and security and is in an infuriating argument with someone who does not (possibly involving mixed case), I sincerely apologize."
Is there any truth behind this comic? I mean, would the second password really be that difficult for a computer to guess?
Quote from: Virgil0211 on August 12, 2011, 03:14:01 PM
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png)
(mouse-over text)
"To anyone who understands information theory and security and is in an infuriating argument with someone who does not (possibly involving mixed case), I sincerely apologize."
Is there any truth behind this comic? I mean, would the second password really be that difficult for a computer to guess?
(Emphasis added by me)
Seconded.
Yes, it would. There seems to be a consensus among security experts about how long that would take. Here's Steve Gibson's version; try it yourself:
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm
Now if you used something personal, like the names of your kids, that's something a hacker might get with some social engineering. They'd have to be random words, unrelated to yourself or each other.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 26, 2011, 06:58:18 PM
Yes, it would. There seems to be a consensus among security experts about how long that would take. Here's Steve Gibson's version; try it yourself:
https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm
Now if you used something personal, like the names of your kids, that's something a hacker might get with some social engineering. They'd have to be random words, unrelated to yourself or each other.
Thank you for that link. It provided a good laugh when I challenged my friend to compare his own password with "Ashtray soda pop dingo." :-P Granted, there's a chance that the hacker might have that particular Boston Legal quote in his list of phrases to check first, but it was still an interesting comparison, especially when I pointed out how the easier one to memorize was the harder one to crack according to the calculator. :-P
My ventures aren't going as smoothly as I'd like. The main problem was maintaining the practice while at the same time moving back into college housing and getting on my feet with my courses. I did, however, use what I've learned and a little bit of guesswork to program my TI 83 Plus calculator for my business analysis class. It's the only class I've had in the last several years that allowed those, and the teacher hasn't said anything about whether or not we can program it, nor did he ever check them to see if they had programs in them. So, yeah, my tests in that class are going to be alot easier. :-D
I took a little look at C++ while I was at it, and part of me is thinking about trying to study a little bit of that while brushing back up on what I read about Python. I'm hoping it'll help me maintain my interest. What exactly are the advantages of C++ over Python and vice versa? In what situations would you say you must absolutely use C++ over Python, or vice versa? Why is it the 'cout' command in C++ instead of something easier to remember, like Python's 'print'? ;-P
C++ is a lower-level language that can compile some sweet, efficient code. Big apps should use C++. Smaller ones can get away with Python. You just have to be more careful because you're more vulnerable to things like buffer overruns.
As long as you programmed the calculator yourself, I wouldn't think it would be a problem. I mean, you HAVE to understand it to be able to program it!
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 14, 2011, 05:02:57 PM
C++ is a lower-level language that can compile some sweet, efficient code. Big apps should use C++. Smaller ones can get away with Python. You just have to be more careful because you're more vulnerable to things like buffer overruns.
Is Python the one more vulnerable to buffer overruns, or is it C++? And just what is 'big'? Is it a specific file size or a general range of how much of the computer's memory the program uses?
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 14, 2011, 05:02:57 PM
As long as you programmed the calculator yourself, I wouldn't think it would be a problem. I mean, you HAVE to understand it to be able to program it!
That was my ready-made defense if he said anything to me about it, but I guess they'd worry that we were using it to avoid having to memorize formulas. Not that it would do any good for that anyway. I already memorized the ones that didn't come on the calculator already, and the ones I had problems with come with applications for them pre-loaded on the damn thing already. :-P
I'm starting to fall hard for this programming stuff. I don't know why I didn't get into it any earlier. I would've loved to know some of this stuff when I was a kid.
Quote from: Virgil0211 on September 14, 2011, 05:19:40 PM
Is Python the one more vulnerable to buffer overruns, or is it C++?
C++.
QuoteAnd just what is 'big'? Is it a specific file size or a general range of how much of the computer's memory the program uses?
In the eye of the beholder, really.
And I don't know of anyone in the real (professional) world who memorizes formulae. They naturally remember the ones they use all the time, and look up the rest.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 14, 2011, 06:05:27 PM
And I don't know of anyone in the real (professional) world who memorizes formulae. They naturally remember the ones they use all the time, and look up the rest.
Where were you back when my mother was teaching me Algebra 2? (Home-schooled, you know.) I could've used that little tidbit. :-P
I guess it's just been my experience that one was expected to memorize the formulas for the test. I mean, the instructor kept giving out tips on how to memorize them (write them down every time you do a practice problem and so forth). He also mentioned some familiarity with programming in Python, so he probably knows that programming a TI calculator to do stuff like that isn't that difficult. Although, that mention was when we had to correct a couple sections in the book's answer key as he made an error in the script that put off the answers by a factor of 100 and -100 for the two sections we had to correct, so maybe I'm overestimating him. It just seems a bit contradictory to encourage memorization and then leave this loophole open for those who know how to program their calculators. I remember my brother mentioning that his advanced CS teacher in high school told them that if they found a way to cheat around all of the stuff he put in place to stop them, he wouldn't count off for it as they would already know what they needed to know. Or something like that. It's a second-hand story, so don't take it at face value. :-P
My only problem with C++ is that, so far, most of the material I'm finding on it seems to approach the subject by giving you code and not quite telling you what everything does yet. I mean, with Think Python, the explanations were quite plain and easy to digest, telling you what each part was. Then again, Python's syntax is a bit simpler than C++. At least it's somewhat easier to understand now.
What language do you usually end up using when you write programs, and what's the difference between C++ and C#? Is the choice of one over the other a matter of personal preference, or are there objective advantages to using C# over C++ and vice versa?
Well, most of my stuff has been for the web, so it's been PHP and JavaScript.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 14, 2011, 08:15:04 PM
Well, most of my stuff has been for the web, so it's been PHP and JavaScript.
I thought javascript was overrated? :-P Lol. J/k.
What are the primary differences between normal computer coding and server coding? Does the idea I proposed in the first post sound like it might need a server?
There are two contexts to that question.
The first is, does the program need client-server components? Meaning, do you need separate programs for user input and for processing. Doesn't sound like it.
The second is, does the program need to run on a separate machine that's always on? That sounds like the best course of action to me. It doesn't sound like users will interface with the program directly, you'll be going through Twitter, right? And it needs to be on all the time.
Oh, and it's Java that I think's overrated, not JavaScript. Two different things.
[Professor Farnsworth Voice]
Good news, everyone!
[/Professor Farnsworth voice]
I finally fixed the video tearing problem on my laptop. At least, fixed it to the point where I can actually watch video on it. It's minimal enough to be ignored when playing video files, though still not up to par with Windows 7 for video playing. I'll keep trying, but it looks like I may have to use Windows 7 for higher quality video. At the very least, this allows me to use Ubuntu for most things I use a computer for. I fixed it by rolling back to release 10.10, as apparently 11.04 has problems with Nvidia cards.
However, there's another problem. My wireless card now won't work. This is proving to be even more stubborn than my video card was. I've tried rfkill unblock all, making sure that network settings thingy had wireless set to true instead of false, network-config, rebooting into Windows 7 and then back into Ubuntu, even this (http://blog.mattrudge.net/2010/07/29/acer-aspire-atheros-wifi-under-ubuntu-10-04/) method. Nothing. What the hell is going on?
Did it work under 11.04?
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 21, 2011, 03:26:15 PM
Did it work under 11.04?
Yup. Perfectly. Which is why I can't figure this out. Everything I've read about changing its settings both through the GUI and the command line hasn't worked. It's almost like there's something else I can't find that deactivates it.
I found something online to try, so I did. Here's what I got.
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ sudo ifup wlan0
[sudo] password for virgil:
Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0.
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install ethtool
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
ethtool
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 69.4kB of archives.
After this operation, 279kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/main ethtool 6+20091202-1ubuntu1 [69.4kB]
Fetched 69.4kB in 1s (62.5kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package ethtool.
(Reading database ... 159980 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ethtool (from .../ethtool_6+20091202-1ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up ethtool (6+20091202-1ubuntu1) ...
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ sudo ethtool wlan0
Settings for wlan0:
No data available
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$
Here's what I got when I used the sudo lshw -C network command:
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP79 Ethernet
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
logical name: eth0
version: b1
serial: 40:61:86:18:94:7a
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.105 latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:22 memory:fae7d000-fae7dfff ioport:c080(size=8) memory:fae7e800-fae7e8ff memory:fae7e400-fae7e40f
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
vendor: RaLink
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt3090 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=RT2860 Wireless
resources: irq:19 memory:febf0000-febfffff
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$
And here's what I got when I used ' lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 network'
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 network
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: RaLink RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe [1814:3090]
Kernel driver in use: rt3090
Kernel modules: rt2860sta, rt3090sta
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$
Here's iwconfig
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 RT2860 Wireless ESSID:"" Nickname:"RT2860STA"
Mode:Auto Frequency=2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Link Quality=10/100 Signal level:0 dBm Noise level:-87 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$
And here's lsmod
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
ath5k 122927 0
mac80211 225459 1 ath5k
ath 8041 1 ath5k
cfg80211 144266 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
led_class 2864 1 ath5k
binfmt_misc 6587 1
ppdev 5259 0
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 3840 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 203408 1
snd_hda_intel 22069 2
snd_hda_codec 74201 3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 35308 0
snd_mixer_oss 13746 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 70694 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 1338 0
snd_seq_oss 26722 0
fbcon 35102 71
snd_seq_midi 4557 0
tileblit 1999 1 fbcon
snd_rawmidi 19056 1 snd_seq_midi
font 7557 1 fbcon
snd_seq_midi_event 6003 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
bitblit 4707 1 fbcon
snd_seq 47263 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
rt2860sta 498817 0
crc_ccitt 1339 1 rt2860sta
snd_timer 19098 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
softcursor 1189 1 bitblit
nvidia 9961216 46
snd_seq_device 5700 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
rt3090sta 674216 0
video 17375 0
uvcvideo 57406 0
snd 54244 16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
vga16fb 11385 1
videodev 34425 1 uvcvideo
soundcore 6620 1 snd
output 1871 1 video
vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb
snd_page_alloc 7076 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
i2c_nforce2 5199 0
agpgart 31724 1 nvidia
psmouse 63677 0
shpchp 28835 0
serio_raw 3978 0
v4l1_compat 13251 2 uvcvideo,videodev
lp 7028 0
parport 32635 2 ppdev,lp
ahci 32360 2
forcedeth 49556 0
virgil@virgil-laptop:~$
I already checked that wireless settings file to enable wireless networking, but it still says disabled under that lshw -C network thingy. Also, sudo rfkill list doesn't return anything. Just goes to the next line. Is that normal?
Anything you can tell me?
You'll have to look it up, but there's a way to add in the Natty repositories to an earlier version. Basically what you would do is upgrade your wireless drivers--the catch would be that it would upgrade dependencies, too. But hopefully you'd have the upgraded wireless drivers and keep the video drivers (unless it was putsched by something like a kernel upgrade).
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 21, 2011, 04:18:15 PM
You'll have to look it up, but there's a way to add in the Natty repositories to an earlier version. Basically what you would do is upgrade your wireless drivers--the catch would be that it would upgrade dependencies, too. But hopefully you'd have the upgraded wireless drivers and keep the video drivers (unless it was putsched by something like a kernel upgrade).
Okay, I'll take a look. Do you have any idea what's going on?
Probably the new wireless driver fixed the wireless but the new video driver broke the video. The idea would be to try to use the Maverick video driver with the Natty wireless driver.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 21, 2011, 04:43:11 PM
Probably the new wireless driver fixed the wireless but the new video driver broke the video. The idea would be to try to use the Maverick video driver with the Natty wireless driver.
I guess I did something wrong. I added what I thought were the right repositories, then ran the
sudo apt-get updateand
sudo apt-get upgradecommands. Once I rebooted, I couldn't get it to boot up even in failsafe mode. One reinstall later, wireless is still broken.
That isn't what I meant. You need to do the update, yes, but instead of running the entire upgrade go into Synaptic and JUST install the upgraded wireless drivers.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 21, 2011, 06:30:02 PM
That isn't what I meant. You need to do the update, yes, but instead of running the entire upgrade go into Synaptic and JUST install the upgraded wireless drivers.
So... what exactly would I need to look for?
(Remember, I'm still a n00b.) ._.
Never mind. I'm giving up on this. I fix one major bug only to come across another major bug that I can't seem to fix. I've tried just about every other solution could find. I'll give the next few distributions a try, but I'm not going to waste hours at a time to get this thing to work when I can spend far less time to get the things I would use it for (coding, internet browsing, using documents, etc) to work in Windows 7. Unless they fix the glitches they seem to be having with Nvidia and Raltek (or whatever the name of that wireless card manufacturer is), I'm not going to be utilizing it until I get a different computer. Who knows. Maybe after I cool off, I'll give Fedora a try.
And not 12 hours later, I'm installing Kubuntu. I have no conviction when it comes to this sort of thing...
The video still doesn't work, but at least it can use my wireless card, so I can use it for schoolwork and programming. I really hope 11.10 fixes those problems. Who knows. Maybe I'll end up having to program a driver for it at some point, if I ever get that far.
By the way, Shane, I added you on Google+. I'm the 'Marduke Von Haskell' guy (also my facebook name, and not my real name. Figured it'd be good to change it in case I ever go for a job interview or something.)
I did it! I found the solution to my problem!
Step 1: Abandon Ubuntu.
Step 2: Install Fedora 15.
Step 3: Install Nvidia drivers.
Step 4: Go have a drink to celebrate. :-P
Cool! Glad you found a solution.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 29, 2011, 07:38:45 AM
Cool! Glad you found a solution.
Nevermind. False alarm. It still tears on fullscreen and on anything above 360p. I'm just about ready to give up on this. At least video's "watchable" now, but it's a far cry from taking the place of Windows as my primary OS. I just realized that I still have the serial key for Windows 7 on the bottom of my laptop, so maybe I can experiment with running W7 in virtual box or something. It's still frustrating that Windows 7 is able to get my laptop to view up to 720p fullscreen video without difficulty (even 1080p if I temporarily kill explorer), but I can't get linux to go any further than that. There was a program called IDSWrapper I'd heard about a couple of years back that allowed people to use Windows drivers in Linux for wireless cards in order to get past a bug in many versions of Ubuntu. I actually saw a page where someone was suggesting that they develop a feature like that for hardware in general in later versions of Ubuntu. It got down-voted rather quickly, and some of the commentors said things that I immediately wanted to put in fail quotes. Apparently, some people think this will lead companies to stop making drivers for linux, or that they need to keep things pure and open-source. As for the former, if the Windows drivers can already work, then so what? That leaves time and energy to be spent doing other things. Then, if Linux manages to get a greater market share because *gasp!* it's easier to get your hardware to work with it, then maybe companies will start putting more effort into making dedicated Linux drivers in order to better serve that market. You know, rather than telling someone to 'go and get a better laptop' when they come to you for help (actual experience with the Ubuntu chat-room here).
Sorry for the wall of text. I just kept getting frustrated trying to deal with this. I was hoping that I could switch over to Linux completely at some point. For now, though, it looks like I'll primarily be using it for programming and such. It's still the best OS I've used for learning Python and such.
Yeah, dealing with the hardcore Linuxites can be frustrating.
I believe what you're looking for is "ndiswrapper." Check your driver disk or online to see if there are driver files that end in .inf and .sys. Those are the NDIS driver files.
Ndiswrapper should be in the Ubuntu repositories. Install 10.10 then install ndiswrapper, and also there should be a GUI utility to help you install them.
Quote from: MrBogosity on September 29, 2011, 03:45:22 PM
Yeah, dealing with the hardcore Linuxites can be frustrating.
I believe what you're looking for is "ndiswrapper." Check your driver disk or online to see if there are driver files that end in .inf and .sys. Those are the NDIS driver files.
Ndiswrapper should be in the Ubuntu repositories. Install 10.10 then install ndiswrapper, and also there should be a GUI utility to help you install them.
I'll try that next time. I jut need to take a little break from trying to fix this thing. Clear my head a bit.
But like I said, I don't understand why more linuxites don't see how useful a tool like that could be. Almost all of Linux's hardware incompatibility problems, gone.
Makes me wish I could somehow breed Windows 7 and Fedora/Ubuntu. If only operating systems could reproduce sexually.