I really likeD your blog, but sadly it isn’t readable anymore. Why do you lock out some of your readers on purpose? (Not everybody uses a fancy GUI browser to read blogs)

I don’t know why I am doing this. I can’t explain it. I’m sorry.

Right now, someone on the NetBeans team is busy adding OCR and handwriting recognition…

they call it: alt=””, be a pal and throw the characters in there.

I like this one :)

Is .gemmirrorc a citizen in linux? No such thing on OS X :o(

I think…

#!/user/bin/env ruby
%w[ftools rubygems open-uri yaml].map(&method(:require))
config_file = File.join(Gem.user_home,'.gemmirrorrc')
YAML.load_file(config_file).each do |mir|
  gems_dir = mir['to']+"/gems" 
  File.makedirs(gems_dir)
  sourceindex = open(mir['from']+"/yaml"){|y| YAML.load(y)}
  mir['only'].each do |name|
    gem = sourceindex.find_name(name).last
    gem_file = gem.full_name+'.gem'
    unless File.exists?(gems_dir+"/"+gem_file)
      puts "fetching:"+gem_file
      begin
        open(mir['from']+"/gems"+gem_file) do |g|
          open(gems_dir+"/"+gem_file,"wb") do |out|
            out.write(g.read)
          end
        end
      rescue
        puts $!
      end
    end
  end
end

.gemmirrorc is some random yaml file that you write yourself. The interface for it is given in the code.It’s just some arbitrary file in your home dir.

try googling gemmirrorrc

Seems very similar to this.

Doug, I think it’s a YAML file you set up for the purposes of running this script.

seriously, _why. if you’re trying to be exclusionary, you’re succeeding.

I like being excluded! Oh… to belong to a club that even I can’t belong to! The ultimate cool paradox.

I liked this exclusionary club back when it was indie.

Thanks RyanTM, abscond and d, got it now.

_why, I actually think posting code like this isn’t as insane as it seems on the surface. It forces people to re-type the code, which (in theory anyway) causes them to think about it as they write it. It’s more educational to type the code in and read what you’re writing than to see a neat snippet online, paste it, and be on your merry way.

It also helps that you don’t actually explain what the code does, and leave it up to those reading to figure it out.

Is anybody else reminded of the dungeon map for the Level 4 of the original Legend of Zelda?

This one was my favourite (visualisation-wise) so far.

More please.

stouset is right, I think. For what it’s worth, although most of the snippets _why posts are interesting, none of them are so vital that people are going to die a horrible death from being unable to cut and paste them.

i cant even read this shit, how do i retype it?

“It forces people to re-type the code, which (in theory anyway) causes them to think about it as they write it. “

No it does not. It forces people to focus on trying to interpret silly blinking and colorful text and trying to re-type it. It actually ruins the whole educational value.

Why: Your Ruby book is one of the best programming books ever written. It’s fun, light, and has content. You are a genious in many areas. But this.. Thing.. With text as images.. It absolutely ruins usability and if at least I see even one more of those I’ll remove your blog from my rss reader and never look back.

I for one welcome our pixelated code overlords. But seriously, I think it’s neat how everyone races to be the first to type out the code and share. And it reminds me of typing out code in BYTE magazine. Kids are so lazy these days with their copying and their pasting.

@willcodeforfoo: It’s not that I’m lazy. I simply can’t read it. If I like the code I’ll try myself anyway…

_why: Could you at least link to a text version?

FWIW hitting ESCape should stop the animation and make it somewhat more readable

Handwritten and animated code is more fun to look at, end of discussion!

where why? where!? why!?

“But this.. Thing.. With text as images.. It absolutely ruins usability and if at least I see even one more of those I’ll remove your blog from my rss reader and never look back.”

Mao lives.

In addition! I’ve never seen a single one of these in which there wasn’t a transcription posted within a few hours.

Seriously, let _why have some damn fun. MSDN exists, you know. They have lots of text. And it’s all accessible. There’s no moral crime in making pretty pictures out of your code.

There’s no need to defend me, Djur. I’ll be okay. Almost every post I’ve ever made on this blog was met with some resistance.

@djur: It’s not a crime. It is just hard to read for some of us. However, _why can post whatever he wants.

@chris: I wasn’t really talking to you. Hell, I’d like an alt tag too.

The thing is, there’s other content on RedHanded, and to give an ultimatum that part of that content must be removed immediately or else one will stop reading suggests that there’s something inherently offensive about that content. Like, it’s something I’d be inclined to say if eigenclass started having occasional posts demanding that the homeless be put in concentration camps, right? Something personally offensive.

I don’t see anything offensive with these code-art posts, and I find it kind of nasty and unfair to accuse _why of some perfidy to his readers in posting them.

I thinks I see an ostrich!

these posts cause scary flashbacks to the “blink” html command.

please, for the sake of all recovering pokemonists, no more!

I love the style! I hope to see more. I would personally love to see a OCR library or extension that will read this colored code, in colored code.

the handwritten code was cool. this blinky thing… is painful. due to a misfeature of safari i can pause the animation by holding the scroll bar and if i get the first frame i can read it… but…. damn dude. shakes head

WHAt <BR />

I think it’s his face fading in and out

So this is what Ruby does to your brain.

Hey Why!

I think forcing people to rewrite code themselves is a very good idea, for they will understand it better…

And just a thing: don’t let superredcloth down… We need it completed! Just don’t take it as a toy, and be bored after a few days playing with it!

Thank you so much!

why doesnt the first person post the code in the comments rather than getting all worked up about someone else’s creative exertion?

why ask why why?

Anlar, that’s what the watching eye wants! cya!

_why is an artist. He doesn’t need your counter hits, your click-thrus, or your allegiance. He’s got everything he needs and he don’t look back. Follow, fly, or fade, my friends.

evan: mwahahaha.

That said, I prefer wget -np -r :-)

it’s official. why is hitting the crackpipe.

Haha, whiners, it’s perfectly readable and fairly OCR -able in the first frame.

I can see the billboard now: _why, raping accessibility since 19… Do friendly internet ghosts have birthdates?

Stop it!

and remeber kiddies, no one is forcing you to read or look at this blog.

_why, please don’t stop posting these. They’re great. Some people just won’t be happy until everyone’s in a suit—business or Mao.

I like it. Too many programmers just find what they’re too lazy to code on Google, then copy and paste code they find. None of them understand it.

I’m sorry, I’m compelled to do this.

evan, Armin: Pure delight. I love the photo responses.

stop crying. someone always types the code out for everyone. this is a community. let _why express himself.

what really bothers me is that _why is using ftools instead of fileutils.

Armin: There was no point in including the Ruby Inside link in that post. It’s not a code example, it’s a /screenshot/ to give an impression. The actual code is on the page linked to ready to copy and paste.

me, I’m just happy to know that somebody noticed gem_mirror exists :)

i’m sure the RubyGems folks would be happy to take a patch to add the ‘only’ option to the tool (and do any of the other nice improvements your version has)

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from

http://ocr1.sc.isc.tohoku.ac.jp/e1/

Armin Ronacher, its funny, because alt tags don’t appear in firefox, only title tags!

YOU LOSE !

the pythonistas and fear mongers are scared by the sheer sexiness and mystery of _why’s latest code postings. This is better than daytime television!

ALTTAG : [ ] you know what the ALT tag is for… In order to enlighten you: The ALT tag is handled completely correct by firefox. It’s displayed if images are either disabled or missing or you’re browing that webpage with a webbrowser for handicapped persons. In that case the webbrowser reads the alt tag (not the title tag).

Regards, Armin

why, I love the shinny shit code (Oh Sam…) why not put the human-scrapable code in the images’ alt tag

presto, dual magic happens here

_why: OOC, how did you make this one specifically? I like the aesthetic a lot.

I THINK YOU SHOULD DO EVERYTHING DIFFERENTLY . IF YOU RAN THIS BLGG LIKE A REAL PERSON MAYBE WE WOULD ALL SEE THE OCDE MUCH MORE CLEARLY

I find this amusing, and I’m with MenTaLguY here.

1. ｍｏｍｍｙ ##　ｍｏｍｍｙ ###　Ｉ　ｃａｎ’ｔ　ｒｅａｄ　ｉｔ． ###　Ｍａｋｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ ##　ｍａｎ　ｗｒｉｔｅ　ｌｉｋｅ ###　ｄａｄｄｙ．

Keep the dream alive. I love your image-codes. I rarely copy them down, but it makes me read the code and forces me to understand it. It’s a great exercise that I’d probably skip over if it were plaintext.

So… this mirrors a gem repository?

There is no ALT tag.

but there is an alt=”” attribute.

Screw them. I want even wierder more unreadable code images that blink. Let why be why!

Also, let this be a warning for next time: the first person who complains should transcribe the code in a comment instead.

Exclusionary and wonderful. I wholehardedly endorse increasingly animated code.