5 ==== Long time, no C++ ====
7 The title was inteded to be a joke on "long time, no see", because I've
8 not been updating the blog for some time.
10 But this reminds me that, yes, indeed I've not been doing any C++ for a few
11 months now. That's probably irrelevant to most of you... but this is my blog
12 and I get to decide what goes in. Except when *you* edit it. Damn WikiWikiWeb!
14 The reason we don't have any C++ in the OLPC is that, in the Linux world,
15 C++ never flied that much. The kernel hackers say it's not well suited
16 for kernel programming, and I partially agree. Of course, C++ can't be
17 used for glibc and POSIX system libraries. Even MicrosoftCompany uses C
20 This leaves us with three more layers to exclude: windowing server,
21 desktop and applications.
23 X11 is written in C for historical reasons. Since its internals mostly
24 deal with interfaces and specialization of interfaces, C++ would have
27 Gnome also uses C, for no good reason. KDE is older than Gnome and
28 was entirely written in C++, although I clearly remember g++ 2.7.2 being
29 quite a painful experience. The GObject crap in glib and GTK is expecially
30 ugly, hard to use and error prone due to lack of good OOP support in the
33 And applications? Well, applications in the OLPC are written in Python
34 anyway, like many higher level applications in regular Linux distros.
36 There's a few exceptions: Mozilla is written in C++ and eToys is written
37 in SmallTalk. I don't know about TamTam.
39 '''rasky:''' in fact, with the raise of scripting languages and fully-featured
40 platforms (like Java's), using C++ for doing almost *anything* is the wrong
41 choice. As you said, system programming wants C for several good reasons, and
42 almost anything else can be done in scripting language. I think one last thing
43 that C++ is still good today at is high-performance libraries (eg: math
44 libraries), where you don't want to use C and you need a lot of performance.
45 But C++ is feeling more and more like a dead horse...
47 '''marco:''' About writing kernels in C++:
48 http://okmij.org/ftp/cpp-digest/toy_OS.txt
52 ==== Under pressure ====
54 Miletstone B4 was expected to ship today. I don't care because my work
55 is for due for Trial2. But many of my colleagues were extremely
58 There is one last bug with some laptops not coming out of resume.
59 And it's still not fixed at 21:00. Kernel hackers are scraping
62 We had pizza together and, seeing so many tired faces, I casually asked:
63 "when do we close for summer?".
65 People look at me puzzled: "What do you mean exactly by ''close''?".
67 "Err... companies don't close for summer here in the States?".
69 They look at each other, trying to guess if it's some kind
70 of joke: "Why would companies ever ''close''? They're not schools."
72 I quickly added: "Oh, I'm asking because, you know, most
73 companies in Italy do close a few weeks for summer".
75 At this point everybody laughed like if companies closing
76 was an extremely funny idea.
78 This is one reason why we have a strong economy here: people
79 are extremely committed at work. Will I ever catch up? Hope so.
84 ==== Eutelia Voip ====
86 I have a new public phone number: {{055-3984187}}.
88 It's Eutelia's VOIP service, formerly Skypho. People told me
89 that the quality is good. All the previous phone numbers remain
92 I've also switched from Ekiga to a SIP client that doesn't
95 http://www.twinklephone.com/
97 Actually, the user interface is horrible. But if you close
98 your eyes, it works beautifully.
103 ==== Sleeping At The Office ====
105 We have a futon here. And it's quite comfortable. Sleeping
106 at the office has its pros and cons, hereby listed by Dillinger:
111 ==== Bender Down ====
113 There has been a longstanding outage of our wiki server since yesterday.
114 Today, my sister finally fixed the problem by rebooting both the modem
117 http://bender.codewiz.org/bender.jpg
119 I'm planning to move bender here one day, so I can properly maintain
120 it, but first I need to consolidate my visa position.
125 ==== More laptop news ====
127 Available here: http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php?title=News
129 Some links to videos in the end. There's not much about me, mostly because I've not done
130 much this week besides chasing bugs.
133 ==== Father and son private business ====
135 E' una settimana che non scrivi. Dove sei sparito? -- '''Babbo'''
137 Avevo problemi di ADSL piuttosto gravi su questo server... ora e' a posto, ma oggi ho da finire delle cose urgenti. Vedo di scrivere due righe nel w/e, scusate tanto -- '''bernie'''
143 Two days ago I went to the local pub for the HappyHour... the HungryHour actually.
144 And I ordered this tasty dish of Cheese Bacon Fries! Yummy yum!
146 http://gastrologica.com/cheesefries.jpg
148 Ok, it's a disgusting blob of pure fat. And the infamous Cheddar
149 cheese, also known as "solid cholesterol":
151 http://www.dann-online.com/HappyHour/lrg93.jpg
154 If you're looking for something healthy, you can always try a
155 salad. Just make sure you don't get a Caesar salad with its
156 ultra-fat dressing sauce:
158 http://www.kosherblog.net/media/caesar.jpg
160 You may also want to avoid hot dogs drowned in chili sauce:
162 http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_kine_grindz/images/WaffleDogwithChili-thumb.jpg
164 American pizza is edible and even good... But I recently discovered that
165 Pepperoni aren't vegetables, but a kind of hot salami:
167 http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PTGPOD/409409~Close-up-of-Pepperoni-Pizza-Posters.jpg
170 And, finally, beware of food franchises pretending to be Italian.
173 http://www.emich.edu/dining/images/sbarro/sbarro.jpg
178 ==== Bernie is going to write something here soon ====