Getting True Java Classes in JRuby

R.J. Lorimer — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:41:51 -0700

This is an interesting thing I ran across when dealing with JRuby 1.1.4 and Swing - some of this may be just my lack of understanding of some of the Java integration features, some of it may be lingering bugs in the Java integration, and some of it may just be what has to be done to make it work; anyway - here goes.

JRuby 1.1.4 Released

R.J. Lorimer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:41:50 -0700

JRuby 1.1.4 has been released.

There are a huge number of repairs and performance improvements related to the Java integration in this release. This is great for me, as I have hit some real stumbling blocks trying to build Swing GUIs with JRuby 1.1.3, and the bugs I was being tripped up by, have been fixed.

Highlights after the break:

My XBox

R.J. Lorimer — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:22:42 -0700

Well, I thought I was one of the few to have avoided the red ring of death, but sadly I was wrong. I am now without my 360, and much more bitter because of it.

Recently, I haven’t even been gaming with it. It has been fulfilling a much more complete role as my living room media center.

Now it is a brick wasting space in my entertainment stack. Piece of crap.

Why So Serious?

R.J. Lorimer — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:25:57 -0700

Yes, I am still alive - and I am back - at least for the moment.

What’s happened since my last post?

I got hitched
I started posting over at InfoQ.com
China cheated in the Olympics
Obama walked all over Clinton’s campaign
I - bought - a - Mac. (Keep your eyes open for the other signs of the apocalypse)
Russia rolled into Georgia (and Rednecks valiantly guard the border)

And that is it. Nothing else has happened. To anyone. (more…)

Quietude

R.J. Lorimer — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:48:40 -0700

Sorry for the overwhelming quiet here on RealJenius.com - I’m getting married in two weeks now, and it has been a bit of a time-consuming ‘project’.

Unfortunately, that probably also means that the next two to four weeks will still be quiet.

Rest assured, I haven’t died.

…. and I also got Mass Effect, which might also be a slight additional time-sink in my life ;)

Boyd Coddington Has Died

R.J. Lorimer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:01:36 -0800

Boyd Coddington (whom many people know from American Hot Rod) has died at age 63.

Boyd was a very influential member of the custom car/hot-rod industry in America, and it’s sad to see him go.

Moved to Google Apps

R.J. Lorimer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:38:17 -0800

Tonight I officially kicked off the process of moving to Google Apps for my email, calendar, and also for google docs, which I use quite a bit.

I plan to blog on it more, but for now I will say the process was relatively simple, although moving from a fully configured GMail account to a Google Apps account should be less painful than it is.

Did You Know: JFace ArrayContentProvider

R.J. Lorimer — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:45:36 -0800

When coding in Eclipse RCP or, for that matter, any JFace based UI, you often times are implementing viewers, which require a content provider and a label provider. In most cases, you’re dealing with the IStructuredContentProvider API, which would be appropriate for both the ListViewer and TableViewer classes.

If you have a need to populate these views with data that is effectively static, you can use the org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ArrayContentProvider class to get you up and running quickly; and it is really quite functional in many cases.

Comments and Contact Broken - Uhh... Whoops?

R.J. Lorimer — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:26:23 -0800

Okay, so I guess my CAPTCHA has been broken on realjenius.com for a while now. I don’t know how long because nobody was able to comment or for that matter contact me through the contact form… because the CAPTCHA was broken.

I’d say I’m sorry, but… well, I’m not really. Anyway - you can comment again - enjoy!

Live Action Akira

R.J. Lorimer — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:32:09 -0800

Autoblog.com has posted that a live-action adaptation of the Akira manga is in the works.

Amidst all the great animes we’ve been exposed to, Akira stands out. Set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, the neo-classic featured everything we’ve come to expect from Japan’s animation wizards: stunning artwork, imaginative plot lines and absolutely killer conveyances - particularly the bikes which easily put Tron to shame.