From grant at mclean.net.nz Mon Dec 6 18:11:46 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Tue Dec 7 11:48:50 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Meeting Monday Message-ID: <1102378305.3901.24.camel@localhost> Hi Mongers There is a meeting on Monday evening. Perl GUI coding is the theme this month: Peter Love - Perl/Tk Grant McLean - Gtk2-Perl Details: http://wellington.pm.org/ It has also been suggested that we adjust the date of the next meeting (currently scheduled for Feb 14) to enable people who celebrate card company festivals to spend quality time with their significant others without having to miss out on their Perl fix. I certainly wouldn't want to be accused of standing in the way of romance so I've decided somewhat arbitrarily that the next meeting will be on Feb 21st. Which means there'll only be 3 weeks until the following one on March 14th. So please get your thinking caps on and work out what you could speak about next year. I suspect Richard is planning a talk on object oriented Perl and I know Srdjan is looking to steal an idea from one of the OSDC speakers and claim it as his own (I just hope it doesn't involve singing Gilbert & Sullivan). See you Monday. Grant From grant at mclean.net.nz Tue Dec 7 02:29:26 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Tue Dec 7 11:49:04 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Meeting Monday Message-ID: <1102408165.3901.66.camel@localhost> Hi Mongers There is a meeting on Monday evening. Perl GUI coding is the theme this month: Peter Love - Perl/Tk Grant McLean - Gtk2-Perl Details: http://wellington.pm.org/ It has also been suggested that we adjust the date of the next meeting (currently scheduled for Feb 14) to enable people who celebrate card company festivals to spend quality time with their significant others without having to miss out on their Perl fix. I certainly wouldn't want to be accused of standing in the way of romance so I've decided somewhat arbitrarily that the next meeting will be on Feb 21st. Which means there'll only be 3 weeks until the following one on March 14th. So please get your thinking caps on and work out what you could speak about next year. I suspect Richard is planning a talk on object oriented Perl and I know Srdjan is looking to steal an idea from one of the OSDC speakers and claim it as his own (I just hope it doesn't involve singing Gilbert & Sullivan). See you Monday. Grant From grant at mclean.net.nz Wed Dec 8 14:53:34 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Wed Dec 8 14:53:43 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] [Fwd: Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, December 8] Message-ID: <1102539214.8046.8.camel@localhost> Apologies for the double posting of the meeting reminder (the mailing list software sat on it for 18 hours). -----Forwarded Message----- > From: Marsee Henon > To: perlmongers@catalyst.net.nz > Subject: Newsletter from O'Reilly UG Program, December 8 > Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2004 12:38:46 -0800 > > ================================================================ > O'Reilly News for User Group Members > December 8, 2004 > ================================================================ > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Book News > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > -PC Hardware Annoyances > -Mac Annoyances > -Windows XP Personal Trainer > -Excel 2003 Personal Trainer > -PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer > -Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd Edition > -Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain > -A Theory of Fun for Game Design > -Flash Out of the Box > -Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Upcoming Events > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > -Gordon Meyer ("Smart Home Hacks"), DigitalGuru, Sunnyvale, CA-- > December 15 > -Kyle Rankin, ("Knoppix Hacks"), at LUGOD, Davis, CA--January 4 > -Cary Millsap ("Optimizing Oracle Performance"), COUG, > Calgary, Alberta--January 5 > -O'Reilly (Booth #2225) at Macworld Conference & Expo, > San Francisco--January 10-14 > -Free Exhibit Hall Pass for Macworld > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Conference News > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > -Registration is Open for O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, > San Diego, CA--March 14-17, 2005 > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > News > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > -David Pogue's "CBS News Sunday Morning" Wins an Emmy > -Paying Attention (or Not) to the Flickr Daily Zeitgeist > -New Titles on Safari > -Lawrence Lessig on Blogs and the Law > -Author IMterview: "Smart Home Hacks" > -True Stories of Knoppix Rescues > -Choosing a Language for Interactive Fiction > -Inside EuroBSDCon 2004 > -Gifts, Gadgets, and Software for Mac Geeks > -Reclaiming Hacks > -Five Favorite Annoyances > -How To Start Hacking Your PC > -Using the SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services > -Automate Windows Installations > -Learning Lab: .NET Certificate $200 Instant Rebate > -Simple Object Persistence with the db4o Object Database > -Juggle Your Java with JDistro > -Reeking Havok with the Experience Music Project > -Greg Kessler: Rock and Roll Shooter > > ================================================ > Book News > ================================================ > Did you know you can request a free book to review for your > group? Ask your group leader for more information. > > For book review writing tips and suggestions, go to: > http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html > > Don't forget, you can receive 20% off any O'Reilly, No Starch, > Paraglyph, Pragmatic Bookshelf, SitePoint, or Syngress book you > purchase directly from O'Reilly. > Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by phone 800-998-9938. > http://www.oreilly.com/ > > ***Free ground shipping is available for online orders of at > least $29.95 that go to a single U.S. address. This offer > applies to U.S. delivery addresses in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. > For more details, go to: > http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > New Releases > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > ***PC Hardware Annoyances > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596007159 > Through the use of snappy, entertaining, and practical solutions, this > book aims to optimize peripheral hardware devices by offering easy fixes > to their most annoying traits. Designed for PC users of all levels, this > concise guide offers straightforward, easy-to-understand troubleshooting > solutions. For maximum ease of use, "PC Hardware Annoyances" is divided > into several broad hardware categories, including desktops, laptops and > PDAs, graphics, sound, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, network, and printers > and scanners. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pchardwareannoy/ > > A sample excerpt on "Desktop Annoyances, " is available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pchardwareannoy/chapter/ > > > ***Mac Annoyances > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 059600723X > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macannoy/chapter/index.html > "Mac Annoyances" is written for the individual who can't live without a > Mac yet can't deal with its fickle temperament. The book provides > solutions to scores of common problems faced by Mac owners. 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You can quickly navigate to the topics you want to learn, > and the hands-on guided simulations reinforce what you read, to offer a > total learning experience. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/winxppt/index.html > > > ***Excel 2003 Personal Trainer > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596008538 > Beginners and experts alike can become Excel black belts, quickly and > easily--no marathon training exercises required. You'll master > spreadsheet basics, editing and formatting worksheets, working with > formulas, creating charts and graphs, automating tasks with macros, and > working with other programs and the Internet. Then, when you're ready to > push the envelope, you'll move on to advanced topics like data analysis > and pivot tables--and you don't even need a copy of Excel to learn! > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/excelpt/index.html > > > ***PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer > ISBN: 0596008554 > Publisher: O'Reilly > Focus on each of the key PowerPoint muscle groups as you develop your > strength in the basics, editing and formatting a presentation, drawing and > working with graphics, working with multimedia, using PowerPoint with > other programs and the Internet, and then on to advanced topics. These > bite-sized, pain-free workouts will get your PowerPoint skills pumped in a > hurry. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointpt/index.html > > > ***Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd Edition > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596006101 > "Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd Edition" provides guidelines on > meeting the needs of large, modern projects. This edition focuses on the > GNU version of make, which has deservedly become the industry standard. > GNU's powerful extensions are explored in this book, including a number of > interesting advanced topics such as portability, parallelism, and use with > Java. Learn how to get your builds to be as efficient as possible, reduce > maintenance, avoid errors, and thoroughly understand what make is doing. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/make3/ > > Chapter 12, "Debugging Makefiles," is available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/make3/chapter/index.html > > > ***Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596007795 > This exploration into the moment-by-moment workings of the brain uses > cognitive neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to > vision, motor skills, attention, cognition, and subliminal perception. > Each "hack" examines specific operations of the brain. By seeing how the > brain responds, we pick up clues about the architecture and design of the > brain, learning a little bit more about how it's put together. Find out > what's going on in your head. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindhks/ > > Sample hacks are available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindhks/chapter/index.html > > > ***A Theory of Fun for Game Design > Publisher: Paraglyph Press > ISBN: 1932111972 > Never before has a guide so succinctly put together the essence of what it > means to design for the elusive but highly important element of fun. And > the pursuit of fun in interactive media like games is never ending. It's > not so easy to articulate what fun is (try it sometime and you'll see) but > leading interactive designer Raph Koster has developed a theory of fun > that he cleverly presents in his groundbreaking book. Not only game > designers, but all designers will treasure this insightful and challenging > exploration of how to step out of the box and create designs that really > entertain. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1932111972/ > > > ***Flash Out of the Box > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596006918 > Flash is all about creating unparalleled user experiences and applications > for the Web, and this book is all about helping you think outside of the > box to get there. "Flash Out of the Box" gets you animating, working with > video, loading external assets, drawing, masking, modularizing, and more > for developing the foundation you need to move out of the box and into > more advanced techniques. This user-centric book makes learning Flash MX > 2004 intuitive, logical, and fun. > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/flashbox/ > > Chapter 3, "Your First Animation," is available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/flashbox/chapter/index.html > > > ***Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition > Publisher: O'Reilly > ISBN: 0596008856 > This portable, quick-reference guide is a must-have for developers and > DBAs looking to maximize the effectiveness of SQL*Plus. The new, third > edition includes updated syntax and format options for both SQL and > SQL*Plus for Oracle Database 10g, Oracle's latest database release. It > also describes both command-line and browser-based SQL*Plus, and provides > information on new SQL features. This pocket reference serves as an ideal > companion to the bestselling "Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide." > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/orsqlpluspr3/ > > Sample excerpts are available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/orsqlpluspr3/chapter/index.html/ > > ================================================ > Upcoming Events > ================================================ > ***For more events, please see: > http://events.oreilly.com/ > > ***Gordon Meyer ("Smart Home Hacks"), DigitalGuru, Sunnyvale, CA-- > December 15 > Gordon makes an appearance at the DigitalGuru Computer Bookshop starting > at 12:30pm. DigitalGuru will be offering a 40% discount on Gordon's book > that day. (If you can't make it December 15, be sure to stop by > DigitalGuru before December 31 to take advantage of a special sale: up to > 40% off ALL O'Reilly books, as well as books by our publishing partners.) > DigitalGuru is located at 546-3 Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale, CA. > http://www.digitalguru.com/index.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1 > > > ***Kyle Rankin, ("Knoppix Hacks"), at LUGOD, Davis, CA--January 4 > Author Kyle Rankin is a featured speaker at the first Linux Users Group of > Davis meeting of the new year. He'll discuss the many uses of Knoppix, > such as demonstrating Linux to new users, making Linux easier to install, > using Knoppix as a rescue disc for both Linux and Windows, as a tool for > system administrators, and more. > http://www.lugod.org/meeting/upcoming/ > > > ***Cary Millsap ("Optimizing Oracle Performance"), COUG, > Calgary, Alberta--January 5 > Cary will be presenting to Calgary Oracle User Group at 6:30pm. > Location TBA > Please check their web site for more information: > http://www.coug.ab.ca > > > ***O'Reilly (Booth #2225) at Macworld Conference & Expo, > San Francisco--January 10-14 > In addition to all of our fabulous new Mac titles, we'll feature author > appearances at our booth and special promotional fun. > > David Pogue, Missing Manual Series author and editor and "State of the > Art" columnist for The "New York Times," hosts Macworld Live! on January > 12 from 9:30am to 10:30am. Tune in for news of the day, exciting guests, > David's famous song parodies, and plenty of surprises. > > While you're there, be sure to catch actor and author Wil Wheaton's > special feature presentation entitled "Just a Geek" on January 13 at > 9:30am There will be a book signing after his presentation. Wil is the > author of "Just a Geek" and "Dancing Barefoot." > Moscone Convention Center, Booth #2225, San Francisco, CA > http://macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/20SFO05A > > ***Free Exhibit Hall Pass for Macworld, San Francisco, CA-- > January 11-14 2005 > Make sure you register online with priority code N0220 (use zeros) before > December 10. > http://www.macworldexpo.com > > A PDF version of the Macworld Pass is available online: > http://www.oreilly.com/images/oreilly/ug/macworld2005.pdf > > ================================================ > Conference News > ================================================ > ***Registration is Open for 2005 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, > San Diego, CA--March 14-17, 2005 > Early Bird registration for ETech has just opened. This year's conference > theme is "Remix," which infuses ETech's roll-up-your-sleeves tutorials, > to-the-point plenary presentations, and real world focused breakout > sessions. Come to ETech and discover how applications and hardware are > being deconstructed and recombined in unexpected ways. Learn how users and > customers are influencing new interfaces, devices, business models, and > services. For all scoop on tutorials, featured speakers, and conference > events, check out: > http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/ > > User Group members who register before January 31, 2005 get a double > discount. Use code DSUG when you register, and receive 20% off the > "Early Bird" price. > > To register for the conference, go to: > http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2005/create/ord_et05 > > ================================================ > News From O'Reilly & Beyond > ================================================ > --------------------- > General News > --------------------- > ***David Pogue's "CBS News Sunday Morning" Wins an Emmy > The National Television Academy has announced the winners of the Annual > Emmy Awards for Business and Financial Reporting. In the category of > "Outstanding Interpretation and/or Analysis of a Business News > Story--Regularly Scheduled Newscast," David Pogue's "CBS News Sunday > Morning" won the Emmy: "David Pogue takes complex technological > applications such as Google or Spam and makes them comprehensible to the > ordinary, non-technophile viewer." David is the creator of the Missing > Manuals Series. > > You can read the press release here: > http://www.emmyonline.org/emmy/2ndBizEmmyWinners.html > > > ***Paying Attention (or Not) to the Flickr Daily Zeitgeist > Perhaps the most complex operating system in the world is the human brain. > In "Mind Hacks," authors Matt Webb and Tom Stafford use cognitive > neuroscience to present experiments, tricks, and tips related to vision, > motor skills, attention, cognition, and subliminal perception. In this > article, they explore how elements of web pages attract attention and > influence reading. They then apply some of the ideas from their book in > the examination of one such element, an animated photo-sharing widget, the > Flickr Daily Zeitgeist. > http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2004/12/06/mndhcks_1.html > > > ***New Titles on Safari > Search, annotate, read, and download chapters from your favorite technical > books through Safari Bookshelf. New titles from O'Reilly include: "Java > Network Programming, 3rd Edition;" "Securing Windows Server 2003;" "Unit > Test Frameworks;" "Word Hacks;" "Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd > Edition;" "High Performance Linux Clusters;" "Oracle SQL*Plus: The > Definitive Guide;" and "Windows XP Power Hound." If you haven't gone on > Safari yet, get a free trial. > http://www.oreilly.com/go/safari-ug > > > ***Lawrence Lessig on Blogs and the Law > In this IT Conversations interview, Lawrence Lessig talks about the growth > of law-related blogs and their impact on the practice of law, and some of > the problems with current copyright law. > http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail285.html > > Lessig will be speaking at O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference. > http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/ > > > ***Author IMterview: "Smart Home Hacks" > Gizmodo editor Joel Johnson talks to author Gordon Meyer about home > automation and some of the reasons X10 is still a good choice for home > hackers. After the IMterview, you'll find a hack on how to forward your > phone calls without using the phone company's services, excerpted from > Gordon's new book "Smart Home Hacks." > http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/wireless/x10/index.php#smart-home-hacks-imterview-and-book-excerpt-025870 > > --------------------- > Open Source > --------------------- > ***True Stories of Knoppix Rescues > A battle-hardened sysadmin shares his near-death tales of Knoppix rescue. > Kyle Rankin is a true Knoppix veteran with endless stories of broken > systems and machines in distress. In this article, he shares a few of his > favorites, complete with outcomes and weapons of choice. Not for the faint > of heart. Kyle is the author of "Knoppix Hacks." > http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/02/knpxhks_1.html > > > ***Choosing a Language for Interactive Fiction > Retro gaming is hot, and what could be more retro than interactive > fiction? If you pine for the days of white mailboxes, twisty little > passages, and Babelfish all in your mind, perhaps you long to create your > own interactive fiction world. Liza Daly starts down that path by > explaining how to choose the right IF language. > http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/11/24/interactive_fiction.html > > > ***Inside EuroBSDCon 2004 > European BSD fans recently had the opportunity to meet and talk during > EuroBSDCon 2004. Federico Biancuzzi was there. Here are his thoughts from > the conference and ideas on how to improve conferences for the rest of the > European BSD community. > http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/11/24/eurobsdcon2004.html > > --------------------- > Mac > --------------------- > ***Gifts, Gadgets, and Software for Mac Geeks > This year's gift guide shows you the coolest gadgets and often includes > clever software to accompany them. Suggestions start as cheap as $15 and > most are less than $80. And the best part--everything works beautifully > with Mac OS X. > http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/11/23/gifts.html > > > ***Reclaiming Hacks > The O'Reilly Hacks series has stirred a controversy that usually extends > no further than the front cover of a book. The hacking spirit, not the > promotion of illegal activities, is being reclaimed through each one of > these books. The curious nature of the hacker ethic, whether prompted by a > sheer spark of genius or the urge of an annoyance, celebrates rolling up > the sleeves and taking action. Hadley Stern, author of "iPod and iTunes > Hacks," takes a stab at clarification and discusses the issues he faced > while writing his book. > http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/12/03/hadley_hks.html > > > ***Five Favorite Annoyances > As much as we love our Macs, we've got to admit that sometimes they annoy > the patience out of us. John Rizzo, author of "Mac Annoyances," picks five > of his favorite Mac annoyances to share. Better yet, he offers a fix for > every problem. Don't get mad, get clever. > http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/11/30/macannoy_1.html > > --------------------- > Windows/.NET > --------------------- > ***How To Start Hacking Your PC > Want to get under the hood of your PC and start hacking? Jim Aspinwall, > author of "PC Hacks," literally wrote the book on it. In this first part > of a two-part article, he teaches you everything you need to know to get > started. > http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/11/24/PC_Hacking_Part1.html > > > ***Using the SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services > Microsoft has finally added reporting capabilities to its flagship > database server, SQL Server 2000. In this article, Wei-Meng Lee walks you > through the basics of creating a simple report using the SQL Server 2000 > Reporting Services. > http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2004/11/29/sqlreporting.html > > > ***Automate Windows Installations > Answer files can automate Windows installations, saving time and > simplifying deployment. Mitch Tulloch, author of "Windows Server Hacks," > offers tips and tricks for making better use of them. > http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/11/30/answer_files.html > > > ***Learning Lab: .NET Certificate $200 Instant Rebate > Learn .NET programming skills and earn a .NET Programming Certificate from > the University of Illinois. The .NET Certificate Series from the O'Reilly > Learning Lab is comprised of three courses that give you the foundation > you need to do .NET programming well: Learn XML; Learn Object-Oriented > Programming Using Java; and Learn C#. Only in December, receive a $200 > instant rebate when you enroll in all three courses. > http://www.oreilly.com/redirector.csp?link=UADot&type=news > > --------------------- > Java > --------------------- > ***Simple Object Persistence with the db4o Object Database > Mapping Java objects to relational databases is a difficult task, fraught > with perils and gotchas. db4o dodges the issue entirely by providing an > object-oriented persistence mechanism that is small, lightweight, and > efficient. Jim Paterson shows how it works. > http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2004/12/01/db4o.html > > > ***Juggle Your Java with JDistro > Typically, one Java application will live in its own virtual machine, but > this is neither required nor necessarily desirable. JDistro, a > multitasking Java application, makes it possible to run applications, > applets, and more, all inside of one process. Howard Wen interviewed > creators Guillaume Desnoix and Gerard Collin to find out how it works. > a.com/pub/a/onjava/2004/11/24/jdistro.html > > --------------------- > Digital Media > --------------------- > ***Reeking Havok with the Experience Music Project > High-tech drummer Reek Havok develops interactive music technology for > Seattle???s Experience Music Project museum. In this interview, he takes > you behind the scenes and shares his software groove secrets. > http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2004/12/01/reek_1204.html > > ***Greg Kessler: Rock and Roll Shooter > Greg Kessler has photographed plenty of well known artists in the music > industry, including the likes of Phish, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, > String Cheese Incident, and Of A Revolution (O.A.R.). In this portfolio, > he not only presents the captivating images, Greg also includes anecdotes > about the subjects themselves. > http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2004/12/01/featured.html > > ================================================ > >From Your Peers > =============================================== > Don't forget to check out the O'Reilly UG wiki to see what user groups > across the globe are up to: > http://wiki.oreillynet.com/usergroups/index.cgi > > > > Until next time-- > > Marsee From grant at mclean.net.nz Sun Dec 12 15:12:31 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Sun Dec 12 15:12:43 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Reminder: Meeting Tonight Message-ID: <1102885951.2443.3.camel@localhost> Hi Mongers Just a quick note to remind you all that there's a Perl Mongers meeting at 6:00 this evening with two talks on the theme of GUI coding with Perl. Peter Love will be talking about Tk and I'll be talking about Gtk. http://wellington.pm.org/ Remember, the main entrance to Eagle Technology house locks from 6:00 so don't be late. Regards Grant From daniel at dev-zone.org Mon Dec 13 20:35:28 2004 From: daniel at dev-zone.org (Daniel) Date: Mon Dec 13 20:35:39 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Greetings Message-ID: <41BE5170.8050108@dev-zone.org> In the spirit of the introductions in August. My name is Daniel Griggs, I work for an organisation called 'The Development Resource Centre' and have been for the last 2 years, I am the systems administrator and do most of my scripting and development in Perl. -- Daniel Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do. Bertrand Russell --Quoted in Antony Flew's Thinking About Thinking -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.pm.org/archives/wellington-pm/attachments/20041214/ffd17c47/signature.bin From grant at mclean.net.nz Tue Dec 14 03:33:20 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Tue Dec 14 03:35:20 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting Message-ID: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> Hi all If you weren't at Monday night's meeting, you missed a good one. Peter did an excellent job of introducing Tk and this was especially noteworthy since he alleges he knew virtually nothing about the subject when he originally volunteered to speak. We had a good turnout too, with lively questions and plenty of willing hands to point out what I'd forgotten in my Gtk/Glade demo. Looking to the future: * Next meeting is February 21st. We have two speakers lined up, Srdjan will talk on testing and someone volunteered to talk on Parse::RecDescent - was that you Finlay? * The following meeting will be three weeks later on March 14th. The plan for the March meeting is to line up an evening of lightning talks. The primary aim of lightning talks is to have fun. Mark-Jason Dominus explains the concept here: http://perl.plover.com/lt/lightning-talks.html This is an excellent opportunity for first-time speakers to get up and have a go. Each talk will be all over in 5 minutes so the worst case scenario for embarrassment and pain is not too bad. At Wellington.pm it will work like this: - you will need to 'sign-up' in advance - we'll have a sheet available at the February meeting, so get your thinking caps on now - one person can sign up for more than one talk so sign up early and often - slides are definitely not mandatory, it's probably more important that you practise what you're going to say - if you are going to use slides, bear in mind that there is no time between talks for messing around unplugging laptops etc, so your slides *must* be provided to me in advance in either HTML format (will be viewed via Mozilla Firefox) or the OpenOffice.org 'Impress' format - do not turn up on the night with a whizzy demo program on your laptop expecting to plug it in - if you have something that's going to take longer than 5 minutes, great! You can do that one another evening :-) There are ton's of good ideas at MJD's page linked above, you've got three months to get yourself organised and you only have to speak for 5 minutes so there are absolutely no excuses. Cheers Grant From grant at mclean.net.nz Tue Dec 14 13:49:26 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Tue Dec 14 13:49:30 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> On Tue, 2004-12-14 at 22:33, Grant McLean wrote: > If you weren't at Monday night's meeting, you missed a good one. And what I forgot to say, was that the sample source code and slides are up in the 'archive' section of the web site: http://wellington.pm.org/archive/ Cheers Grant From Peter.Love at netkno.com Tue Dec 14 14:02:18 2004 From: Peter.Love at netkno.com (Peter Love) Date: Tue Dec 14 14:03:59 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> > And what I forgot to say, was that the sample source code and slides are > up in the 'archive' section of the web site: > > http://wellington.pm.org/archive/ Note that the presentation that Grant will have uploaded (don't copy anything to his laptop - you never know where it might end up!) is a slightly older version than what I used. Also, to run it with pres.pl you will need to edit the path to the presentation slides and tutime.pl is really un-clean. I'll send Grant updated versions late today. From liam.oboyle at elections.org.nz Tue Dec 14 15:49:19 2004 From: liam.oboyle at elections.org.nz (Liam O'Boyle) Date: Tue Dec 14 15:49:05 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> Message-ID: <1103060959.4220.167.camel@localhost> Hi Guys, Two command line tools for popping up a dialog box were also mentioned, gdialog and zenity. It appears that in later times, debian has replaced gdialog with zenity, and gdialog simply wraps calls to zenity. Given this, I'd probably suggest using zenity if you can, it does have a few things that gdialog lacks. To get you started, the obligatory hello world ;) zenity --info --text "Hello World" -- Cheers, Liam O'Boyle Electoral Enrolment Centre Telephone: (04) 801 0710 Fax: (04) 801 0709 This communication is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake you must not use, disclose, copy or retain it. Please immediately notify us by return e-mail and then delete the e-mail you received in error. Views expressed in this communication may not be those of the organisation. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mail.pm.org/archives/wellington-pm/attachments/20041215/80a07506/attachment.bin From grant at mclean.net.nz Wed Dec 15 01:36:22 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Wed Dec 15 01:36:26 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> Message-ID: <1103096180.3728.20.camel@localhost> On Wed, 2004-12-15 at 09:02, Peter Love wrote: > > And what I forgot to say, was that the sample source code and slides are > > up in the 'archive' section of the web site: > > > > http://wellington.pm.org/archive/ > > Note that the presentation that Grant will have uploaded (don't copy > anything to his laptop - you never know where it might end up!) is a > slightly older version than what I used. Sorry Peter, I didn't realise you were wanting to keep your code under wraps. A lot of people do rely on the material appearing on the web site so they can review it and absorb it at their own pace later. I wouldn't get too concerned about tidying up the code, what's on the site works and that's the main thing. FYI - as far as the hard-coded pathname goes, there's a common Perl idiom for dealing with paths relative to the location of the script. One approach is to extract the path out of $0, or __FILE__, but a cleaner approach is to use the core module FindBin: use FindBin qw($Bin); my $slidedir = $Bin; I often use it for adding a lib directory to @INC: use FindBin qw($Bin); use lib "$Bin/lib"; or more portably: use FindBin qw($Bin); use File::Spec; use lib File::Spec->catfile($Bin, 'lib'); Cheers Grant From Peter.Love at netkno.com Wed Dec 15 02:39:34 2004 From: Peter.Love at netkno.com (Peter Love) Date: Wed Dec 15 02:42:08 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <1103096180.3728.20.camel@localhost> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> <1103096180.3728.20.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <41BFF846.5000506@netkno.com> I new I'd used FindBin before -- but couldn't remember its name -- so in the updated version I sent earlier today I used: $slidedir = File::Basename::dirname($0); which I think is okay. I think the File::Spec isn't needed for unix and windows, but probably for Mac (and what else?)? > FYI - as far as the hard-coded pathname goes, there's a common Perl > idiom for dealing with paths relative to the location of the script. > One approach is to extract the path out of $0, or __FILE__, but a > cleaner approach is to use the core module FindBin: > > use FindBin qw($Bin); > my $slidedir = $Bin; > > I often use it for adding a lib directory to @INC: > > use FindBin qw($Bin); > use lib "$Bin/lib"; > > or more portably: > > use FindBin qw($Bin); > use File::Spec; > use lib File::Spec->catfile($Bin, 'lib'); From enkidu at cliffp.com Wed Dec 15 03:47:11 2004 From: enkidu at cliffp.com (Enkidu) Date: Wed Dec 15 03:47:58 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <1103060959.4220.167.camel@localhost> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> <1103060959.4220.167.camel@localhost> Message-ID: On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 10:49:19 +1300, you wrote: >Hi Guys, > >Two command line tools for popping up a dialog box were also mentioned, >gdialog and zenity. It appears that in later times, debian has replaced >gdialog with zenity, and gdialog simply wraps calls to zenity. > >Given this, I'd probably suggest using zenity if you can, it does have a >few things that gdialog lacks. To get you started, the obligatory hello >world ;) > >zenity --info --text "Hello World" > What about "dialog" and "whiptail"? Cheers, Cliff -- The National Party manifesto can be viewed here: http://www.labour.org.nz/policy/index.html From grant at mclean.net.nz Wed Dec 15 11:24:52 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Wed Dec 15 11:25:02 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: <41BFF846.5000506@netkno.com> References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> <1103096180.3728.20.camel@localhost> <41BFF846.5000506@netkno.com> Message-ID: <1103131492.3770.3.camel@localhost> On Wed, 2004-12-15 at 21:39, Peter Love wrote: > I new I'd used FindBin before -- but couldn't remember its name -- so in > the updated version I sent earlier today I used: > $slidedir = File::Basename::dirname($0); > > which I think is okay. > > I think the File::Spec isn't needed for unix and windows, but probably > for Mac (and what else?)? Actually, it probably isn't needed for Mac since OS X and you're right, it's not necessary on Windows. So it is overkill unless you expect your script to run on VMS or some more exotic platform. But as you say, if you copy files on to my laptop, you never know where they'll end up :-) From liam.oboyle at elections.org.nz Wed Dec 15 13:17:23 2004 From: liam.oboyle at elections.org.nz (Liam O'Boyle) Date: Wed Dec 15 13:17:06 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] Roundup of Monday night's meeting In-Reply-To: References: <1103016799.3621.55.camel@localhost> <1103053766.30302.1.camel@localhost> <41BF46CA.9090803@netkno.com> <1103060959.4220.167.camel@localhost> Message-ID: <1103138243.21988.13.camel@localhost> I hadn't heard of them, but further investigation revealed something else I'd never heard of, UI::Dialog - http://search.cpan.org/~kck/UI-Dialog-1.08/lib/UI/Dialog.pod#SYNOPSIS It transparently wraps several dialog backends, including all those mentioned so far except dialog. Anyway, I hereby volunteer for a lightning talk on the (no doubt many) cool uses of UI::Dialog. It seems safely far away at this point in time :) On Wed, 2004-12-15 at 22:47 +1300, Enkidu wrote: > On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 10:49:19 +1300, you wrote: > > >Hi Guys, > > > >Two command line tools for popping up a dialog box were also mentioned, > >gdialog and zenity. It appears that in later times, debian has replaced > >gdialog with zenity, and gdialog simply wraps calls to zenity. > > > >Given this, I'd probably suggest using zenity if you can, it does have a > >few things that gdialog lacks. To get you started, the obligatory hello > >world ;) > > > >zenity --info --text "Hello World" > > > What about "dialog" and "whiptail"? > > Cheers, > > Cliff -- Cheers, Liam O'Boyle Electoral Enrolment Centre Telephone: (04) 801 0710 Fax: (04) 801 0709 This communication is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake you must not use, disclose, copy or retain it. Please immediately notify us by return e-mail and then delete the e-mail you received in error. Views expressed in this communication may not be those of the organisation. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part Url : http://mail.pm.org/archives/wellington-pm/attachments/20041216/6cb90c1d/attachment.bin From greens at maf.govt.nz Mon Dec 20 16:53:47 2004 From: greens at maf.govt.nz (greens@maf.govt.nz) Date: Mon Dec 20 16:53:55 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] GUI tutorials Message-ID: <200412202253.iBKMrlXb026300@majordomo.maf.govt.nz> Further from the last meeting, the following link contains several useful tutorials, including "Glade/Gtk review/tutorial", "Tk Tutorial" and a series of four "wxPerl Tutorials" The meeting did not cover wxPerl, though it was mentioned in dispatches. http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node=Tutorials#cpanmods Dig in! -Sg >>> grant@mclean.net.nz 14/12/2004 22:33:20 >>> Hi all If you weren't at Monday night's meeting, you missed a good one. Peter did an excellent job of introducing Tk and this was especially noteworthy since he alleges he knew virtually nothing about the subject when he originally volunteered to speak. We had a good turnout too, with lively questions and plenty of willing hands to point out what I'd forgotten in my Gtk/Glade demo. .. Cheers Grant _______________________________________________ Wellington-pm mailing list Wellington-pm@mail.pm.org http://www.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/wellington-pm ##################################################################################### This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared by NetIQ MailMarshal ##################################################################################### ######################################################################## This email message and any attachment(s) is intended solely for the addressee(s) named above. The information it contains is confidential and may be legally privileged. 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The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry accepts no responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments after transmission from the office. ######################################################################## From grant at mclean.net.nz Mon Dec 20 18:45:10 2004 From: grant at mclean.net.nz (Grant McLean) Date: Mon Dec 20 18:45:23 2004 Subject: [Wellington-pm] GUI tutorials In-Reply-To: <200412202253.iBKMrlXb026300@majordomo.maf.govt.nz> References: <200412202253.iBKMrlXb026300@majordomo.maf.govt.nz> Message-ID: <1103589910.27452.7.camel@localhost> On Tue, 2004-12-21 at 11:53, greens@maf.govt.nz wrote: > Further from the last meeting, the following link contains > several useful tutorials, including "Glade/Gtk review/tutorial", > "Tk Tutorial" and a series of four "wxPerl Tutorials" Beware, the Glade link seems to cover the old version of Glade that preceded Gtk2. The new one is called Gtk2::GladeXML. Regards Grant