So you want to check several values at once, maybe because that helps you to locate the error more easily. Simple:
int v1 = list1.size();
int v2 = list2.size();
int v3 = list3.size();
assertEquals (
"list1=5\n"
+ "list2=2\n"
+ "list3=0\n"
, "list1="+v1+"\n"
+ "list2="+v2+"\n"
+ "list3="+v3+"\n"
2 Comments | 
Software | Tagged: TDD, Testing | 
Permalink
Posted by digulla
I recently bought a multi-function device printer scanner (HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi MFP). Setup on openSUSE 11.1 was pretty painless with the hplip package (version 3.9.2) from packman. The original openSUSE package would core dump. Duh.
Today, I had a strange error all of a sudden:
scan/sane/soapht.c 486: unable to open device hp:/net/HP_Color_LaserJet_CM1312nfi_MFP?ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx io/hpmud/jd.c 84: unable to read device-id
Of course, I hadn’t changed anything in my setup … until I remembered that, for security reasons, I had disabled SMNP in the web interface of the printer. Guess what, after enabling “SNMP-Lese-Schreib-Zugriff aktivieren” (“Activate SNMP-Read-Write access”), the error went away.
For the record: Most functions of the device are accessible from Linux:
I haven’t yet managed to make the “Scan to PC” button on the front of the device work but that’s just a minor issue for me.
The price/performance ratio is very good. The printouts look very good and the ADF could cope with all media that I’ve fed him so far (even these thin, glossy, cohesive catalogue pages; you just have to spoon feed them one at a time).
The scanner is good, but not top notch. The quality of the scans is OK, colors are pretty close to the original but the images could be sharper. The scanner uses a CCD line, so no warmup time (if you don’t have to switch on the whole machine).
If you want better quality color copies, set the resolution to 300 DPI (factory setting is a poor 150 DPI which makes thin lines really smear).
1 Comment | Software | Tagged: Error, HP, Linux, SANE, Scanner | Permalink
Posted by digulla
Strength means you can afford to be polite.
Leave a Comment » | Philosophy | Tagged: Quote | Permalink
Posted by digulla
Disclaimer: This is a cynical virtual diary of my journey through Fallout 3. If you don’t like strong language or cynicism, this is not for you.
While wandering the landscape, I ran into this fort. Fort Bannister. Guess who lives here? The friendly guys of Talon Company! You know, the guys who supply me with ammo, guns and armor in the field? Whenever I need it, three of them would show up and, after a friendly round of sparring, they’d hand over their goods to me. XP for free, too!
What can I say? As I saw their crest, I had to drop in and say hello! Until I reached the poorly hidden access grate, like seven guards had forced their stuff onto me. I could barely walk under the weight!
Down in the guts, the boss, a Commander Jacobs or Jabsco or something, couldn’t really hear him over the firing of my brand new laser rifle, stood target himself so I could improve my skills in energy weapons! Whow! That’s customer service, eh? And every time I as about to run out of anything, another of his chaps would shop up and leave me stuffed!
Guys, I’ll miss you.
Leave a Comment » | Story | Tagged: Fallout3 | Permalink
Posted by digulla
A lot of places offer free data storage these days but I’m concerned about security. How safe it is to store something sensitive there? You may think that your address is not sensitive data but you’ll have to reconsider as soon as some crook uses it to open a new eBay account…
So my idea is create a public data safe where you have full control what someone else can see. For example your address: Instead of giving a online shop your address, you give them a random ID and you give access rights for the delivery service to resolve that ID. The shop doesn’t know where you live (and your address doesn’t go “somewhere” when the shop goes bankrupt) and you still get your goods.
Imagine you have an accident. You’re unconscious and are brought into a hospital. They need to run tests to figure out your blood group. If they have to give you medicine, then you’re better not allergic to it. And how about alerting your relatives? Here, a random ID which only registered health care services can decode would help: You could put your health data (allergies, medicine that works better on you than other, blood group, relatives to alert, important facts like whether you have a heart disease, etc) online without risking to find them on the loose.
How would it work? The service itself would only store data which you send encrypted. So the encryption would happen on your computer. Better get that anti-virus up to date, though. Health or delivery services would put their “public keys” online on this site, too, so you could encrypt the data in such a way that you and they can read it (basically, you make a copy and encrypt both). This way only certain people can read the data.
When data is uploaded, it gets tagged as “address”, “name”, “age”, “medical information”, etc. and each piece gets a unique, random ID (so you can’t tell from the ID who it belongs to). When another service should be allowed to see some of your data, you take their key to encrypt a copy for them and send them the ID.
If your address changes (because you move), you’d have to update it only in a single place.
Drop me a comment if you like to implement this idea.
2 Comments | Software | Tagged: Idea | Permalink
Posted by digulla
Just got this idea: You can download train and bus schedules on your mobile, you can buy tickets online, so why doesn’t the system combine the two to guide me through the public transport?
The idea is that I send a request to travel to some spot. The software should know which coupons and other discounts apply for me, what tickets I already own, etc. So the first step would be to tell me what tickets I need in addition to what I already have and what that would cost.
If I pay, the system should guide me to the next bus stop or train station where I can start my journey. During the travel, the system should inform me a few minutes before arrivial at my next destination. This should include the estimated time of arrival, where I’ll arrive (which platform), where I need to go next (platform or location on a map), how much time I have and what connections are available.
It should also be possible to interrupt a travel, say, to have lunch on a long trip. As necessary, the system should buy new tickets and cancel preordered ones. If I stay overnight, I should get a list of connections on the next morning so I can ask the hotel service to wake me at the right time.
If you like the idea and want to implement it, drop me a note.
Leave a Comment » | Philosophy, Software | Tagged: Idea | Permalink
Posted by digulla
So you finally got yourself writing a test against a database. In the test, you have to verify that a row in the table is correct, so you write:
assertEquals (
"2008-09-16-13.50.18.000000;;;;1;2008-08-07;2008-08-07;JUNIT;2008-09-16;t0001;001;;Doe;Jane;;Street;2;Doe Jane;;;;;X;2575;John;;;;US;E;;01;;;;125;01425;0;Shop;;;DOE;JANE;JOHN;032;1;;0001010301;;;;",
dumpRow(key));
and it sucks. Yeah, junit will notify you when something in that row is wrong and if you have a cool IDE, you can even compare the fields … but it still sucks. If one of the fields in the middle change, you have to scroll and eyeball-diff, wasting your time. The solution is pretty simple:
assertEquals (
"2008-09-16-13.50.18.000000\n"
+ "\n"
+ "\n"
+ "\n"
+ "1\n"
+ "2008-08-07\n"
+ "2008-08-07\n"
+ "JUNIT\n"
+ "2008-09-16\n"
...
dumpRow(key).replaceAll(";", "\n");
Instead of dumping the data in a single long string, split it into lines so you can compare fields side by side and without scrolling sideways.
Leave a Comment » | Software | Tagged: TDD, Testing, Tipps, Tricks | Permalink
Posted by digulla
If you have no idea what subtext is, lean back and watch this presentation.
It’s nice to finally find another person concerned about the state of programming languages. I started with C, toyed a bit with some other languages, moved to Java and today, I’m working mostly with Java, Groovy and Python. I’m doing all my spare-time code in Python. Why Python? Because I get more bang for the key press. And my spare time is most valuable.
So while I thoroughly agree that the idea of subtext is convincing, it’s too limiting at the same time: There are simple problems which you can’t express well in subtext, for example: A switch with 10 cases and some complex code in each case. It would just become too wide. The same applies when formulas have more than ten parameters. Your flow tree looks nice but it takes more screen real estate than the “traditional” version.
So my argument is that we need a way to choose. Software projects need to give up the holy grail of “one language to rule them all.” The IDE should allow to mix and match various languages and more complex “objects” like tables, rich text, animations. Why do I have to waste my time formatting tabular content in a Java file (think array of values) when I can have Excel? Why can’t Java read the data directly from Excel? Why can’t I embed Excel tables in Java source code and access them like a 2D O array? Why can’t I use a rich word processor to write my comments? Why is TAB 1-8 spaces instead of “one level of indent”? Why do I have to use braces when I already indent my code?
Because our computers are not powerful enough today. With every key we press, we have to worry about RAM and performance. Because companies still believe in lock in. Sun would probably add a cross-platform COM API into Java but will Microsoft port Excel to any platform where a Java compiler is available? Oh, we could use OpenOffice. Let’s see. People working for a software development company that has more then two employees: Comment here if your company policy allows to use OO instead of Office. Now let’s see how long it takes to get 10 comments.
In the end, what we have today is the most simple thing that actually works and doesn’t take too much RAM. I hope the time is ripe for the next step. I’m sick of fixed-width fonts, curly braces and source code which is 1% functionality and 99% “make the damn compiler happy”.
Leave a Comment » | Software | Tagged: Python, Software Development, Subtext | Permalink
Posted by digulla
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