I use Windows at work and Lion at home with the new scrolling. Have not run into any issues or annoyances yet, not sure what the big fuss is all about.
I'm right there with you. I have been an avid reader of HN for going on 2 years now. While I can't sit down and develop killer software from scratch, I am slowly learning more and more about technology and programming, and a lot of it is thanks to the great HN community.
I just started ready the updated edition of Learn Python The Hard way, and really enjoy it. It's the first book on programming that I have read that throws you right into the thick of things, get's you started writing code from the outset. Feel free to send me a message or email me if you want to bounce and ideas off of each other with Python or anything else, I get the impression we are both starting off on the same page. Should be a fun adventure!
"Feel free to send me a message or email me if you want to bounce and ideas off of each other with Python or anything else, I get the impression we are both starting off on the same page"
Yeah, absolutely. I'm always open to chatting with HN people. I would absolutely like to get in on a study group situtation for LPTHW like suggest below.
Would you guys be interested in setting up a "study group", sort of a Procrastinators Anonymous for wanna-be developers?
I can't begin to count the books I've skimmed over and not completed a single exercise. LPTHW was really nice in the way it gave you nothing else to do but exercises. Perhaps something as simple as a small, tight-knit forum (plenty of free forum providers) & IRC channel (something like freenode #python-studygrp) can be useful to bust the barrier of "I'll just start on that exercise/project/book when I'm a bit less tired." Somebody shoots an idea of something they've been meaning to do and others can jump in with brainstorming, ideas, pair programming and general "let's just do it" attitude.
Hell, I know I've been meaning to write a python script to draw a daily histogram of the creation times of Opera bookmarks, but I never got around to it. If I had a twin, I'd prod myself to hunker down and just write those <1KLoC.
So if anyone's interested in the group thing, just drop me a line so I can set it up tonight (CEST timezone here).
If you guys figure something out for a study group or IRC chat, email me! I would love to have some people going through LPTHW with me to keep each other at it. Like a lot of people, I always find myself starting the learning process with enthusiasm, but then dropping the hat when other projects come up. Really need the support to help make programming a priority.
I use my iPad for some illustration and graphics work for 2D games, and for the most part, it is adequate. For illustration, I tend to use Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for illustration, sketching, painting tasks, because it has some great features, is easy to use and works well. If I need something that will let me get ideas down really quickly without getting in the way, Adobe Ideas is the way to go.
For animation, you are pretty limited. As far as 2D game animation goes, I have had some success using SpriteSomething for animating sprites and basic animations, and with the most recent update supporting zooming, I want to try it out on a more complex animation than the usual walk/jump/attack/die animations that I have done in the past. The only other animation program I like is Animation Creator HD, which is pretty great. Some of the brushes aren't the best and I have run into some lag when using it (this is on my original iPad), but on the whole it is a fantastic application. That being said, I would never really use it for production work. I would prefer to use Flash or AfterEffects for production so that I have more options, effects, an asset library, etc. But the convenience of being able to animate and test out new ideas and do great pencil tests with full color on the go is absolutely mind-blowing, and for that I thank Red Software for making AC HD.
While the iPad is great, the one thing I can't get over is the lack of pressure sensitivity for illustation. I would love to see someone come up with a stylus that senses pressure in the tip and offers and API for developers to take advantage of that data. And, there aren't really any satisfactory vector applications that I have used yet for iPad, so those cute icons and mascot illustrations have to be saved for Illustrator.
I haven't tried any android tablets, so I can't attest to that platform's offerings in the art field. One of my buddies does use Photoshop on a tablet laptop with a pressure sensitive screen and has been generally happy with it, but I have yet to play around with it.
Nice article. I completely agree with the download bar comments as well as the extensions comment. However, I can easily remove the icons for extensions in the tool bar, on Windows at least. Just right click and choose "Hide Button" in the context menu.
