So this evening, I’ve been working on a pretty complex logic flow for a-project-to-remain-nameless-at-this-time. After using several sheets of paper, a whiteboard, and OmniGraffle, I finally resorted to an old favorite of mine: index cards. But this time, I used a bit of a twist.
This part of my application has three potential entry points, and two “endgame” states; I broke up each “chunk” (many represent subroutines) onto a separate index card, marking entry routines with an arrow in the corner, and endgame routines with “#END#” at the bottom. Now, I just trace execution from each entry point with every possible environment permutation. If they all eventually hit an “#END#” card, my logic is sound. 
Don’t you love index cards?
Note: this article is part of a series of articles on my real-world App Store experiment. The first one was App Power: An Experiment.
So, a mere 14 days after I proposed my idea to enter into this real-world experiment, the application is done: today, it heads off to the App Store for approval. Barring any delays, it’s slated for release mid-February, with the formal announcement of exactly what it is coming a few days before. (more…)
We’re all familiar with blogs (hint: this is one). We’re also all reasonably familiar with what’s popularly termed micro-blogging, a la Twitter. But what happens when you want to write something that’s kind of in the middle?
I’m making a simple attempt to fill the gap with what I’m appropriately calling mini-blogging: short blog posts with all of their content “above the fold” (ie, no “(more)” link). This is one right here, and you can certainly expect to see more in the near future.
It’s time to conduct a little real-world experiment.
We’ve all (maybe?) heard the stories: brilliant young developer writes an iPhone app, puts it up for sale on the App Store, becomes a millionaire overnight. Now I’m not delusional enough to think that that could happen to me — I’m not brilliant enough, nor do I have the time/money to dedicate to marketing (the part they probably left out) — but the prospects are certainly alluring, and I think it’s time to put it to the test. (more…)
“Now what will become of 2009. I fear that 2008 went far too well for 2009 to possibly be good.” (Odes to ‘08 and ‘09)
It really is unfortunate when my predictions turn out to be accurate. 
I’m going to be honest with you: contrary to popular belief, 2009 was not the best year of my life. In fact, if I can be quite frank — which I can, it’s my blog 
— it was downright crappy. Proverbially speaking, the shit hit the fan, and it was pretty messy; you really can’t expect much out of a year that begins with a massive month-long fight with your best friend. And then business kinda’ failed. And then grades kinda’ tanked, too, and I’m currently taking a (forced) year off from Brown. To summarize, 2009 was the ultimate personification of Murphy’s Law. (more…)
This is the sidebar. Here is some interesting but relatively less important content.
Hi there, I'm Matt Patenaude, and I'm a Mac software developer. Over the years, I've made some cool apps with a collaboration called {13bold}. Why don't you check out my portfolio?
And for those of you who missed the subtle humor of the blog title, I'm 5' 1". That's right, revel in the wittiness.
@mattpat: Turns out it was actually a small leak that, compounded over several libraries, turned out to be a big one. :)
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