NetBeans variable naming

Just a quick note since I'll forget later how I blew an hour of my time with NetBeans.

I received an error in the Generated Code section. This is annoying because you can't edit that section. but it is also good considering the time saved with GUI building. Anyway, the error was:

cannot find symbol
symbol: variable jdesktop
location: class java.lang.String
javax.swing.ActionMap actionMap = org.jdesktop.application.Application...blah...blah...blah

Looking at the generated code, the "jdesktop" had the red error squiggle underneath it. Usually with a "cannot find symbol" error, you take a look at your libraries and classpath and make sure they are OK. I hadn't touched them and the code was building just fine an hour prior.

Well, it turns out I had created a data member: "String org". "org" is a common abbreviation for "origin" when talking about flights (which is what this code deals with). Well, there is clearly no "jdesktop" member or method in the String class, hence this error. Ugh. That will teach me to abbreviate my java data member names. I changed it to "origin" and the IDE was happy again.

I guess you'd have the same problem if you had a data member called "com" and were calling some com.* class in a static way. Overall an unproductive hour, but an important lesson as well. I'll call it a wash.

Raiders Draft 2010

Just a few thoughts on the Raiders' draft this year from a lifelong fan.

I was worried in two directions during the first round. I really hoped Al wouldn't reach for Bruce Campbell that early AND I really hoped Al would draft Bruce Campbell so that I could make allusions to Army of Darkness. Well, it clearly all worked out (they took Bruce in the 4th round) so I can now post these pictures which I spent 10 whole minutes making:




Ahhhh, that just feels right. Hope this kid works out in the long run and doesn't end up doing a crappy series on the USA network.

Seriously though, I'm happier with this draft for the Raiders than I have been for a long time. I found an interesting theory on why they did so well this year posted on a message board:

Raidernewjerz:
This is why I think my Raiders had a great draft. One, it could of been no one told Al Davis the draft started on Thursday. So when Saturday came, he came swinging by picking Bruce Campbell, then the fastest player at the combine, and after a bunch of DBs. Thats my theory! Either way great draft for us!

It's funny because it's so likely true.

I also like that we picked up Jason Campbell (two Campbells!?!!). The Raiders didn't look so bad when Russell was off the field last year. Not to say they looked particularly good, just not as bad. With an upgrade to JC and a little better defense, it seems likely we'll win some more games this year (hard to win fewer!).

Anyway, I won't be getting season tickets again this year. After 6 years of paying through the nose for little reward, we decided to hold off for a while. Still... go Raiders.

Emmitt Smith: Analystll

Emmitt Smith's entertaining stint as an analyst for ESPN has been well documented for its great quotes. But now it appears that Emmitt is doing his own graphics now:

He is, indeed, a great analystll.

Synchronized diving? Really?

Apparently synchronized diving has been in the Olympics since 2000. I hadn't noticed until NBC decided to dedicate many hours of primetime coverage to the various flavors of this year's competition. This is how the Chinese are able to close the gap with the U.S. in the final medal count--by sneaking in crazy, weird events like this and making 18 versions of it (3m platform, 1m springboard, 1.3 foot wooden plank, etc.).

I don't think it will really should count until we get a Martin Short/Chris Guest version:

Vaccination Location Deliberation

So I had to get two vaccinations (boosters) in my shoulder(s) for an upcoming international trip. The nurse tells me they will each cause soreness for a couple of days. She then asks which arm(s) I'd like the shots. When prompted for her professional opinion, she defers back to me, offering no assistance in this very important decision. After deliberating for a couple of seconds, I opt to take both shots in my non-dominant arm. Man, that soreness kicked in quick! By the time I was in my truck, my left shoulder felt like it had been punched a few times.

Anyway, after telling my wife about this, she thought I was crazy for getting both in one arm. She said she would have put one in each, to lessen the maximum pain per arm. I figured that I wanted a fully-functional good arm.

So now I pose the question to you, loyal reader. How would you distribute the shots? The poll on the right will be active for a couple weeks. At the rate my blog is read, that should equate to 2.3 votes. Please vote and/or comment!

My monkey

Hey, this is the Internet, right? And this is my blog? And I can write about anything? Well, that can mean only one thing: monkey statue time. I found a picture of my favorite monkey statue that I had taken sometime ago (he's the one holding the green ball below), and now is as good a time as any to immortalize it. Without further ado:


PS: My wife hates this monkey statue. If he ever turns up missing, at least there is photographic/bloggographic evidence of his awesomeness.

Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab Computing Resources

If you're starting out trying to build your first (or second, or whatever) parallel program, I've found that the Lawrence Livermore National Lab keeps a very nice page on High Performance Computing. It looks like it's maintained by a guy named Blaise Barney (awesome name). He does a great job of organizing it and writing the tutorials on various topics.

Lately, I've been using it extensively as I build my first significant pthread application. The tutorial on that topic has handy links to the original POSIX documentation and the provided examples are really well done, making it easy to get coding on your own project.

The site also has information and tutorials on other stuff like MPI and OpenMP, as well as documentation describing the pros and cons of all of these parallel programming tools. Not much else to say on the topic, just wanted to document it for myself and maybe make it easier for someone else to find it in the future.