raoli.com

Part of the reason for my 7 days absence is simply because I’ve been exhausted when I’ve gotten home from work. I haven’t been completely lazy, though — I did write some Perl code.

bbdiff command.

I wrote this because I’ve been generating a number of binary files and needed a quick way to check for differences in the files. Of the file comparison programs I’ve used, I like BBEdit’s Find Differences command the best. However, the process of creating hex dumps and comparing the files was taking at least a dozen mouse clicks, so I decided there must be a better way. I was already using John’s script, so I decided to use it as the basis for my own solution.

Like the original bbdiff, bbhexdiff assumes your copy of BBEdit is named, appropriately enough, “BBEdit” — not “BBEdit 7.0″ or “My BBEdit” (don’t laugh, I’ve seen stranger). If this isn’t the case on your computer, you can either edit the script or rename your copy of BBEdit.

Check out the bbhexdiff project page for more information.

Steven Frank:

Cabel and Dave recently undertook the mammoth task of cropping and printing out all of the pictures on a tiny HP photo printer. Then they stuck them to our office wall.

Having never been west of Chicago, I’m not up on the wall. Once I saw the pictures, though, I thought this was an insanely cool idea for two reasons.

For starters, I really like the way the block of photos look on the white wall. Had they pictures been placed randomly, it might be easier to ignore them. The large block really catches your attention.

Arguably more important is the psychological impact of seeing or hearing from your customers. Whether its pictures from MacWorld, actively participating in email lists dedicated to your product, or running a weblog where you share your progress with the world, this contact with your users can keep you help you remember why you’re writing code for hours on end. I’ve found that when I keep this in mind, the quality of my work tends to greatly improve.