ironcoder

Posted by Tom Harrington

SparklePlus has been updated to version 0.3.

Changes in this version are:

• Updated to track Sparkle version 1.1 (a.k.a. svn revision 892).
• Added hardware model-name translation when asking if the user wants to send profile information, so that the user will see (for example) “iMac (Core Duo)” instead of “iMac4,1″.
• Archive unpacking handles multiply-encoded archives such as .tar.bz2 and .tar.gz
• Fixed these bugs:
• Made the check-for-updates window show the application name instead of “Sparkle Test App”
• Make checking for updates at startup actually happen, if the user previously said it was OK. Previously this would only happen on the first execution. Thanks to Dominique Peretti for pointing this out.
• Prevent multiple calls to -checkForUpdatesInBackground: when the profile-info nib can’t be found (thanks to Dominique Peretti again).
• Fix setting an incorrect value for SUSendProfileInfoKey when the profile-info nib can’t be found (thanks to Dominique Peretti yet again).

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p>You can get SparklePlus 0.3 through SVN here at ironcoder.org. That’d be: svn co http://ironcoder.org/svn/SparklePlus/tags/release-0.3

If you prefer to just download version 0.3 without all that mucking about with svn, there’s also a convenient tarball of this release.

Or if you want to keep up to date with it, grab the trunk and take your chances: svn co http://ironcoder.org/svn/SparklePlus/trunk

Oh geeze, it’s all over.  And congrats to Mark Dalrymple for coming in first place!  He’s our new Ironcoder!

Here’s the order the folks came in, and the apps they wrote: 1. Race Against Time, by Mark Dalrymple 2. TimeLapse, by Andy Kim 3. Zoner, by John Labovitz 4. What Have You Done for Me Lately? by Daniel Jalkut 5. Usage, by Grayson Hansard 6. Lcarstime, by Jason Terhorst 7. Falling Sand, by Jonathan Wight 8. WhereDidTheTimeGo, by August Fackler 9. Fuzzy Freddy, by Lucas Eckels 10. Relativity, by Philip Taff 11. SunMoonDial, by Chris Liscio 12. No time, by Duncan Wilcox 13. TopQuartz, by Chip Coons 14. MouseLapse, by Chris Parrish  15. DaliClock, by Kevin Ballard 16. Iron Dazzle, by Tom Harrington 17. Process Timer, by Peter Hosey 18. Time RSS Reader, by Jin Kim 19. BlindDogClock, by Jeff Szuhay 20. TapDance, by Mike Ash 21. RedWire, by Michael Buckley 22. TDWatch, by Geoff Pado

And honorable mention to Kitwana Akil for IC_Digital Clock (he entered it after the deadline).

And in case you are wondering what the top three prize picks were- Mark chose a subscription to Daring Fireball, Andy Kim chose the PowerMate, and Daniel Jalkut chose the RadioShark.  (John Labovitz wasn’t around on #macsb when we were handing out the prizes, but he still gets something; he just needs to contact me first).

There are still some prizes to give out to folks who couldn’t make the awards ceremony (more like awards madhouse if you ask me).  So if that’s you, send a message to the judge (gus@flyingmeat.com) and we’ll get ya something.

Wow, that was a lot of entries to judge.  I’m pooped.

So there’s one thing I would have done differently in hindsight- and that’s how the ranking was done.  Rather than have everyone ranked down to the last place, I’d rather give the picks of the prizes to the top 4 or 5 and then for everyone else have a raffle to determine who gets the next pick.  That way I don’t have to determine who comes in last place.  It was a little awkward judging people that I chat with every day and other folks I even go out to grab a beer with in meat space (hi Chris!).

So that’s a bit of advice I pass on to our next judge, Mark D.  He gets to make the rules next time around!

The appointed time is here.

We’ve had a record breaking 20 entries (plus one entry missing the deadline by a few minutes). Judging, appreciation and ridiculing is taking place in #macsb.

An anthology of all entries (all 21) can be downloaded here: http://ironcoder.org/entries/ironcoder_2.dmg

Individual entries can be found here: http://ironcoder.org/entries/ironcoder_2

The API and theme is…

CoreGraphics + Time!

All those fancy CG* calls, you better get familiar with them.  And make sure not to box yourself into doing just stuff to a display; don’t forget that you can create a context and write something to a bitmap or even PDF.

And here’s a sample app: ICNewtime.zip.  It’s a variation on a clock, showing the hour, minutes, and seconds as circles, and the day of the year, and the day of the week as lines.  Very modern.

But don’t think that you have to do a clock!  Be creative! Be inventive! Be … a rebel! 

Iron coder starts today at 5:00pm CDT (22:00 UTC).  The API and theme will be posted up here at that time, and what follows are the offical rules as dictated by Chairman Mueller.

Friday, July 21, 5pm CDT (22:00 UTC): API and Theme will be announced. Sunday, July 23, 5pm CDT (22:00 UTC): Judging will begin (hopefully.  that’s when you’re entries need to have been uploaded anyway).

Judging will be based on four criteria: * Style * Technical expertise * Use of API and theme * Cool factor

Some rules: * The programs must run in their own address space- so that rules out input managers and haxies. The program must also run without authentication. * Source code has to be included, and you’ve got to be ok with it being public. * New projects only! The idea is to try and cram all development into a 48hr period. * If it’s some sort of movie, or something that you have to sit through, it can’t be longer than 1:27 seconds. * Files must be under 5mb compressed (for uploading). * A quick little blurb on how to run your program, what it does, and how it ties into the theme is probably a good idea. * The app has to be totally self contained. We don’t want files littered all over the judge’s system. * The judge has to be able to compile the code. * Instant disqualification if judge is too scared to run the code. * You must be willing to be the next competition’s judge.

Iron Coder is almost here! Only 3 more days! So I thought it would be good to give our wonderful sponsors a little bit o’ exposure, and list what is being given out to the winner(s). So here are the prizes, listed in alpha order by company name:

Bitcartel Software: RadioLover, iRecordMusic and ComicBookLover.

Code Sorcery Workshop: Pukka.

Daring Fireball: two one-year memberships each with a DF t-shirt of the winner’s choice.

Delicious Monster: Delicious Library.

Flying Meat: VoodooPad, FlySketch and FlyGesture.

From Concentrate Software: MacDialer or SiteTagger (winners choice!).

Griffin Technology iFill, RadioShark, iTrip and PowerMate.

Happy Apps: WebnoteHappy licenses.

Infinite Nexus Software: Compare Folders.

Inventive: iClip

The Little App Factory: iPodRip and Connoisseur.

Martian Technology: SlingShot.

Mindvision/eSellerate: FileStorm.

Potion Factory: Podcast Maker and Voice Candy.

Roobasoft: 3 rooSwitch licenses.

Second Gear: 3 month Porchlight Pro subscription.

Specere: Menuet

Stairways Software: Interarchy.

Stunt Software: Pick from On The Job, PhotoBooth, Downsize or Overflow.

Widget Machine: NotePad and VoiceNotes.

Sweeeeeeeeet.