Via an indirect link, I came across an old (2002) post someone made about Holy Shit moments and got to wondering what constituted my list. While this is nowhere near comprehensive, I stand by it.

• Napster – I don’t recall exactly who first told me about Napster, but I remember I had spent the previous few weeks trying to find mp3s that worked and were of decent quality. The selection available was poor and the amount of searching needed was silly. Then Napster happened. You typed in the name of whatever you wanted and it would appear, ready to download. Wow.
• Pipes (Unix) – It took a while for this to hit home, but the really rather simple idea of pipes was a definite Holy Shit. That one command could be used as the input for another, and that used as an argument for another (and so on) was a very useful realisation.
• Design Patterns – I admit that I was extremely sceptical about the usefulness of patterns, and I also admit that it usually takes me a while to really get any given pattern but when I finally see the light, it’s a Holy Shit moment.
• Super Mario 64 – I remember going into Glasgow on the N64 launch day and playing the latest Mario iteration for an hour. It was stunning from the start: the world seemed so complete and well realised, the goals so clear, and the controls were perfect (yet to be beaten). You were Mario. If you edged the analogue stick, he tip-toed passed piranha plants. If you hammered forward, snapped backwards and pressed jump, he’d do a backflip. For the first time, a character did exactly what you expected. Still stunning/
• Broadcatching – Stupid fucking name, but a bloody good idea. RSS and Bittorent almost made my list on their own, but this has got to be the smartest bit of fusion I’ve seen on the net. You pick a torrent site, you get a decent client, and you tell it what you like watching. It downloads any new episodes that appear. This is the way that TV should work in the future, but likely won’t because of copyright fear.
• The Usual Suspects – If you have seen it, you know why. If you haven’t, I’m not telling you.
• The Matrix – Regardless of what you think of the wooden Mr. Reeves or the somewhat lacking sequels, the opening sequence of this alone changed the cinematic world. From the call to Trinity, the arrival of the agents, the first bit of bullettime, the rooftop chase, all the way to the escape through the phone line: wow!

I’ve purposefully left a few out for relative brevity (and because I can’t remember everything), but what are your holy shit moments?

Yesterday was the day of my final exam and, thus, the last piece of work for my degree. After four years, a lot of headaches and heartaches, strange days and late nights in the lab, it’s finally over. With the exception of various administrative matters and the obligatory celebrations (starting yesterday and ongoing for quite some time), there is no more university for me. This is the first time in four years when I’ve had absolutely no obligation to get on with something, and the first in two when I’ve felt that I’ve really had time to do stuff for myself.

First of all, a brief retrospective of the best moments of university life. While the list is far from comprehensive (being focussed on the last year, drawn entirely from university related matters, and blinkered by tiredness), it should do. In no particular order:

• DBIT talk. Three of us (myself, Mark and Derek were supposed to give a short demonstration of a system we finished a day or two earlier (a fantasy football web app). We hadn’t prepared a single word of the demo but, by a combination of luck and some top quality bullshitting, we not only did a sterling job, we won 25 of drinks vouchers. Sometimes reading blogs and knowing about web stuff actually pays. In drinks.
• Which leads us nicely into the bullshit. There is nothing quite like pulling a piece of coursework out of your arse at the last minute and making it look squeaky clean, despite absurdly stinky patches. Time to end that metaphor.
• Peter Dickman. There is a fairly mixed opinion of Peter, the lecturer who taught us Unix/Linux, the C course, Operating Systems 3, and Distributed Algorithms and Systems 4. On one hand, his lectures and explanations are excellent, with a logical progression like no others and an understanding of the material that is matched by few. On the other hand, there is an almost sadistic elements to his courses. The assessed exercises (and exams) full of sting after sting after sting, the spartan lecture notes (filling in the details as you go), the malicious (but deserved) handling of mobile phone incidents, and many more things tell you that his course won’t be easy. That’s not the point. It’s a “no pain, no gain” ethos and it works. You will learn the course inside and out so long as you put in reasonable time.
• Another lecturer, who shall remain unnamed but is the number 1 lecturer on the Glasgow DCS wank list (compiled years ago by a former student). He largely maintained his stature as the biggest arse in the department by saying that the web really wasn’t very good (Gopherspace is better apparently), PageRank was a joke, and other statements that he would refuse to back up with evidence. Good job!
• My projects. Both my team project last year, and my individual project this year (more of which at a later date). Proud of them, and glad to have undertaken them.
• Pub Friday. A simple concept built around a water tight axiom (“Is it Friday? Are there pubs? I don’t see how we can get out of it…”). Many a good night in Jim’s were had. If you ever came along to one, then kudos. If you didn’t get your round in, shame on you!
• The people. Obligatory entry, but definitely meant. Without my friends, I may have cracked a long time ago. The good times, bad times, and lab times (where there is neither good nor bad, just lack of sleep); the people were what it was really all about.
• Myself. I realised yesterday that I’m a better person for having done this degree. I don’t just mean I’m a better computing scientist (which is also true), I’m better as a whole. The changes since 2001 (spanning beyond my 18th and 21st birthdays in both directions), and in particular the last year, are apparent in retrospect. I can evaluate and appreciate things better than I ever could, my outlook and understanding has broadened, my sense of perspective has sharpened, and I’ve got a stronger character (the strength of my convictions and self-confidence without, hopefully, being brash). These are some of the ways in which I think university life has changed me for the better. Plus I do have a goatee now.

Like I said, that in no way, makes up the sum of my experiences, representing just a few things that I enjoyed.

What now? I’m not sure. There is the mandatory celebration period for the next while, a period of taking it easy for the first time in years, and then I don’t know. I know that if I do well enough I should have a graduate job lined up, but given my exam experience this year (not good) I have strong doubts about that.

I will, however, be clearing out my lists. I’ve got a backlog of lists for various things that I’m going to work through. Projects that will appear here, plans for VKPS that have been on hold for a while now, and clearing out my backlog of new music (my “new music” playlist is supposed to be a rating buffer but currently has over 2000 entries) are just a few.

Good luck to all those who did this course with me in whatever they do. We’ve worked harder than most these last years, we all deserve a little recreation and a fruitful life.

Just realised I hadn’t made the pre-exam post I had intended on doing. So, I’ll do it now. Since exams have started (2 down, 6 to go), post rate will drop to around nothing around here for the next 2-3 weeks. Final year, final exams.

It’s been a mixed bag so far. Information Retrieval was surprisingly alright, but Algorithmics was a fairly painful mix of wordy answers and unseen material. May the Gods smile on us tomorrow for the undoubted hell that will be Grid Computing: a subject so full of holes, half ideas and hand-waving that you can turn it into a drinking game so insane as to be able to take down Oliver Reed. Well, if he did Grid… And was not dead.

Anyway, toodles for now. If you’re at all interested in how the exams are going, Derek is blogging the pain. He does the same modules as me, so I’ll try to comment on each of his posts on the matter. See you in a few weeks if I survive.

A while ago, I talked about the problems with open source software sites and how to improve matters. Today, a quick case study: BlogTorrent, a system designed to make Bittorent downloads less painful for those not in the know.

Let’s start by saying it downlods almost right: clear, single click downloads. Links for both supported platforms are above the fold on the front page, clearly labelled and right where the eye is drawn. Two issues though: the “Get BlogTorrent” text above the download area is not a useful piece of information. It’s already pretty clear from the box headlines what is going on. This text not only detracts from the design, it damages it. How? It immediately makes the user think of similar banner ads that have “Advertising” similarly positioned above it. There is already a problem with boxes being ignored as banners, don’t aggrevate matters.

It may also help matters to add a second download link to nearer the bottom of the page. Assuming a user has bypassed immediate download (at the top) to read more (the middle), it makes sense to put further download links afterwards (the bottom).

Next up: we want a plain English, jargon free explanation somewhere. To the sites credit, the how it works page is a good start. It talks through the process reasonably well, but skips over a few points. First, Bittorent. What is it? What is the smallest amount of information you can tell the user so that they’ll understand it? That is what you’re aiming for. No-one cares about the details; the point is to make the Bittorent experience seamless, right?

Then there is the copious jargon. It’s not overly technical, but the majority of people would give words “distribution” (try “download”), “client” (probably the worst offender as no-one outside of computing things of programs as clients), “server”, and “tracker” a wide berth.

The last main point is nailing a simple abstract at the top of the main page. Currently it reads:

“Blog Torrent is free, open-source software from Downhill Battle, designed to empower creators. It’s the best way to offer large files on your website without storage or bandwidth costs: posting torrents to your site is as easy as blogging.”

A good basis, but a bit waffly. Remove the clutter. “Empower creators”? Put the marketing gibberish away.

“Blog Torrent is free, open-source software that provides an easy way to share large files on your website without large storage or bandwidth costs. [Read More]”

Main differences: says what the product does in an abstract way, no bullshit, no jargon. The user does NOT need to know the technology involved at this stage, they don’t care who you are, they don’t need to feel empowered, they DO need to know that it will save them time or money. That’s your killer feature.

Also, provide the link to the newly simplified explanation page. If they want to know more about what is going on, then this is the place to say, “hey, you’re interested in how this works? Great, we’ll take you through it.”

Offt, some of that sounded distinctly like Hugh Macleod, all we need is better conversations.

Update: Kudos to the team at Downhill Battle. They’ve implemented some of my suggestions already.

Someone somewhere in Hollywood deserves to be thrown down a dark well for the abomination that is Be Cool. While its prequel, Get Shorty, was an amusing, well-written, gangster comedy this is just trash. Imagine a painful fusion of cameos, actors who don’t seem to care about their characters and thus change them drastically between scenes, music videos, cringing sequel jokes, and pathetic comedy and you’ll be getting their. Be Cool lacks where the original stood so tall: plot and characterisation. Only The Rock comes across as anything less than annoying, with a knowing self parody of his usual tough man act. A more atrocious, by the numbers sequel I cannot imagine.

The Ring 2, sequel to a Hollywood adaptation of a Japanese movie based on a book, which is not based on the commercial Japanese sequel (Ring 2) or the original sequel (the now largely forgotten Rasen, itself based on the original book’s sequel). Quite a history. Something was just wrong with this sequel though; it felt like there was too much time reimagining certain aspects of what happened in the original. The videotape was barely used, the takeover aspects were more than a bit obvious, and the water effects were fairly cheap and came from nowhere. This is made all the more strange by the fact that the Japanese director who made the series what it is, Hideo Nakata, directed this. Why he changed what he did is bizarre, and lets down the film.

The final contender this month is an odd film called The Assassination Of Richard Nixon. Surprisingly, there is next to no material on said assassination attempt. Instead the film is more of a character study into increasing desperation and dementia, propelled by Sean Penn as Samuel Bicke. The lead character becoming increasingly frustrated with how he and other underdogs can’t seem to get a break, he eventually decides to do something about it. Penn shows his talent once more, making us sympathise with his characters plight while being confounded by his continual discord with his surroundings. Powerful stuff.

Being the only good film of the month, The Assassination Of Richard Nixon is the winner.