Blog
Introducing Entropy, a Pythonic Wallpaper Rater
March 20, 2014
Finding a good wallpaper is hard. The subject is, well, subjective. There are endless possibilities for the subject of the image: Sports cars, beautiful women, scenic vistas, cartoons, minimalistic patterns, and humorous/motivational quotes are all fantastic candidates. Rating the subject is best left to humans, but the machine can be manipulated to rate the image […]
Developing on a Cloudy Day
March 12, 2014
“Cloud” is perhaps the new “Web 2.0” in terms of its efficacy as a buzzword. Everything is moving to it, everybody wants it, and quite a few people don’t understand what it means. We better get ready, too. But both terms are actually quite easy to define. Web 2.0 can generally be defined as Internet […]
Helping Out Without Code
March 4, 2014
There are many ways to help other people. Extraordinary ways to help include things like volunteering time, donating money, and conserving energy. We all help each other frequently in these ways. Donations have become such a large part of our lives, that we see advertisements for them on TV. We can claim a tax deduction […]
RocPy: Advanced Edition
February 23, 2014
On February 18, I attended RocPy yet again. My classmates and I previously graced the meetup with our presence a few times, as part of the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software class at RIT. This time, however, we have “graduated” to advanced status: we’re now in the second course in the sequence, known as […]
Advanced FOSS Project 1 Proposal
February 15, 2014
Title of Hack Entropy Short Description of Hack Rates wallpapers based on a variety of criteria Software Libraries Needed (e.g. python packages, npm, ruby gems, etc…) PIL – load local images and manipulate pixels requests – load images from URL xlib – get screen information via x session Upstream Distribution Repository (e.g. pypi.python.org) PyPI, GitHub […]
A Raspberry Pi in the Face
February 10, 2014
Customizing hardware is a rewarding experience. There are few other things that can evoke the sense of wonder one experiences when they see something they made, or built, working. We certainly didn’t make the Raspberry Pi, but we are going to stand of the shoulders of the “giants” that did make it. THe best way […]
First…Err, Second Flight
January 30, 2014
Spring has sprung. Birds are singing. Clearly, winter is over and I’m ready to start grilling burgers outside again. Err, actually, maybe it’s not time for all of that spring-talk, yet. However, according to RIT and many other institutions of higher learning, it is indeed spring. The Spring Semester at RIT began this past Monday, […]
Version Control Should Be Taught More
December 18, 2013
Software is complex. Like really complex. Like millions of lines of code, several year-long development period, countless contributors complex. More and more, software is something done with others. Collaboratively. As a team. It then stands to reason that developers need to learn the best way to work with other developers. Version Control is an elegant […]
…And Where FOSS Wins
December 18, 2013
Continued from Part 1. The best system depends entirely on the needs of the user. Increasingly, the same software that the average user needs is becoming a reality on every OS. For development, there is an unparalleled amount of support and resources on Linux, even if you use it to develop for another platform like […]
Where FOSS Fails…
December 18, 2013
There are many instances in computing when the Free and Open Source methodology does not work. We live in a Capitalist society where software is just another product, a livelihood for a growing sector of the job market. I wish we lived in a world where everything was free, but paying rent is a thing, […]