Steve McConnell goes through the code conventions for the if statement in Code Complete II. He argues the main styles used are:

// 1
if (isValid) doSomething();

// 2a
if (isValid) {
    doSomething(); 
}

// 2b
if (isValid)
{
    doSomething();
}

// 3
if (isValid)
    doSomething();

McConnell argues that 2a and 2b are the best ones of those and isn't picky between the two as long as the codebase is consistent. There were no empirical studies on productivity and the if statement that he could draw upon.

I personally prefer 2a as it is the most readable and the most concise. Dropping brackets onto the line below for statements, methods and classes is a bit of a waste of space in my opinion.

I also dislike the not using of braces in statements as well. For multiple reasons. As an example this is hard to read and prone to creating errors;

 if (isValid)
    doSomething();
    doSomethingElse();

An error in indenting can a bug as the doSomethingElse() method is not under the if statement.

Another reason I prefer 2a and the constant use of braces in software code is that when I was working in Javascript and writing photobook code; the javascript was stripped down for production and had all the end of lines removed.

If a javascript function or statement did not have its braces it usually caused a catastrophic error in Internet Explorer and would not load the page at all. Those errors would take three to four days of running jlint to hunt down. It was horrible.

Syntactic completeness is necessary in my opinion and not only for the aiding of readability. (reply)

The car blogs are constantly starved for content and will post any promotional material, rumour, pictures or sniff of news on their websites. One of the sources of information that has been popping up is patent applications where the outline of a car is submitted in the form of line drawings. This is a recent thing. For instance Chevrolet patented this style.

It was assumed to be the next generation Chevrolet Malibu. It looks like the front of the Malibu and has the Camaro style rear indicators on it. All in all a believable evolution of the Malibu style and the Chevrolet twin grill style that appeared on the current Tahoe and has now found its way onto the Malibu, Cruze and now Aveo. An Australian photoshopper that is well known on the car boards, MonaroSS, painted the car outline in the patents in. This is what he came up with.

It is an exceptional display of skill and something way and beyond what magazines can offer. (reply)

I was having the problem with 10.6 where the software updater was hanging. This was particularly annoying as I was sweating on a printer driver install. I ran the software updater from the command line with;

sudo softwareupdate -i -a

The output was:

2010-03-12 14:18:23.460 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_automator.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.462 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_automator_workflow.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.462 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_autoupdate.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.463 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_clipart.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.464 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_core.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.464 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_dock.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.465 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_entourage.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.466 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_entourage_help_std.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.466 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_equationeditor.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.467 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_errorreporting.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.468 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_excel.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.468 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_excel_help_std.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.469 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_fonts.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.469 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_graph.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.470 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_helpviewer.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.471 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_launch.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.471 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier:
/Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_messenger.pkg
2010-03-12 14:18:23.472 softwareupdate[1964:451f] PackageKit: ***
Missing bundle identifier: /Library/Receipts/Office2008_en_ooxml.pkg

The problem is duplicate fonts which seems to happen with Microsoft Office installs with Snow Leopard. The fix is actually quite simple. Go into Font Book which is in the applications folder and right click on each font that is duplicated. You will find these with a little yellow triangle. Font Book will have as an option on the menu to remove the duplicate font. You have to go to each font one by one though to do it.

After this the software updater worked as it was supposed to and did not hang. (reply)

Fast bits from the Corvette ZR1 are starting to filter down to the Corvette Z06. There was a time when the Z06 was the fastest vette on the block but that is no longer the case with the blown small block chevy in the ZR1. It is interesting that the super car parts from the ZR1 are starting to go into the original racing vette; the Z06. Both those are too much car for me and beyond my needs as a driver, however, the wide body Corvette looks way better than the normal Corvette body. The stance and how it sits changes the look of the car. (reply)

Apparently the average for a Chevrolet Corvette customer is 54 years old. Which is one of the reasons why the car is getting bigger, fatter and more obese with each model. Chevrolet has been keeping the weight down, but last week I parked my C6 next to a C4 and the difference in width and size is quite large within the twenty year time frame for the two models.

"We have to develop a design that feels trimmer, meaner, to go along with the incredible performance that the car has," said Welburn, referring to the notion that many believe the current Corvette looks too big despite being roughly the same size as the benchmark Porsche 911.

This is a gripe of mine as well. Modern sports cars are too big. Quite literally. The current generation of Camaro's, Challenger's, Mustang's even down to the Corolla are way too big. They are tall and fat in the back. I was surprised when my C6 Corvette was parked next to an Aston Martin at Radio Milano. the Aston Martin towered over the Corvette. I was shocked.

I would prefer the next generation of Corvette be smaller. The C4 managed to fit a small block Chevy in a smaller frame and floorpan. Hopefully the C7 - the next model of Corvette - can as well. Considering I am sub fifty I would prefer the car fitted my needs more closely. (reply)

Creative Class looks at smoking and obesity and discovers that in their demographic they focus on that smoking and obesity are lower:

What this all seems to mean is that places that have transitioned to postindustrialism go beyond economics and innovation. In addition to generating better-paying jobs and having higher levels of income and innovation, these sorts of places appear to have better health outcomes as well, and they do so in ways that go beyond the effects of just higher levels of economic output.

Richard Florida's argument is that the creative class pursue lifestyles and this includes being highly active outside of work; such as the gym, hiking, cycling, etc. The other aspect is that creative work is highly demanding and you have to be fit to be a software engineer in order to survive the brutal project schedules. Software engineers are not alone, most of these 'creative class' professions face long hours and trying schedules. (reply)

I had a hard time finding a good pair of gym gloves. I don't have callouses now. Where my wedding ring is used to be heavily calloused. They are good for grip strength and double asbike riding gloves. (reply)

The Proper Introduction of Text Messages as Evidence; "State v. Damper, CR No. 09-0013 (Ariz. App.) A text message qualified as a present sense impression to the hearsay rule where it described an event while it was happening (i.e. "we are fighting"). Adequate foundation was laid for the text message by the recipient's testimony that it appeared as though she received the text from the sender's phone and no evidence indicated that someone else had used the sender's phone. (The court also cited with approval a Maryland case that held that a text message was properly authenticated by a showing that it was sent by a cell phone in the sender's possession and contained facts known only to that sender.)"

I am not a lawyer; however, apparently there is 'excitable evidence' where if you say something under stress is can be admissible as evidence. For instance, if you hit a cyclist and ring 911 and say, "I hit a bike rider on the road." That is excitable evidence. If you ring a friend immediately after and say, "I hit a bike rider on the road" they can testify that you said that to them that you hit the bike rider. If you ring them a week later and say that a bike rider jumped out in front of you and hit you then it is not under stress and may not be admissible because it wasn't made under stress. Implicit in that is that you are more likely to be truthful under stress. Which is interesting.

The txt message thing above now applies to excitable evidence it seems. If you hit a cyclist and immediately txt a friend with; "zmfg hit bike. head smashed open lol" Then it can be submitted as excitable evidence. IANAL. (reply)

Scoop Factory is a local daily email that tries to keep people up to date with the goings on in dining, fashion, etc in Phoenix. My wife subscribes to it. She sent me one today saying that Scoop Factory is going to the places we do. Turns out, not only are they going to the same places, they are using my photographs as well.

The photo of the dining table is from the patio at the Vig that I took when I was there with Alison and Chris. This is my photo on flickr and me using it on Phoenix Eats Out.

On flickr the photo is under a Creative Commons license; where anyone is free to to copy, distribute and transmit the work under the conditions;

1. Attribution
2. Non-commercial
3. Non Derivative

On the email newsletter and their website, there is no attribution. The other two I can over look but it would be nice to say "photography by cam riley", or even just asking. I would have said yes. I am pretty liberal about these things. I make my living slinging java code, so my hobbies I don't mind if they used in a positive manner. However, courtesy - and the creative commons license - dictates that you should ask first. (more)