Creative Abstractions

Zig Zag

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:11:51 +0000

So, if you've tried to visit this website between 2010-02-05 and 2010-02-13, you probably noticed that it had been replaced by a rather boring and empty page, that told a story about how I no longer had a server, and thus had given up on restoring the content from my former site (this one.) Well, I have yet to get the hard drive from my old server, so there may be some content missing on here, but I did find a fairly recent backup. Anyway, the circumstances behind the site moving, can be found by reading more of this article.

PSpec = RSpec + Cucumber for Perl 6

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:35:10 +0000

I've been playing with Ruby lately, and am quite enjoying it. It seems like a very clean language, and has a lot of good features going for it as well, including testing frameworks such as RSpec and Cucumber. Being me, I wondered what a Perl 6 version would look like. Also being me, I decided that the best way to find out, would be to write it.

Renaming Hash Keys

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:18:20 +0000

Not sure if you've ever needed to rename a hash key before, but I have. I also noticed that it doesn't look like any of the languages I work with have a native method/function to rename hash keys. So, I've taken the liberty to write them. These are just for fun, and are released as public domain code snippets, feel free to use them in whatever you want. There are versions for Perl 6, Ruby, Perl 5 and Python. Enjoy!

Upcoming Writing

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:47:06 +0000

This is related to the last update I had on my writing projects, and offers a small glimpse of what is to come. In the full article I have some details on what I'm planning to do to expand my short story, A Snake in the Garden of Eden, as well as a very small excerpt from my planned micro-fiction series The Ark, and a concept pitch for another series of short fiction called Gates. If you like short science fiction stories, read the rest.

Vigenère cipher in Perl 6

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:18:38 +0000

So, yesterday the Perl 6 Advent Calendar had a challenge, to make a decent version of the ancient Caesar Cipher. Well, while looking into that, I found an article about the Vigenère cipher and thought, hey, that could be interesting. Further searches revealed that there was already a Perl 5 module that had been designed to implement the cipher. I took it upon myself to port Crypt::Vigenere to Perl 6, and think the results are pretty cool. It's not a CPAN-ready module by any stretch, but it gives you an idea of what is possible using Perl 6, right now, today.

The End of The Beginning

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:11:47 +0000

Next year, this website will be 15 years old, the domain name 13. Shade will be 12, Jargon 11, the name creative abstractions 10. Some people say the world will end in 2012. Well, for this website, as it currently exists, it ends in 2010.

My Dad

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:21:42 +0000

My Dad was a strong man. A funny man. A firey-tempered man. A man who could laugh. A man who could cry. A man who could whisper. A man who could yell. A man who could teach. A man who could love.

On TV and Writing

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:06:27 +0000

This is a short update. Two items to mention, both of which I will expand upon on Saturday. First off, Torchwood: Children of Earth kicks ass! It's totally amazing. Only two more days and I'll be able to give a better review of the series, but so far it's surpassed my expectations. Lovin' it! Okay, the second thing: A Snake in the Garden of Eden has been updated (three new chapters for your entertainment). The short story that I've been working on for two years, and I'm finally nearing completion. In the Scrawl-land, I've officially stopped working on Bloodline. It's done, over, kaput. It was a neat idea, but I can't connect with it anymore. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again and continue, but for now, it's finished. I've also put Hard City on ice, but this is temporary. I do intend to finish episode 2, and possibly add a few more episodes to complete the "season". In the case of Hard City, it will not be renewed for a second season. That will wait until I'm done Snake... though. In furthur writing related news, I do have a project that will be similar to Hard City in context, but that takes place in the Snake universe. It may start before I finish Hard City, so be on the lookout for The Ark.

Life...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:11:54 +0000

Well, June 22nd was my off-the-net 30th birthday. It was good not staring at a computer screen all day. Anyway, at least I was getting another year older. The very next day we lost Ed McMahon, and today he was joined by Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Sad losses, all of them.

Panarchism as an ideal

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:04:16 +0000

Thinking recently about the Omnique Way, and some of the concepts like Voluntary Society and Community Standards. One of the cornerstones of the concept is the idea that you could have a community of theodemocratic communists mixed in the middle of a community of technocratic capitalists. This is very similar to the concept of Panarchism, which I endorse as its own standalone movement outside the scope of the Omnique Way. Anyway, this is just a brain dump, I'll expand out my thoughts later in a proper article. Until then, be free!