Spot. On.

The great thing about the web is linking. I don’t care how ugly it looks and how pretty your app is, if I can’t link in and out of your world, it’s not even close to a replacement for the web. It would be as silly as saying that you don’t need oceans because you have a bathtub.

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I recently came across an article in which the writer celebrates keeping a notebook. But there was one passage that really surprised me:

Another thing that makes my notebook unique and interesting is the open access to its pages. While diaries are revered as the fiefdom of one man’s innermost thoughts and deep, dark secrets, my notebook is like a scrapbook that anyone can browse. When I began using my notebook, I vowed to be discreet and to put only wholesome things in it because I didn’t want to be lampooned over a controversial or intriguing entry. Letting other people take a glimpse at the contents of my notebook gives them the opportunity to share their views about the stuff that I have written, drawn or collected. In doing so, creative exchanges follow, varying and engaging perspectives are ignited and we get a chance to acquire more wisdom and inspiration.

(From My notebook | Inquirer Opinion.)

I think most of us who keep notebooks tend to do so privately. It may not always be as secretive as the lock-and-key diary we may have had as kids, but a notebook is usually something personal that’s not volunteered for others to read, either because it’s too mundane, too sensitive, or just not in a finished enough state for the writer to want feedback on it. Sketchbooks might be more public, especially if they’re used for an art class, but sometimes artists even want to keep their drawings private. (It might depend on who’s acting as their nude model!)

So the quote above seemed quite revolutionary to me. I tried to imagine what it would be like to keep a notebook that would be completely open to others– it’s a nice idea as described above, as a way to share ideas and opinions. It would be sort of like keeping a blog or one’s Facebook page between the covers of a journal. But I guess that’s also part of the problem for me– the friends who I’d want to read my notebook are spread too far and wide for me to be able to easily hand it to them, so the internet makes more sense for that kind of communication. My notebooks remain intensely private, aside from a page here and there that I might show to someone (or post on this blog!).

How about you? Do you keep your notebooks to yourself or share them freely with others?

— Brushpen Review (Keep on Truckin')

— Rotring Trio Silver Multi Pen (Multi Pen Dimensions)

— Pilot Hi Tec C Multi Pens (Drawing with a Squirrel)

— Zebra F-701 Stainless Steel Ballpoint Pen (Office Supply Geek)

— Venzi Copelle dot-grid notebook (Leigh Reyes)

— Vegas Baby…let’s ramble for a bit (Good Pens)

— The JetPens Experience (Part I) (Ionsomnia)

— Staedtler Triplus Ball Review (Tiger Pens Blog)

— BIC ReAction Ball Pen (Pocket Blonde)

— Review : Maruman Mnemosyne Imagination Notebook (Pensandmore)

— Review: Moleskine Indigo Special Edition A4 Notebook (Gourmet Pens)

— Some great photos of the California Republic Stationers-branded notebooks (Woodclinched)

— Featured Pen – Kaweco AC Sport (Whatever)

— Review : Nomadic Pencil Case PE-08 Easy Classification – Black (Pensandmore)

— Uni-ball Vision Elite – 0.8mm Blue-Black (No Pen Intended)

— Kaweco Sport (Penfan.ru)

— So, How Small Do You Write? (PencilWrap)

— Experimenting with the Pilot FriXion Pens (Hillbilly Handiworks)

— Tombow Airpress Ballpoint Pen (Multi Pen Dimensions)

Some new links, mostly suggested by Al Vachris:

Jan Karel Pieterse has been freely providing some of the best Excel advice on the Internet for some years now, but he has escaped inclusion on my blogroll, possibly because his site is not actually a blog.  Not that that matters; it’s well worth a visit, and is now on the list.

Other interesting links recently provided by Al include:

VBA Code Compare
http://www.formulasoft.com/vba-code-compare.html

VBA Code Compare allows you to compare and merge any Visual Basic code embedded into a VBA project (macros, sheet code, module code etc.). VBA Code Compare uses direct access for working with VBA modules. Thus, you don’t have to export the source code to a file for comparing and import the edited code back.

You can use this tool for comparing two versions of the same module or for working with the source code when several authors change the code simultaneously.

VBA Code Compare allows you to download the source code of two modules, compare them, synchronize (merge) different parts of code, edit the code before and after comparing and save the changes.

The interface of VBA Code Compare gives you a chance to view the comparison report in two side-by-side windows, and supports syntax highlighting of the source code of Visual Basic.

VBA Code Compare has its own File Manager consisting of two side by side windows. It allows for the comparing of two folders’ contents, loading files for further work, copying files and folders etc. You can control the list of files to be displayed in the File Manager by using filters.

VBA Code Compare is freeware.

Hyperpolyglot
http://hyperpolyglot.org/scripting

Scripting Languages: PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby

a side-by-side reference sheet

They also have similar pages for a wide variety of other languages:

Programming Languages Reference Sheets
syntax for common tasks in a side-by-side format 

Scripting Languages:
PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby

Embeddable Languages:
Tcl, Lua, JavaScript, Io 

Shell Languages:
Bash, Zsh, AppleScript, PowerShell

 C Style Languages:
C, C++, Objective C, Java, C#

 Pascal Style Languages:
Pascal, Ada, PL/SQL, SQL/PSM

 Lisp Dialects:
Common Lisp, Scheme, Clojure, Emacs Lisp

 Type Inference Languages:
Standard ML, OCaml, Scala, Haskell

 Declarative Languages:
Prolog, Erlang, Oz

 Concatenative Languages:
Forth, PostScript, Factor

 Computer Algebra Software:
Mathematica, Sage, Maxima

 Numerical Analysis Software:
MATLAB, R

(Spot the notable omissions!)

Web-Sketches:
Everything you ever wanted to know about timber roof framing (and then some):

http://www.geocities.ws/web_sketches/

This one isn’t just for roof builders, there is lots of good stuff on working with 3D graphics, including Excel worksheets and Javascript code.

Update:
And Finally, Andrew Engwirda has moved and re-vamped his blog:

http://andrewexcel.blogspot.com/ :

Welcome to my new blog.

Why the change?

Well, my old blog site was getting very tired. Comments were disabled due to the inability to fight spam effectively and I missed getting feedback.

After looking at some other blog companies, I decided Blogger was the best for what I wanted. Some editing of the CSS and the odd tweak here and there – and a new blog is born.

Now all it needs is some content, and I think you will like some of the stuff that is coming up…

There are some major changes coming to my site and some new add-ins will be available for download soon.

And I’ll be looking more at the analysis side of things – data presentation, charts, design and best practice, something I’ve not blogged about much before – it’s time to become a little more serious.

Stay tuned!

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In celebration of our sesquicentennial podcast, here are 150 links you should follow!