Andrew's Den

On a bright note, Divisilist 1.2a2 (note the name change: the L is now lower-case) is about ready for release. I'm exceeding pleased with the slew of new features that this version has over 1.2a1. Besides a great deal of code-cleanup, there are a few new features, including a lottery mode—a spin-off from Randomness (a program whose discontinuation I am considering)—which has not only the ability to draw a list lottery as does the last tab in Randomness, but also a useful, if a little indirect, method of performing Randomness' regular lottery and random number functions.

To do a list lottery, one can enter numbers into the entries table (or names, something that Randomness does not do) and then draw from among them in the Lottery tab. If one wants numbers, so as to emulate a regular lottery, however, one can go to the Entries List popup menu, then select the option to replace the entries with a "numeric range," which displays a little panel that asks for a range of numbers, then takes the range of values between those numbers (inclusive) and replaces the current entry list with them.

This is useful for random number generation, as well: one can perform the replacement and then use Subset mode (with entry repeating, a new feature, enabled) to ensure that a certain number of entries—which can be greater than those in the range that appear in the entries table—are drawn. Thus one receives a list of random numbers.

The only problem with this is that it's a true list—in a table view (well, outline view)—and not in the text view provided by Randomness' old functionality. One can get around this by copying to the clipboard, dragging out, etc., but one still winds up with linebreak-delimited results. I still think that this is the better way, but I'm considering integrating a CSV (comma-separated value) delimiting feature into the program's feature set.

More to come!

After some difficult thought, I have deactivated the hosting for the www.barghest.net domain name. I had been receiving relatively few hits at the site, and had had probably one valid (viz., not spam) contact form e-mail in the last year-and-a-half. I'm saving the database with the content and I'm retaining the domain name, at least for now, but I don't consider worthwhile the monthly out-of-pocket cost to keep the site up. The other band members, as well as I, have moved on and are now all busy with other endeavors.

Goodbye, Barghest. You shall be missed.

Today I have released the new Quotient 1.5.3. It features a reimplementation of the split view from the older versions, as well as a fix for the online help, which had seen a disabling glitch (which prevented the help from loading in the first place) in the prior beta. There are several changes under the hood, as well, and I urge all Quotient users to upgrade.

I am releasing Transcoder 0.1b4 today. Features include AppleScript support, indexing of online help (the way it should've been in the first place), a new layout, retention of settings across program openings, basic undo support, and various other tweaks. More information and a full feature changelog for this version can be found on the Transcoder product page.

No one's submitted any bugs, but I found a couple, and I decided to implement AppleScript support. A new version's coming out. Just for the record, I haven't been submitting these Transcoder "betas" (more on that in a moment) to any download sites at this time—I'm waiting for a more final release to do so—so I'm trusting that I'm not inconveniencing too many folks. In hindsight, considering the changes through which this program has gone, "alpha" would have been a better designation than "beta." Oh, well.

I am pleased to announce the release of Transcoder 0.1b3 tonight. It features a new, "median" transcoding feature to "chain" encodings; a revamped interface; a new icon; and a slew of other fixes and features, not least of which involves fixing the online help. I urge all users of the previous beta to try this one out, with the recognition that it's still in beta.

Looks as though Transcoder's online help isn't working properly. I've got an update ready (probably to be 0.1b3; the current release is 0.1b2) and am just trying to justify a release by finding some other things to fix in the meantime. I also have an improvement ready for the icon—I realize that it probably doesn't look very good on a dark background.

Tonight I released Transcoder 0.1b2. It's still very much an in-progress project, and is more of a "toy" than anything else, but if anyone wants to play with it, or has ideas for where to take it, I'm listening. It's also open-source under a BSD license.

Transcoder takes strings (NSStrings/CFStringRefs, in programmer lingo) and converts them between encodings (NSStringEncodings/CFStringEncodings). The program abstracts the nitty-gritty details to a simple text box and table view that allow for pasted or typed input and the choice of source and target text encodings. In the future I hope to perhaps allow for "chains" of encodings, where the program will "hop" from encoding to encoding as it transcodes to an ultimate target.

As always, my contact form is available on this site for questions, comments, and support, and my e-mail address is included in the online help. Feedback is welcome!

I'm re-releasing a compiled version of TiMidity++ for Mac OS X in an installer package. I've compiled it in 64-bit Intel format for Leopard and Snow Leopard. TiMidity++, which hasn't changed much, if at all, since the last release, is useful generally for converting MODs to AIFFs, which can then be turned into MP3s or AACs in iTunes. More information can be found on the product page, a link to which can be found under "My Ports" in the sidebar.

My tweets have returned! Now that I've installed a Twitter module for Drupal, I've been able to bring back Twitter integration to the site. My tweets were never that interesting to begin with, I suppose, but I'm pleased. And it blends more smoothly, too, this time around.