Seriously Apple?
Try opening this file with Keynote 09
I understand you updated your apps; that's totally cool.
What isn't cool is giving me a message that my presentation is too old and to try opening it with Keynote 09. Which I no longer have.
Would it have killed you to take that conversion code, package it up, and embed it in the new Keynote? You know, like a sane . . .
UIScreen.wantsSoftwareDimming
tl;dr: it doesn't work
A quick heads up: apparently UIScreen.wantsSoftwareDimming doesn't work on iOS 7, the iPhone 5S, or both. I was unable to detect a difference in the brightness levels no matter what that setting was at; previously you had to set that flag then adjust the brightness to make it take effect. (I've always felt that LCD brightness levels . . .
Interlocked.CompareExchange
I've got a hammer and you're all f**king nails
Interlocked.CompareExchange is magic. No, seriously.
Yes, it does a comparison and replaces a value if the comparison is true. In all cases, it returns the old value. Why is that so interesting?
Well, you can read a value: value = Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref _location, null, null). If _location was already null, it will . . .
On Rediscovering the Classic Coordinated Transaction Problem
Everything old is new again
While working on the new immutable engine of chaos today, I wrote myself into a corner and in the process re-discovered the classic coordinated transaction problem:
If you have two separate transactions that both need to commit together or roll back together, how can you ensure that happens as an atomic operation?
If I . . .
ContextLocal
the best thing you'll never use
If you are doing parallel operations on immutable data you may run into a problem. A lot of us are used to using [ThreadStatic] static fields to hold ambient state that exceeds the built-in ThreadPrincipal or CurrentCulture settings. If you are running in a web context you certainly have access to HttpContext, but otherwise you appear to be . . .
Github Renamed Me
We will change your SSH keys and you will like it
In preparation for a new post, I logged in to GitHub recently. I created my account two years ago in anticipation of being able to open-source more code and I wanted to reserve my name; I had a couple of forked repos but that's it. A new baby and a wife with major back surgery will do that to you.
Imagine my surprise when I . . .
Provisioning Profiles for Dummies
I hope you like public key cryptography
Let's break down a .mobileprovision file piece-by-piece:
1 - The app ID prefix
<key>ApplicationIdentifierPrefix</key>
<array>
<string>X00X0X000XX</string>
</array>
2 - When the profile was created and when it expires
<key>CreationDate</key>
. . .