Tag: xmpp

RXMPP: an R library for XMPP based on Wocky

My friend David Lawrence Miller likes the internet, and also likes statistics. (He has many other admirable qualities, but these are the two most pertinent to this bulletin.) He spends some of his days writing programs in R, which he then runs on one of a number of servers. He wanted his R programs to send him messages over Google Talk to report their progress.

Naturally, I suggested he use Wocky, everyone’s favourite GObject-flavoured XMPP library. (Do not confuse.) And lo! he’s started RXMPP, a simple R library for sending IMs. He’s developing on Mac OS X; it should work on Linux and Windows just as well, though.

(As an aside: I wonder if anyone would be interested in maintaining a Wocky framework for OS X? Currently one has to install glib via MacPorts, and then build Wocky from Git, to hack on RXMPP on OS X.)

Moody.

Today, in “ridiculous specification I’ve come across in the course of entirely legitimate work” …

In case just typing a status message wasn’t good enough, XEP-0108: User Activity defines an XMPP extension for telling your contacts precisely what you’re up to in a machine-readable form … as long as it’s one of a rigidly-defined taxonomy of activities. Buying groceries is a kind of chore, whereas shopping is supposedly a form of relaxation; I think some might disagree that you’re inactive while praying.

RFC 4480: Rich Presence Extensions to the Presence Information Data Format goes a step further and allows you to specify that you’re in a location that’s too dark for video, too noisy for audio, and inappropriate for IM. Your mood can be “invincible”, but—distressingly—neither “quixotic” nor “apathetic” are permitted. I think I’ll stick to LiveJournal.