Kim Heintz

LastHistory » Visualizing Last.fm Listening Histories and Personal Streams.

The personal mode looks interesting.

For the past week, I’ve been working on getting the Google Spreadsheet API’s JSON into Flex/Flash.  I’ve managed to get it into Flex and now I need to write some classes to properly parse the data into strongly typed objects. I will be posting code up soon.

Resources used:

• http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2006/03/28/tutorial-using-json-with-flex-2-and-actionscript-3/
• as3corelib

I come across various content and trying to keep track of what I find and being able to search/filter/find them again has been an interesting experience.  I’ve been using a combination of Delicious, Zootool, Zotero, Tumblog, and WordPress to keep track of them.  Each of these app started with a different intention and has involved into something else.  It is now to the point where my bookmarks are spread across various apps and is getting hard to manage and navigate.  The various apps that I have been using has pros and cons after using them I’ve managed to come across a list of things that I wish a bookmarking app would have.

Things I wish a bookmarking app would have:

1. Easy to search and filter.
2. Easy to organize.  A drag and drop feature would make life easier.  Something along the lines of iTunes or iPhoto where you have a library and you can create folders/albums.  Tagging is not necessary
3. Visual representation – image snapshot of the website is wonderful and makes it easier to remember what it is you are looking for.
4. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye and simple.
5. Easy to bookmark.
6. Snapshot of the entire page or selection .  Things disappear on the internet quite easily.  A year from now that post I bookmarked will be gone.
7. Meta data – information of when I added, last accessed,  if the website is still active, and let me know if the link still works!

Honestly, it would look something like this….(part 2 coming up…)

I saw this wallpaper on the website: Good Fucking Design Advice. It now displays on my work laptop.  In the past, I thought I commented well, but now, I realize that there is room improvement.  So here is my guide/mentality that I follow when commenting.

The Rules:

1. Comment readability – if there are methods/classes that work together, make it easy to identify it.  For example, if there are 3 methods that work together for a component, it would look like this:

/** Alert Popup - this function will do something */
/** Alert Popup - this function will do calculation something */
/** Alert Popup - this function will do clean up stuff and is used with this and that */


2. Comment like you are going to die the next day!  If something should happen to you, and someone had to pick off where you left off, will they be able to?
3. Would you be able to understand your own code (or even remember what you did) a year or two years from now? No? Then add more comments.
4. If you are working on a complicated piece of code (ex. lots of complicated logic), write down your thoughts as you code.   If you have pseudocode, leave it!  Here is an example:

protected function somethingComplex():void
{
// 1) Need to check to see if the value is not null
.....
// 2) Loop and cross reference this variable with that function
.....
// 3) If by chance something should fail or error, then do this.
}

As always remember, commenting is another terms for notes!

I wasn’t always a geek/computer savvy.  I didn’t turn into a computer savvy geekette till 2005!  I am fortunate enough to remember a world without Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

I love technology for the sole fact that it makes certain things easier for us.

I hate technology for the fact that we rely on it so much.

Remember the blackout that happened many years ago?  There was no electricity for hours!  Can you imagine if it were to happen now?