Seapegasus Blog

Wednesday January 28, 2009

Let's All Switch to ASCII Video

Quick free-form poll: For learning, do you prefer...

• ... visual screencasts or textual tutorials?
• ... screencasts with audio? With call-outs? With captions?
• ... short and simple clips? Extensive video trainings?
• ... screencasts with transcripts? Tutorials with embedded clips?
• ... more linkage between related tutorials / screencasts / sample code?

I prefer text over video, unless it's a clearly visual topic (say, GUI builder) where only a screencast makes sense. I also know that non-native speakers of English prefer screencasts because they see what happens and don't have to follow the words.

I usually have more patience watching a short clip than an hour-long video, often they proceed at a faster or slower pace than I, which can become annoying. Similarly, I prefer videos with call-outs/captions/transcripts over audio-only, because it lets me read at my own pace. Not being dependend on the audio track also helps with speakers' accents, or in a busy environment (office).

Obviously, adding a transcript of the audio track increases production time (less time for other tutorials to be written), and recording audio takes longer than writing simple call-outs. So be careful what you wish for: Do you rather want content in an optimally accessible format, at the cost of it covering fewer topics? Or you don't care about the format, it can be txt or screenshots, just as long as it covers the whole spectrum of the technology you're learning about?

PS: Do you know the ASCII art library (AAlib)? It converts video to ASCII text. Just in an... unexpected way... :-D

Thursday January 22, 2009

100 NetBeans Tips and Tricks (ebook)

Since the ebook announcement rolled off the netbeans.org front page now (watch out for the contest coming soon), and since people have been asking, here another quick plug ;-) for our latest ebook, 100 NetBeans Tips and Tricks. Yup, it's the same book that was given away to attendees of the NetBeans Day at JavaOne last year; that makes the print version so rare, you can't even get it on Ebay. ;-P

Wednesday January 21, 2009

Kostenloses Java-EBook (Neue Auflage)

Die achte Auflage des Java-Kurses "Java ist auch eine Insel" ist draußen: Ein praxisorientiertes Buch nicht nur für diejenigen, die beim Brennball in der Schule immer als letztes gewählt wurden! (He... woher weiss der das?)

Das Buch erwähnt (empfiehlt) auch IDEs (z.B. auch den NetBeans GUI Builder), bleibt aber insgesamt Tool-neutral. Das hat den Vorteil, dass man das Gelernte überall einsetzen kann -- und welchem IDE-Menüpunkt das Beschriebene eventuell entspricht, findet man recht schnell raus. Anscheinend ist geplant, die achte Auflage nach und nach für JDK 7 zu aktualisieren.

Für 50 Euro bekommt man das komplette Buch auf toten Bäumen ausgedruckt -- plus eine DVD mit JDK 6, NetBeans, Eclipse, Beispielprogramme, Aufgaben und Lösungen, und sogar (hä?) ;) ein paar C/C++ Openbooks.
Das Javainsel-Ebook ist kostenlos online, und es gibt's es auch als 14MB Download zum Mitnehmen.

Wednesday January 14, 2009

Thanks For Voting For Your Favorite IDE!

It is worth noting that in the past Sun has been able to dominate many categories, but it took multiple products to achieve that distinction. This year one product, NetBeans, dominated the categories by winning five out of twelve. -- Developer.com Product of the Year 2009

Yay! :-D

The five winning categories were:

• Development Tool: NetBeans Platform,
• Development Utilities: NetBeans Profiler,
• Wireless/Mobile: NetBeans IDE 5.5 Mobility Pack for CDC,
• Java Tool: NetBeans IDE,
• Open Source: NetBeans

Thanks for your votes! :)

Red is Beautiful in Russian

Thanks for your continuing efforts to translate netbeans.org pages into your native language! If you have checked the localization status page recently, don't be shocked if the column for your language is suddenly all "red". This is because we switched the table to the new 6.5 docs set. If you want to help us by updating a document, get in touch!

Monday January 05, 2009

The Cube! It's alive! (continued)

Happy new year everybody! Previously I mentioned that the NetBeans mascot, NekoBean has already been incarnated as plush toy, pendant, etc. Thiara went yet another step further: She posted instructions how to cut and paste (literally) a 3-dimensional NekoBean — as office decoration. :-D

If you don't read German, here's the translation:

1. Print the NekoBean template (PDF) on scrap paper, cut out the shape, and draw the outline on the backside of construction paper — unless your printer can handle fancier kinds of paper directly. The shape consists of the body, 4 legs, tail and 2 ears.
2. Cut slots into the body: Two on the sides for the arms, two on top of the head for the ears, and one into the backside for the tail. Insert the arms, ears, and tail, and glue or tape them on the inside of the body.
3. Draw the NekoBean's face on the frontside with a felttip pen. Here you find some faces for inspiration.
4. Glue the sides of the body together to form a cube -- when closing the cube, don't forget the legs: Make them stick out of the edge between the backside and the bottom.

End result: Meet my first makeshift Nekobean! (It was born solely of office materials... I colored the paper with a flipchart marker and glued it together with sticky tape...)

It hangs on nicely to a notebook screen, and it is equally well able to stand on flat surfaces. Thanks to Thiara for this hilarious tip!

PS: Now create your own and post photos!