Clips

There was a question this week about code reuse in QC, and now I fell compelled to talk about that and modularity. The original question was "Now that I've created all these javascript patches, what do I do if I want to reuse them?" The answer is to make a clip, by saving a composition with just the patch(es) you wish to reuse and publish the important ports. You can save them in ~/Library/Application Support/Apple/Developer Tools/Quartz Composer/Clips and they will be available to you in the Clip Library. When you drag those clips to your workspace, they become macros which are fully editable if you double click on them.

*Insert convenient segue here* Speaking of macros, it's a good idea to organize your compositions inside macros in order to make them more readable. More importantly, name them too. It's a lot easier to figure out why your composition isn't drawing anything when you put all your background elements in one macro and realize that it's drawing above your animation :)

1 year anniversary

A lot can change in a year. I've graduated college, ended my internship at Qualcomm, lost my grandma, started a job at Apple, moved to California, survived WWDC and the relative lull following, made all new friends and kept in contact with the old ones; and during that entire time, I've been dating Jessie. We haven't even had a fight, despite being in different states longer during our relationship than together. It takes a special girl to make all that worth while, and I'm so happy to have found her.