October 2009 Archives

If anyone is interested in having a chat about Ramblings, REALbasic, the weather, etc -- you should stop on by the ARBP chat room at 8pm EDT tomorrow (Wed, the 28th). We're going to be having a get together, and it should be a lot of fun. Alas, but due to the diversity of locations, I can't buy the first round of drinks. ;-(

If you aren't able to make it, but still have a question you'd like to see asked, feel free to email it to me or Paul Lefebvre before 8pm EDT. Since this is an online chat, I am told there will be transcripts available afterward.

Hope to see you there tomorrow!

Huttah! The books have arrived from the printer and the first batch of orders went out today. I'm very excited that things are finally starting to roll with actually getting the book into reader's hands. I worked on the thing for so long, I was starting to wonder if I'd ever finish it!

And to make matters more exciting, I've been invited by ARBP to speak about Ramblings on REALbasic next Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 8pm EST. So if you'd like to chat about the book or REALbasic, then please join me! I watched the chat with Geoff last month, and it's actually a pretty fun little setting. Should be a blast!

If you've not gotten your copy of Ramblings on REALbasic, you should order your copy today!

So I came down with a mystery illness at the beginning of last week. It started out feeling like a small tickle in the back of my throat. The following day it was a 100+ degree fever. After a few days of feeling like crap, the fever broke and I thought I was on the mend. Little did I know, round two was still in store. My mystery illness turned into a sinus infection over the weekend, and now I'm in more pain than I was when I had the fever. Blech!

I'm starting a new project at work, which has me considerably more excited. Since it's pre-release, I can't talk about it too much though. But once it starts getting into the public's hands, I can spout off about it a bit more.

I started playing Fallout 3 last week. I got the "game of the year" edition, which has all the downloadable content. So far it's been a fun game. Just like Oblivion, the world is very expansive. I've gotten reasonably far into the game (I finished the main storyline), but still feel like I've only scratched the surface of the content. The game should be a nice distraction in the evenings.

The book is going well -- it just got off the printing press last week and is being shipped to distributors currently. This means order fulfillment should be happening pretty quickly!

Since people like to say things like "Just Google it", and "I googled for that yesterday", I had an interesting thought last night. What if you use Bing as your search engine? "Just Bing it" is natural enough, but what about the past tense? Does one Bang? "I banged that yesterday" seems like something which should be spoken outside of polite company.

Thoughts to ponder, for sure...

As you may have already heard (thank you Amazon), I am proud to announce my forthcoming book Ramblings on REALbasic. This book is an edited and updated compilation of over 200 of my best blog entries, including new content that's never been seen before. In it you will find tips & tricks for REALbasic that are not available in any other source. Weighing in at around 550 pages, Ramblings on REALbasic covers topics such as the REALbasic language, design patterns, user experience and Windows-specific technologies.

Hear what others are saying about Ramblings on REALbasic:

"Ramblings (the blog) was one of the most useful resources I ever found for getting stuff done in REALbasic. But what I liked best about it was that almost every time a new entry came out, I could be sure of a really good read."
-- Steve Garman

"I've been reading Aaron's Ramblings blog for a few years and have always picked up some pearls on REALbasic programming, as well as programming in general. Aaron has an in-depth knowledge of compilers, language construction and language usage plus the rare knack for communicating clearly and definitively to both beginners and experts. If you want to be a better REALbasic programmer, read everything Aaron's got to say!"
-- Dr. Scott Steinman

I would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to Brandon Warlick and the folks at Sunbelt Business Graphics, Inc. Their help, dedication, and experience in the printing industry made this book possible.