This Month’s Picks (Sep. 2008) Part 3 - Mahita & Python September 10, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Digimon, Geeks, PC, Python, Update.add a comment
This time around we’ve got some junk about my site and my programming. I’m really focusing on Python, trying to learn it really well, and hopefully, it’ll help me get a decent job some day. As for Mahita, it doesn’t really help me do anything, I just really enjoy sharing very insignificant stuff with a very small group of people. So, without further… never mind, just read.
Tag Cloud: As I posted a while back, I made my own little tag cloud to cover up the fact that the old one didn’t work like it was supposed to. The only real problem is that it looks like crap. I’m planning on making one more like the official one, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’m planning on making a small Python script that scrapes the categories and number of posts on my blog (most likely from my dashboard) and makes a nice little list of tuples. It’ll then calculate the amount of increase in font neccessary for each one and print out the correspoding HTML. Now that I have a little more free time, I’m going to work on this. The hardest part is thinking up the formula…
Banner: Back in January of 2007 I got my current banner (which is still awesome). But, it was my original plan to cahnge the baby out every year. I desperately need one now, and I’m in the process of thnking whether I want Gundam, Macross, Mospeada, or Digimon. I’m leaning towards Macross or Mospeada; I guess I’ll let fate decide as I look for a nice render.
DigiFind: As I stated in an earlier post, I found a new love in the newest Digimon game, Digimon World Championship. One of the main goals is to collect all 200+ Digimon. However, this is harder than it sounds as some you have to evolve these monsters, and the requirements vary from type to type. So, borrowing the info from the Evolutions Guide from the GF board (Thanks so much BitZero!!) I threw together this program. You simply enter in any Digimon’s name and it compiles a list (a wx TreeCtrl) of all the Digimon’s possible descendants. It works like a charm, and if I can get some permission from BitZero, I’ll be posting the source and the binary in the future.
FireFox Add-Ons: I’ve always been interested in Add-Ons, and since my RSLF didn’t really work out, I’m planning to trying to convert the idea into an Add-On. The basic idea is to search a text for any RS, MU, FU, etc. URLs, and add them to a list in the sidebar from which the user can then open them up in tabs. This saves us the hassle of having to drag the links to the tabbar (or whatever it’s called) when the people are too lazy to make <a> tags. I know there’s probably a similar addon out, or one that makes URLs into <a>’s, but I still want to get into addon designing. More on this if I ever even get around to it.
Well, that’s it for this month, tune in tomorrow for a Gundam 00 Review, and Friday for a Castlevania: DoS review.
My First (Real) Program August 1, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Python, RSLF.2 comments
After having been absent for a while, I’m back with a small update on my programming. Remember back when I wrote about a program that extracts RapidShare links from a site? Well, after cleaning out my Python folder from one tutorial to another, and cleaning out my Downloads folder (by deleting extracted Rars), I emptied my recycle bin… Along with my program. So, I busted my butt to write it again, but this time using wxPython, and this time in its own separate folder. Here are my results for the RSLF (RapidShare Link Finder) v. 1.01
My First Python Program June 28, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in PC, Python.add a comment
After roughly two hours of hard work, I’ve finished my first program ever. It’s nothing I’m going to release, and it’s not a big money maker, but I’m very satisfied. I’ve learned a lot about programming, and a lot about my personal limits 
What it really taught me about programming on the large scale is that I really needed to start with something small, and work my way up. I knew what I wanted the program to do, and I knew what the eventual upgrades I wanted would be. Mentally, I prepared a list of steps, and little by little, I crossed them off my list, until I got to the first working stage. From there I perfected the code and even wrote an optional module to work side by side with the program. The second thing I learned was that I really love Python. I feel a lot more productive in it, and I seem to have gotten farther faster, and I’m better all around with it than I ever was with C++.
The program itself was pretty simple in theory. I’m a premium user at rapidshare.com, and I download a lot. The problem is that RS has a 100mb file limit. So any real file is broken into parts (I hate parts!). So, normally I search through a bunch of garbled, escaped and unformatted HTML to get the links, and one by one copy the URLs into FireFox. What I wanted was a program that would open all the links from a file. So, I made the .txt file, and wrote the program. It has now evolved to take that bunch of code, and transform it into a neat little .txt file, automatically load the links, and open them in tabs in FireFox (the number of links is specified by the user).
So, it’s not much, but I’m really proud. I never thought I would be able to do it, but I did. Maybe now I’ll have the confidence to move onto something bigger. We’ll see.
Python is Sloppy… June 19, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in C++, PC, Python.2 comments
After really giving up on C++, I’ve moved onto Python. Why did I give up on the mother of all languages (you know what I mean)? I guess I felt - and still feel - that after spending so much time on C++, I was really getting no where. I’ve read around 5 tutorials and 2 full books, and I still feel that there’s something missing. Something I’m missing. C++ has a lot of extra junk that’s not covered in most tutorials, and there’s no real “basin” or other location where I can find a link to these tutorials.
So what I really wanted was something… young (I know that sounds gay). Not in terms of age, but something that’s a little more appropriate for me. It’s not that I’m not willing to spend a lot of time on my programming. In fact, I spend almost 3-4 hours a day messing around with it. It’s just that I needed a real change of pace. Especially after feeling so confident in JavaScript.
That’s where Python comes in. Sure, at a very superficial level it’s sloppy. There are hardly any brackets (used only - as far as I have seen - in lists, tuples and dictionaries: essentially fancy arrays), statements don’t end with a semicolon, and functions, classes, loops, etc are contained with only indentation! That’s right, indentation now has a function other than keeping your code neat. But underneath the surface, this lack of mostly aesthetic punctuation really cuts down on time, and makes spotting your errors easier.
To make myself proficient in Python, I’ve taken it upon myself to go through each and every resource at this awesome site. There’s over 300, but I’m willing to take the trip. Wish me luck, and if you’re taking the same road, let me in on some of your thoughts on Python.
