Obsolete Skills list

Posted Monday March 10th 2008 from 53.3123, -6.2335

From: Obsolete Skills (specifically Programming in Java):

"Colleges, however, notorious for teaching things that will never be useful in the real world, have latched on to Java as this wave of the future."

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Image ASCII85 encoding with Java

Posted Friday January 11th 2008 from 53.3123, -6.2335

While trying to write a CUPS filter, I needed to add an image to a PostScript document. There are some handy PostScript functions for importing design elements in direct PostScript, but I only managed to get the PNG function working which embeds an image using ASCII85 encoding. The only problem: how to encode a PNG image into ASCII85.

Jarmor "is a tiny collection of java filters implementing ASCII armors" - which includes ASCII85, but aside from the source code, I found the download package didn't contain any examples, only tests and API documentation. Some people will find that perfectly adequate, but I prefer some simple examples so I can quickly use the code: EncodeFile will take the filename of an image as an argument and output an ASCII85 encoded version suitable for use in a PostScript document (place the unzipped .java file in the 'src' directory of the unzipped 'jarmor-1.0-src' download and compile in the usual manner).

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iSight video from QuickTime Java

Posted Wednesday January 9th 2008 from 53.3127, -6.2468

Want to use Java to get video from your iSight camera? Then take a look at LiveCam by Jochen Broz.

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Headless Java Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT)

Posted Wednesday January 9th 2008 from 53.3127, -6.2468

If you have some Java code which doesn't have a GUI but uses AWT and "launches" an application (rather than executing solely from the command line), then you should investigate Using Headless Mode in the Java SE Platform.

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Travelling Salesman Problem Genetic Algorithm

Posted Monday December 3rd 2007 from 53.3123, -6.2335

As part of my structured Ph.D. I must take 4 final year undergraduate modules in my first year. The assessment for my Natural Computing module is to write a conference paper based on the topics covered in the course: my submission is a Travelling Salesman Problem Genetic Algorithm.

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