Parks Computing
Pedagogy for the Autodidactic Programmer
Welcome to the personal web site of Paul M. Parks. This is where I keep my web development skills current while sharing snippets of code, utilities, libraries, and what little development wisdom I've gathered in my career. It's also where I show off my family, talk about my hobbies, or just pontificate from time to time.
If you find the articles interesting, or if you'd like more information on a particular topic, let me know [paul@parkscomputing.com].
George Walton Academy: Champs!
Congratulations to the George Walton Academy Marching Bulldog Band for taking first place in the Group VI Open division of the USSBA Southern States band competition this past weekend in Chattanooga. My elder daughter, Madeline, is a member of the color guard. They put on a fantastic show, winning caption awards for overall effect, percussion, and music. They also won the Marine Corps Esprit de Corps award. Way to go, band!
Update: Photos here. Posted October 27, 2009 0 Comments
Design Goals for Ripsaw
In this installment of the Ripsaw project series I'll sketch out some of my design goals for the new version of Ripsaw, and the rationale for those goals.
For the new Ripsaw I'm going to build it to use the C runtime in a DLL. For most of the machines I work with this will require carrying around the C runtime distributable, but I'm willing to do that as long as I don't have to install anything on the terminal. I'm not completely up to speed with side-by-side assemblies; I prefer to just place the VS 2010 C runtime DLL in the same directory as the executable and run the app, but I'll have to verify that's still supported. (Edit: It is. Duh!) So far SxS has caused me a lot of grief, but that's probably because I haven't bothered to really understand it.
Split the App Into DLLs
The original Ripsaw was a 32-bit Windows application contained in a single executable. This made it easy to carry around on a USB drive and run on machines that I needed to debug. The downsides were that I had to link the C runtime library into the executable, and application was one monolithic entity that couldn't be easily extended.For the new Ripsaw I'm going to build it to use the C runtime in a DLL. For most of the machines I work with this will require carrying around the C runtime distributable, but I'm willing to do that as long as I don't have to install anything on the terminal. I'm not completely up to speed with side-by-side assemblies; I prefer to just place the VS 2010 C runtime DLL in the same directory as the executable and run the app, but I'll have to verify that's still supported. (Edit: It is. Duh!) So far SxS has caused me a lot of grief, but that's probably because I haven't bothered to really understand it.
Create a Ripsaw API
Since I'm splitting out the C runtime, I'm also going to separate most of Ripsaw's non-visual functionality into a separate API DLL. Not only will this make the core functionality more testable and enforce separation of UI, but I'll be able to build more than one user interface around it. I'd like to build a command-line application as well as a graphical application. Sometimes you just can't beat raw text.Embrace 64-bit
Even though nearly all of my professional development is still 32-bit, I want to build Ripsaw to compile for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. I'll need to do this eventually anyway, and this is a good time to start.Support Extensibility
My original plans for Ripsaw included the ability to create filters for processing log output as it arrived in the application. Perhaps only lines containing certain values would be displayed, or maybe certain words would be shown in a particular color or font. Rather than trying to build every possible behavior into Ripsaw, I'll publish an extensibility interface so that I can add features later on (or you can add them) without having to change the core API or UI.Create a Windows 7 UI
The main UI that I'll use will be a 32-bit graphical application targeting Windows XP, but I'd also like to take advantage of some of the new Windows 7 user interface controls such as the ribbon. I'm not inclined to try to serve both interface styles from one application, so after I finish the primary UI I'll create a version that is specific to Windows 7. Since I'm putting most of the non-visual behavior into a separate DLL I'll be free to experiment with different interfaces anyway.Coming Up
In the next few articles I'll delve into some more development specifics such as language and library choices. Posted 0 Comments
A New Article Series: Ripsaw
Several years ago I wrote a Windows application called "Ripsaw" that implemented the basic functionality of the Unix tail utility in a graphical application, with a few twists of my own. I had intended to release the application as an open-source project, and although I still use the tool quite a bit I never got around to giving it the necessary polish for a public release. I've only shared it with a few friends and co-workers.
I've just downloaded Beta 2 of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, and I've decided to create a new version of Ripsaw from the ground up so that I can become familiar with the new IDE and compiler. Besides being a chance to finally get Ripsaw right, this will also be an opportunity to create a series of articles on how I develop a complete application, from the first ideas through design, implementation, testing, and release. I'll walk you through all of the design decisions and trade-offs, the problems I run into along the way, and the development methodologies I use.
I would really appreciate your feedback, ideas, suggestions, and criticisms. This is going to be fun!
I've just downloaded Beta 2 of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, and I've decided to create a new version of Ripsaw from the ground up so that I can become familiar with the new IDE and compiler. Besides being a chance to finally get Ripsaw right, this will also be an opportunity to create a series of articles on how I develop a complete application, from the first ideas through design, implementation, testing, and release. I'll walk you through all of the design decisions and trade-offs, the problems I run into along the way, and the development methodologies I use.
I would really appreciate your feedback, ideas, suggestions, and criticisms. This is going to be fun!
Labels: C++, ripsaw, software, utilities, visual studio
Posted October 26, 2009 0 Comments
Does Your Company Need a Consultant?
My current project is coming to an end, and although I'm looking at a couple of new projects to pick up, I thought it might be prudent to update my resume. If my skills look like they might be a match for a need you have in your company, please let me know!
Posted October 23, 2009
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