Why Sun is getting Dusted, Reason #723



Sun has had, what, 8 or 9 years to get a good IDE for Java together. We're still waiting. I've used what I think might be the best Linux-based environment -- Visual SlickEdit under X -- and, while powerful, is far from as usable as Visual Studio. Part of that is X. It's just not as snappy as it needs to be to compete with XP. Example: if you're a long-time VS maniac and hit Ctrl+F, then S in rapid-fire succession to save your file, you'll be sorely disappointed. The keyboard processing/menu handling just can't handle the quick keystrokes. Eclipse has plenty of well-documented warts. Bottom line is that I haven't found anything that compares to Visual Studio.



Bad news for would-be competitors. There is some cool shiznit in Whidbey, the forthcoming VS release. Number one on the list is the refactoring menu. How many times have you wanted to pull an inline chunk out of your code and slam it into a method? Or expose a class member as a property? These common refactoring tasks -- and more -- are integrated into Whidbey's Refactoring gadget.



Code snippets are another neat addition. Imagine finding some sample code, copying it to the clipboard, pasting it into the right place in your project, and filling in the necessary changes... automatically? That's what a code snippet purports to do. There are some other cool features as well, but some of them simply play catch up with other IDE's (cheez, how long did it take to export IDE settings for import onto another machine?). Anyhow, you make the call:



Visual Studio .NET Whidbey Release.



Jack LaLanne is my hero



One word describes Jack LaLanne: Awesome.



"...At 89, the 5'4" LaLanne has a 46-inch chest, a 31-inch waist and can still do 100 push-ups without turning so much as light pink. His 90th birthday is coming up in September, and he wants to celebrate by swimming the 30 miles from Catalina Island to Long Beach, Calif., underwater, using air tanks. It'll take about 22 hours...



'We have no pride, no discipline in this country!' rants LaLanne. 'We're serving junk food in schools! People think they can eat anything and just sit on their big, fat butts! Athletes are selling their souls to advertise crap that they know is no good for kids -- milk and cheeseburgers and candy! Why can't people see that it's killing them! Any stupid ass can die! Living is hard! You've got to work at living!'



He's not a fan of the Atkins diet: 'It's a gimmick! All that meat! You need whole-grain bread and cereals!'

Or dairy products: 'Am I a suckling calf? No other creature uses milk after they wean.'"



SI.com - Rick Reilly: Jumping Jack's Still a Flash



RTFM or, rather, UG




I will use Google before asking dumb questions!



Build your own model plane!



It's fun, entertaining and easy to do. Well, actually, I just came across this nicely illustrated (but certainly inhumane) set of instructions... read, enjoy, but please don't do this without the written consent of your engines.