Paul Grenyer

Download I've been talking about rewriting the File Viewer application I developed at Communisis back in the early naughties for some time now. It took a while for me to find a solution for opening very large files (>20GB) that I liked and a virtual grid that would allow me to view them. After being (almost) forced to learn Java I thought it might hold the key. It can certainly handle the large files easily enough and JTable is certainly virtual enough to view them. I got quite a long way down the Java route before I decided Swing didn't give me the most aesthetic of GUIs and layout managers were too much like hard work (I've since got to grips with layout managers and changed my mind about them to some extent). I started looking around for a virtual grid for C#. I already knew that C# could handle the file sizes without any problem from the testing I'd done a few years back. It was pointed out to me that the DataGrid has a virtual mode and a little bit of play...

We're made it to one year! It's been interesting a long the way, but we're here and happy! Charlotte and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary this week. As a surprise I booked us into Byfords Posh B&B. Their rooms are very nicely done out, they have a full wet-room bathroom and the food and service are excellent. I'd recommend Byfords to anyone....

I've been using Java for nearly twelve months now and I am finding that I like it. There are only two things that I have discovered so far that make make me wonder what the creators of Java were thinking: exception handling and layout managers. I'll cover layout managers in a later article. Java is a garbage collected language. Which means that, most of the time, you don't have to worry how the memory previously used by dead objects is cleaned up. To me garbage collection has always felt a bit like a knee jerk reaction for people who can't use smart pointers properly in C++ and C programmers who must pay very close attention to the points at which they release memory allocated to the heap. If garbage collection is meant to help you clean up memory, why hasn't something been developed to help objects release resources? Java has finalizers, but as Joshua Bloch points out in Effective Java finalizers cannot be relied upon. Proper cleanup of resources is left to the dev...

We went again yesterday. The manageress was in her usual rude state and refused point blank to give Charlotte a glass of tap water, stating that she'd have to get bottled water and they couldn't give her tap water as they didn't have a tap, despite us spending over £10. Charlotte argued that it's illegal not to give tap water on request and eventually a glass of water did appear. This upset one of their staff so much that she (not the manageress) came up and apologised to us later on, despite the fact it was absolutely no fault of her own. I think this may well be the last nail in the coffin now.

Title: Boiler Plating Database Resource Cleanup Type: Case study Duration: 45 min Speaker: Paul Grenyer Speaker biography: Paul has been programming in one form or another for over 20 years. After several years using C++ and a brief period using C#, Paul has now ended up somewhere he hoped he'd never be, programming in Java, and finding he really quite likes it. After time in industries such as marking machinery, direct mail, mobile phones, investment banking and Internet TV, Paul is currently working for an exciting new insurance industry based startup in Norwich. He has been an ACCU member since 2001, a regular publications contributor (including the new Desert Island Books column), creator of the mentored developers and a committee member for most of that time. When he's not programming or getting used to married life and being a step parent, Paul thoroughly enjoys science fiction, heavy metal and cycling. I've been using Java for nearly twelve months now and I am findin...

I quite like Simon Pegg . I have some fond memories of watching Spaced with a friend of mine in the early hours of the morning following a night out at a club. I've never really been a fanatic though. I haven't watch Shawn of the Dead all the way through yet and I only watched Hot Fuzz recently. It could probably be argued that I don't have a lot to learn from How to Loose Friends and Alienate People , but Charlotte was keen to go and we both enjoyed it. It was dire in places, but for the most part it was very good. The film exposes the vast cultural difference between the US and the UK in a very funny way and Kirsten Dunst always captures my heart in that classic girl next door way (my wife always says that I married the girl next door, even though it was more like the girl one hundred yards up the road, turn left and then fifty yards on the right). With a soppy ending seeing Pegg get the girl he really wants and the dry humour there's something for everyone, even ...

Since we met, my wife and I have been having lunch at Togo's on the rare occasions that we're in the city at lunch time. I really don't know why we keep going back there. Although the food is very good, especially the cheese cake, the prices are unreasonably high, the service is poor, the couple running the White Lion Street branch are obnoxious and the sign dictating the rules for the upper seating area, including no picnicking, respect and no unaccompanied minors, is less than inviting if not arrogant, rude and hostile. It makes me wonder if they've twigged that they're there for the benefit of the customers, rather than the other way around. Maybe that's why it's rarely full and there''s always a spare table. I imagine we'll keep going.