Last night, Hamer wet the bed, something she hadn’t done in a long time. She woke up calmly, got ready efficiently, and we even arrived at school early. The sunrise was beautiful, with clouds looking like casual brushstrokes across the sky.

In the morning, I had an idea for an ArcGIS Earth-themed project and brainstormed with ChatGPT. At work, I continued experimenting with the Cursor editor, trying its useful features, and worked on enhancing my Python project.

After work, I went out for dinner and drinks with colleagues, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation.

2024-12-05 TIL: Cursor, MAUI Challenges, and Quotation Mark Rules

💻

Cursor

Cursor, The AI Code Editor.

• Tab: Multi-Line Edits, Smart Rewrites, Cursor Prediction
• Chat: Instant Apply, Codebase Answers, Reference your Code with @
• Ctrl+K: Fast Edits, Terminal Ctrl+K

Switching to MAUI?

Development effort is more than double compared to Native. And the output or quality of apps you get is inferior.

• Lack of UI libraries
• Buggy framework
• Platform-specific bugs
• Lack of proper tools
• Performance issue

🌱

Quote placement

• For American English, place the comma or period inside the closing quotation marks. This is a convention, regardless of logic.
• For British English, the rule is more logical—punctuation is placed inside the quotation marks only if it belongs to the quoted material.
• In Chinese, the punctuation at the end of a sentence typically goes outside the quotation marks, unless the quoted text is a complete sentence.

Today, Hamer slept in and woke up upset about missing her early start. She cried to Grandma, but I stayed calm, giving her space to work through her emotions. Later, we talked, and she felt better.

At work, I explored the Cursor AI code editor. Initially unimpressed, I changed my mind after using it with a real project. Its smart predictions, editing capabilities, and context handling significantly boosted my coding efficiency.

At noon, I followed my fitness routine. In the evening, Xiaoyan arrived back. Hamer and I cooked noodles and discussed ways to improve her morning routine.

2024-12-04 TIL: P/Invoke, C# Iterators, Cross-Platform WPF, and ‘Dulce Domum’

💻

P/Invoke

Ever needed to call native functions from a DLL in your .NET app? P/Invoke (Platform Invoke) bridges the gap between managed and unmanaged code.

• Managed Code: Runs under the control of the .NET runtime (e.g., C#).
• Unmanaged Code: Runs outside the .NET runtime (e.g., C/C++ native libraries).

Key Ingredients for P/Invoke:

1. DllImport Attribute: Declares the external method and specifies the DLL.
2. Marshaling: Automatically converts between managed (C#) and unmanaged (native) types.
3. System.Runtime.InteropServices: Provides tools for defining P/Invoke signatures and managing interop behavior.

yield

In C#, the yield keyword simplifies the creation of iterators, enabling methods to return elements of a collection one at a time without the overhead of creating temporary collections or implementing complex iterator logic.

• Deferred Execution: Using yield return, a method can produce each element only when it’s needed during iteration.
• State Preservation: The method retains its execution state between yield return calls, allowing it to resume from where it left off in subsequent iterations.

LINQPad

The Ultimate Scratchpad for C#

• LINQPad comes with an integrated tutorial/reference, comprising interactive sample queries.

Avalonia XPF

A cross-platform WPF that enables you to reuse your code and extend your app’s reach.

• Avalonia XPF enables WPF apps to run on macOS and Linux with Avalonia’s Fork of WPF, which allows Avalonia to maintain both API and binary compatibility with WPF. Avalonia XPF replaces the low-level WPF code (MilCore) with Avalonia.
• Avalonia XPF is based on WPF shipped with .NET 6.0 SDK. Currently, unsupported WPF features include Visual3D, Viewport3D, InkCanvas, Win32 interop, and custom Window chromes.

🌱

趿

tā, walk in slippers.

• 趿拉：把鞋后帮踩在脚后跟下
• 趿拉板儿：wooden slippers

Dulce Domum

Dulce Domum (lit. Sweetly Homeward) is a tune composed by Robert Ambrose in 1876. This phrase is used as the title of chapter 5 of the 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows.

• lit. is an abbreviation for “literal” or “literally”.

This morning, Hamer woke up before the alarm, got ready on her own, and we admired a beautiful sunrise as we headed to school. On my way back, I stopped to buy a fried dough stick for my mother-in-law, and we enjoyed a long breakfast, talking about family and her past.

I spent the day fixing bugs and learning about P/Invoke, yield, and LINQPad. Xiaoyan shared a photo of her birthday noodles, which inspired me to cook her something similar.

In the evening, Hamer helped serve dinner from Hema, and we stayed within budget. Later, we enjoyed watching baseball highlights of Chinese Taipei’s games in the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 baseball tournament.

2024-12-03 TIL: NMEA Insights, SQL Tips, and Whimsical Observations: From Pac-Man to The Wind in the Willows

💻

NMEA Sentences

• Four Common Types: $GPGGA, $GPRMC, $GPGSA, and $GPGSV.
  • $GPGGA and $GPRMC contain location and time-related data.
  • $GPGSA and $GPGSV provide satellite-related information.
• Examples:
  • $GPRMC,194000.000,A,3401.8431,N,11711.4761,W,24.43,145.27,061020,,,D*4F
  • $GPGGA,194000.000,3401.8431,N,11711.4761,W,2,10,1.0,478.9,M,-32.5,M,2.0,0000*4D
• Time and Date Formats:
  • $GPGGA: Time in HHMMSS.SSS format.
  • $GPRMC: Time (HHMMSS.SSS) + Date (DDMMYY), e.g., 194000.000 (UTC 19:40:00.000) and 061020 (6th October 2020).
• Checksum: Ensures data integrity. Calculated by XOR-ing all characters between $ and *. Example: 4D.

SQL for ArcGIS

• Use TIMESTAMP with the format: yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss (24-hour clock, no AM/PM).

🌱

Figure Skating

• A type of skating that involves circular patterns and often includes jumps.
• /ˈfɪɡ.jɚ/

Incisor

• One of the sharp teeth at the front of the mouth that cut food when you bite into it. (切牙、门齿)
• /ɪnˈsaɪ.zɚ/

Pac-Man

• Pac-Man, a classic arcade game by Namco. Named “食鬼” in Hong Kong, “小精灵” in Taiwan, “吃豆人” in Mianland China.
• Ghost Characters: Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (light blue), Clyde (orange).

XJBC (夏季八冲)

• A humorous “coffee brewing technique” requiring:
  • No bean selection, no sifting, no stickers, no blooming, no temperature control, no timing, no circular stirring, no cup warming.

Reading Notes from The Wind in the Willows

1. On Laziness:
   • Finding joy in being the only idle one among busy citizens.
   • The essence of a good holiday is not resting but watching others work.
2. On Fear:
   • A terrifying entity feared by all the small animals in the fields and hedges—the “horror of the Wild Wood.”

Musical Skiers

• Icelandic photographer Haukur Sigurdsson captured this aerial image of Nordic skiers looking like musical notes on a staff.

This morning, Hamer woke up on her own, surprising me as she called from the bathroom. I admired her for waking up early three days in a row. The sunrise on our way to school was beautiful, and I felt grateful not to have to nag her to get ready.

Xiaoyan left for a business trip. I rushed to a meeting, then spent the day fixing bugs, including a tricky NMEA data issue.

In the evening, I enjoyed playing badminton with colleagues. Later, my mother-in-law visited, and we had a meaningful chat about health and family.

2024-12-02 TIL: Flock, Location Properties, and Language Nuances

💻

• The PointsCount is distinct from Count in a Part.
• Location has an AdditionalSourceProperties property, useful for storing extra attributes for a location, such as customized node types like start node, end node, and vertex.
• Flock: Flutter by the community, for the community. Flock is Flutter+.

🌱

• 珩 (héng) is the top gem of the pendants.
• The phrase ‘handled it’ could be pronounced as /ˈhan·dldɪt/.
• The phrase ’the exhibit instead’ should be pronounced as /ði ɪɡˈzɪbɪt ɪnˈstɛd/.

Last night, strong winds made it colder this morning. Hamer woke up early, got ready, and arrived at school by 7:25. After dropping her off, I stopped by the supermarket for fruit and corn.

At home, I made breakfast and then practiced English. I spent the morning working on a playback issue and discussed the solution with my colleagues. In the afternoon, I fixed the issue. In the evening, Hamer and I watched baseball and figure skating.

During lunch, I reflected on how I could be kinder to my mother-in-law and reduce Hamer’s material possessions to help her develop independence.