Compare the following two versions of the same medical history: Version 1 CC: chest pain Mr. Smith is a 57 y/o white man who comes into the office today for the first time with a complaint of chest pain. He states he has been in generally good health in the past, though he has smoked… Continue reading A Tale of Two Histories
Category: Computers & Software
Escape from Escape
During my college days computers were run from teletype machines. These teletypes had a typewriter keyboard layout extended with unfamiliar keys like Control (Ctrl) and Escape (Esc). You could press Ctrl-G and make the teletype ring its bell — ding! You could press Esc when you mistakenly wrote a BASIC program with an infinite loop and make the program… Continue reading Escape from Escape
Geeky Docs
I remember the disdain some of the EHR trainers had for their trainees back when our hospital system “went live” several years ago. Of course this disdain was tempered by their knowledge that if docs weren’t so computer illiterate, or the user interfaces of the EHR systems weren’t so awful, or if the EHR software… Continue reading Geeky Docs
More Microsoft Migraines
When I ported the EP Calipers app (an electronic calipers app) to Microsoft Windows, I initially planned to write a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app. The UWP is an initiative by Microsoft to allow developers to have one code base that can run on all Windows platforms, from PCs to phones to Xbox to HoloLens.… Continue reading More Microsoft Migraines
Relic from Computer History
Sitting on my mantle is a bronze letter M. This M has been in my family as long as I can remember. When I was growing up I didn’t think about where it had come from. I knew it stood for our family name of Mann. Later on I learned the story of the M… Continue reading Relic from Computer History
I’m a Better Computer Than Any Doctor
[Ed note: I couldn’t resist writing the following after reading this post on KevinMD.com by Dr. Keith Pochick. Please read it first. Apologies in advance.] I’m a Better Computer Than Any Doctor “I love you,” she said as she was leaving the room. “I, I um…” “Not you. Your computer.” She cast my computer, still… Continue reading I’m a Better Computer Than Any Doctor
EP Calipers for Windows
EP Calipers for Windows is done. Whew. As stated in my previous post, porting the app to Windows was a bit of a struggle. Installing tools like a bash shell, git and Emacs took some time and effort. The Windows tool to bridge iOS apps didn’t work. So I was forced to port the code… Continue reading EP Calipers for Windows
The Trials and Tribulations of a Windows Developer
After a very long hiatus, I am back doing software development on a Microsoft Windows machine. I decided to port EP Calipers, an app for making electrocardiographic measurements that is available on Android, iOS and OS X, to Windows. Several users had written to me and asked me to do this. Ever eager to please,… Continue reading The Trials and Tribulations of a Windows Developer
Life Interrupted
I don’t mean to trivialize the plight of soldiers with the real thing, but I believe that after many years of carrying a pager (and later a smart phone qua pager) I have developed something akin to PTSD. I seem to have an excessive fright/flight response to the phone ringing, to sudden loud noises, and,… Continue reading Life Interrupted
Porting an iOS Project to the Mac
I just finished porting my electronic calipers mobile iOS app, EP Calipers, to the Mac. In doing so I decided to bite the bullet and change the programming language from the original Objective C (ObjC) to Apple’s new language, Swift. Here are some observations. The Swift programming language I’m comfortable now with Swift. Swift is… Continue reading Porting an iOS Project to the Mac