Caveman Debugging

I recently heard about this new term: caveman debugging. It's basically where you make a program that you think might have a problem diagnose itself while it is running. Here and there you make it output useful information that might lead you to understand what is wrong - and what you can do about that.

It's a rather common thing and I do use it from time to time. I mean, it's nice and all to have a debugger, but sometimes it just works better to do it the old-fashioned way. Or maybe you just happen to be working in an environment with no debugger. Or just not a good one. Well, no matter what your reason is this time, you might well be wanting to use this technique.

And as a matter of fact, I had been looking for a name for it for a while now. How else can I refer to it clearly. Some call it printf-debugging, after one of the traditional functions used for this purpose (the printf function from C formats text and outputs it to the command line), but it's a little unimaginative. And it just doesn't fit all languages.

This term I read about, caveman debugging, has none of these problems. It really does capture the technique, but at the same time it doesn't really look down on it either. At least, not in my eyes. I mean, the word caveman sounds like strong and powerful, yet crude. Well, that's exactly what it is, so no complaining here. It also sounds like it's old, and that's what it is - it is the first type of debugging that was around - however, it does not sound like "superseded" and it is not. It's still a useful technique and should not be shunned. Well, that's why I like the name. However, the term has its own problem: people don't know it and may not guess what you mean.

So I propose a solution to that. Just use it. All of you. Write about it. (I did... uhm, am doing?) Tell each person who wonders what it is what it is. Just use it. From this moment on, it's a term in my book. And that means it's now my responsibility to spread the word.

Like Nietzsche Said

There are times when I am a lot more expressive than I am now. Not always, but there sure are times. Today is not one of those times - obviously. However, I did want to share a bit of my state of mind all the same. I decided to do so, by quoting one of Nietzsche's best known lines.

"That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

Photoshopping is awesome

Look what I made:



Ain't it awesome? Don't mind what it now says, just take a look at the changes from the original. (Which I do suppose you know, if not, and you're above the age of let's say fifteen, shame on you!)

I sure had a blast making this thing. Sure, I didn't change all that much, but it was just a lot of fun to work on it in Photoshop. I mean, before today I had pretty bad memories about using Photoshop, but these days are over now.

For me, photoshoping used to a frustrating search for ways to do what I wanted to do. I used to know what I wanted to do (say create a border of a few pixels along the curves of a letter), but I didn't know how to do so in Photoshop.

Now, however, I know the basic tools so well, that I can get along with the program. On top of that I understand the power of both the program's selection system and the use of layers. Really, I understand the two so well enough now, that I can actually use them to my advantage instead of them just being in the way of what I am trying to do. Lastly, I also have a lot of background information on computer terms and the names of many transformations, which means that when I am looking for a way to turn a border yellow without decreasing the number of shades involved, I do have an idea where to look. Sure, I'll still often be trying a dozen or so things before I end up with something I actually like, but that doesn't matter. Not once did I just not know what to do, I just wasn't done exhausting the available options.

Battlestar Actors on Other Shows

While I took a bit of a hiatus from writing here, I watched Battlestar Gallactica. And man, is that a series. Truly, it's brilliant. Great writing and great acting, they take a lot of risks and manage to pull each and every one of them off favorably. I am getting sidetracked, though. I will write about how awesome this series is and how you should watch it some other time.

Now though, I want to focus on a story that played the past week for me. It all started when I saw my first episode of Hawaii Five Oh. Or rather, a tiny bit of it, it was just on as I was in the kitchen, and I actually was just about to leave. In the very first scene in which she appeared, I recognized Sharon from Battlestar! At first she was in the background and I wasn't sure about it, but it soon turned out that it was indeed her and that she actually played a main character of the series.

Zap forward to tonight. This time I watched my first ever episode of Law & Order UK. It's an interesting series, but that's not really what this is about. They have Lee Adama!

I think it's really interesting how being on this show means so much for your career. I mean, both shows were started recently and are quite big. And two Battlestar Gallactica actors actually got major parts in them, very possibly because of their achievements on Battlestar. If anything, I really say it says something about the (acting) quality on Battlestar. (Go watch it!)


PS. For this show I tried to translate a word that just doesn't translate very well. I didn't know this, so I typed a sentence in google translate to see what English phrase it would use (I ended up just rewriting it, but just have a look at this):



Now, the important part is in Dutch, but it's translating to English, so you can see what it is about. Now take a look at that suggestion. It is suggesting I change "zij" into "hij". Or in English, it's suggesting that I change "she" into "he"...
What's up with that Google? Some problems with emancipation?