So I've been pretty negligent on my self imposed therapy of posting my thoughts to my blog. My negligence hasn't been for lack of interest; more for a lack of time!
So I am finally 'out' of puppies for the moment, seven of the nine little guys & gals have been placed in what I hope to be their permanent home. I was slightly worried that it would be hard to part them out, but it was surprisingly easy as there was just so many!
I have also been playing with the new version of Visual Studio; version 2008. There are lots of things to like about it, one of the most being 'consistency'. I was able to install the application and being instantly productive because the user interface is almost exactly the same as 2005 and keystrokes performed exactly how I wanted them to. The new whiz-bang things were added in an unobtrusive fashion as possible. A non-issue is the lack of third-party support which I am sure will be coming along as quickly as they can ramp-up. It was surprising to see the lack of starter-projects available though as they are sponsered by the same group. The performance inside of virtual machines is odd though. Version 2005 performs like a champ inside of my vmware image, but 2008 is a dog which has me worried.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Internet Addiction
The brief times when I'm not listening to Sirius satellite radio; I am an avid NPR fan/listener. On the way home from the gym today I happened to catch a segment that was discussing internet addiction.
Just the brief mention of the word addition in a subject topic is usually enough to catch my attention. Usually I scoff at the idea of a person being addicted to something as mundane as Food, Beverage, or Video games. Most often, I agree with any experts and term some of these items to be nothing more than a compulsive behavior. I do understand that there is a psychological draw to these items and people can and usually focus their energies on a non-threatening item as a way of escape. however, this particular topic hit very close to home.
Due to my career and hobby of choice, I am what many can consider a prime candidate for internet addiction even though I do not possess an addictive personality. However, for fun I took an online test to determine if I am an addict; turns out I am.
The individual that was being interviewed on NPR was undertaking a test to see if he could 'survive' 3 consecutive days being disconnected to the outside world. This got me to reflecting if I could survive; which is a short answer of yes I could. Now, my life would be radically changed as a significant portion of my income is a derivative of internet access; however, I do not define my self-being around my perusals. This minor detail for me drags the whole discussion of "is it an addiction or not" back on the table. If a person is merely 'dependent' on an item to facilitate their work or life is addicted, then we can apply the same label to individuals that use a hammer, screwdriver, or an other tool.
Thoughts?
Just the brief mention of the word addition in a subject topic is usually enough to catch my attention. Usually I scoff at the idea of a person being addicted to something as mundane as Food, Beverage, or Video games. Most often, I agree with any experts and term some of these items to be nothing more than a compulsive behavior. I do understand that there is a psychological draw to these items and people can and usually focus their energies on a non-threatening item as a way of escape. however, this particular topic hit very close to home.
Due to my career and hobby of choice, I am what many can consider a prime candidate for internet addiction even though I do not possess an addictive personality. However, for fun I took an online test to determine if I am an addict; turns out I am.
The individual that was being interviewed on NPR was undertaking a test to see if he could 'survive' 3 consecutive days being disconnected to the outside world. This got me to reflecting if I could survive; which is a short answer of yes I could. Now, my life would be radically changed as a significant portion of my income is a derivative of internet access; however, I do not define my self-being around my perusals. This minor detail for me drags the whole discussion of "is it an addiction or not" back on the table. If a person is merely 'dependent' on an item to facilitate their work or life is addicted, then we can apply the same label to individuals that use a hammer, screwdriver, or an other tool.
Thoughts?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Fixing the home network
Years ago just before I had left my cushy development job (post IPO) a few of my co-workers and I were all in the market to purchase a new home. Most chose based off of 'location', some chose for value, while I chose for the school district. At this time, Wireless A/B was the rage and most wired networks were based off of cat 5 and if you had the $$$ you deployed on 100mb.
Instead of wiring my home with cat 5 I foolishly jumped on the band-wagon for Wireless. Why is Wireless foolish? Well, if you have occasional laptop's its fantastic, I can even work outside if I need to. However, if you have a media server, a HTPC, multiple children's PCS, laptops, it gets to be too much. I have switched brands, bumped up to N from mimo-G and I am still getting bogged down at peak times (post school hours). So, I am now going to 'retro-wire' my existing home for Cat 5e complete with closet which I'll blog about quite extensively.
Instead of wiring my home with cat 5 I foolishly jumped on the band-wagon for Wireless. Why is Wireless foolish? Well, if you have occasional laptop's its fantastic, I can even work outside if I need to. However, if you have a media server, a HTPC, multiple children's PCS, laptops, it gets to be too much. I have switched brands, bumped up to N from mimo-G and I am still getting bogged down at peak times (post school hours). So, I am now going to 'retro-wire' my existing home for Cat 5e complete with closet which I'll blog about quite extensively.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
15 Years
Not even a week from now, I'll have been married to my young bride for 15 years. Anytime we mention this to people, they always ask our age; which of course makes us laugh and blush.
On the serious side, I spent a long time looking at gifts from practical to emotional; because after all, it is not a trivial matter to surprise somebody you have known for so long.
Buying gifts for people is supposed to be fun, not a chore. However, the commercialization and the pressure that society has imposed on 'events' has relegated the simple act of expressing your love and thanks into a public display. What happened to the days of singing a song or reciting poetry to your loved ones? I am definitely not a renaissance man, but even I can see that the charm and emotion put into gifts is often shunted aside to find the 'greatest gift ever'.
What is out there that can express 15 years of love?
I am holding out the 'big' event gift for 20 years, as that would mark a huge number in our lives. Although I am constantly amazed that we have been married this long and together for far longer. While I never doubted that I had found my life mate, that person that is opposite me in the right ways and challenges me in others. Many people in my personal life and outside did their absolute best to attempt to separate us. Whether they were jealous or filled with hate I can not decide, as I leave that up to God to sort through. Twenty years to me is special because it would complete a promise I made to a special person in my life about 13.5 years ago (The details of that promise I'll keep to myself though so please don't ask).
On the serious side, I spent a long time looking at gifts from practical to emotional; because after all, it is not a trivial matter to surprise somebody you have known for so long.
Buying gifts for people is supposed to be fun, not a chore. However, the commercialization and the pressure that society has imposed on 'events' has relegated the simple act of expressing your love and thanks into a public display. What happened to the days of singing a song or reciting poetry to your loved ones? I am definitely not a renaissance man, but even I can see that the charm and emotion put into gifts is often shunted aside to find the 'greatest gift ever'.
What is out there that can express 15 years of love?
I am holding out the 'big' event gift for 20 years, as that would mark a huge number in our lives. Although I am constantly amazed that we have been married this long and together for far longer. While I never doubted that I had found my life mate, that person that is opposite me in the right ways and challenges me in others. Many people in my personal life and outside did their absolute best to attempt to separate us. Whether they were jealous or filled with hate I can not decide, as I leave that up to God to sort through. Twenty years to me is special because it would complete a promise I made to a special person in my life about 13.5 years ago (The details of that promise I'll keep to myself though so please don't ask).
Monday, October 8, 2007
scalability or performance
If there is one concept that appears to cross many fields, its performance. Think about it: automotive, sports, medicine, or software development. In each field, we are always trying to squeeze that one last drop.
One thing that is interesting, is that in other fields it is easy to measure performance. In the software development field, it seems as if many developers don't know the different between performance or scalability. Oftentimes they'll punt to the hardware folks to deliver faster machines to achieve greater 'performance' if you will.
I would like to challenge my fellow peers to tackle a minor concept: predictive performance. Predictive performance is the concept of measurable performance under guided environmental conditions. Achieving predictive performance allows you to set a baseline under which to develop under.
One thing that is interesting, is that in other fields it is easy to measure performance. In the software development field, it seems as if many developers don't know the different between performance or scalability. Oftentimes they'll punt to the hardware folks to deliver faster machines to achieve greater 'performance' if you will.
I would like to challenge my fellow peers to tackle a minor concept: predictive performance. Predictive performance is the concept of measurable performance under guided environmental conditions. Achieving predictive performance allows you to set a baseline under which to develop under.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
More Football & Programming
So I noted in a previous post I can lassoed in to Coach a little leage football team, and just two days after I found that out we had our first practice. By trade I am a software engineer and at night I am a bumbling handyman. So how does one rapidly pickup a new skillset and 'wing it'. I decided to apply the problem solving and planning skills I learned from my years in engineering to coaching.
When I need to learn a new programming language or complex application I purchase dead trees (aka books) that are education or reference manuals. So I did the diligent thing and purchased books on football coaching from the local Borders. I was very surprised to find an actual Dummies book on coaching little league football.
Then next thing I usually do is find somebody smarter than me. I've been foolish enough in the past to think I can learn something without advisors by just reading and maybe applying. Don't get me wrong, you *can* do this and get something to work but you can never do it as efficiently as somebody that has been doing it for years. Yes, its fun to make mistakes while learing by doing but it is neither expedient nor effiencient. Why waste time? On my personal list of things to do to become a better programmer is learn Erlang. When I get to it, I'll find a local user group or some sort of mentor to help me along. Failing that, I'll join an online forum to field questions to the world. I was fortunate enough to find that talent among the parent pool of the kids of the team.
So I have my knowledge base, and my experts panel to guide me and the first practice went through without too many hick ups.
Next step is to build my 'team' and to separate the team into their relevant skill set positions.
When I need to learn a new programming language or complex application I purchase dead trees (aka books) that are education or reference manuals. So I did the diligent thing and purchased books on football coaching from the local Borders. I was very surprised to find an actual Dummies book on coaching little league football.
Then next thing I usually do is find somebody smarter than me. I've been foolish enough in the past to think I can learn something without advisors by just reading and maybe applying. Don't get me wrong, you *can* do this and get something to work but you can never do it as efficiently as somebody that has been doing it for years. Yes, its fun to make mistakes while learing by doing but it is neither expedient nor effiencient. Why waste time? On my personal list of things to do to become a better programmer is learn Erlang. When I get to it, I'll find a local user group or some sort of mentor to help me along. Failing that, I'll join an online forum to field questions to the world. I was fortunate enough to find that talent among the parent pool of the kids of the team.
So I have my knowledge base, and my experts panel to guide me and the first practice went through without too many hick ups.
Next step is to build my 'team' and to separate the team into their relevant skill set positions.
Monday, September 24, 2007
From programming to Football Coach?
There never seems to be an end to somebody who likes to complicate their own lives.
I took my middle son down to the parents meeting for his football league over the weekend. To great confusion; at the meeting we learned that we had just paid $75.00 to participate in the league, the parents had to come up with coaches, equipment, etc.. At the moment I am not sure what the $75.00 covered other than game setup? One note to all league organizers out there, "organization" is key, as the parents meeting was not setup well at all.
I've also been wrangled in as being a team coach, and I will tell you I am petrified! I enjoy all sporting activies (as a spectator) and occasionally don't mind playing some sporting games at all. However, unlike my siblings my parents never engaged me in sports as a youth which pushed me down a very different channel in life. I'm done the diligent thing and have read up on the expectations; there is always that nagging doubt when you pursue something new and different in life.
I took my middle son down to the parents meeting for his football league over the weekend. To great confusion; at the meeting we learned that we had just paid $75.00 to participate in the league, the parents had to come up with coaches, equipment, etc.. At the moment I am not sure what the $75.00 covered other than game setup? One note to all league organizers out there, "organization" is key, as the parents meeting was not setup well at all.
I've also been wrangled in as being a team coach, and I will tell you I am petrified! I enjoy all sporting activies (as a spectator) and occasionally don't mind playing some sporting games at all. However, unlike my siblings my parents never engaged me in sports as a youth which pushed me down a very different channel in life. I'm done the diligent thing and have read up on the expectations; there is always that nagging doubt when you pursue something new and different in life.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Dad of all bombs
In this post, it is reported that the Russians have successfully tested the 'dad of all bombs', which is a parody of the American MOAB nuclear device (mother of all bombs). Given the nuclear treaty inked awhile back, it is not surprising that other countries have gone this route to build bigger and more deadly bombs.
On a humorous note, it is funny to see this bomb declared as "environmentally friendly". Wikipedia defines "Environmentally friendly" as a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment. Now, solar powered water heaters can be defined as environmentally friendly; however, a 7.8 ton explosive can not. I am sure that the animals caught within the 990 foot blast radius will not feel comfortable or that it had a minimal impact on their lives.
On a humorous note, it is funny to see this bomb declared as "environmentally friendly". Wikipedia defines "Environmentally friendly" as a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment. Now, solar powered water heaters can be defined as environmentally friendly; however, a 7.8 ton explosive can not. I am sure that the animals caught within the 990 foot blast radius will not feel comfortable or that it had a minimal impact on their lives.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Programmer or Developer?
Meta Blog Warning!
I recently read a post from Hans-Eric Grönlund about the difference between a Programmer or a Developer. I have been declaring for years that there is a difference; and while I don't necessarily agree with Hans-Eric's exact definition of the differences I applaud his insight.
I am particularly curious about why he believes a developer should start with an gui interface, as that is usually not the best practice; although this is often a religious choice to make.
One particular comment I agree on:
I recently read a post from Hans-Eric Grönlund about the difference between a Programmer or a Developer. I have been declaring for years that there is a difference; and while I don't necessarily agree with Hans-Eric's exact definition of the differences I applaud his insight.
I am particularly curious about why he believes a developer should start with an gui interface, as that is usually not the best practice; although this is often a religious choice to make.
One particular comment I agree on:
If you think the implementation is unimportant as long as it does what you want, and is reasonably maintainable, then you’re probably a Software Developer
I recently worked for a company that rubber-stamped this in-and-out. The main 'guy' cared more about what the Gui did and looked like than what the 'stability' of the code. It is hard to succeed as a developer when the mantra from top-down is "just make it pretty". My take has always been, don't sweat the small stuff. Get it to work, make sure it meets the business needs, then make it pretty, then optimize the performance. It's not rocket-science, its not engineering, its poetry.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
What do you do?
Have you ever been asked, "What do you do?". My beautiful wife and I have the luxury of meeting new people quite often and we receive that question a lot. I've never really reflected on my answer and I always respond with "I'm a software developer". Maybe its the Cold & Flue medicine or maybe it is my ADD afflicting me again but I am curious: Why are we compelled to answer with your chosen (or not) profession. Is it just conditioning because of the original Feudalism system and/or the apprenticeship methodologies.
Back when I was slinging meet at Burger King I had never answered with "I am a fast food customer service agent". Now, I am not saying I don't identify myself as a "Software Developer" as I am definitely a geek ed out coder; but I am curious about mans auto response system.
Back when I was slinging meet at Burger King I had never answered with "I am a fast food customer service agent". Now, I am not saying I don't identify myself as a "Software Developer" as I am definitely a geek ed out coder; but I am curious about mans auto response system.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Twitter is the new thing?
Seems like just yesterday that all the digerati were chasing cpu and fsb clock speeds to publish to the world that you were elite or not. However, today it seems to be the next instant messaging application as if mankind wasn't connected to society enough. I blogged earlier about my all-time favorite IM client Meebo. It is still my favorite for the following:
Today I read a post from Jeff Atwood who is one of my favorite daily blog reads regarding 'the new thing' called Twitter. I read the guide, downloaded a client called MadTwitter and here I am.
While I am a firm believer as Jeff in "making it public"; I'm not sure how twitter is neat or convenient but I'm willing to give it a few days to see if it clicks with me. As I explore the world of twitter and public noise I'm post back
- NO INSTALL!
- NO Logs on your machine.
- Connects to all 3 of my instant message services I use.
Today I read a post from Jeff Atwood who is one of my favorite daily blog reads regarding 'the new thing' called Twitter. I read the guide, downloaded a client called MadTwitter and here I am.
While I am a firm believer as Jeff in "making it public"; I'm not sure how twitter is neat or convenient but I'm willing to give it a few days to see if it clicks with me. As I explore the world of twitter and public noise I'm post back
Monday, August 20, 2007
To Be Human, or the cost of your convictions
Last night I found myself watching the Green Mile again with my beautiful wife of 15 years. For those that haven't seen this work of art; I highly recommend it. The part that is interesting to me is the sub-plot of the prison guard and the choices he must make. One of these sub-plots is the prison guard dealing with the cost of his convictions and carrying them out.
In a radical case of coincidence, I ran across this blog posting that is discussing a liberal movement in Texas that is discussing this very same topic except in modern day occurences.
disclaimer: I am not a liberal by any stretch of the imagination; I am an outspoken Progressive.
In a radical case of coincidence, I ran across this blog posting that is discussing a liberal movement in Texas that is discussing this very same topic except in modern day occurences.
disclaimer: I am not a liberal by any stretch of the imagination; I am an outspoken Progressive.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Languages that aren't used?
I saw this article a few weeks ago but I hadn't had a chance to *really* read it until this morning (we'll talk about what really reading in yet another post later). Two of the languages in the article strike way to close to home: Haskell & Delphi.
While my Delphi development today is relegated to a small portion of my active crafting; I still actively develop in current versions of the program. While I agree with the author that the language went from popular to obscurity in a relatively short period; I hesitate to say that it means the language did not 'take off'. The author compares the article to being a VB alternative and that with VB there is not reason for it; I guess the author missed the note that VB is dead.
Haskell is a different story. A language being complex doesn't "kill" a software language. Functional programming in general is just beginning to take off as a whole; and dragging modern OO languages with it. Apparently Google doesn't think Haskell is dead either as they have assigned 9 developers to the language.
While my Delphi development today is relegated to a small portion of my active crafting; I still actively develop in current versions of the program. While I agree with the author that the language went from popular to obscurity in a relatively short period; I hesitate to say that it means the language did not 'take off'. The author compares the article to being a VB alternative and that with VB there is not reason for it; I guess the author missed the note that VB is dead.
Haskell is a different story. A language being complex doesn't "kill" a software language. Functional programming in general is just beginning to take off as a whole; and dragging modern OO languages with it. Apparently Google doesn't think Haskell is dead either as they have assigned 9 developers to the language.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Comparing the database protocol?
I started out my professional programming career with a lessor loved language at the time called Delphi. One of the wonderful things about Delphi was that there was plenty of options to choose from to connect to databases: ADO, BDE, midas,DBX and a plethora of others. Each offered their own upsides and downsides but were usually chosen by developer religion or need. However, if the application developer properly abstracted and layered their application it was a simple matter to switch between connectivity options as everything extended from a few base classes such as TDataset.
When I moved to Java, I expected to have to give up this freedom since all database connectivity in Java was done through JDBC; however, I was pleasantly surprised. JDBC was simply a set of a few base classes and standards that were enforced by the vendor. To go one step higher than my beloved Delphi IDE most IDE vendors programmed tools wrapped around the base classes so that one plugin would work with most JDBC protocol vendors.
As time moved on, I sorely missed doing desktop development so I moved to a set of .net/mono development languages. One would expect that ADO.NET would follow along the same methodology of JDBC in providing a few base classes and standards that would be enforced; and at first glance it is. However, it seems almost all tool vendors program to concrete classes/implementations. For example, attempt to use an Informix or Ingress .net provider in the server explorer in the IDE or with the SmartCode code generator; sadly it will not happen. Everything you can possibly need can be pulled from the base classes so it leaves me scratching my head.
When I moved to Java, I expected to have to give up this freedom since all database connectivity in Java was done through JDBC; however, I was pleasantly surprised. JDBC was simply a set of a few base classes and standards that were enforced by the vendor. To go one step higher than my beloved Delphi IDE most IDE vendors programmed tools wrapped around the base classes so that one plugin would work with most JDBC protocol vendors.
As time moved on, I sorely missed doing desktop development so I moved to a set of .net/mono development languages. One would expect that ADO.NET would follow along the same methodology of JDBC in providing a few base classes and standards that would be enforced; and at first glance it is. However, it seems almost all tool vendors program to concrete classes/implementations. For example, attempt to use an Informix or Ingress .net provider in the server explorer in the IDE or with the SmartCode code generator; sadly it will not happen. Everything you can possibly need can be pulled from the base classes so it leaves me scratching my head.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Visual Studio Orcas & Coding Rage
While Coding Rage is under development I'll post my small snippets here still.
Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas) Beta2 is out and about, and it has a GO-LIVE LICENSE!! Now we only need shared hosting providers that support .net 3.5 Start your DOWNLOADS!
Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas) Beta2 is out and about, and it has a GO-LIVE LICENSE!! Now we only need shared hosting providers that support .net 3.5 Start your DOWNLOADS!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Was Windows Vista a dud?
I just finished reading an article in Australian IT magazine covering statements made by Gianfranco Lanci who is currently the head of Acer.
The article can be summed up with this one liner: "The entire industry is disappointed by Windows Vista," proclaims Lanci. While I am not the head of a multi billion dollar organization I am part of the software/pc industry and I can say I am not disappointed by Vista. Given the choice of a Vista pc or a XP pc I would easily choose the Vista pc. I upgraded my primary home personal computer to the 64 bit of Windows Vista quite awhile ago using my MSDN account version. While I have been challenged to locate native 64 bit software (native 64 bit FireFox anyone?) I have been more than pleased with both performance and stability. I can definitely not say the same for a little known release of Windows called ME or Neptune which never was.
The interesting thing with Vista is there is plenty of neat things in there, but they are buried under candy coated interfaces so folks don't talk much about them. So why would a personal computer manufacturer be yelling to the world that Vista was a failure? I can only surmise that the global community wasn't inspired enough to buy new Acer pc's just to try it out when they can purchase it for their existing pc. I think the underlying unspoken comment is that PC sales didn't skyrocket and rather than blame their own lack of innovation Acer is blaming Windows Vista for not selling their hardware. What I see, but apparently Australian journalists don't see is that its not Microsoft's job to product software to sell Acer brand computers; its Acer's job to product a PC attractive enough to entice us to purchase one.
The article can be summed up with this one liner: "The entire industry is disappointed by Windows Vista," proclaims Lanci. While I am not the head of a multi billion dollar organization I am part of the software/pc industry and I can say I am not disappointed by Vista. Given the choice of a Vista pc or a XP pc I would easily choose the Vista pc. I upgraded my primary home personal computer to the 64 bit of Windows Vista quite awhile ago using my MSDN account version. While I have been challenged to locate native 64 bit software (native 64 bit FireFox anyone?) I have been more than pleased with both performance and stability. I can definitely not say the same for a little known release of Windows called ME or Neptune which never was.
The interesting thing with Vista is there is plenty of neat things in there, but they are buried under candy coated interfaces so folks don't talk much about them. So why would a personal computer manufacturer be yelling to the world that Vista was a failure? I can only surmise that the global community wasn't inspired enough to buy new Acer pc's just to try it out when they can purchase it for their existing pc. I think the underlying unspoken comment is that PC sales didn't skyrocket and rather than blame their own lack of innovation Acer is blaming Windows Vista for not selling their hardware. What I see, but apparently Australian journalists don't see is that its not Microsoft's job to product software to sell Acer brand computers; its Acer's job to product a PC attractive enough to entice us to purchase one.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Hello Useless!
In an exercise of doing pointless things with our lives; it seems that the W3C are considering moving to HTML 5 again. Progress for the sake of progress is not a bad thing; but progress down a dead-end path is not a good thing. Never-mind that the good folks at the W3C already have a progress path for HTML that has a really cool x in front of it (XHTML). Never-mind that we already have a easy solution to making menu's and pop up windows. The sad state of affairs for anybody that has done serious weblication development is that 'current' browsers still don't conform to any of these standards. HTML 4.01 isn't even fully implemented by 'modern' browsers and it was introduced in 1999 ( that is pre-millennial folks).
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Things are moving along
Somebody very special to me will often call me 'mildly ADD', whether she is right or not isn't important its the chaotic movements and wild shifts in focus that is. Sometimes it's a blessing and sometimes its a curse as it takes a massive effort to finish things that aren't extremely interesting.
Well, keeping with that momentum; I've decided to split my current blog in two (yes I know this one is new already). I have 2 large open-source projects currently in the works and I have held off on discussing them with people until I can determine their readiness for the public.
dHibernate (Hibernate for Delphi)
Commons.NET (A Commons repository for .net)
I'll discuss each of these in depth on my new development portal Coding Rage.
Well, keeping with that momentum; I've decided to split my current blog in two (yes I know this one is new already). I have 2 large open-source projects currently in the works and I have held off on discussing them with people until I can determine their readiness for the public.
dHibernate (Hibernate for Delphi)
Commons.NET (A Commons repository for .net)
I'll discuss each of these in depth on my new development portal Coding Rage.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The death of Customer Service
Has anybody else noticed the overall death of common courtesy and with it customer service? From the simple act of not saying "thank you" to somebody that holds the door open for you, or takes the time to hold an elevator to the act of greeting a new customer.
I recently had the luxury of driving to south Phoenix to pick-up a part for one of my vehicle's after work rather frantically to get through before closing hours. When I called, I was looking for a specific part in a specific color in a specific condition. I was rather ecstatic that they not only had what I was looking for, they had it in stock. To preserve time because of where I work and where they were, I asked to have the part waiting for me.
Not only was the part not waiting they didn't even have it in stock. It wouldn't have taken the clerk more than the 15 minutes that I waited there than to have told me up front they didn't have it; and as such they would have preserved a customer. Going forward, I don't think I could trust the company simply because they don't both to confirm they have items in stock; even when asked. What was lacking hear wasn't a mistake, or a misplacement of inventory, it's simply the misplacement of customer service.
I recently had the luxury of driving to south Phoenix to pick-up a part for one of my vehicle's after work rather frantically to get through before closing hours. When I called, I was looking for a specific part in a specific color in a specific condition. I was rather ecstatic that they not only had what I was looking for, they had it in stock. To preserve time because of where I work and where they were, I asked to have the part waiting for me.
Not only was the part not waiting they didn't even have it in stock. It wouldn't have taken the clerk more than the 15 minutes that I waited there than to have told me up front they didn't have it; and as such they would have preserved a customer. Going forward, I don't think I could trust the company simply because they don't both to confirm they have items in stock; even when asked. What was lacking hear wasn't a mistake, or a misplacement of inventory, it's simply the misplacement of customer service.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Favorite IM Client?
Are you still using IM to chat with your friends, pals, loved ones? One word: Meebo
Voice To Email
I was turned on to Jott a few weeks ago and finally go around to trying it myself today. Jott is basically a service that will email voice-recordings for you to contacts in your account. How it works is pretty simple.
1. Sign up for a free account.
2. You bind your account to a phone # and an email address.
After going through their sign-up process and performing 2 different types of authorization your ready to roll. The whole processes was pretty simple and took less than 15 minutes to get rolling which isn't bad for a free service.
Now to use it is pretty neat; as the service attempts to transcribe your voice recordings to emails for you. So far I've found the transcription to be pretty unreliable; however, it does email you each audio recording so all in all its pretty neat. While the service is bound around you emailing your own notes (or jotts if you will) you can also send them to others contacts that you setup in the online service.
1. Sign up for a free account.
2. You bind your account to a phone # and an email address.
After going through their sign-up process and performing 2 different types of authorization your ready to roll. The whole processes was pretty simple and took less than 15 minutes to get rolling which isn't bad for a free service.
Now to use it is pretty neat; as the service attempts to transcribe your voice recordings to emails for you. So far I've found the transcription to be pretty unreliable; however, it does email you each audio recording so all in all its pretty neat. While the service is bound around you emailing your own notes (or jotts if you will) you can also send them to others contacts that you setup in the online service.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Problems of the future
I recently was able to attend a .net developer meeting here in Phoenix just last week. The meeting was to here Scott Guthrie and Stefan Schackow showcase some of the newer .net technologies that will be gracing our door stops; including Silverlight. While all the new technology was great and awe-inspiring; unintentionally a singular phrase hit home with me: "Fix the problem".
One thing I have seen in my relatively short career was a whole lot of code being written and rewritten and I wonder if this was what he was getting at. At first glance, you might think that the phrase means to not start coding until you know what problem you are trying to solve; however, I am torn on this concept. I am one of those individuals that needs to experiment and tinker to properly absorb something and without coding for pleasure I am not sure I would code at one.
I think I need some perspective on this one.
One thing I have seen in my relatively short career was a whole lot of code being written and rewritten and I wonder if this was what he was getting at. At first glance, you might think that the phrase means to not start coding until you know what problem you are trying to solve; however, I am torn on this concept. I am one of those individuals that needs to experiment and tinker to properly absorb something and without coding for pleasure I am not sure I would code at one.
I think I need some perspective on this one.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Where is the C# Jakarta?
I've been tinkering around with C# for the last few years as well as with a few other programming languages. One of the things I have noticed is that while the open-source movement in the .net world is fairly strong, there is no equivalent for the Apache foundations Jakarta project.
A quick perusal of the CSharp-Source.net website shows dozens of different projects out there; however, very few of them utilize a core-set of well documented and well maintained projects. Those that know me know that I am not a GPL flag waiver as I believe that there needs to be a balance of open-source and commercial software; I firmly believe that that Apache/BSD/MIT model promotes freedom for the developer. Freedom for the developer is what is going to build the open-source libraries that we as developers need to succeed.
A quick perusal of the CSharp-Source.net website shows dozens of different projects out there; however, very few of them utilize a core-set of well documented and well maintained projects. Those that know me know that I am not a GPL flag waiver as I believe that there needs to be a balance of open-source and commercial software; I firmly believe that that Apache/BSD/MIT model promotes freedom for the developer. Freedom for the developer is what is going to build the open-source libraries that we as developers need to succeed.
Friday, June 15, 2007
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