Message #751

From: Jay Berkenbilt <ejb@ql.org>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Announcing MagicCube4D version 4.0 beta ready for download!
Date: Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:20:03 -0500

Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com> wrote:

> Hello Jay!
>
> How is everything with you?

I’ve been pretty busy these days with many things. My wife and I moved
into a new (to us) house this summer, which has taken up a lot of time,
and I’ve also just finish a pretty big update to my open source PDF
manipulation software. It seems that I’m lucky if I get just a few
hours a week to do other things. We’re probably about 95% on the
unpacking now, and with qpdf 2.1 out the door, I’m hoping to have some
time soon. I appreciate Roice’s comment about going back to obsessive
mode for a while. Maybe I’ll get that chance at some point, but now,
free time is at a premium.

>> This is breathtaking. Now I’m going to have to quit my job so I can
>> spend all my time playing with it! Not sure what to do about those
>> pesky bills though.
>
> Hey, if I quit my job just to implement it, it’s the least you can do!
> ;-) Actually this was only one of many reasons but I’m still very glad
> that you like it.

I’ve always liked the way you plan your work vs. non-work time to
actually get a chance to work on projects like this. There are so many
things I’d like to do "if only I had the time". I do manage to find
time for plenty of things though, so I can’t really complain. :-)

> Has it really been 11 years?! You sure were a godsend the last time
> around when we were stuck with code that was too much of a mess to
> clean or release. It sure would be wonderful to see you getting
> involved again. The code is *much* cleaner now.

My first solution was October 2, 1998. That was, of course, after
having spent quite a bit of time hacking on the code. My first email to
you and Don was August 29, 1998. I saw you and Don in San Francisco
somewhere around September, 1998. A lot has changed since then!

> Looking forward to at least seeing you take one of the new "firsts"
> prizes!

I hope not to disappoint. There are plenty of firsts to be had.

I would like to be able to get into the code a little. My expectation
is that, as I find things that I think need tweaking, I’ll stick close
to the issue tracking system and send you patches relative to the svn
trunk. Even with the latest beta (130), I still haven’t gotten much off
the ground on my Linux system. I have video drivers without opengl
support in them though. I’m going to experiment a little this evening
and see if I can make any progress. I barely had a chance to check
email to this group since last weekend, and I haven’t had the chance
time to play with the puzzle much yet. I do intend to spend some time
with it this evening though! I think I tend to get a little more into
the code sometimes than the puzzles – I’m sure you can relate.
Although Java is not my primary language, I have worked quite a bit more
with it recently than I had around the time of the 3.0 release, and I
only expect that to increase.

Even though I don’t post much, I do still follow the traffic, and I read
most of the posts. A lot of it is a little over my head, at least to
the point where it’s hard to follow with a casual read, but it’s all
interesting anyway.

–Jay