I’ve been writing some simple Java GUI applications using the Netbeans IDE. It allows you to quickly make event-driven GUI applications, and generates a lot of skeleton code that you’ll need, but don’t necessarily want to type out. It reminds me of the IDE designer of Visual Basic 6, which allowed you to mock up simple GUIs with code in almost no time at all, although the VB language itself often proved difficult. With Netbeans you are using Java, and so you can make some powerful software with little effort.
Netbeans for simple Java GUI Applications
Written by David Craddock on December 7th, 2010Converting week numbers to dates
Written by David Craddock on November 24th, 2010Here is some python code I adapted from this stackoverflow post to get the first day of a week specificed by a week number. This method includes leap year and summer time differences.
import time def weeknum(num,year): instr = str(year)+" "+str(num-1)+" 1" print time.asctime(time.strptime(instr,'%Y %W %w'))
Here is me exectuting the code in Python’s IDLE shell:
See that the first week of 2009 actually started in 2008, but by the end of that week we are in 2009.
Mac BBC Radio Player
Written by David Craddock on November 16th, 2010Quite cool little app that allows you to listen to different BBC Radio programmes from within a standalone application, instead of iPlayer:
http://whomwah.github.com/radioaunty/
MediaMonkey allows you to transfer music from any computer onto your guest iPhone
Written by David Craddock on November 14th, 2010
MediaMonkey is a popular free media player for Windows. It has a great feature that allows you to transfer to and from an iPhone that is not registered with your computer. Normally only one iTunes install can be associated with your iPhone, but MediaMonkey allows you another way to transfer music and audio files with a ‘guest’ iPhone. Check it out, it works:
Applications I Reccomend
Written by David Craddock on July 19th, 2010Software I use on my macbook & PC:
DVDRipper Pro for Mac – DVD ripping, can also rip to ISO
Handbrake for Mac – Transcoding from DVD rip to iPhone-playable file
iMovie for Mac – Video editing
BabasChess for Windows – Best chess client for internet play
Hypercam 2 – Best screencapture utility
Skype for both – For reliable messaging as well as voice and video chat
Virtual Clone Drive for Windows – For mounting ISO images
iTunes for Mac – Best music player, and keeps media synced with iPhone
VLC Player for both – For watching movies
DVD Player for Mac – For watching DVDs
iPhone Apps:
Skype – Best messenger
iBooks – Best ebook reader
London Buses – Best London transport router, can route via tube, bus, cycle path and foot
Tube Status – Displays the status of all lines, with any disruptions summarised
NextBuses – Great app that gives you lots of info on the buses and bus stops in your area.
Apple Remote – Apple remote, allows you to control the music on any wi-fi linked iTunes library
Chess.com’s Chess – Great chess game for vs. computer play
TasteKid – Type in a film, author, tv series.. and it will give you similar recommendations
Google Earth – Brilliant for navigational help, although I use iPhone’s inbuilt Maps first, for most things.
SomaFM – Chilled out relaxing electronica