Mac OS X 10.3.9

According to Software Update, Mac OS X 10.3.9 is out. Ouch, 51.3MB!

Java for Absolute Beginners

As you may have noticed on the right, I’m working my way through Java Programming for Absolute Beginners, which is kind of fun so far.  I haven’t done any non-web programming since about 1994, so my skills are rusty in the extreme.  To top it off, I never worked with any Object-Oriented languages, so this ought to be interesting.  So far, the book has my interest, as you actually learn the language by writing a series of simple computer games, and most of my difficulties have been typos in my own code.  Their Mac instructions aren’t entirely accurate though, I think they may be for Mac OS 9, but it’s really not clear.  I’ve just used the UNIX instructions, and haven’t had any significant problems so far.

FeedBurner

I’ve switched my RSS/Atom feeds over to using FeedBurner, just to try it out.  It’ll let me actually get an idea of how many people are subscribed to my feed, as well as offer some cool features when I get around to making a Flickr account soon.

Kahn's Korner

My college roommate, Kahn Evans, has started a blog.  He’s been writing pretty consistently for a week or two, which is a good sign that he’ll stick with it, unlike some of my other friends.

Patch your boxes

If you even come into passing contact with a Windows box, take a few minutes to visit first Windows Update and then Office Update to install the latest critical patches for your system. There are some truly nasty holes that were patched today, and I'm sure at least one of them will be ripe for a worm soon. The TCP/IP stack, Windows/MSN Messenger, and even Microsoft Word all have "critical" security flaws in them, so get patching!