Introduction to Static and Dynamic Typing

Grok Headline matches for Introduction to Static and Dynamic Typing

Adding Optional Static Typing to Python

Adding Optional Static Typing to Python 12/24/2004 01:09 PM
Adding Optional Static Typing to Python .. written an article

artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=85551
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"Adding Optional Static Typing to
Python"

"Adding Optional Static Typing to
Python" 12/25/2004 05:03 PM

"Java?s implementation of static typing
is stupid"

"Java?s implementation of static typing
is stupid" 05/19/2004 12:05 AM

Dynamic vs Static

Dynamic vs Static 11/20/2002 12:42 PM
Phil Ringnalda proposes a "Half-baked, and a little fried" hybrid dynamic/static weblog system: While browsing through Rasmus's Tips and Tricks...

Joy of Typing

Joy of Typing 08/07/2004 08:44 PM

When I was heavily into physics, I used to enjoy filling up pages after pages of rough white paper with equations using a B2 wood pencil.  I used the B2 pencil because it felt similar to chaulk on blackboard and rough paper made that nice scratching sound as you write on it.  The idea that I could be creative and productive anywhere with nothing more than some paper, a pencil, and some quiet was very attractive to me similar to the way one might feel with a powerful laptop these days.

I have similar feelings about the old IBM buckling spring keyboards, the kind that clicked loudly and pushed back sincerely to every keystroke.  It as lively as the Selectric keyboards but better because I didn't get the feeling that keyboard might bolt out the window any minute like I did while using a Seletric typewriter (maybe it was the lack of that electric 'trembling').

With today's mushy keyboards, typing feels like a chore and boring with my palms never leaving the palm rest.  But with old IBM keyboards, typing felt more exciting, as if I was playing a piano, with my palms bouncing up and down with my fingers coming up for air and diving down again for another bout with the feisty keys.

I missed that feeling so googled and found PCKeyboard .com.  Nice.

Is Typing a Necessary Skill?

Is Typing a Necessary Skill? 08/04/2004 05:17 PM

Key Advantage Typing 1.0

Key Advantage Typing 1.0 12/03/2003 05:00 PM
Key Advantage Typing is an amazing program for learning how to type!

Typing Trainer

Typing Trainer 08/28/2004 03:12 PM
Unicode

Through the Typing Glass

Through the Typing Glass 07/01/2004 12:22 PM

So you thought the upcoming enhancements to iChat AV sounded cool? Wait until you see Facetop:

Facetop superimposes transparent images of a computer's desktop over video images of the user to allow the user to look at the video and desktop at the same time.

The video shows a ghostly mirror image of the user so that when he points, his video reflection appears to touch objects on the screen. The system tracks fingertip position in the video to allow the user to control the mouse pointer.

Essentially it looks like two users are working with a pane of glass containing the desktop between them. UNC is developing this technology as part of their research into software to aid in pair programming over a distance. Pretty cool. This is possible on OSX right now, but Windows folks will apparently need to wait for Longhorn for the neccesary support.

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Improve your typing with KAT

Improve your typing with KAT 12/02/2003 12:29 AM
Do your fingers trip over themselves when typing e-mails or do they tie into knots when you're in iChat? Mac users suffering from poor typing skills might want to check out Key Advantage Typing from Programming Art.

Cat's Clicks: Tip-Top Typing

Cat's Clicks: Tip-Top Typing 08/03/2004 04:11 AM
G4 Tech TV Aug 3 2004 8:19AM GMT

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0 05/11/2004 06:23 AM
A touch-typing tutor.

What is the future of typing in public?

What is the future of typing in public? 03/06/2004 01:55 AM

ETCon is a conference like no other. This is not because of the quality of the speakers but because of the type of audience it gets and the culture that has self-generated around it. One of the most notable features of the ETCon culture is in the near-permanent and overt use of the laptop during sessions. It is not an exaggeration to say that half the people in the auditoria will have a computer open during a keynote. It's not an exaggeration to say that a significant proportion of those people will be multi-tasking enormously - finding a massive variety of ways of interacting with each other around the main topic of discussion.

There will be an IRC channel - co-occupied by (1) the kind of attendees who can't work at home without having fifty windows open on their computer, the TV on with the sound off and loud trance music pounding into their frontal lobes and (2) those poor unfortunate long-distance virtual hecklers who couldn't get out of work or couldn't afford to participate in person who spend half their time trying to work out what's going on and the other half of their time trying to get someone to ask questions on their behalf.

There will be the SubEthaEdit gang (a group I fear I belong to), whose mission will be to attempt to get the clearest transcription of the event in question and who may or may not require the discipline of writing to help them keep everything in their heads. There are a variety of sub-types of SubEthaEditors, including the blind transcribers, the commenters and the newbies. This year I fell into the role of blind transcriber, by dint of being able to type faster than most people. I hoped that other people would amend the notes around the place, and fix any errors I created, but - on the whole - SubEthaEdit this year for me became more of a broadcast experience.

Then there are the people who are surfing the net, or posting direct to their weblogs, or throwing files between each other over iChat or AIM or who are playing with the subject of the talk in question (cf. Ludicorp's piece on Flickr, are actually trying to finish off their own papers or (as I often think might be the case with Cory Doctorow) paying their bills, organising their next speaking gig and knocking out a draft of their latest novel.

All in all then, the experience of ETCon is of a place in which a hell of a lot of people do a hell of a lot of typing.

At ETCon this year, Cory Doctorow did a piece on e-books that I've talked about before. His argument is that e-books can't compete with paper at what paper does best. The DRM'd versions of novels that only allow you to read in a linear fashion - well these aspire to be 'proper' books, but they can't hope to reach that level because of the absence of viscera. E-books simply aren't attractive, engaging, smelly, textural or beautiful objects. This kind of e-book may be portable, but you still can't take it into the bath with you.

But why should e-books be operating only at the level of what paper does best? Why shouldn't they concentrate more on what they can add to the experience. If you give out a plain text version of your novel, then so much more becomes possible that wasn't before - grepping / cutting / selective printing / copy & pasting / running simple scripts against / reading in any platform in any place and at any time / distributing and redistributing. If viewed in this perspective, then the gestalt of the paper book and the e-book is enormously potent. And if you take away the e-book, then the paper book might seem - well, broken.

At ETCon, that's how those of us who are continually backchannelling think the experience of the conference for those without backchannel wifi-enabled social access to the concurrently written-into-existence e-conference must be. Those people who don't engage in the larger conference are having a truncated experience of the event. It's as if they'd decided to walk into a paper with a blindfold on.

I say all of this because I'm aware how odd it can sound. Since my return to the UK I've been to two events - one was ConCon, and there simply weren't enough power-points to allow people to be engaged in any signicant degree of back-channelling. But then the papers were summaries, they were truncations, densely-packed contextualisers that served little purpose other than to inspire questions. ConCon was of a scale where the size and social dynamics of the group meant that back-channelling was simply less necessary. And even here typing went on here and there, unremarked upon, normal.

The other event I've attended was the AIGA UK event at the Design Council where representatives of the BBC spoke. And there a very different dynamic was in place. I was pretty much the only person in the room with an open laptop - trying to take very sparse and occasional notes (given the paucity of power-supplies) - and it became very clear to me very quickly that in a room of roughly 100/150 people, the muffled noise of my very occasional typing was considered to be rude and intrusive. The assumption was that I was doing stuff that was not related to the event concerned, that I was demonstrably not engaging with what was going on and that the open laptop was a direct affront to the spirit of the event. And in the meantime, I wanted to follow up some of the points online, I wanted to explore the issues more fully, I found myself passing my laptop to a neighbour so that he could see what I was thinking about. Much like a book without an e-book, the event seemed a little broken without a backchannel, without wifi. And I seemed to be the only one who noticed.

A couple of years ago I wouldn't have been surprised by this attitude, but after two ETCons it seems vaguely archaic - particularly when surrounded by an apparent fraternity of highly web-literate Londoners. But it's not limited to London - Stewa rt reports going to Infest in Vancouver and discovering an environment in which large numbers of geeks go to a conference and feel absolutely no need to backchannel, no need to have their laptops open, no need to note-take or collaborate or discuss in parallel.

So I wonder to myself which way are we moving. Are we moving more towards a ubiquitous computing presence where laptop note-taking at events and back-channelling are more common than now, where it breaks out of the individual contexts of ETCon and spreads more widely into other geek conferences, discussion-based events or even into work or conversational meetings. Or is this kind of overt back-channelling going to remain the provenance of a very particular clump of conference cultures - perhaps only percolating elsewhere in a more backgrounded, perpetual but less overtly lean-forward kind of way.

In essence what I'm asking is: What is the future of typing in public?

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Arcade Typing Tutor 1.0

Arcade Typing Tutor 1.0 08/04/2004 04:44 PM
OpenGL arcade typing tutor based on the classic arcade game missile defender.

Typing Trainer 1.0rc3

Typing Trainer 1.0rc3 09/06/2004 11:19 PM
Software to exercise typing skills.

TypeFaster Typing Tutor

TypeFaster Typing Tutor 04/10/2004 02:05 PM
TypeFaster 0.3 includes a 3d game

Speed Typing Test

Speed Typing Test 02/06/2005 03:24 AM
Speed Typing Test v0.5: Initial Release

Mac 911: Slowing down typing toddler

Mac 911: Slowing down typing toddler 06/17/2005 04:34 PM
Have a small child who loves to bang on your laptop? Make his access a little less universal with this trick.

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0.3

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0.3 03/25/2005 09:38 PM
Makes learning to type easy, with step-by-step instruction.

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 2.4 released

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 2.4 released 10/29/2003 12:09 AM
Runtime Revolution today announced that Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 2.4 is now available...

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0.3 released

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0.3 released 03/30/2005 07:38 AM
Runtime Revolution today announced the release of Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor 3.0.3, the latest version of its software that helps users learn to touch type...

Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor

Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor 04/12/2005 11:06 PM
First release

Typing tabs and carriage returns into
text areas

Typing tabs and carriage returns into
text areas 12/09/2003 11:00 AM
klieb2000's tip about importing CSV data into AppleWorks mentioned a workaround for typing a tab into a textarea (rather than tabbing to the next control). Instead of copy pasting a tab into the find and replace fields, just ...

Business card scanner can save time,
typing

Business card scanner can save time,
typing 12/18/2003 08:02 AM
San Jose Mercury News Dec 18 2003 7:44AM ET

Zipkeys, One-click Typing, Released by
Doolicity Innovations

Zipkeys, One-click Typing, Released by
Doolicity Innovations 06/22/2005 01:51 AM
Zipkeys lets users quickly, easily and cost-effectively respond to e-mails, customer service requests, and any other repetitive or redundant task. [PRWEB Jun 20, 2005]

ProTouch XT protects keyboard but
maintains typing feel

ProTouch XT protects keyboard but
maintains typing feel 07/12/2004 07:13 AM
iSkin Inc. introduced a keyboard protector called ProTouch XT on Friday. ProTouch XT was designed to fit Apple's regular and wireless keyboards in a form-fitting manner that keeps out debris while maintaining the typing feel, in addition to dampening keystroke noise. It can be removed and washed off whenever necessary. The ProTouch XT retails for US$29.99 and comes in blue and transparent colors, with more on the way, according to iSkin. The company also notes that the cover doesn't fit Apple's older Pro keyboard nor its USB keyboard.

Tie-Static-0.04

Tie-Static-0.04 04/10/2005 03:49 AM

Still a lot of static

Still a lot of static 02/17/2004 06:32 PM
CNN Feb 17 2004 11:18PM GMT

Still getting static

Still getting static 07/06/2004 01:54 AM
USA Today Jul 6 2004 6:07AM GMT

No static. Democratic.

No static. Democratic. 12/30/2004 08:00 PM
Channel 101 - Democratic "television" on the web. Shows include The 'Bu (first episode in 3-D!!!), the bizarre Ringwald and Molly, Laser Fart, the much downloaded Kicked in the Nuts!, and many more. Some shows may be NSFW.

Anti-Static Pen

Anti-Static Pen 03/22/2005 04:46 PM

Those of us who dabble inside of their PCs have surely, at one time, concerned themselves with static electricity. Sure you can take some precautions like getting one of those retarded looking wrist things or touching some metal object. But why would you want to do that when you can now spend $29 on a "Static Zapper Pen?" When I first read the product name, I thought the pen could actually zap people (like a pen tazer), but I shed a tear to learn that it is for preventing static shocks.

Product Page [CompactImpact via TRFJ]

Static Calendar

Static Calendar 12/22/2004 01:57 AM
Static Calendar Proposal as seen on Slashdot This is something I found on Slashdot and thougt was interesting. Judging by the savvy website of the new calendar's creator, I doubt we'll be having "Newton" months anytime soon. Check it out.

Rhythmic static

Rhythmic static 06/17/2005 04:25 PM
I've occasionally noticed static playing over speakers in roughly the same rhythm: a quarter note and three triplets. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. At first I thought it was something wrong with my PC speakers or sound card. But I've also heard it over the headphones while waiting to go live at a professional radio station. And I heard it over the speakers in the back of a London cab yesterday. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. Is this some predictable electrical noise, like a 60-cycle hum? Or is it a coded message from our equipment?...

Now with static FTP rendering!

Now with static FTP rendering! 06/15/2004 07:57 PM

I just got an email pitching the new Manila server. Talk about your bad timing.

Static over RFID

Static over RFID 09/13/2004 06:55 AM
A key patent holder wants royalties. If that starts a trend, adoption of radio frequency identification technology could suffer.

Static content generation

Static content generation 12/12/2003 08:57 PM

Ian Bicking has an interesting pieces on using static publishing in a CMS. The choice between static and dynamic when building software for the web is a critical one, and one that I think deserves in-depth discussion.

In a dynamic site, pages are assembled "on the fly" as and when they are requested. Most PHP powered sites do this and as PHP as a technology actively encourages dynamic content creation. Generating pages dynamically allows for all sorts of clever applications, from random quote generators to full on web applications such as Hotmail.

In a static publishing system, HTML pages are pre-generated by the publishing software and stored as flat files on the web server, ready to be served. This approach is less flexible than dynamic generation in many ways and is often ignored as an option as a result, but in fact the vast majority of content sites consist of primarily static pages and could be powered by static content generation without any loss of functionality to the end user.

The most widespread example of a static publishing system I've seen is Moveable Type, which rebuilds static files for a site each time a weblog entry is added or modified - although it can be configured to serve content dynamically instead.

At first glance, the benefits of dynamic publishing are obvious. What is frequently ignored are the benefits of static publishing, at least for content-driven sites which don't have any heavy need for dynamic features. The most obvious benefit is performance; serving static files is what web servers such as Apache are optimised to do, and they can do it fast. A second advantage is reliability, as Ian explains:

A big part is that it takes the pressure off of going live. I can be sure before going live that the public website is correct. The actual CMS may explode in flames, but the site will be fine. Going live with a web application is always a stressful process, and anything that reduces the stress of that is a great benefit. As time goes on, static publishing is also a big stress reduction for the system administrator, since a simple Apache configuration is a lot more reliable under different loads and configurations than any dynamic site will be.

I've been developing dynamic sites almost exclusively for the past two or three years, but a couple of my most recent projects were static rather than dynamic. These were the LJWorld.com Coupons site and the KUSports.com photo galleries. I wanted to write both of these in Python, because doing so would make the process of transferring them over to our new mod_python powered CMS (currently in development) far less involved. Unfortunately our main production servers don't currently have mod_python configured, and we weren't overly keen on setting it up there for the sake of a couple of small projects. Instead I decided to write the administration interfaces using Python CGI scripts, but generate the actual front end pages (which would see far heavier traffic) as static files.

In addition to the performance and reliability benefits, an additional benefit is that static generation provides a simple "staging area" style feature for free. Both the coupons and the gallery interfaces allow users to make multiple changes to site content safe in the knowledge that none of the changes will become visible until the "Publish Site" button is selected. At first I was worried that this extra step could prove confusing, but in practise it allows our content producers to make changes in a safe environment, without fear of accidentally breaking the public site while they are working.

Static content generation certainly isn't appropriate for every project, but for plain content sites sites that don't need dynamic features it's a much more viable option than many people think.

Britain: Static for a Statin

Britain: Static for a Statin 06/22/2004 05:09 PM
Business Week Jun 22 2004 9:30PM GMT

PHP Static Class Variables

PHP Static Class Variables 12/02/2002 01:17 PM
Static class variables are variables that are shared among all instances of a particular class. Although PHP supports static variables in functions, it has no support for static variables in classes. This functionality can be pretty important in some situations, and I will now describe a way to simulate it.

OAI-PMH Static Repository Gateway

OAI-PMH Static Repository Gateway 07/12/2004 02:04 PM
Minor bugs fixed on CVS version
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Introduction to Static and Dynamic Typing

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