New stuff! (Headquarters!)

So, I’ve recently joined Select Start Studios as a full-time co-founder and we’ve already done some really exciting stuff.

Check out: http://headquartersapp.com/, our new Basecamp application that features everything you need to “get things done”. I personally believe it since we designed it for personal use; not as a mass market appeal product and not surprisingly… it fits the description of both. We find ourselves using Basecamp in ways we didn’t even think of before, which is surprising as we thought we were fairly proficient Basecamp users.

Headquarters makes it surprisingly easy to add Todo Items, Todo Lists, Milestones, Messages but makes it even easier to sort, triage and assign each of the items. Everything feels like its in the right place; it’s an app I’m truly proud of.

We have a trial version coming out soon for people to try… it’s a great companion to the free Basecamp account that you can sign up for. It limits you to one project, one account (just like the Basecamp account) so you can pretty much do everything.

I won’t post many screenshots here, the website and the iTunes link speak for themselves.

Also, as with almost every other post… here’s an acoustic cover:

i can ride my bike with no handlebars, no more course notes

Today’s musical inspiration comes from the fact that I basically finished my Computer Science degree at Carleton University yesterday. It was my last Comp Sci class; basically launching me into the world of high-tech, hookers and booze. Perhaps not as many hookers as one would imagine, but at least tech and booze. Regardless, things have really become exciting as of lately; in fact I’m starting full time in just a few weeks on a product I can really get behind (I really like the idea and I find it very useful).

Here’s the song (embedding is apparently disabled, click on it twice):

Here’s an acoustic version of it by someone who’s drunk or high, or something. High. Nevermind, I’m sure…

As for what I’m doing with Objective-C, I finally managed to get my MacBook prepared to ship. Since I wanted to leverage the discounts, I became a MAC Student Developer… obviously this meant that I had to prove that I was a student and then convince the hardware people that I was indeed a Mac Student Developer. Essentially, after phoning Austin, being transfered to Ireland and then back to Austin only to be reforwarded to Ireland and then back to Austin once more, I am finally getting a MacBook (13.3, 2.0ghz, 4GB ram). In addition, I’m finally getting a handle on that Irish accent. That being said, I can actually play around with iPhone development and make Objective-C actually useful.

On the topic of Objective-C and iPhones, I’m fairly sure that some people will be interested in the following link: http://itunes.stanford.edu/. Basically, Stanford has been releasing classes online… including one focusing iPhone development and Objective-C. It’s pretty hot, and allows you to appreciate music. Also,

the nil and a mix

Edit: (I ordered my first MacBook! I’m pretty sure this signifies the beginning of the end of the world or of Mr. Eve Obbs’ supreme takeover… but in any case, it’s on the way. Base Model + Extra Ram + Unibody thingy…)

So, my foray into learning objective-c has been steadily advancing (it’s just another Object-Oriented Programming language after all) however I hit a few questionable things within the syntax. My biggest complaint is the fact that you can send messages to nil objects. (Nil objects are essentially blank objects and not NULL pointers…) There may be some valid reason to put it in the syntax, however on the outset it just looks like very sloppy style. Personally, I don’t mind my old friend, the Java/C++ ‘null’ check. It makes you think of the APIs you use, how they behave and what may go wrong in your application. To me, taking that null check out is essentially your floaties (those floating things you put on your arms…) on and going to float off in the sea of ignorance as your application does funny things.

This may simplify your code a little; you don’t have to worry about releasing already released objects (if you do it right, this will never happen anyway) and your program’s reliability can sort of go up… but it’s SLOPPY. There are many ways to get around this, namely with a very simple if check, which I will be doing anyway. I’m no hardcore C++ fanatic but I really prefer the approach of crashing and burning, rather than letting your program live on in “looks like things are okay” land. ugh.

The music this week is not acoustic but a mix of styles.

Malajube’s Montreal -40C

and Hallelujah on piano from some chick in the Maritimes.