With most of the server functional I decided it was time to try to get a Windows cSuneido client to talk to jSuneido.
I wasn't sure the best way to do this since I'm developing on OS X on the Mac and I can't run the Windows client there. I could get Eclipse and jSuneido running on Windows on Parallels, but that seemed like a lot of redundant effort.
I wasn't sure exactly how to do it, but the simplest seemed to be to get the Windows client running on Parallels connecting to the Java server on OS X. This turned out to be easy - although they're both on the same physical computer Windows and OS X had different IP addresses so it was easy to connect.
After stubbing out a couple more of the client-server commands I got to "nonexistent table: stdlib". I added code to create stdlib and got "can't find Init" (Init is the first thing Suneido tries to run.) I added code to output an Init to stdlib that just called Exit(). Sure enough, the client starts successfully, loads Init from the server, executes it, and exits normally.
This might not sound like much, but it's actually a big milestone. It means a lot of stuff is working. The next step is to implement "load" so I can dump stdlib from an existing database and load it into a jSuneido database. In theory then I should be able to run the IDE on the Windows client from the jSuneido server.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Back to jSuneido
Yesterday I sat down to get back to work on jSuneido after almost two months of inactivity. It was a struggle. Getting over a cold might have something to do with that. I thought it might be hard to figure out where to start, but that turned out to be relatively easy. It was harder to remember how everything (in my code) works - how to do what I wanted to do. Thankfully, what I started with was fairly straightforward.
The harder part turned out to be getting my head back into it. Sitting at a desk, focusing on a single task is quite a change from traveling, where you are constantly jumping around. And it's going to be hard to regain the momentum and drive I had at first. Even before I left, that was getting harder. Oh well, if it was easy, anyone could do it.
On the positive side, I managed to fight off most of my urges to get distracted and I did write a good chunk of code and make a fair bit of progress. That's a lot more motivating than thrashing around and producing nothing!
As I mentioned before, I think I'm getting quite close to having a mostly functional single threaded server. That leaves the big challenges of implementing the Suneido language (needed even in the server for triggers and rules) and the multi-threading, of course.
On another positive note, I still feel pretty confident that this is a "good" direction to go. Only time will tell for sure, but I haven't encountered anything (yet) that would make me think I've taken a wrong turn. One person on the Suneido forum did express concern that a Java version would lose some of the ease of install and lack of dependencies that the current version has, but I think those concerns can be addressed.
The harder part turned out to be getting my head back into it. Sitting at a desk, focusing on a single task is quite a change from traveling, where you are constantly jumping around. And it's going to be hard to regain the momentum and drive I had at first. Even before I left, that was getting harder. Oh well, if it was easy, anyone could do it.
On the positive side, I managed to fight off most of my urges to get distracted and I did write a good chunk of code and make a fair bit of progress. That's a lot more motivating than thrashing around and producing nothing!
As I mentioned before, I think I'm getting quite close to having a mostly functional single threaded server. That leaves the big challenges of implementing the Suneido language (needed even in the server for triggers and rules) and the multi-threading, of course.
On another positive note, I still feel pretty confident that this is a "good" direction to go. Only time will tell for sure, but I haven't encountered anything (yet) that would make me think I've taken a wrong turn. One person on the Suneido forum did express concern that a Java version would lose some of the ease of install and lack of dependencies that the current version has, but I think those concerns can be addressed.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Rescued from Eclipse by Time Machine
In preparation for getting back to work on jSuneido I thought I would get the recent updates. I go to Help > Software Updates and click on Update, I get:
I try again, but this time I do select, just Eclipse Platform and Eclipse Java Development Tools. That runs for a while, and I say ok to restarting. So far, so good. I go back into the updates, don't select anything (which seems to be the same as selecting everything), and get similar errors. I uncheck the first item in the list, Antler IDE and the errors go away. I tell it to go ahead, it runs for a while, and I say ok to restarting. But instead of restarting I get:
At that point I happen to notice the Time Machine (OS X's automatic backup system) icon spinning in the menu bar. A light comes on. I should be able to restore to before my problems using Time Machine! Sure enough, a few minutes later I'm back to before things got messed up. (I was a little disappointed that it restored the entire folder, rather than just what had changed. It's smarter when it's backing up. But I guess you don't restore that often, and it didn't take too long.)
I re-did the Platform and JDT updates and left the rest. I think I'll just ignore them for the time being and try to get some real work done. These frequent "automated" updates are great ... until they don't work.
The software items you selected may not be valid with your current installation. Do you want to open the wizard anyway to review the selections?I didn't select anything so I'm not sure what it's referring to. I click on Yes. There are some errors related to "equinox". A quick web search indicates that's the Eclipse runtime. That sounds pretty basic, why would it have errors?
I try again, but this time I do select, just Eclipse Platform and Eclipse Java Development Tools. That runs for a while, and I say ok to restarting. So far, so good. I go back into the updates, don't select anything (which seems to be the same as selecting everything), and get similar errors. I uncheck the first item in the list, Antler IDE and the errors go away. I tell it to go ahead, it runs for a while, and I say ok to restarting. But instead of restarting I get:
Eclipse executable launcher was unable to locate its companion shared libraryA Google search doesn't find anything that sounds like my problem or helps much. Now what? Reinstall Eclipse? I start on that path and download the latest, but then I realize I'll have to reinstall all my plugins. Yuck.
At that point I happen to notice the Time Machine (OS X's automatic backup system) icon spinning in the menu bar. A light comes on. I should be able to restore to before my problems using Time Machine! Sure enough, a few minutes later I'm back to before things got messed up. (I was a little disappointed that it restored the entire folder, rather than just what had changed. It's smarter when it's backing up. But I guess you don't restore that often, and it didn't take too long.)
I re-did the Platform and JDT updates and left the rest. I think I'll just ignore them for the time being and try to get some real work done. These frequent "automated" updates are great ... until they don't work.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Speaking of Slick
This is me on the (glass) stairs in the Apple store in Sydney, Australia. I've been in some smaller Apple stores but they weren't anywhere near as impressive as the three glass and chrome floors of this one. They had (literally) hundreds of Mac's, iPods, and iPhones out for people to touch and try.
Apple MacBook Lust
Rationally, I know it's just slick marketing, but even so, after watching the promo video, I can't help lust after a new MacBook. What geek could resist?
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