I’ve just updated the draft version of Begin to Code with the Cloud. You can find it here along with all the code examples. Please remember that this is a work in progress. Things have moved around and changed names in the ongoing draft, but there should be enough content to give you an idea of where I’m going with this. I’m especially pleased with Chapter 5.
This is the biggest, ugliest camera I’ve ever bought. I got it for a very good price second hand because the battery compartment has suffered a bit of corrosion. But it works fine. Once I’d figured out the right way to put the batteries in. Most devices put the springs against the negative terminal of the batteries. This doesn’t, leading to a bit of worrying while I worked that out. It’s an instant camera which takes quite large pictures. Hence the size and the ugliness. It comes with a funky close-up lens you can clip on the front so that you can get close to roses. I’m looking forward to taking it out and playing with it. It’s not got as many fun features as the Instant Square I got for Christmas. It doesn’t even have a self timer. But it does make nice large pictures. t
The DirtyWave M8 is an awesome device. It’s a tiny handheld soundtracker. I’ve not got one, but I think I’ve made the next best thing for now. It’s a keyboard that matches the keys on the top of the DIrtyWave. It also contains space for a Teensy 4.1 to power everything. This runs a headless version of the DirtyWave software that talks over USB to a host running the display.
The box contains a PICO that provides a keyboard which matches the one on the DirtyWave.
The construction isn’t the best, I’m not sure you are really supposed to solder connections onto the back of key switches, but it does work. The PICO pretends to be a USB keyboard supporting just the keys that the DirtyWave needs. If you want to make one you can find all the details here.
The venue on Monday had a lovely view of the Manchester skyline in the evening. It really was a great location.
Thanks go to Derek for pointing me at this. It actually had me crying with laughter. I was watching one of the videos in this review of the game. I’m definitely going to get a copy. And probably make a trombone controller for it too. You can find the game here.
Just the setup for your average talk….
Well, that was fun. Dot Net North invited me to do a session for them. First “in-person” talk for ages. No pressure then…
I got a bunch of kit together and headed over to Manchester. I gave the talk at the Auto Trader offices. Wonderful place. Got a great audience and I really enjoyed myself. Thanks so much to Claire for making us all welcome. The food was lovely and the room we had was great. Thanks to Pete for inviting me. You can find the slides and sample code here.
Me in action. Photo Credit: Pete Vickers MVP, International Man of Mystery and Corns Cut While You Wait
I’ve really missed doing live presentations. Yesterday reminded me of how much fun they can be. Especially if we end them by raffling some socks.
It’s a while since I’ve done anything like this. I’m sitting in a coffee shop in the Arndale Centre in Manchester updating the blog while on the road. I’m in Manchester for a Dot Net North talk I’m giving.
I’ve just thought. It would be awesome if the post in the laptop screen was this post. Oh well. Maybe on the next trip.
I’m getting ready for a talk I’m giving tomorrow. In person. Rather exciting. I’m using my super cheap Windows 11 laptop. Just to see if I can. Today I was checking out the video output. I plugged the laptop into my screen and looked for the setting that would enable output. Then I glanced at the external monitor. It was already mirroring the laptop screen. Exactly what I wanted as default behaviour.
I guess there are settings for having multiple screens and whatnot, but I love the way that it did exactly what I wanted without me having to do anything. This is how things should be.
I never thought I’d one day spend a happy half hour helping someone play with a doll’s house. But there you go.
This is a great kid’s book. Lots of detail. Neat rhymes and a cake recipe at the end.
Plus, it contains this picture. Which I’m thinking of having made into a poster (not really, but it is tempting).
Took a day off writing to go and look at old buildings. No prizes for guessing where this is (particularly in mind of the post title…..)
Spent today writing pages and not buying cameras. Go me.
One of the example applications for the book is a game I invented that I had called “Mine Finder”. I’ve just decided that this a silly name. Mines aren’t the kind of thing you really want to find. So, it is now called “Cheese Finder”. Much nicer. And it has multiple cheeses too…
Chapter 5 of the new book is coming along swimmingly. It’s great when you start to work out what it is that you are trying to write.
Spent a tiny bit of time today playing with soundtrackers. Great fun and bringing back all kinds of memories.
My Deluge is one of my favourite musical instruments. The only thing wrong with it is the display, It’s hard to navigate the huge range of features using just a four digit display.
But that is about to change. They’ve just announced a new version of the device with an OLED display. You might think I’m unhappy about that, what with me having the old version and all. But the amazing news is that they are also offering the OLED upgrade for existing devices too, at a not extortionate price.
This is totally atypical behaviour for people who make devices like this. An upgrade to the product usually results in a need to buy a new one. Kudos to Synthstrom for doing this.
There is going to be a lot of interest in this, I’m looking forward to getting mine done.
I’ve just finished writing Chapter 4 of Begin to code: Building apps and games in the cloud. You can find the new chapter, along with all the example programs including your very own web server, here.
There’s a pub in Beverley called the “Dog and Duck”. When I first heard the name I built up this nice little narrative about a dog and a duck who go around having adventures and maybe even solving mysteries. I’ve just taken a proper look at the pub sign.
Oh well.
Ha. Turns out that Dog and Duck is already a thing.
Sad to hear the news of the queen passing away today. A good, sensible person with a sense of humour doing an impossible job for a very long time. Well done your majesty. You will be missed.
I think I’ve found the problem…
I was all set for the Connected Humber Meetup this evening. However, as I was headed down the road I got a warning about low pressure in one of the tyres. It wasn’t hard to see why. Fortunately, I was very close to Endyke Tyres so I popped in to be told that it was time for a new tyre. The good news is that they can get one in tomorrow. So I put some more air in the tyre, drove home very carefully, swapped cars and managed to make it to the Meetup just about on time.
The meetup was excellent. I showed off my oven and bits and bogs. Brian had brought along a really pretty display, powered by a really beefy power supply. He also had his PICO audio device playing Gerry Rafferty.
Ion had brought along a very accurate sine waves for amplifier testing. Ben turned up and finally got his lights with names in. John came along and we talked about bits and bobs. My laptop decided to update everything during a demonstration audio which didn’t go too well but there was lots of other good discussion too.
Great fun. The next meetup is on the 5th of October. If the parts arrive from China I want to do some live surface mount soldering.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
