rake for c++

In the c++ program I've been working on, shessiond, I had been using GNU make. Unfortunately make blows. I got it to build, but it wasn't doing incremental builds, it was rebuilding everything everytime. This worked for a while because it was small. Now it's growing larger and I finally got sick of full rebuilds everytime.

I considered mucking with the Makefile to get it to work. I even have the GNU Make book. But, it isn't much different than a longer version of the make man page.

I also looked at scons. At first it looked like it had good documentation, but it's not as much or as helpful as it first appears. There was no obvious, simple example of compiling source objects _and then_ compiling those objects into an executable. Also, they seemed to have an odd build system that they almost threaten you with on the developer page.

So Rake seemed good. I decided this because it's also hosted on github. Most Rake documentation is for using it with Ruby. The few C++ examples I could find were pretty realistic.
* http://rake.rubyforge.org/files/doc/rakefile_rdoc.html
* http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/58444

After a while of messing around, I finally got it working. Most of my confusion here came from the Ruby syntax, which I think I'll adjust to. And, as opposed to the Makefile, when I got the Rakefile working, I actually understood the important parts of how it works.

The one thing I'm still trying to resolve is an issue with the build paths. I tried to configure it to build my source files into a separate obj directory. This works for my files in the src/ directory, but breaks when I try to compile test code in the test/ directory. It seems a solvable problem though, and far less intimidating than trying to figure it out with make.

The other remaining issue is dependencies on headers. This is covered in the link above though, so I expect to get it working once I actually try to do it.

shessiond

I started working recently on a new software application. It's purpose is to allow web applications to share sessions across multiple servers. It's called shessiond and is hosted publicly at github. It's not ready for production yet, but it does work and I think it's far enough along that it's interesting to look at.

Sears has clothes?

I've started shopping for clothes at Sears recently. I'd definitely recommend it. They don't have flash clothes or brands, just nice looking stuff without lame brands (like Hollister) plastered all over it. And it is Sears after all, so the prices are decent. They also have Land's End clothes in the store so you can try things on.

Soccer is almost perfect

I'm watching the Olympic soccer and am once again reminded of the one short-coming of soccer: penalty kick finishes. For some reason, FIFA officials seem to think penalty kick finishes are a good thing. They have no gold or silver goals, and seem to almost want penalty kicks. But they're so lame.

For one, all games should be played with the Golden Goal. Hockey playoffs in overtime are so exciting because you can't look away for a moment without fear of missing the finish. In soccer, even if the team scores a goal, you know you have to sit through the remainder of overtime watching boring play until time finally runs out.

Also, each of the 2 overtimes should start with an additional obligatory substitution. No one wants to see 20 tired guys walking around the field. Force teams to substitute someone for a guy with fresh legs to keep the game moving.

Lastly, shoot outs should be moved back, outside the 18, to make them more interesting. Give the goalies a chance and force the shooters to make real shots. That would make it way more interesting to watch than seeing goalies just guess left or right before the shot is even taken.