This week I've been in what my wife calls "mad scientist mode," coding away into the wee hours of the morning. It's weird how this works: some weeks I can barely write any code, whereas other weeks I can't type fast enough (tip: loud music keeps the fingers flying).
While I love writing software, I hate how hard it is turning my brain off at the end of a solid day of coding. Somewhere deep in the cobwebbed nooks and crannies of my skull, I think there's an army of tiny little geeks thinking about what new code I should be writing, and unlike me, these guys don't seem to need any sleep. If I wake up in the middle of the night for any reason, these little dudes spring into life and insist that I get back to my keyboard.
Last night is a good (bad?) example - I woke up just after 1AM (ouch!), and try as I might, I couldn't ignore the call of the keyboard. So, I've been awake ever since, writing code like a caffeine-addicted wiener dog. A good chunk of this time was spent ripping out TopStyle's existing HTTP routines and replacing them with the ones I use in FeedDemon, which handle proxies, firewalls and NTLM authentication better. I also continued working on FeedDemon 1.51, completing a couple of new features (screenshot 1, screenshot 2, screenshot 3).
Of course, now I'm pooped, and even the little coders in my head are starting to get blurry-eyed. If any of my new co-workers are reading this and need to contact me today, better do it this morning - I imagine I'll be asleep at the wheel by this afternoon :)
I know exactly how you feel. I haven't had a good nights sleep in a while just because I cant shut up my brain. Glad to know its not just me!
Posted by: Ryan Guill | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 11:22 AM
Ah -- I want that surfer mode. Looks great.
Posted by: michael | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 11:23 AM
Yep. I'm just jealous that you get to blast music when you need to at 1am. Although, the enforced silence sometimes helps me.
Posted by: Joe W. | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 11:35 AM
Wow the screenshots look awesome, especially that new surfer view. Can't wait!
Posted by: Arvind | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 12:00 PM
1am getup??? i dont normally goto sleep before 2am, then rise at 7
horses for courses or whatever that saying is :|
Posted by: colin | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 12:10 PM
I'm also a 6-hour sleeper during the week but life to make up for it on the weekend.
Nick, hopefully after you get these new versions out and settle in at NewsGator we might be lucky enough to get a Mac version of TopStyle. ;)
Posted by: Matt Sephton | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 12:13 PM
The new screenies look great, especially the nested folders. I can't wait for the next release!
Posted by: Lex | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 01:26 PM
[drool] Is that an "Import from newsgator" section I see on the cool new screenies? The whole idea of having a central server to store all my feeds, and using FeedDemon on seperate PCs (and it KNOWING which ones I've read) is far too cool for words. So, Nick, you're not getting any sympathy from me - keep codin'! ;o
Posted by: Will | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 01:30 PM
Will, yes - that is an "import from NewsGator" feature, and it also supports importing from Bloglines or an external OPML.
Posted by: Nick Bradbury | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 01:39 PM
Nick,
I'm curious what's going on with Topstyle. It'd be great to hear your future plans for it, as that seems to be the biggest concern "post-merge".
Thanks,
Ken
Posted by: Ken | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 02:03 PM
Fantastic Nick, can't wait to see the Beta [puts hands up as a willing tester!]. FeedDemon is easily my most-used App, behind Firefox...and it's great to know it's just a "one man band." Well - it *used* to be a one man band, but I'm quite sure the same principles will apply even now you've made it big :) Keep up the great work
Posted by: WIll | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 02:42 PM
You're a System of a Down fan? I'd have to agree that loud, fast-paced music does encourage my fingers to fly through the code. Sometimes, I think it's the music that got me through some of those late nights in college.
If you're enjoying Mezmerize, I highly recommend checking out Mudvayne's newest, Lost & Found.
Posted by: Doug P. | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 04:44 PM
Surfer looks awesome.
Could you add an option that flags/unflags it also?
I put in a feature request for this when you were working on Expando 2 but it wasn't possible at the time. With the new features would it now be possible?
Please say yes!!
Posted by: Morgan | Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 05:55 PM
Good to see your coding pattern is similair as mine, there days i suffer from "blank form" syndrome, and there days that i can't stop and will code 24/7.
My preferred coding music is Soulfly, the old Sepultura etc. still makes for good coding music.
Might make for a interesting topic/poll, what music do you code best by ;)
Richard
Posted by: Richad | Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 04:19 AM
I've found more physical tiredness will make rest easier. So see if you can leave the keyboard and burn up some energy that way? The brain can't switch off because the body just sits there and types.
IMHO
Posted by: Lea, What is my IP Address? | Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 08:12 AM
Nice work, Nick. It looks pretty good, and I like the River of News look. Finally, I love the look of the import.
I cannot wait to get my grubby little paws on it. Need an alpha and beta test? ;-)
Posted by: Jason Thomas | Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 08:34 AM
I know exactly what you are talking about. I also have this "little geeks" in me. I just can't find a way to properly introduce them to my family. :)
Posted by: gaba | Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 09:54 AM