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James Terry - Software Developer
James Terry is a software developer with over twenty years experience creating software in a wide variety of environments. Past clients have included large companies (Amazon, Sony, Nike, Merrill Lynch) and many more modest in size. Available for hourly and project consulting.
Free Initial Consultation
Call 646-586-3095 or Email jdt@jamesdterry.com
Stay tuned for a cool App
September 23, 2010 / 765 comments
It's been awhile since I posted but I have a good excuse. It's not quite out yet but I've got a neat App just about ready to go. This post is going to be a bit of a tease because I can't quite spill the beans yet but be assured you can do some neat stuff with video and iOS 4.
Stay tuned!
Hey Steve, no assembly language?
May 03, 2010 / 25 comments
By now I'm sure you've seen and/or heard of Apple's prohibition on using anything other than "approved languages" when developing for the iPad/iPhone.
Here's the infamous text:
3.3.1 - Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
First off, no assembly language?!?  What if I want to go right to the metal and make sure my App is as small, fast and power preserving as possible. Surely this is just an oversight.  And I'm being only a little facetious.  The first version of the AI code for my Cherokee Checkers game on the iPhone was too slow when written in Objective-C.  I rewrote it in straight C (saving lots of object creation and destruction) and that speed it up significantly.  But I was looking at moving it into assembler if needed - I'd like to see the objection to that.
In the end these kinds of arbitrary rules that are only driven by Apple's monopolistic tendencies will likely come back and bite them.  Of course they can just drop it when it's convenient for them, so I suppose it might even make business sense.  It kind of brings a soap opera feel to the whole mobile development scene.
iPad, What is it Good For?
April 07, 2010 / 244 comments
Just think of the old Edwin Starr tune (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pIqxuygWwM) and sing along "iPad, what is it good for - absolutely something".
So far, yes to games, no to browsing while watching TV - can't have IM or another app running and it's a real pain to page down with a swipe after a while.  Of course I'm comparing it to the Mac Air, which actually feels lighter.  And with a notebook, I can close it and feel like it won't suffer any dog or kid damage.  The iPad screen is always out and vulnerable.
Book reading is yet to be determined; it's a lot he