Still Alive and Qt’ing (end-of-the-month log)
December 1st, 2008Whew! November is finally over! I never expected it to actually be that hectic, usually because nothing much happens except in the first week (Mama’s birthday). But that is precisely what happened. Ironically, it has probably been one of the most productive months I’ve had this whole year.
I could probably say that half of the busy-ness of November was devoted to personal matters: birthdays, church/community activities, and health problems. I got a very big wake up call regarding my physical status, so I need to put a lot of effort into losing weight and staying fit. I’m not sure if the hacker’s diet is something that I can apply, given culture and situation considerations, but I’ll give it a try. In the meantime, I’ve taken some preventive measures and have declared war on all forms of soda/pop/soft drinks/whatever-you-call-them-in-your-country which started three weeks ago. That means (sniff) farewell to Mountain Dew.
But I’ve also been busy with the tech side of life. School has started again next month, and this time my subjects are more interesting and challenging (and the books equally incompetent) than last semester: Data Structures and Algorithms and Computer Structure and Organization. I’m really starting to feel that I’ve enrolled in a Computer Science course.
I was also finally able to finish (technically) a major web-related project that has been going on (very slowly) for months. It was my first attempt at using Textpattern, which probably gives me enough experience to start migrating my whole site over to it. Sure it’s not as simple as WordPress, where you can just install it (or have it installed) and blog away. But it isn’t that complicated. Understanding how it’s basic presentation components work together is the key. The hardest part for me was actually “translating” the plain XHTML/CSS to Textpattern, complete with dynamic content and such. In a way, it’s a lot like programming with a library (TXP Tags), which I actually found appealing.
Last, but definitely not the least, I managed to cram my way through my Qt book finally. Although I have to admit that skipped on a few chapters that either didn’t interest me or were well beyond my current areas (databases, threading, OpenGL, embedded). I focused mostly on the beginning chapters, which is IMHO the minimal Qt necessary to start KDE hacking. Just for fun, I put together this very simple, crude, and primitive “web browser”:
(P.S. This made an early college Windows fantasy of mine come true. But I have no intentions of going beyond that). The book, by the way, is available for free (legally) at the Qt documentation pages (unfortunately, only the first edition is available for free, which is a bit dated now).
But more than actually finishing a book that I bought a year ago, this milestone practically means that I’m ready for real KDE coding, which has been the ultimate goal for the past 2 years. I might be able to blog about the many KDE tutorials as I go along (but knowing my own blogging discipline, or lack of it, I won’t hold my own breath). Now I’m really excited.
Cheers to an eventful November and here’s to an even busier December! 
Just some small updates, while I'm trying to get off my ass and migrate the site completely to Textpattern.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 am
Why so excited about Qt? It wont promote freedom. No matter what its just another business trying to sell closed license software.
Please dont pollute the free software world with any code or hype.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 am
My god you’re such a troll.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
@Congola: Qt is GPL-licensed…
Please don’t pollute the free software world with you presence.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 am
@Congola: not sure why you read PlanetKDE then as KDE is based on Qt!!!
Well done Jucato for the browser and keep learning until you join!
Take care and greetings to your mum.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Hey Jucato!
Remember me?
It’s great news that you’ve been able to make a browser (albeit a simple one) already.
Meanwhile, I’m still stuck at creating windows with widgets with GNOME. (Check out http://asbigasthis.wordpress.com ). Really hope I find enough time to do more.
Although we’re using a different windowing toolkit, you’re still working hard for the open-source community so I applaud you for that.:P
April 8th, 2009 at 6:58 am
@Punong Bisyonaryo: Heh off course I remember you Jeff. Are you still stationed in Japan?
Nice job on As Big As This. I’ve also planned on doing something similar with my Qt/KDE programming progress, but time is so scarce.
BTW, if you’re in Manila, the Ubuntu Philippines people are trying to organize a release party. Maybe you can join again.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Yeah, I wasn’t able to join the release party this year because I visited my brother in Shanghai. And I’m no longer stationed in Japan. I’m definitely going to the Karmic release though. Absolutely definitely will go!