Developer’s blog

Passed my Dissertation Defense

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:21:00 -0500

This afternoon at 4 PM I was greeted by my committee as “Dr. Spratling” after defending my dissertation.

In the photo from left are Dr. Friesen, Dr. Turner (who graciously substituted for Dr. Junkins, who was ill), myself, the chairman: Dr. Mortari, and Dr. Reed.

So the next steps for me are to make a few edits to my dissertation, mostly typos and adding page numbers to the Table of Contents, reordering references, then submit it to the thesis office, who checks formatting & margins. Based on the University’s schedule, the next available graduation opportunity is August. In the mean time, I’ll be visiting family, focussing on adding new features to my iPhone/iPad apps, and looking for full-time employment.

At Texas A&M University in the Aerospace Engineering Department, the Dissertation Defense is synonymous with the Oral Final Exam required for a Ph.D., which may only be taken once, with possible outcomes being: pass or fail. After my 1.5 hours presentation of my research, the committee convened and decided my fate; my advisor (Dr. Mortari) exited the conference room and greeted me, saying “Congratulations, Dr. Spratling!” The entire committee congratulated me and we took pictures. Dr. Mortari had also printed an intramural sports t-shirt which had my name “Dr. Spratling” on the back and the number 6, because I am his 6th Ph.D. I wore that t-shirt to dinner that night, but that’ll pretty much be it, since it is too pretentious for any other occasion.

Thursday, I’ll be attending a friend’s defense (assuming her chair, Dr. Junkins, is feeling well enough by that time) who will be Dr. Junkin’s 41st. He must be building his own football team of rocket scientists. They might not win in a game against the Aggie’s varsity team, but we’d sure be able to calculate the exact path of a field-goal kick!

BibleXpress works in iPhone OS 4

Thu, 8 Apr 2010 20:39:22 -0500

Apple previewed iPhone OS 4 today, and will roll it out this summer. As a developer, I get this stuff a bit ahead of you so I can do what I did today: test BibleXpress in iPhone OS 4, and it works. So when this summer rolls around and you want to upgrade to iPhone OS 4 to take advantage of multi-tasking, folders, and all those glorious in-app advertisements... you’ll know BibleXpress has already been tested and already works... I’ll have some fun writing new features for it. :)

BibleXpress 1.6.1 Approved

Wed, 7 Apr 2010 18:58:28 -0500

I just got the word BibleXpress 1.6.1 was approved. It fixes lots of bugs, especially for ensuring iPhone/iPad cross compatibility, and a search engine bug that turned out to be a compiler error!

I’ve been testing out the user experience on my iPad, and I’ve got to say, this thing is sweet! We haven’t yet seen what all developers are going to be able to do with this revolutionary interface, but I’ve found some really fun games and drawing apps so far. I think the professional apps will be the best on iPad, but it’s going to take months or even a year or two until we see the real potential. For now, I can use it to take notes in meetings, and finally stop lugging my entire backpack around with me full of my computer, charger, papers, pens, etc... It’s amazing the difference the iPad makes by removing the coordination of moving a mouse! I’m making some other mock-up apps to learn about the user experience for various tasks, and planning new features for BibleXpress to take full advantage of the large screen.

Here’s my short impromptu personal review of the iPad:
Remember Penny’s “computer book” from the cartoon Inspector Gadget? This is it, but waaaaay better. Remember “PADD’s” from Star Trek? This is it, but waaaaaaay better. Remember the Kindle? This is it, but waaaaaaay better! So here’s the short list: 1) get a case. I would say get Apple’s case, which is nice because it feels like a notebook in your hand, but their case & docks are incompatible, and putting the iPad in the case takes enough time that you won’t want to swap it. 2) upgrade your USB ports to handle the massive power requirements. Newer Macs can handle it, PC’s generally can’t. 3) It’s heavier than you think, so holding it for long periods of time (in one hand) is obnoxious, you’re going to use it on a desk or our lap most of the time. (Two hands is ok.) 4) In landscape orientation, the keyboard is the same size as a physical keyboard, so typing is way easy. 5) The available e-readers are still awful, but iBooks is just ‘ok’ IF you have .epub files. I want to page through a .pdf like I would a book, and I’ve tried readMe, MyPDFs and iPDF and nothing’s there yet... If you’ve got a reccommendation on an .pdf e-reader, let me know. 6) Moving files back & forth is easy now with “document sharing” through iTunes. I’m looking into ways to use this for several apps. 7) Keynote for iPad does not do “actions” only “builds”! So if you have really awesome Keynote presentations, don’t expect them to work fully, or even show all your images.

BTW, in my personal life, I got a real shock Monday afternoon.
I was doing my dishes leaning over to put a plate in the dishwasher and BLAM! I was on the floor. Turns out I hit my forehead on the cabinet door, and wow did it hurt! I realized the pain, and reached up and felt my forehead, it was a gash, about an inch long, which, btw did not bleed as much as I thought it would. Everyone is asking if I needed stitches or had a concussion, and my guess is “probably” but I have a hard head, and I put plenty of Neosporin on it so I won’t get a scar. But I’ve been kinda woozy yesterday, and I had a real hard time focussing on my work.

“what work?” you ask. I’m finishing the last edits on my dissertation before my defense. My goal is to have my dissertation edits done by the end of the week, and then my committee will declare a defense date, which is a presentation oral-final-exam concerning my doctoral research. Right now we’re targeting Friday, April 23rd. If all goes well, I’ll be a free man on April 24th. Instead of having an expensive dinner, I’m going to invite friends to go to Rudy’s BBQ here in (I’m not paying for guests, just eating) and I’ve asked my parents to bring some real BBQ sauce, not this spicy Texas stuff. My senior year at Auburn, I lived next door to The Barbecue House. (See that photo? That’s my apartment building in the background!) They have (literally) the best BBQ in the world, so I’m asking my parents to bring a bottle or two of that sweet Alabama BBQ sauce since they don’t sell it here in TX.

Oh, did you see Apple’s announcing iPhone OS 4 tomorrow morning? I knew something smelled fishy about iPhone OS 3.2, but I didn’t know what...

Happy Easter!

Sun, 4 Apr 2010 00:49:27 -0500

Happy Easter!
Howdy folks, I’m pumped. I’ve been waiting for today for 8 years. 8 years ago, I was the video director for my Sunday School class, and that meant that about every 3rd sunday I had a video to play. Videos had a variety of content; some were ads for church ministries, others went along with the minister’s message. I used to run the words for the music as well, so I’d have the videos inserted directly into the presentation on my laptop computer. But after Sunday School, we’d all head to the sanctuary for the worship service, and I’d sit there listening to the sermon with that laptop thinking to myself, “If I had Bible software on my laptop, it would be more effective than this paper Bible. I could find scripture faster, search for passages I don’t remember, and make unlimited bookmarks & notes without carrying around a separate journal.”

Of course, what I really wanted to have with me was an Apple tablet computer, so I could use the touch screen more effectively than a mouse.

In the mean time, I looked high and low for Bible software. Something easy to use, but with all the features a computer could contribute. Bookmarks, searching, notes, etc... Of the software I found that ran on my Mac, only one had the features I wanted, and it was so hard to learn that I just couldn’t figure out how to get to the scripture I wanted to read. I decided it would be easier to learn how to program a computer myself than learn that other software. I made my first version of BibleXpress and sold a copy to everyone I showed to whom I gave a personal demo, which wasn’t enough people to get market traction.

But this morning, I finally got what I’ve been looking for for 8 years. I had easy and powerful Bible software on my Apple tablet. I guess it took this long to get a portable computer to do what we all needed.

BibleXpress 1.6 approved for iPad

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 16:04:02 -0500

I just got an e-mail from Apple, the day we’ve been waiting for is here! BibleXpress 1.6 has been approved for iPad (& iPhone & iPod Touch). A single version of BibleXpress will run on all three devices, and it will take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen space and new interface features. While both the iPhone and iPad versions retain the same feature set for now, the iPad version shows much more scripture in a friendly way, and dramatically reduces the number of taps around the interface. The iPad interface keeps scripture at the center, and lets the other features work around the scripture area.

BibleXpress is now a “Universal” application, meaning it runs on both iPhones and iPads, in order to take advantage of this capability properly, it will require your iPhone/iPod Touch to be updated for iPhone OS 3.1.3. The iPad, will initially ship with iPhone OS 3.2, which (apparently) will not be available for the iPhone.

I hope in the future to implement iPad-only features that take direct advantage of the much larger screen. But as always, I won’t be announcing those features until they are commercially available.

One word of warning is that I do not yet have an iPad, and although I have tested BibleXpress 1.6 in Apple’s software iPad Simulator, and Apple has tested the app on actual hardware in their app-testing center, I can’t promise there won’t be any bugs until I get my hands on one, sometime Saturday. If I find bugs during my testing on Saturday or my use on Sunday, I will fix them and release an update next week. Apple’s timeline for approving such an update is uncertain.

One last word of caution is how bookmarks & notes are synchronized between your mobile devices and iTunes. iTunes makes a backup of your bookmarks & notes, but I do not believe it will synchronize them between multiple iPhones and iPads. I will be testing this behavior over the weekend and may make plans to alter it to provide the best user experience. The easiest way to move bookmarks from one to the other is to tap the mail icon in the Bookmark tab, (after tapping Edit) and send the bookmarks to yourself as a link, which when tapped on the other device imports the bookmarks into BibleXpress.

Also, last thing, BibleXpress is not designed to be installed on the same device as BibleXpress Lite.

BibleXpress for iPad

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:33:09 -0500

Yes, I have a development version of BibleXpress (regular & Lite) working in the iPad Simulator. The first update will come as 1.6.1 for BibleXpress Lite, and 1.6 for BibleXpress (‘cause Apple still hasn’t approved it yet...), which will have the same basic features as 1.6. The larger screen size allows much more functionality that I’m including, but for now, I just want you to be able to take advantage of the screen’s size to view more scripture, see more bookmarks, scroll less & read more. While I have a scaled-up version of the app ready to go, Apple’s deadline for iPad submissions is this coming Saturday, and I’m trying to put the finishing touches on a version of the software that takes advantage of the iPad’s new features.

The iPad ability will come as a free update for both BibleXpress & BibleXpress Lite existing users. Both apps will be fully-functional on iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad, and the prices will remain the same. The increase in size from the old version is less than half a megabyte, which is mainly due to the new “launch images,” which is the initial look of the program when you tap on it from the home screen that is displayed until the app is actually working. I reserve the right to add iPad–only features in the future (of which I have 3 planned). Unfortunately, the new iPhone/iPad compatibility requires that you have iPhone OS 3.1.3 installed on your iPhone or iPod Touch, so don’t download the update if you aren’t planning on updating your device to 3.1.3.

Above is an image of the prototype iPad version of BibleXpress. As you can see, the basic features are the same, but there is much more space available for scripture, the footnotes are now displayed in the margin along side the scripture they refer to, and there is a small margin on the right to make way for the verse index. In contrast to the iPhone version, scripture is always on the screen, and other features like bookmarks & the dictionary pop-up over the scripture in portrait orientation. In landscape, I’m taking advantage of Apple’s “split-view” which keeps your bookmarks or search results in an area on the left of the screen at the same time as the scripture, reducing the number of taps you need to read through your notes or read the scripture of the search results.

Just so there’s no confusion, I don’t have an iPad. Apple has only let me use their “simulator” which runs on my MacBook. If there is any hardware incompatibility, I won’t discover it until Saturday, April 3rd, when Apple has promised to deliver my iPad, the same as everyone else. BTW, thanks to my customers; your purchases basically bought me an iPad and several months rent, and don’t worry I got the cheapest one.

In the meantime, I have begun my job search now that my dissertation is basically complete (still got some revisions to make). Texas A&M University is having a job fair this week, so I’ve printed up a number of resumes. If you know someone looking to hire a Ph.D. in aerospace (dynamics & controls) who’s got iPhone apps on the store, built a satellite that launched on the Space Shuttle, and interned at JPL, just send me an e-mail. :)

“So this is how Liberty dies, with thunderous applause.” - Senator Amidala (Star Wars)

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:55:07 -0500

This is a dark day for America. The liberty to choose your own health insurance has been desecrated by the Communists in charge of our Federal Government. If it goes unchallenged, pretty soon, we’ll follow in the steps of Cuba, Canada, Britain: people will flock elsewhere (though I’m not sure where) for their health care, but of course, only the rich can really afford that.

We used to be a country founded on the belief our rights came from God, our Creator, not from other men, but now Communists tell us we have a right to demand others pay for our health care. We used to believe that slavery is wrong, but now all Americans will be forced to purchase a particular kind of product. Doctors & nurses will be forced to participate in procedures they find morally repugnant.

With all the tricks in this bill designed to absolutely destroy the health-insurance industry, and nothing in the bill to make one more doctor, train one more nurse, develop one new medicine or build one new hospital, we know it’s an attack on the American people, our way of life and the principals: the Declaration of Independence.

A friend of mine said today that wars have been fought over bills such as the one that passed today, but I urge you to refrain from violence. America is different, and liberty is not dead yet. There is one remaining hope in the Constitution to prevent a Congress & President from running amuck: the Supreme Court.

Granted, the Supreme Court has, in the past, ruled that black people aren’t human and baby people aren’t human, but recently they lifted a decades-old ban on political speech by businesses. We’ve got one more peaceful showdown in the third branch of government. I have to admit I’m quite anxious, the fate of the country ... how should I say this: “The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all!” from Lord of the Rings.

Oh yeah, so I got this sick feeling in my stomach when I heard the bill passed, and I’ve been having terrifying nightmares that my parent’s house is under attack. Strange, I haven’t lived there in 10 years...

Pray for our country. If we don’t repent soon, the United States of America won’t be long for this world.

Planned Parenthood clinic director quits and joins us

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 04:41:30 -0600

It’s amazing! Local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director Abby Johnson has resigned and joined the Coalition for Life! It turns out I’ve had a run-in with Abby one day when she came to work. I didn’t realize she was a worker; I generally avoid speaking to them because I usually assume they’re a lost cause. Apparently, something I said really hit a nerve, and she tried to side track me with some kind of argument between denominations. She asked me what religion I was, and I said “Christian.” Then she said “Christian isn’t a religion! What are you Catholic? Presbyterian?” I knew what she was trying to do, and I knew I wasn’t going to let her distract me from my pro-life message. She continued arguing for a good 15 minutes before finally going inside. I decided right then & there to pray that she, specifically, would turn away from abortion.

You see, about a month and a half ago I grew frustrated that years of prayer had not ended the genocide of abortion in our city & country, so I asked God why He had not yet ended it. His answer is best described as an impression that I didn’t fully understand. The impression evoked a passage from the book of Revelation in which the martyrs in God’s footstool are crying out for God to end the bloodshed on Earth, and He says something to the effect of ‘not yet, there are more of you to come and I’m going to wait for the last one.’ I didn’t understand the answer, but I knew that if God was waiting for something I would simply continuing serving as He directed, content that He will work out His purpose in the end. Now I know why.