The problem here is deep copying an array returns a float losing any unit information so i coded up a quick method to deep copy a dict with these arrays correctly. Not this isn’t the most efficient code but it is one of the simplest – if you have a better solution let me know!

The code works by first performing a deepcopy and then replacing any instances of arrays (including child objects like quantities) with a deep copy of the original using the arrays .copy() method.

def deepCopyArrayDict(sourceDict):
""" The standard deepcopy operation on a dict will loose arrays and therefore productquantity information along
with it. This method deepcopys a dict and then manually deep copies each array over using the arrays .copy()
method. This method is therefore slower but works.

:param source_dict: dict to copy
:type source_dict: dict
:return: deep copied dict
"""

    copiedDict = copy.deepcopy(sourceDict)

    for k, v in sourceDict.iteritems():

        # type checking is necessary as .copy() 
        # means shallow copy with other types.
        if isinstance(v, numpy.ndarray):
            copiedDict[k] = v.copy()

    return copiedDict

The post How to deep copy python dictionaries (dict) containing numpy arrays appeared first on Ryan Varley.

Adding files to your python path has many pitfalls and it took me a while to figure out but heres the basic issues i ran into for quick reference

• how the hell do i add something to the python path
• not having permission to view/add files to a current python path directory
• .pth file not being recognised (can’t be formatted with UTF 8 with Dom, use UTF 8)

How to add a folder to your python path

1. start python from the command line by typing python. then enter
   

   import sys
   sys.path
   

2. The output gives a list of folders in the current python path. Look for one ending with ‘site-packages’ and note it down
3. quit python ( ‘quit()’) and enter the following in the terminal where <path> is the path you just copied
   

   import sys
   sys.path
   

4. Now open a text editor like sublime and add the path to the folder you want to add to your path ie i added
   

   import sys
   sys.path
   

   
   and save with UTF8/ASCII (in sublime file->save with encoding -> UTF8) and save it anywhere easy (your about to copy it)
5. Now go back to your open terminal and type
   

   import sys
   sys.path
   

6. You’re done! open python again and follow step 1 and see if your new path is there. If it is add your packages to this folder and try importing them.

The post How to add folders to your python path on Mac OS appeared first on Ryan Varley.

When you arrive at the Colosseum, the que can sometimes be intimidating and theres no shortage of reps trying to sell you tours that let you skip the que. Here’s how to get in quickly, skipping the que and paying only the base price.

A (seemingly) little known fact is that the tickets for the Roman forum, Colosseum and … are one and the same. This means you can buy your ticket elsewhere and use it at the Colosseum (avoiding the Colosseum queues) and visit all three places on one ticket.

The Roman forum in our experience never had a larger que, in fact it often had no que whilst the Colosseum que was very long. If your really short for time, head just over the road to the Forum, buy your ticket and go straight into the Colosseum, otherwise go to the forum first, you can easily spend a few hours in there and i found it much more enjoyable than the Colosseum itself.

Also, if your an EU resident 24 and under, don’t forget your passport/driving license – you’ll get in half price.

The post Skip the ques at the Colosseum in Rome – for free! appeared first on Ryan Varley.

In the last couple of months MacGazette has remained largely inactive as mine and Chris’ (who i run the site with) lives have been dominated by University finals. Now that they’re over we’ve been working on a revival. Stage one being to give the site a fresh, modern, responsive design.

This is how Macgazette used to look. The design is cramped and dated, it failed to utilise white-space and was the result of a lot of small modifications to the design rather than one vision created from scratch and fit for purpose. As my flagship website (and since it shares its design with TechChoices) it was destined to get my primary focus. With a refresher on html5, css3 and a book on javascript work began.

The Design

It only took a few days to put the site together and polish it off, here are some of the design choices i made and why.

Front Page

The front page now has a larger logo, and more prominent featured boxes. the search box is back at the side and more focus is brought to subscribing (through RSS and twitter).

Instead of borders each element casts a shadow, is rounded and uses subtle colours – the background is even slightly off white. This then supports the contrast with the navigation bar and buttons which uses a striking blue and sharp corners. The navigation bar itself was simplified and features a dropdown for sub-catagorys. Each clickable element also features roll-over effects to confirm its ‘clickability’.

Single Post page

When designing the single post page we wanted the posts to be easier to read (which means smaller post widths) and to give the information we want (related posts, main sidebar, comments and mentioned apps) without forcing the user to scroll into the abyss. For these reasons we kept the original sidebar but added another for related posts (powered by nrelate). By traversing down the page you’ll arrive at the mentioned apps section which scrapped the download button in favour of being a click-able unit.

Responsive Design

When designing this new site it was important that the site looked great not just on your computer, but on your phone and tablet. To do that the site changes as your change its width (go on try it, go to macgazette.net and slowly drag your browser width smaller). This meant choices such as making the logo and ad banner take their own lines, the sidebar to drop, the featured image to enlarge and take its won line etc. The best way to illustrate this is by looking at a few examples.

iPad

With a smaller screen resolution, one of the sidebar drops below the other to not crowd the screen. and the logo takes prominence (in a retina resolution).

iPhone 4

The iPhone with a smaller resolution still was trickier. To make it feel more like an app the dropdown navigation was removed, the feature boxes spread onto two lines and the page exists as one column. The related posts and mentioned apps resize to fit and slot in below the post.

 Conclusion

At MacGazette we love the new design and have a few new updates panned for it. In the meantime I think its time to refresh and complete this site and continue with the other aspects of the MacGazette relaunch.

The post The New Macgazette – The Design appeared first on Ryan Varley.

I have 3 workspaces currently – Solo, Lists and MacGazette. Unlike this website and some of my others MacGazette has its own workspace because its collaborative and has the most engagement. The others are entered as projects in solo.

Projects inside solo include uni, masters project, TechChoices, Personal etc. Personal includes any household tasks such as ‘post that letter’ or ‘wash clothes’ while uni will contain any deadlines. Where Asana really becomes useful is my master projects and website tasks.

Every morning ill look through my upcoming tasks and pick the ones I mean to do that day. For example I may choose a couple of tasks from my project and the odd task from one of my websites. By choosing and focusing on a small number of big tasks and a few more smaller tasks each day I can get things done without being overwhelmed.

For some of the more important tasks ill add notes before completing it like how a bug was fixed or some problems encountered while performing it for future reference in similar problems or my masters write up which can easily be searched for later when the task has been checked off.

Perhaps the most useful feature is how quick it is to write new tasks, drag them into a priority and set them as ‘later’, ‘upcoming’ or ‘today’ depending on the urgency in which they need doing.

Now, all thats left is;

The post Asana – How i manage my tasks and stay productive appeared first on Ryan Varley.

It’s not surprising then that when I started my Masters thesis  I decided I’d make the switch to LaTex.

The learning curve was a bit steeper than id expected but the befits are obvious – no more worrying about layout! Despite this there was something missing in LaTeX that id come to love in Microsoft Word – the ability to add comments to text. Yes i know you can comment in TeX but using % isnt really suitable here as it blends into the text and doesn’t show up in the pdf. Heres what i like in word

In laTeX since your dealing with a raw files its not really possible to do this. i tried making my own command /com{comment here} which is better than % as you can end it on the same line but still not great as it cant be seen in the pdf.

The Solution – use footnotes, theyre out the way, appear in the pdf and reference the part you want to comment on. It’s not a great solution if your already using them in your document but if that’s the case, maybe you should spend the time looking for a macro to do the job.

The post LaTeX and Comments appeared first on Ryan Varley.

To build this site I made my own child theme that overwrites certain sections such as the ‘brand-nav’ with my own customised version and change other sections superficially with CSS like the featured boxes I use to display the rotating banner of pictures. All of this came together to produce the website you see now and that website has just been featured in the Pagelines Showcase Battleground #5 where you can vote for this site to win!

If your looking for reasons to choose my site over some of the other entrants then heres a few:

• Utilised PageLines Framework effectively
• Customised the site from defaults (ie the feature boxes, brand-nav and the social icons are all different)
• Its a good design!

Thanks for visiting and prepare yourself for more updates in the future, this is only the beginning.

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