The pragmatic choice for selecting language to learn programming in is javascript. It is not a Good language to learn programming in but it is easy to get stuff graphical, interactive and published. (Perhaps actionscript is better.)

After very little hacking in javascript a backend is needed for persisting data between sessions. Also other functionality is needed like user handling. So why not create a very simple server side app that does this? It can’t be used for serious applications but for simple html/javascript for youngsters wanting to learn it should do alright.

A diaper that you don’t have to sniff or visually check for it’s status.

In summertime it is often easy to grab the kid and tear down the pants to check whether a change is needed our not. In winter it is not.

With today’s modern diapers it can be hard to tell if they are filled with pee or not, they always feel dry. I have tried diapers with “wetness visualization”, like ink on wet paper, but it didn’t do the trick; when the diaper’s “ink” was visible it was easy to check the inside of the diaper too.

The email format is more complex than a simple (complex) regex.

One could create a site with libs or functions for several languages. The site should also contain a way to test uploaded libs and functions. That way it would be a one stop shop for email validation code.

One could also create a service that validates addresses for all languages that still don’t have an implementation.

All digital calendars require every meeting to have a start and end time.  Meetings don’t necessarily have.

The idea is a solution that takes the best of both worlds.

Examples:

Discuss bug 314 from 1400 and forward.

We might be finished 1500.  We might be finished 2100.
In a paper calendar we draw a line 14-15 and then a squiggly all the way to 21.  Or whatever we feel like.

Meet Andersson after bug discussion.

Since we don’t know when the bug discussion is finished we can’t write it down in a digital calendar.  Well… we can make it an all day event but that messes up the over view.
In a paper calendar we just write it.  It doesn’t make the overview unreadable for this day.

After work on Friday

We start at 1730 I guess.  Unknown end time.  One could always end the meeting at 2359 and explicitly write “unknown end time”
In a paper calendar we just write “after work” and that is all we need.

Boat is lent to Pettersson 20110701-20110714

In a paper calendar we draw a line in the margin and some small text.
In the digital calendar we have two solutions.  1) 14 full day events and then we risk missing both the dentist’s appointment and the spouses birthday since they don’t show up on the overview on the month.  2) another calendar we can merge.  This makes the calendar “clicky” and we have to look at two overviews.

Vacation 20110701-20110814

45 full day events?  “You have a full calendar during your holiday?”

Supper at night at Lundström’s.  Call Jag during Sunday.  Preferably before noon.  Etc.

There are so many ways the paper calendar can visualise meetings/appointments/happenings the digital can’t.
But the digital calendar can be backed up and can be shared with others and can automatically create day&month&year overview in a way paper calendar can’t.

I say the world is in need of a source code editor that isn’t document oriented.

Today we open a file.  This file typically contains a class and its methods.  One can read the object variables and relations to other classes typically at the top of the document.  The methods are sorted in an alphabetical manner.

Why do we still handle the code like this?

When I work with source code I am more interested in the calls that come in and go out of the method I am looking at.  I am also interested in inheritances and interfaces of the class and both the class’ and the method’s usage throughout the project/solution/world.  I am normally not interested in the method that begins with the same letters.

Some years ago I saw a Java editor that worked with relations instead of source code.
I have recently experimented with Debugger canvas from Microsoft which takes a similar view on debugging.  It is labs and it is, probably, a beta and it is immature and does not hold Microsoft standard yet.  But it is a start.

D0es anyone know of any other tool that handles the source code like we handle it, and not only as files in a folder structure?

Pacifiers today can’t be handled by babies.  They drop it, involuntarily hide it and insert it the wrong way.  In so far they can get it to the mouth at all.

It would be good with a pacifier the baby itself could grasp and insert.

A site for keeping tab what you lend out and what you borrow from others.

One kind of user is the casual user.  The one that has a house and 10 neighbours.  He has lent out his calliper and the pressure gauge and has borrowed an extra long drill and the lawn mower knife sharpener.  Once a month he gets a reminding email with what he has lent and borrowed.  So does his neighbours.

This user only has to enter the name of the thing, the lender, the borrower and a date.  The lawn mower is typically not used for half a year and can just as well occupy space in the neighbour’s garage as his own.

Then there is the slightly more advanced user.  He is the intendent of a football team and has 33 balls he lends out to trainers and players.  He also has a lawn mower that is used at different arenas and of course the medallions and trophies that is lent out to the winner of each year’s 10-12-years-old-league winners.

The balls are not unique but the number of balls is important.  The trophies are unique though.  The lawn mower is unique but there is only one so it feels like a more casual lending.  Not less important to get it back though.

A small baby cannot put its pacifier into its mouth by itself.  But it manages to insert a piece of cloth .

Why not make a pacifier that, for the baby, is as easy to insert as a cloth?

I recently changed floor and had to remove baseboards/moulds.  These were easy to break/crack which would later lead to more work piecing them together to make the crack invisible.  Not to mention all the dents I made when making the first try to pry them loose.

If they had been screwed this wouldn’t have happened.

In another room I had to paint the moulds.  The result was sometimes not satisfactory.  If I had been able to screw them loose it would have been better.

What about screw holes? one might ask.  Are there supposed to be big black holes or heads sticking out?  That can be solved I say.  I don’t know yet but there are plugs, screws without head but threads with different rise or another solution.

There already exists moulds that are fastened on fasteners that are attached to the wall.  The implementations I have seen so far are slightly ugly, doesn’t always make a nice fit and can’t be used for pressing the floor down, which is needed sometimes.  A good idea though.

If the moulds are detachable they could also be milled on the backside to allow for electrical wires.

Finally I don’t want to stop the screwing idea at mouldings and baseboards.  Use it for everything where there is a nail.  It makes redecorating easier.  And screwing isn’t harder than nailing in the first place.

The keyboard layout is created for touch typists (there are some comments about this but bear with me) but most people don’t touch type.

So why not have a keyboard that is better for index finger typers?  The space bar isn’t pressed by the thumb so it could be smaller and give place for other buttons.  Ditto almost all buttons since an index finger typer probably looks at the keyboard too.  One could also get rid of the qwerty layout which isn’t very good for typing and it makes finding keys harder for someone who seldom types.

Personally I am using ergonomical keyboards (yes – I touch type) since they are easier on the wrists; but I am on the lookout for customizable keyboards where I can bend it and place the keys wherever I like.

If you dear reader is programming and using a Swedish keyboard let me present 1337 keyboard layout for you.  It has a US base (better for programming) but with åäö (necessary to write Swedish) on it too.  Then I have switched the figures and the special characters on the top row so there is no need for pressing shift every time you want a parenthesis.