http://michelf.com/weblog/ 2012-01-22T22:17:30Z Thoughts about computers, language, and society by a learned programmer who likes Macs and typography. Copyright © 2010 Michel Fortin Michel Fortin michel.fortin@michelf.com tag:www.michelf.com,2012-01-22:/weblog/2012/petition

I got an impression of déjà vu when I found this petition about MPAA bribery on the White House’s website (via Slashdot).

2012-01-22T22:16:17Z 2012-01-22T22:17:30Z tag:www.michelf.com,2012-01-18:/weblog/2012/whats-important/

When drafting a law, just like when writing a computer program, we should always keep in mind how it can be abused and what are the consequences of those abuses. Because sooner or later, it will. Usually sooner than later.

2012-01-18T17:03:52Z 2012-01-18T20:28:32Z tag:www.michelf.com,2011-12-12:/weblog/2011/index-set-foreach/

Index sets can be a little annoying in Objective-C. Unlike arrays, sets and dictionaries, you can’t iterate over them using a straightforward for (a in b) loop. That’s because unlike other Objective-C containers, index sets contains integers, not objects. Now, since Mac OS X 10.6 you can use a block to iterate over an index set, but this isn’t always ideal: breaking out of the loop is more complicated, and returning from the block doesn’t return from the outer function. So what can we do better?

2011-12-12T12:01:29Z 2011-12-12T12:07:58Z tag:www.michelf.com,2011-11-12:/weblog/2011/lion-resizable-edges/

In the old days of Mac OS 8 and 9, windows had a tick border and you could click and drag anywhere in that border to move the window around. This disappeared in Mac OS X when windows became borderless. Mac OS X Lion still has borderless windows, but if you know where to click you can move many windows around from the edges.

2011-11-12T21:06:39Z 2011-11-12T21:07:55Z tag:www.michelf.com,2011-07-25:/weblog/2011/dock-fullscreen-lion/

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion has streamlined full screen mode for many apps. Full screen mode get you in a distraction-free where the menu bar and the dock are hidden you only see one window covering the whole screen. Getting to the menu bar is easy: move your mouse pointer at the top and it’ll reveal itself. The dock is as easy: move your mouse pointer to the bottom and let it slide back… or is it?

2011-07-25T15:34:12Z 2011-07-25T15:34:12Z