Syntax highlighting isn’t enabled by default on OS X, though it’s easy enough to set it up, and a few other small enhancments at the same it.

Start by executing this command:

cd /usr/share/vim && sudo vim vimrc

After entering your password press i to enter insertion mode and add the following lines after the line set backspace=2:

set showmatch           " automatically show matching brackets
set binary noeol        " do NOT put a carriage return at the end of the last line
set backspace=indent,eol,start  " make that backspace key work the way it should
set history=100         " keep 100 lines of history
set ruler               " show the cursor position
syntax on               " syntax highlighting
set hlsearch            " highlight the last searched term
filetype plugin on      " use the file type plugins

" When editing a file, always jump to the last cursor position
autocmd BufReadPost *
\ if ! exists("g:leave_my_cursor_position_alone") |
\ if line("'\"") > 0 && line ("'\"") < = line("$") |
\ exe "normal g'\"" |
\ endif |
\ endif

The lines above add syntax highlighting and a few other useful things. The line set binary noeol is very important for web developers. For example if you are programming in PHP and you leave a space outside the closing ?> it will cause http headers to be needlessly sent. That line prevents that from happening.

Well that's it if you press ESC then type :wq you will return to the terminal. Try editing some files again and the highlighting should be enabled.

I have always wondered if it was possible to use a template system with VIM. Whenever I used large editors it was usually because of the default template schemes they allow. I have always preferred using VIM because it’s so practical, and it’s useful to be able to execute commands in-between editing files.

Well anyway here are a few commands to configure a vim template system on UNIX (It should work on both OSX and Linux):

• Download the template system:

  curl -C - -O http://www.vim.org/scripts/download_script.php?src_id=3747

• Open VIM:

  sudo vim

• Source the file you have downloaded from within VIM by typing:

  :source ./download_script.php\?src_id=3747

• Now the VIM template system has been configured. The previous command should output the template directory so that you can create new templates, it differs depending on your OS.

That’s it if you need more info on how the system works you can visit the project homepage here.

This week my ICSP assignment was to calculate taxi fares. The task was:

Using the fare table write a program that calculates the fares and test if it is correct. Upload your .java or your Scratch file. A template file for java will be provided. (Hint, only the boundary values needs to be tested. The fare table is also presented in the slides. The compile command for java should be “javac TaxiRide.java”)

Fare table
Distance (km)	Cost (€)
>50	30
50-100	25, plus 9 for each km > 50
100 – 2000	190, plus 8 for each km > 100
> 2000	1800

It wasn’t the hardest task. The only thing that confused me was the Java switch syntax. In PHP you can have conditions in a switch statement such as:

<?php
switch($num){
        case ($num<10):
                // blah
        break;
        case ($num<100):
                // blah
        break;
        default:
                //blah
?>

I couldn’t get Java to accept anything other than a value for the variable bring switched. So I did it the old-fashioned way! My code is below…

public class TaxiRide{
        public int distance=0;

        public TaxiRide(String arg){
                try{
                        int distance=Integer.parseInt(arg);
                        this.distance=distance;
                }
                catch(NumberFormatException e){
                        System.err.println("Arguement must be an integer representing the distance traveled");
                        System.exit(1);
                }
        }

        public int calculateFare(){
                int distance=this.distance;
                int fare=0;
                int i=0;
                if(distance<50){
                        return 30;
                }
                if(distance%lt;100){
                        fare=25;
                        distance-=50;
                        for(i=0;i<distance;i++){
                                fare+=9;
                        }
                        return fare;
                }
                if(distance<2000){
                        fare=190;
                        distance-=100;
                        for(i=0;i<distance;i++){
                                fare+=8;
                        }
                        return fare;
                }
                return 1800;
        }

        public static void main(String[] args){
                TaxiRide taxiRide = new TaxiRide(args[0]);
                int fare=taxiRide.calculateFare();
                System.out.println("The fare is: "+fare+" euro for traveling "+taxiRide.distance+"kM\n Thank you\n");
        }
}

I feel i am learning a lot from this course. Lately I have been experimenting in a few different languages. I added a bit to the Scratch Linux installer, written in Perl, so that it added an icon in the applications menu during installation. I’ve also been messing around with bash, trying to automate some of my most common commands… was thinking of writing a small bash script that backed up my data when my external hard drive is plugged in, similar to Time Machine on OSX.

I wrote my first Java application today. Ir is traditional to start out with something simple and boy this is simple and it works!

First you need to download and install the Java Development Kit (JDK) from Sun here. Then change directory to your workspace – where ever you want! In my case it was:

cd /home/conor/java

Then open up a new file named HelloWorld.java in your favourite text editor. In my case it was:

vim HelloWorld.java

Now we start the coding:

class HelloWorld{
  public static void main(String[] args){
    System.out.println("Hello World!");
  }
}

This is basically just a class that tells Java to output the words ‘Hello World! Now the code must be turned into machine code so that it is faster to run. To do that simply type:

javac HelloWorld.java

This creates a new file named HelloWorld.class which is written in machine code. If you open this file in your text editor all you will see is a load of gobledeegook. Now the application is ready to run. Type the following command to run it:

java HelloWorld

You should then see Hello World! written on your screen like this:

[conor@host java]$ java HelloWorld
Hello World!

Another one in the bag!