Punctuation Heavy Languages

A couple of years ago, I had a chance to implement a small application that would bring big benefits to my employer at the time. This was an application of minimal complexity and business rules, and followed a familiar pattern:

• Small back end database
• Small user community
• Large savings in time for both users and IT personnel
• Automate a manual process
• Provide an audit trail

One of the “approved” languages of the company was Perl. While I was familiar with Perl, my direct reports had never used it. As I set off to implement the application in Perl, I realized that it was much too punctuation heavy to expect a folks to use. Hashes of Hashes used waaaayyy to many curly braces. I set out to have a curly brace and colon cleansing, and pulled out the latest language / framework in my arsenal – Ruby on Rails. The app was easy to implement, and equally easy to understand, even for developers who had never seen the language.

I would have loved to use Perl, but Rails was too right for this project. If I’d had more performance concerns, or a more seasoned set of Perl developers, Perl would have been the right answer.

High School pictures unearthed

A Facebook friend of mine just got a scanner. That’s a dangerous thing in the hands of someone with lots of old photos of me from high school. She’s already pulled in 4 or 5 pictures, some of which I can’t tell where they were taken.

Looking at those pictures sure brings back memories. And it drives home the message that in the ’80s, we couldn’t use the Internet to look up natural remedies for acne. Rural life just didn’t afford some of the luxuries that I’m able to give my kids now.

Buzz – another inbox?

Ok, so Google just rolled out Google Buzz, their answer to twitter and facebook. I don’t think that it’s a drop in replacement for either of those, but it’s almost exactly what I’m looking for.

• No Farmville
• Easy to checkup on followers and block them
• Don’t have to wade through weight loss success stories if that’s not what I’m looking for
• Right there next to my inbox

I’m a fan of Google, and yes, they can work on the privacy aspects of Buzz, but for now, it’s pretty much what I’m looking for.

New Gloves

My winter time cycle commute is where I get to try out my cold weather gear. I’ve got everything dialed in except gloves. Layering works for my body, one layer plus a jacket down to about 30 degrees, and two layers and a jacket after that. Thin tights down to 35 degrees, and thick tights after that. I’ve tried various cycling gloves and been disappointed. Last night, I found some ski gloves on clearance at the local Academy, so I’m waging a shock and awe campaign on cold hands. If these thinsulate ski gloves don’t work, I guess I’ll have to try testosterone boosters or something.

Wintertime tests more than just patience

I think wintertime was designed as a test. If you can make it through the cold / dark part of the year, you can certainly make it through the spring / summer / fall.

My inclination during winter is to just stay inside and wait for spring, but I’ve learned lately that passing winters tests can give you the confidence to CRUSH summer. Particular tests I’ve passed during cycle commuting have taught me to plan ahead and push through pain. I feel like I’ve tested my limits in the cold (down to 17 degrees) and don’t fear the cold nearly as much. I’m also a much better cyclist in the dark.

So, I’m no longer going to be thumbing through the San Diego rentals during the winter. I’ll be devising (and passing) tests that will help me know more about my limits. You should do the same.

What’s up (down) with the job market

I keep hearing that the leading indicators are up, but still poor employment numbers keep coming in. The stock market stumbled a bit last week, and I’m not sure if it’s buying opportunity, or a signal that it’s time to move to the sidelines for a month or so.

I’ve seen a twitter post or two from very accomplished developers indicating that their contracts are expiring. I’m sure that the job market is soft in areas and fine in others. I wonder if sites like job philadelphia and careerbuilder are seeing this softness regionally or nationally?

Outliers – the Story of Success

I’d heard of Outliers a few months back in some of my geek feed reading. I’m sure the portions of the book that were cited were the portions about Bill Gates and Bill Joy. At least that’s what I remembered when I saw the book last Sunday at Barnes and Nobel.
Continue Reading…

Bike maintenance

I’ll have to admit that I’m not the most diligent at bike maintenance. I’ve been known to let a chain go for a couple of months without cleaning, have grime on my wheels and frames from a rain storm a month ago.

After attending the Bike Maintenance 101 class at Cahaba Cycles my son and I cleaned every bike in the house. It felt really good to walk away from a row of clean bikes, knowing that I can jump on and ride anytime without worry of weird failures.

I figure that bikes are the best anti aging products around, both for the body and mind. Riding a dirty bike is fun, but riding a clean bike is even better.

Lenovo USB Keyboard

I spend a lot of time on my Thinkpad laptop. Coding, blogging, surfing, etc. I absolutely love the keyboard. The keys are just the right distance apart, well laid out, etc.

I have a couple of desktop machines that perform various services around the house. One is a Windows box, one is an old server that is used for experiments, etc. Using the random keyboards on those boxes was a PITA until I got my Lenovo USB Keyboard.

This keyboard has:

• UltraNav
• Keypad
• Great feel

If you’re going to use this keyboard on Windows XP, make sure you load the drivers from the Lenovo site. Linux seems to have everything built in.

I’m afraid this keyboard isn’t manufactured any more. I wish there was a vitamin I could take to make me like random keyboards, but I think I’ll always be partial to my laptop keyboard, and to this external replica.

Southern Winter

It’s wintertime in Alabama. That means that one week we barely make it above freezing, and the next week it’s 70 degrees. 70 degree days in January will put some teeth into those weight loss resolutions you made just a couple of weeks earlier.

This Saturday is shaping up to be one of the rare days where the temperature is high and there’s no rain. Bicycles will be dusted off and the roads will be teeming with cyclists. A string of warm temperature weekend rides is just what I’m itching for. I feel sorry for those people in the midwest digging out of snow.