January 2007 Entries
I'm going to start a series of short posts on stupid things developers do that they shouldn't. Some of these have been preached for years, some are just developers don't know any better. So here goes...starting with security! #1: Never use the SA account in a production database. I worked with a company that purchased a time and billing database that was developed as a web application. Cool thing was that when we installed it, we had to change the SA password per their setup guide. When we looked...
Scott Hanselman has posted his podcast #48 covering traditional boardgaming. Pretty cool that he would remember that sometimes techies need to get away from the monitor for a minute. In Columbus, OH, we have the Columbus Area Boardgame Society. For a nominal fee, you can play games every odd Friday late into the night. If you are a wargamer or love Eurogames, there's plenty of people to take you on. Want to try a game before you buy it--check it out from the game library. They are constantly investing...
Jim Holmes (one of the organizers of the CodeMash conference) has declared Friday, 19 January (today) to be Windows Developer Tools Day. This is in recognition of the release of his joint work with James Avery called Windows Developer Power Tools that was recently released. Having worked with James on a book before, I know these guys put a ton of work into it (from what I see, it weighs in at about a ton, too!) My Developer Tool of choice: TestDriven.NET Jamie Cansdale (formerly a Microsoft MVP)...
Ok, this was one I was looking forward to. Not because I am a Java guy (though I read "Thinking in Java" back in 1998), but because the guy really knows how to put on a conference (read Crested Butte--that's a ski resort in Colorado). Plan skiing into your event as part of the social networking of the conference and do conferency things in the morning and evening. How cool is that? But I digress. Eckel made some great points like: No one has ever pulled off the perfect project, yet we keep telling...
I feel like I'm in a game and I'm running around trying to find a power pack or something. Conference centers need to start thinking about this: What do you do when you have 200 people show up and they all have laptops? Sure there's wireless, but where do I plug in for some DC juice. Note to self: Start packing a power-strip/extension cord so you don't have to sit on the floor on the side of the room to get power
I have to admit, I had no clue when it came to syntax, but when it came to the ideas I was seeing--very cool. The general gist here is that we have these things that we do over and over again on the web, but we spend most of our time coding it over and over again. TurboGears is about widgets and a framework that just does what we normally do and you have to code the exception. Example: You fill out a form, you gave an incomplete/invalid value, we redisplay the form with a request for more information....
This morning was a great talk about where code is going directionally. It's interesting to note that a lot of the language enhancements (on any platform--Java, Ruby, Python, .NET) are centered around making code more like we think. Ideally, this is dynamic languages that center around Domain Specific Languages. I'd love to quote Neal's comment about COBOL verbatim, but I'll have to give you the gist: "Will all this DSL (domain specific language) stuff mean developers will go away. No. COBOL was supposed...
We kicked off the CodeMash meeting tonight with a panel discussion of languages led by Bruce Eckel. Bill Wagner couldn't make it, so there wasn't much to represent .Net. Things didn't get started right on time, but the event looks to be promising. Can't wait for some of the sessions tomorrow. On my list for tomorrow-TurboGears, Rails or End of Tiers (haven't decided), Enterprise Smart Clients, and Bridging .Net and Java. Aside from recording the Keynotes, I expect to keep pretty busy...
OK. I blogged about it before Christmas, but I have to talk about it again. I got a gift from MindJet this year. Mind Manager Pro is an awesome way to do mind maps. I had used FreeMind in the past, but MindJet's product is just so much more. I planned my 2007 Goals with it (though if I got more detailed, I'd have to kill you). What I really love is being able to bind a MindMap to TFS. This is an awesome way to collect and view requirements as well as keep in Sync with Team System. Stop me sometime...
Ok. This is one I've been waiting for. I can't wait to meet some of the speakers in person. I've convinced a couple of other people (who wouldn't otherwise have even known about it) to come as well. It will be nice to just hang out and have a little fun. The guys that set this up did a great job getting this to be rich in content but not in price. Thanks.Check out what you are missing...