March 2008 archive

Power of Example (and the Long View)

Martin Sexton

Power of example
My mama said it and I heard
She says one ounce of action
Beats a ton of words.

– Martin Sexton, “Hallelujah”

Richard Stallman

[…] I didn’t write a whole free operating system, either. I wrote some pieces and invited other people to join me by writing other pieces. So I set an example. I said, “I’m going in this direction. Join me and we’ll get there.” And enough people joined in that we got there. So if you think in terms of, how am I going to get this whole gigantic job done, it can be daunting. So the point is, don’t look at it that way. Think in terms of taking a step and realizing that after you’ve taken a step, other people will take more steps and, together,

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Python: Regex Test Function

More fun with Python and regular expressions. Following up on a previous post, I wanted to share a little test regex function I wrote in Python to help me as I work through the regular expression book.

I’m mostly working at the interactive prompt and had been running commands from Python re (the regex module) as I experimented with different regular expressions. This was good as I spent time in help(re) and built up some muscle memory for Python regex functions, but it was becoming repetitious to keep typing the commands for analyzing the results of a match. Once I started learning about writing functions in Python, I realized it was time to enhance my …

3rd time not quite a charm: Upgrading to Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

The other night, sort of kind of on a whim, but not really, I upgraded my main machine from Ubuntu 7.04 to 7.10. There were some problems, but in the end, not very serious. No need for panic.

I’d upgraded my laptop when 7.10 was released, and that went fine. The plan for my other machines is to keep current, but to wait until the end of the six month release cycles, hoping that things will be more stable by then. After realizing that 8.04 will be coming out before long, I decided to upgrade my system76 box over the weekend, and that went pretty well. (My second upgrade on that one: 6.10 » 7.04 » 7.10.)

I was more apprehensive about upgrading Zodiac, however, since I’ve installed so much more stuff …

Goals: Learning Python and Regular Expressions

I don’t want to go all 7 Habits of Highly Effective People on you, but I’ll say this: I think it’s good to have goals and to work towards your goals.

I like this quote, which I’ve seen attributed to Zig Ziglar:

“Most people fail to reach their goals not because their plans are too simple or too complicated. Most people don’t reach their goals because they’re not committed and willing to follow their plans.”

I think that’s very true. There are so many things I haven’t done because I didn’t follow through on a plan.

What this means for you, loyal reader, is that one of the reasons I’m not accomplishing the goal of writing more for the web site (including a write-up of …

Back from Boston

And I’m back from the FSF meeting at M.I.T. in Cambridge. The trip went well, I enjoyed myself, and will have more to say later.

One of the highlights was meeting Richard Stallman in person. I think he is a great man, and history will recognize him as a hugely important and influential person. No matter that he can be difficult and off-putting in various ways. It was an honor to shake his hand and thank him for what he’s done and is doing for software freedom.

But time is short and I’ll work on posting later when I can. In the meantime, you might enjoy this picture of Boston over the Charles River, taken from the Longfellow Bridge to Cambridge.

2816 x 2112

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Me and You and a GPG Key Named Boo

“Travellin’ and livin’ off the web…”

I have a GPG key, freshly created a couple of days ago. GPG is the GNU Privacy Guard, also known as GnuPG, used for encryption and digital signatures.

Many people include helpful comments about GPG encryption on a page with their public key and fingerprint. Instead of making similar remarks (which I don’t feel qualified to make), I’ll point to some examples: Karl Fogel, Peter S. May, and Henrik Lund Kramshoej.

I’ve read Karl’s page with interest in the past, and revisited it while preparing my own GPG key page. His comments have been influential in adding to my doubts about using the software and keys properly. I found Peter’s and Henrik’s pages recently in Google search results as I’ve been reading about the …