Miscellaneous annoyances
Java
- Hashtables – While doing yet another assignment that forced me to use Java I tried to program in a Pythonic fashion and use dictionary-type objects. I spent half an hour banging my head off of the table until I discovered that Hashtable objects need to be in a function before they can be modified. Any “<identifier> expected” messages when using java.util.Hashtable’s get() and put() functions I had disappeared after I stuck them inside a function.
- SunSPOT Solarium – In OS X the Solarium emulator software will silently refuse to do broadcast networking between SPOTs if the OS X firewall is enabled. I came across this while running through the SunSPOT tutorial, specifically while using the BroadcastCount app. I assume this is something to do with the firewall blocking multicast networking – Either way, disabling the firewall or enabling whitelisting for applications (including the “squawk” program that Solarium is actually operating through) will fix this problem.
