5. 2010-08-06

    I ran into some problems while I was trying to install python bindings for the Growl notification framework on my MacBook Pro. My Mac is running the current release of Snow Leopard ( 10.6.4 ) and I'm using a python.org installed binary package of python, under /usr/local/python. Building using distutils and the supplied setup.py failed, seemingly because the compiler was unable to find quite routine include files, such as stdarg.h and float.h .

    /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/stdarg.h:4:25: error: stdarg.h: No such file or directory

    This error message both confused and perturbed me, because stdarg is a fairly fundamental component of a working C library, and I am pretty certain that my compiler isn't that fundamentally broken.

    Picking apart the build output from the generated Makefile, I see that it is setting the -isysroot gcc flag, to /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/ . I presume this is because the python installation is built to use the OS X 10.4 compatability SDK. This is why it's pulling in /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/stdarg.h . That header is a stub, and included the following stanza



    /* GCC uses its own copy of this header */
    #if defined(GNUC)
    #include_next


    #include_next is a gcc extension to cpp, and instructs the preprocessor to start searching for the include file again starting with the next directory on the include path after this one. Standard libraries like stdarg and float can be quite compiler specific, and as the comment indicates, GCC is expected to have it's own copy of this header file, which would be put away somewhere under /usr/lib/gcc .

    At this point, a nagging memory of building cocoa apps with XCode resurfaced, suggesting that the 10.4 SDK isn't compatible with gcc-4.2 ( the system default gcc under snow leopard ). GCC 4.0 is supplied though, for use with building against legacy SDKs. On this whim, I tried exporting CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.0 and rebuilding, and everything worked as it should.

    From inspection, it seems like the snow supplied leopard python is built to use 10.6 SDKs and gcc-4.2 and may well be a more sensible python to use. Further googling ducking , turned up this bug report .

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  7. 2009-06-09

    Because I've been in the mood for photo housekeeping, here's the remainder of the photographs from our trip to Manhattan last Christmas. They're mostly concerned with a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge which occurred on the very morning of Christmas day.

    NYC Christmas, part Two

    We took the train down to Brooklyn and just leisurely walked across. The weather and views were rather stunning, and the city much quieter than usual. We did run into a bit of footpath congestion at the Manhattan terminus; the comic image of a frustrated, lycra-enveloped cyclist failing to exert his right-of-way, in opposition to the crowds, camply yelling "Hello! Bicycle lane!" will stay impressed on my memory.

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  8. 2009-06-07

    Thanks to some free air miles obtained when I signed up for my last credit card, we managed to get an entirely free weekend's accommodation (self-catering apartment, right in the city centre), and flights (BA, return from Gatwick) to anywhere in the closest European zone. The only catch was that they needed to be cashed-in before the end of February '09. We elected to re-visit Dublin, as Mrs S. spent several months living and working there, back when she was studying towards her degree. That was several years ago, neither of us have been back since.

    It hasn't changed much. Right before we left, we discovered the exciting news that we were in the family way . This rather curtailed the traditional Dublin entertainment of drinking stout (the Guinness does taste better, you know) and bar-crawling. Perhaps the most striking change was the effect of the recent economic turmoil upon the sterling exchange rate. Dublin was never the cheapest city, but now things were positively eye-watering; a pint of Guiness was pushing five pounds, a decidedly average meal for two (with no alcohol) in a vegetarian restaurant easily overshot the forty pound mark. Luckily with free travel and accommodation leaving enough elasticity in our spending budget, we managed a relaxed weekend break without risking bankruptcy.

    The February weather was cold, windy and occasionally damp. Wind-swept and grey rather suits this city by the sea. On on the evening we flew in, the night of the 14th, we somehow managed to blunder straight in and secure a last-minute table for two in a little Italian bistro, minutes after we'd unpacked; saving us from having to hurriedly improvise a meal with limited shopping options.

    Most of the rest of the time we just cruised around the city streets, feeding the ducks in the park, dipping into second-hand-book shops, cafe's and what proved to be an astonishingly well-stocked Gibson guitar dealer, where I ogled an array of the fancy new auto-mechanical-tuning robot guitars. I was particularly taken by the effect of the grimy, yet bright, winter sky reflecting off the mosaic-tile pools in the Garden of Remembrance.

    Dublin: Feb '09

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  10. 2009-06-02

    PatchMatch : A randomized correspondence algorithm for structural image editing.

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  12. 2009-04-27

    In Britain, butterflies are also on the wane. In the 19th century, they would flock in the wild in quantities sufficient to obscure your view. Now as populations dwindle , they're a rare treat.

    I've see a lot of encouraging signs of rehabilitated wildlife, as I wander round the green corridors of Bristol, walking that dog . We don't see many butterflies.

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  14. 2009-04-26

    I often travel with a laptop. I almost invariably travel with a charged mobile phone. I enjoy using the fancy multi-touch trackpad in my MacBook Pro, but an odd thing happens sometimes when I've put my phone down nearby on the desk; I reach automatically to try and use the phone as a computer mouse. One of those amusing peculiarities of muscle-memory and reflex that can surprise, when you're engaged by something, within the computer, verging upon a liminal state.

    It's a slightly amusing quirk, but when I think further about it, I find plenty of reasons why it perhaps ought to work.

    External mice are more useful than trackpads, although not enough use to me to justify carting one around. My phone is palm-sized, about the ideal weight, is already paired with my laptop over bluetooth, has clickable buttons all over one face, and an optical camera on the reverse. In short, it already has most of the technology needed to be a wireless optical mouse.

    Most but not all. I'm a bit dubious about whether it could be done in software alone. I doubt that the lens will focus well enough to motion tracking without a special surface, and it's completely lacking the light source, but it is almost tempting enough to try. It might be feasible with some sort of very recognisable surface, perhaps a monchrome checkerboard grid, which would be very easy to render and print.

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  15. 2009-04-21

    Baby pictures
    Strickland 2.0 announced. Late October launch.

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  17. 2010-05-19 

      It's been a good long while since I've been able to blog anything of substance. Some of that is down to lack of time, I've been frantically busy the last few months, much as you'd expect. There also were some dull technological barriers that were making it awkward to update and maintain this site. <br><br> I've moved the hosting to a new location, it's currently residing on a xen virtual server instance provided by <a href="http://linode.com">linode</a>. While I was migrating things around, I've tried to package it up a little more portably, and in future I ought to be able to move it easily to anywhere I can run a linux host. I also took the opportunity to tidy up the page templates, and cobble together a new theme. I'm still poking that around a little bit, let me know if you find any rough edges.<br><br> <h4>New job!</h4><br><br> Aside from adjusting myself to my <a href="http://beatworm.co.uk/blog/ada/im-a-rapper-with-a-baby/">wonderful new daughter</a>, I've gone and got myself a new job. I wasn't really aware that I was looking for one, but life can surprise you like that sometimes. I'm now working as a Database Architect at <a href="http://last.fm/user/colins/">Last.fm</a> and I couldn't be happier about that. Not only is last.fm an awesome site, which has long been one of my favourite things on the web, but the intersection between high volume web services, big databases, and music nerdery is very definitely my kind of niche.<br><br><br><br> <h4>Move to London</h4><br><br> One small drawback with this full-time role was that it was based in London. We did weigh up the various commuting options, but after some deliberation, decided to take the plunge, and relocate, at least temporarily to London.<br><br> This meant finding somewhere to rent. Somewhere to rent that would take a baby and a dog. A location in the city with suitable dog exercise routes close at hand. Ideally a place from which I could daily commute to <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=last.fm&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=16.450021,44.428711&ie=UTF8&hq=last.fm&hnear=&ll=51.528457,-0.086882&spn=0.004052,0.010847&z=17&iwloc=A">Shoreditch</a> without too much trouble. Obviously we'd have to be able to afford it on one salary, whilst still maintaining a mortgage on the house in Bristol in the interim. Rather a tall order.<br><br> After balancing up the variables we settled on the Balham/Clapham area. After a few complicated expeditions up to view properties with little success, we managed to secure something with only days to spare, just down the road in Tooting Bec. A rather roomy <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Elmbourne+Road,+Wandsworth&sll=51.434735,-0.150461&sspn=0.008628,0.015535&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Elmbourne+Rd,+Wandsworth,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.434655,-0.150611&spn=0.008575,0.015535&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.434733,-0.15047&panoid=hH03gMlSJRXaMcWDe_cQ_w&cbp=12,273.93,,0,6.37">ground floor flat facing right onto Tooting Bec common</a>. It's just a short walk to the Northern line, which leaves me with a manageable half-hour or so trip to work, door to door.<br><br> So the last few months have seen quite a furious pace of changes. Mostly I've been finding it all invigorating, and exciting, rather than incapacitating, but things can seem to be wooshing by, and there <em>definitely</em> aren't as many hours in the day as there used to be. Five years ago I'd have been amazed at what the me of 2010 would be getting up to. Interesting times.
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