Fast lines in DirectDraw

Filed Under Software development

When building applications that include a direct-manipulation user interface, I tend to go with DirectDraw, as this API provides a seemingly simple and efficient way of implementing interactive graphical surfaces. However, as this article demonstrates, simplicity isn’t always necessarily a good thing.

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Spare change we can believe in

Filed Under Journal

For years, I had been waiting for this opportunity.

When standing in line at the supermarket checkout, I tend to quickly dig out my spare change and count it, so I can react quickly when the time comes to cough up - can I pay with coins, or do I have to get out some paper cash?

Yesterday, at the back of a particularly long queue, I counted exactly €4.78 in change before returning it to my pocket. When it was finally my turn to pay, the cashier mumbled “That’ll be €4.78″ in that exceedingly unfriendly manner that must be a mandatory part of the training they receive here (”Lesson One: Why the customer is annoying scum”).

Making a big show of it, I jingled the change in my pocket, and finally pulled out a seemingly random handful of coins that I thrust at the cashier before wordlessly walking away.