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Monday, November 9th, 2009
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5:34 pm - Shed Door
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| Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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7:48 pm - Autumn Lines
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"Autumn Lines"
Image # DI04 View in Gallery.
I'd complained about the high tension wires stretching across this, but refuse to edit them out. They're part of the scene, and add an interesting compositional accent.
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
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11:57 am - Where is it? Waterloo --- final round -- contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 7
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: Waterloo North Hydro building, 17 William St E..
This shot was taken while standing on the corner at Regina and William Street.
Street View
There was just one correct response, and that winner has been notified.
Round 8 Image -- Where is it? -- Ultimate Final Showdown
Yes, this is in Uptown Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
This is the last image in the contest, and it's a doozy.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com .
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, October 9th, 2009
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4:42 pm - Where is it? Waterloo --- round seven redux
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So, I'm really tardy with updating the Where is it? Waterloo contest. I wanted to give everyone one last chance to enter round seven. Actually, now that Google Maps has Street View for uptown Waterloo, the contest is much easier than it was.
As a reminder, here is the round seven image:
If you can figure out where this is in uptown Waterloo*, and are interested in winning two original photographic prints, click here to go back to the previous journal post with all the entry information: http://catbear.livejournal.com/559607.html
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* Uptown Waterloo, in this context, basically means within, or very near to the Waterloo city core.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
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6:45 pm - Where is my damned future?
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I am sick and tired of typing. I am sick and tired of mice. I am sick and tired of these old-fashioned, pathetic interface methods. I'm tired of wrist pain. I'm tired of sitting at a desk all day. I have a far different computer interface paradigm in my head, and it's very difficult for me to wait for it to be implemented. I suppose it all comes from watching too many sci-fi movies. Be that as it may however, having the course of our future technologies laid before us through the writings of sci-fi visionaries is fairly traditional. I want a 50 inch diagonal multi-touch screen. I want a programming interface that eliminates the reliance on strings of arcane text, instead allowing you to build nested modules of functionality that interconnects like a child's electronics kit. I want to be able to touch, drag, link, and associate functionality with gestures. I want to use my voice to instantiate and modify. I want programming to be dynamic and visual* I can see how all this feels in my head. I can almost envision the underlying architecture that would make it work. And I stare at this computer, with its 50 year old programming paradigms, and look at my wrists, aching, and sigh.
Where is my damned future?
--
* MAX-MSP and Quartz Composer are similar in concept, but my vision encompasses the encapsulation of procedural/functional units in an event driven ecosystem, rather than a strictly packet-based, time linear system.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
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2:11 pm - Where is it? Waterloo -- round 7 -- contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are 19 images out of the 24 visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 6
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: The Waterloo Hotel, 2 King N, Waterloo. Specifically, the upper portion of the King St facade.
There were two correct answers given -- congratulations to each of you -- and the winner has been notified!
The following image, also in the series but not part of the contest, was taken a few moments later:
Round 7 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Uptown Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, September 28th, 2009
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3:42 pm - KPL Exhibition (documentation)
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| Friday, September 25th, 2009
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5:43 pm - Where is it? Waterloo - round 6 - contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are 18 images out of the 24 visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 5
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: The Starlight Social Club, 47 King, Waterloo. Specifically, a portion of the signage on the King Street facade.
There were three correct answers given -- congratulations to each of you. I wasn't sure how tricky this one would be, but thought for sure that we'd have at least one correct guess! Only one winner, though, and through the random atmospheric noise recorded by microphones at random.org, this person has been chosen!
Round 6 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Uptown Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
--> Originally posted with comments visible; that's been fixed. The answer that was posted at the time wasn't right, so nothing's been given away!
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
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5:15 pm - Where is it? Waterloo - round 5 - contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are 17 images out of the 34 visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 4
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: Waterloo Public Health and Services Building, 99 Regina St S. Specifically, the north side of the building facing onto the parking lot.
Only one correct answer was received -- this one was difficult -- congratulations!
Round 5 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Uptown Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
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9:21 am - art
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I have determined what Art is. No, really. I had some wonderful discussions with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dawn_guy about the nature of Art and what makes it successful (financially) and meaningful (emotionally/mentally/spirituality). What's more, I can even boil it down to a sentence. What's wonderful about it is that the definition isn't the end of the discussion. It's not an epitaph, it's a prologue; a preface to further enlightenment.
Art is a manyheaded dragon, lisping and snarling, drooling, morphing into decaying sheep and exploding suns, a cacophony of gibberish blended with angelic harmony combined with the odours of bacon, lavender and dirty socks, the cardboard feel of your lover's fingers tearing your eyes out, the endless pounding of surf on millenia of rocks crumbling into nothing atop which a single lovebird perches, singing longingly for its mate, crushed by the thoughtless footfalls of an elephant rushing in terror from a capering monkey with a fez and vest, tumbling headlong over a cliff and falling forever... forever... forever.... cleverly mounted, matted, framed, glazed and put on a hook on a wall behind a velvet rope hung between two shiny brass stands in a climate controlled museum that you can visit any time you like.
Art is a window through which the men and women of consensus reality can glimpse, for a brief moment and from a vantage point of perfect safety, what is on the other side of those wild eyes.
Art is caged insanity.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, September 21st, 2009
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5:08 pm - Where is it? Waterloo -- round 4 -- contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are only 16 images visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 3
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: Bauer Lofts, 187 King St S, Waterloo. Specifically, this is on the side of the low building facing King Street. The BA are the letters in BAUER.
There were three entirely correct "King street side of the old Bauer factory" responses -- congratulations! -- and one of you was chosen by a random number machine somewhere in deepest darkest San Jose. Thanks for entering!
Round 4 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Uptown Waterloo! But where? This is a tricky one; I don't think you'll get Google to cough up the address based on image content. On-the-ground knowledge is essential.
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
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(comment on this)
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4:04 pm - Return of the prodigal Book
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| Friday, September 18th, 2009
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4:45 pm - Where is it? Waterloo -- round 3 -- contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are only 15 images visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 2
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: The railcar behind Paul Puncher at 20 Regina St. You can see the rivets and sheet metal clearly in the centre of the image.
There were four "Paul Puncher" responses -- congratulations! -- but only two nailed it down to the railcar specifically, so the winner was picked from those two. Incidentally, this image makes me giggle because the letters in it spell out PAUNCH.
Round 3 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, September 17th, 2009
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8:48 am - Through the Leaves V
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I haven't put this photograph online, because it's really not practical for online viewing. That's because it's 239 megapixels. And while there are panoramic viewers that let one explore huge images and zoom in on details, the point of this photo isn't zooming in on details -- it's what I will call perceptive clarity.
Clarity, in that when one is standing at a reasonable distance from the full sized print, one isn't disturbed by blurriness or pixelisation; one just sees the scene. In other words, it's meant to be appreciated at a size and with such detail that the resolution of the print so dramatically exceeds the resolution of our eyes that resolution is not a factor. Further, that resolution continues to not be a factor should a viewer, as one might reasonably expect, should step in for a personal examination.
What I have printed, then, is an image that maintains distinct, sharp detail down to the microscopic bounds of human vision. Ultimately, then, it is an eight foot wide print with about 200 pixels per inch of detail.
Here's a photo series that shows this detail, taken with a handheld camera on the hanging print.
( See more... )
I'm going to do more of these images, but I can't produce them frequently because they're expensive to print, and once they're printed -- what do I do with them? Well, sure, I sell them -- but to whom? Not everyone has a huge wall. (But, if you do, get in touch! I do commissions.)
My photo gallery.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
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4:16 pm - Where is it? Waterloo -- Round 2 -- contest
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Here's another "public" image from the gallery.
Now, on to the contest. There are only 14 images visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Results from Round 1
Here's the previous contest image:
Where is it: The Bank of Montreal, corner of Erb and King. This used to be the Molson Bank -- more historical data here.
There were four correct responses -- excellent detective work! If the winner wants to comment on this post and reveal him/herself, I'll unscreen that response -- you can talk about how you found the right location, or just crow about it.
Round 2 Image -- Where is it?
Yes, this is in Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. Replies are screened; no one but myself can see them.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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8:58 am - stress
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It's really true about stress, you know.
When stuff is coming in from all angles, it kills your creativity, productivity and serenity.
Which further damages your ability to respond to that stress usefully.
And then, there goes your health.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, September 14th, 2009
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4:19 pm - Where Is It? Waterloo (contest, locals)
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I've finished a series of 24 urban architecture shots. They're all strong B&W shots focusing on texture and shapes. Each one of them was shot somewhere in Uptown Waterloo (or the vicinity). Many of them incorporate prominent features of uptown businesses or familiar landmarks, but using non-traditional framing. Yes, they're kind of artsy. I like them.
Click on the image to go to the gallery with all of the public shots.
Now, on to the contest. There are only 13 images visible online as of this writing. Every couple of days, including today, I'll unveil one of the previously hidden images. From the people who most correctly identify the location of each photo before I post the next one, I'll chose one person at random who will receive two free signed 8x10 prints of any photos in the series they wish.
Here's the first contest image:
Yes, this is in Waterloo! But where?
How to enter the contest:
1) Reply to this post. Anonymous replies are okay -- you don't have to be an LJ member to participate. All replies are screened.
2) In your reply, include your name and your email address. Unless you object, your email address will be added to my photography event mailing list, which has very light traffic -- my show and class announcements only -- and will not be shared with anyone else.
3) Give me the street address or closest intersection of the location shown. Provide any additional specific information that might be needed to absolutely identify what is being seen (e.g. "The roof of the Button Factory"). If your answer is not particularly specific, I'll choose a more specific answer from someone else as more correct. Don't be lazy, this isn't a timed quiz. You have at least two days to go uptown to check -- print out the image and double-check.
4) If your entry is the selected winner, I'll email you and ask for your mailing address so I can send you the prints. Or you can just come by my studio to pick them up. Give me a couple of weeks to make all the prints at once after the contest is over -- it's easier that way, and you'll be able to choose from the whole set.
Some of the images are pretty easy. Some will be very difficult.
Please share the link to my journal to other locals who might wish to participate!
And be sure to have a look at my photography website, seanmpuckett.com
A winner has been selected from four correct entries! Thanks for participating!
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, September 13th, 2009
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10:42 am - Silhouettes
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| Friday, September 11th, 2009
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10:11 pm - Joy of Redemption
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Perhaps our most precious book is this one, a 1953 (I think) edition of Joy of Cooking. Yes, the one with the squirrel recipes (just to date it). More importantly, this is the one with the stains in it -- the stains from my mother's use when I was growing up. These are many of the flavours I grew up with.
As you can see, It's kind of worn.
( Many book porn photos within... )
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
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10:35 am - An army of me
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Let us say you wish to build a custom house. You have the design of it prepared in your head, you have the permits, the materials, and you, personally, have all of the skills needed from site grading to wallpaper hanging. But you would like it to be built in a week. This is so absurd as to be funny.
However, if you were a computer program, and if you ran on Snow Leopard, it might be doable.
Software is just a list of instructions. A computer is a means for following those instructions. Apple's new operating system has "0 new features" for the users, but has some very important new features for the people who create software (the developers), and for the software itself. These new features make building your own house in a week conceptually possible.
The first feature I'll discuss makes writing software easier. This (or rather, these) are formally called "closures", and in concept are similar to the more familiar subroutines. Both are a list of instructions for a particular task. Closures, however, are different from subroutines in a way that makes developers much more efficient. Let's return to our house-builder.
If you have a willing assistant who doesn't know much about building houses, and you want their help, you need to give your assistant some very specific instructions on what to do. Not only what to do, but where to do it. And with what materials. And which tools. This takes a lot of time, of course -- training is what differentiates unskilled labour from craftsmen. Returning to computer software, then, your assistant is similar to a subroutine.
Subroutines are explicit and specific. You must create them by specifying everything you need done. And when a subroutine is run, everything must be in place for it to begin. (All of the tools and lumber must be ready, and you hand your assistant an extremely detailed list of instructions.)
Closures are to subroutines what you (the home builder) are to an assistant. Because closures are typically created with context (materials) already in place, a great deal of setup can be eliminated. And because closures are created with preliminary tasks already in progress, a lot of detailed elucidation can be eliminated. (This is a simplification, and is not always the case, but is a useful illustration.)
In other words, closures allow you to define a program task in terms of how you (yourself) would do it, rather than in terms of how you would tell an assistant to do it. This makes for faster programming and fewer bugs. (Although remaining bugs can be spectacular.)
Closures are not a new feature of programming languages -- they've been around in functional languages for a long time. However, Snow Leopard has added closures to the system and application programming languages C, C++ and Objective C -- where they have never been before.
In so doing, they have upgraded languages which are the defacto standard tools for creating operating systems and end-user applications for, in the case of C, almost forty years.
The other feature I'll cover that was introduced by Snow Leopard is called Grand Central Dispatch. This is a mechanism for creating, if you will, armies of tasks. The old way of getting things done on computers is for everything, every task, to be done in sequence. Of course: old computers only had one processor. Computers these days have two, four, eight or more processors -- and now that processors are executing 2 to 4 billion instructions per second, adding more processors is now much cheaper than trying to make a single processor faster.
A task is like a subroutine -- it's something that needs to be done. Load a file, load the photo, format the document, draw the document on the screen, prepare for printing, print a page, print a page, save the document. etc. Doing these things in sequence makes sense on an old computer where only one thing can be done at a time anyway. But on new computers with multiple processors, we find that sequential programming as above results in a lot of wasted capability. One processor will be running full speed doing all these steps in sequence and the other processors, with nothing to do, are just sitting there.
Grand Central Dispatch allows the programmer to take each of those above tasks and break them apart into work units. If they were all run simultaneously, that would be very fast but not usable -- one cannot begin printing a page before the document has been loaded. What is new with GCD is that when you define work units, you can also specify that they cannot start until some other work unit has finished its task.
As in the above example, then, we could say that the page formatting work unit can't begin until the document loading work unit has completed. And the screen updating and printing work units can't begin until the formatting work unit is complete. There are tasks that are dependent on earlier tasks, and tasks that can be done at the same time. When you write a program using GCD, you define it in terms of tasks, and how those tasks depend on each other.
GCD takes these tasks and the dependencies they have and figures out how to make them run as quickly and efficiently as possible -- all the while running in the correct order. If your computer has two processors, GCD may only set two things running at once. But if your computer has eight processors, you might get eight -- or sixteen things running at once, some of them from other programs you might be using at the same time. Because GCD is a system feature, what really happens is that all of your programs, all of them that are running, create their own tasks and dependency lists, then hand it all over to GCD -- which makes sure everything happens efficiently and correctly.
So, when you think about the combination of closures and GCD, you find that the dominant paradigm of application and system computer programming has been turned on its head. Instead of writing a program which executes a series of very carefully and explicitly defined instructions in purely sequential order, we now have a system which allows you to define an arbitrary set of work units that will operate within a clear and concise context, and execute as rapidly and effectively as possible.
So to get that house built in a week, instead of hiring a thousand untrained assistants, giving them phone-book sized instructions and trying to manage them yourself without accidents and errors -- you just set about to do the job yourself (via the efficiency and clarity of closures), and the system via GCD will create as many clones of you as are necessary for each of you to get the job done as fast as possible -- without stepping on toes, and without hanging wallpaper before the foundation has been poured.
It's an army of me.
This is a huge, huge thing, and once programmers really take hold of it, the next decade will see some real progress in not only usability (fewer "beachballs of doom"), but in creating more complex tools that have fewer errors.
Way to go, folks.
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* Closures do not mean you don't have to be clear and specific in writing your software -- you still must elucidate everything that must be done. They do mean, however, that you don't have to spend the majority of your programming time writing clumsy and error-prone "plumbing" code that ties things together, and can concentrate much more intently on the functionality that is specific to your application.
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