I had a sleep study last night. I slept at a hospital attached to various sensors to help diagnose why I'm not getting much value from my sleep.
The sensors attached to me included:
- 3 ECG sensors to monitor heart activity
- 4 EEG sensors to monitor brain activity. Maybe these weren't connected properly, because they said they weren't getting a signal. What? Did you think I was going to let this cheap shot get through to the comments??
- 2 sensors to monitor leg movement and check for Restless Leg Syndrome
- 3 sensors to monitor breathing. A plug for each nostril and a little plate that hangs over my mouth
- 2 straps around my chest and stomach to measure expansion/contraction
- 1 position sensoron my chest to measure whether I'm lying on my side, back or stomach
- 1 Blood O2 level monitor on my finger
- 3 Sensors on my forehead to measure eye movement (I guess to detect REM sleep)
- 1 Microphone strapped to my neck
- 1 Sensor on my chin that I suspect was monitoring teeth grinding??
For a grand total of 21 sensors and wires hanging off me.
So as you can imagine it wasn't easy to sleep with all this paraphernalia on digging into my head and body. Trying to roll over was a major engineering exercise to avoid tangling or detaching any wires. The only ones that were really uncomfortable were the finger one which caused my finger to throb after a while, and the tubes from the nose/mouth sensors that went behind my ears. When I tried to lie on my side they made my ears ache.
So anyway I've come out unscathed, if a little tired. I get the results in about 4 weeks so hopefully they've got some good information to work with. Kudos go to the nursing staff who have to stay there and actually be awake all night. I couldn't do that job.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Modern Programming Languages/Systems
I just read an interesting and thought provoking article by Charles Petzold. Read it here.
While I don't claim to have the experience that Petzold has, I started my programming experience back on Windows 3.1, writing C++. I feel a similar disquiet towards .NET programming that he describes.
Back in the day, when I wrote a program, I wrote every line of code. I controlled everything about the program. When a window resized, the controls moved because I put in code that told it how to move. I had complete power over the behaviour of the program. The downside of having that power is that it takes a long time to write all that code.
Nowdays I can get a program up and running a lot faster. However the cost of this improved productivity is that a lot of code is hidden away from me and that makes me feel vaguely nervous. When I write a foreach loop to iterate an arraylist these days I have no idea what's actually happening under the covers. So I just have to shrug and hope it performs okay. Because the alternative is too onerous and most of the time it's just not necessary.
The biggest extreme in this direction I have experienced is working with Borland Builder. It took me a week to get two windows to communicate with each other because it was a 'non-standard' communication and builder hid so much of the implementation from me that I had to work around it in incredibly complicated ways.
Could I go back? It'd be very hard to have to worry about ensuring that I deallocate all my pointers again. But at the same time I really miss the mental stimulation and discipline that that imposes. I feel 'careless' as a programmer now. At the same time I'm sure I'm romanticising C++ programming. I haven't mentioned the endless frustration of spending 3 days tracking down that annoying memory allocation bug. But then I also haven't mentioned the incredible surge you get when you find it and fix it!
So for 90% of programs, the extra productivity that modern programming languages provide are well and truly worth it. But I'll always look back and miss the real challenges and satisfaction that C++ programming provided.
While I don't claim to have the experience that Petzold has, I started my programming experience back on Windows 3.1, writing C++. I feel a similar disquiet towards .NET programming that he describes.
Back in the day, when I wrote a program, I wrote every line of code. I controlled everything about the program. When a window resized, the controls moved because I put in code that told it how to move. I had complete power over the behaviour of the program. The downside of having that power is that it takes a long time to write all that code.
Nowdays I can get a program up and running a lot faster. However the cost of this improved productivity is that a lot of code is hidden away from me and that makes me feel vaguely nervous. When I write a foreach loop to iterate an arraylist these days I have no idea what's actually happening under the covers. So I just have to shrug and hope it performs okay. Because the alternative is too onerous and most of the time it's just not necessary.
The biggest extreme in this direction I have experienced is working with Borland Builder. It took me a week to get two windows to communicate with each other because it was a 'non-standard' communication and builder hid so much of the implementation from me that I had to work around it in incredibly complicated ways.
Could I go back? It'd be very hard to have to worry about ensuring that I deallocate all my pointers again. But at the same time I really miss the mental stimulation and discipline that that imposes. I feel 'careless' as a programmer now. At the same time I'm sure I'm romanticising C++ programming. I haven't mentioned the endless frustration of spending 3 days tracking down that annoying memory allocation bug. But then I also haven't mentioned the incredible surge you get when you find it and fix it!
So for 90% of programs, the extra productivity that modern programming languages provide are well and truly worth it. But I'll always look back and miss the real challenges and satisfaction that C++ programming provided.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
John Dies at the End
I've been debating whether to post this or not. I (obviously) decided I would, but not without reservation.
Here's a link to an online novel called "John Dies at the End" (or JDatE) that has been published in installments over the last number of years.
It's quite an odd story and has some quite disturbing/scary bits in it. I was almost having nightmares around the middle bit there. But at the same time, the storytelling style and plot twists are simply fantastic and this guy's got an amazing imagination.
For example, here's a quote:
I was wondering if I should warn the girl about John's coffee, which tasted like a cup of battery acid someone had pissed in and then cursed at for several hours.
Now that's just weird. But at the same time, I love the writing style. Maybe I'm weird. I mean, how can coffee taste worse just by having someone yell at it?
So, if you've got nothing better to do, go check it out. But don't come and complain to me that it's really weird.
Here's a link to an online novel called "John Dies at the End" (or JDatE) that has been published in installments over the last number of years.
It's quite an odd story and has some quite disturbing/scary bits in it. I was almost having nightmares around the middle bit there. But at the same time, the storytelling style and plot twists are simply fantastic and this guy's got an amazing imagination.
For example, here's a quote:
I was wondering if I should warn the girl about John's coffee, which tasted like a cup of battery acid someone had pissed in and then cursed at for several hours.
Now that's just weird. But at the same time, I love the writing style. Maybe I'm weird. I mean, how can coffee taste worse just by having someone yell at it?
So, if you've got nothing better to do, go check it out. But don't come and complain to me that it's really weird.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)