Personal

Lets Party!!!

Dave Redding — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:44:31 GMT

Ok, so, untill i make a *Real* blog post, chew on this.

This saturday there will be a nice big-ol-bonfire at my place. I've got plenty of room for people to crash and we'll be kickin' it to Rockband. I'll be providing the Kegs, you guys just come on out :) All i ask for is for you to chip in a few bucks for the keg, or bring some of your own alchol to share. I live in Willis Mi, the party will start around 7p.

Here is the Facebook event:: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=27735872197

Please RSVP Via Facebook for my own sanity. And hell, if your there, maybe we can discuss the philosophy of the =>.

Dave

Hot Damn!!

Dave Redding — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:14:12 GMT

I know a WMDODN (West Michigan Day of .Net) Post is in order, but that can wait. check this out!

http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2008/05/07/announcing-xna-game-studio-3-0-community-technical-preview-ctp.aspx

Finally, we can start building games for our zunes! WOOT! I expect to create a talk on the topic very soon

Microsoft announces Open Protocol Specfication

Dave Redding — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:15:06 GMT

The link explains it all

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc203350.aspx

As a developer, you now have full access to the information about Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Open Protocols. All Windows client operating system API documentation is now available on this MSDN website.

Wow!!!

What I've learned from bloggin'

Dave Redding — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:33:44 GMT

I know, 2 whole blog posts in 1 week, i'm going nuts! Actually i'm trying to ramp up my blogging frequency, so keep an eye out for a few more tech in 5 min and other sheeeet.

If you would have asked me a little more than a year ago if i'd have a (psudo) active blogging habit, I would have laughed it off as something I "Should" do and dropped it. So I still find it a little hard to believe that i've been at this for as long as I have.

Now, while most bloggers seem to make a post in this vein targeted at non-bloggers. I'm not going to. if you don't want to blog, don't. Honestally, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything and i'm narciscistic enough that I can truly say, I could give a shit less. It's your decision to make and I fully support anyone taking on the daunting task of blogging, I also support everyone else who doesn't.

When considering starting a blog, I had the same excuses as everyone else:

I failed English in H.S., there is no way I could carry on with some kind of constant writing that was open to public scrutiny.
I don't have time.
Does the saying "It's better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt" mean anything to you?

And the most pervasive argument people make to get out of blogging

4. What do I have to say that has'nt already been said before? most likely in a better way than I could ever pen!

Bearing all that in mind, I finally succumbed to my buddy Josh Holmes pressure to start a blog. It's been an interesting trip, and I'd like to take a moment to share with you all what i've learned along the way.

1.) Whatever you write on your blog is inxoriabally tied to you and your name on the internet AND the real world.

Boy, was this a hard lesson learned. Like many other people, I've grown accustomed to the annomity provided by the internet. Like schisophrinic wearing a straight jacket looking for a bathroom, I've bumbled across the web acting and speaking in ways that just are not appropriate in polite company. Which is fine, if your assuming annoyminity. But with a blog, especially a trade blog, you are not anyonomous, not even if you use a pen name. Someone will know who you are and let others know and then BAM, your Real Life name is tied to your writings. Point in case: the lambda expressions tech in 5 min offended a buddy of mine. This buddy exists in Real Life. We drink beers together, talk shit and hangout. So to find out that he was pissed at my real life persona because of something that my internet one did...that was quite a shock.

2.) People are interested in what I have to say, even if they've read about the topic 20 times already.

The one thing I've found through blogging is that, people like options. Like, what kind of car to drive, where to buy their hamburger, or where they go to drink. That urge to have "Options" tend's people to look around. Just because Jay says Vista Sucks for this reason and that, someone else may say it sucks for other reasons. Every blog post (except the ripped off from the authors site) is a unique perspective on the world around the author. So, yeah, someone out there is going to talk about WPF, but is it you?

3.) I've never learned so much about technology so fast.

There has never been a truer statement. When writing my blog, especially the tech in 5 min, i'm forced to double check my assumptions and do a little research before I post to my blog. You don't want to post mis-information, and you don't want to appear a hack, so you have to study. Also, you have to stay on top of technology if thats your blogs focus, you don't want to become stale.

4.) Having a blog gives you geek cred.

Having a blog is a highly interactive deal. It may not seem like it, but the next time your at a launch or usergroup and you mention your blog, bam, someone's going to check it out, and possibally comment. And, since your in print (sorta) you gain crediability. Not only for the content of your blog, but for having the huavos to put your name out there and voice your opinion.

So, i'm not going to say, "Get out there and blog" or something crazy like that, but what I will say is that if your making excuses to not blog, then your only letting yourself down. Blogging is strangly addicitve, a great way to network with people, a fantastic way to show people what you have to offer, an excellent opprtunity to enhance your communication skills and overall, gives you a voice on the internet.

Board Games and the Software Developer

Dave Redding — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:22:42 GMT

For a developer, the worst thing that can happen is to have the mind dulled. This dulling can occur from a number of places. Like too much heroin or watching reality TV. So how would a developer keep his mind sharp and be entertained at the same time? Flashy lights and bright colors only go so far.

The way I’ve discovered is some good ol' challenging board games. Makes sense, most developers are gamers at heart. And I’m not talking about just your standard fair of Stratego and Monopoly, but European games as well like Settlers of Catan and Power Grid. While these games may not have the most complex rule set (besides, after a hard day of thought, do you really want to spend the evening or weekend having to analyze rules to entertain yourself?) but they have a high fun factor and do lend themselves to analytical thought with strategy.

I've compiled a list here of the board games I play at home, and what my thoughts are on them. typically I play with the Wife, and when time permits, the whole family.

1.) Robo Rally

Robo Rally IS the programmers game. It takes about 35min - 2 hours to play depending. The principal of the game is to race your robot through the flags in ascending order. the first one to touch the last flag, Wins! what makes this game great is the amount of cunning and analysis involved. Each turn your dealt a number of cards. Each card has some kind of movement associated with it. For instance Move Forward 2 or Turn Right. You take these cards and "Program" your robot, that is, place them, face down on 5 separate Registers (see...programmers game). Once everyone has programmed their bot, you all flip the card in the first register and your robot executes that movement. It may mean:

Falling off the edge of the board
Pushing or being pushed
Or, just doing what you planned.

But, unlike in real world development, there is no debugging. My 7 y/o Step son loves this game. He'll take cards and turn them in his hands to figure out which way to go and how he wants to move.

The real gotcha is that your playing on a factory floor with all kinds of other crazy stuff. Like conveyer belts that move you and gears that will spin you. All in all, it's a good time and I’ll keep those analytical skills sharp

2.) Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan (SoC) is a classic European game that was made around '95. Since then it's had an explosion in its follwing. It has spawned many other games based on the same premise. The games will last anywhere between 45 min and 2 hours, with the typical being an hour and half.

At first I was leery to pick this one up. I thought that the rules were going to be to complex so that it couldn’t really be enjoyed by someone (me) who was just wanting to get in and play. I was wrong, very very wrong.

SoC is almost non-confrontational (I say almost because you can be passive aggressive) The goal is to get to 10 victory points. You get those points by playing cards that give them to you, building small villages or upgrading the same to cities and gaining a couple of unique achievements during gameplay. The focus of the game is a small hex board that can be re-arranged to change the game each time.

During the course of the game, you build roads and cities, collect resources and buy things like knights or libraries to increase your points. The game is simple to learn, the rules are VERY straight forward. The strategy comes in the form of where to build to maximize your resource input. Trading with other players is also heavily encouraged. I would say this game is great at rewarding the successful marketer. It'll definitely keep those relationship skills sharp.

3.) Power Grid

The wife and I just played this game last night. It was some kind of fun. I would compare it to monopoly, but that would be a gross undestatement. It took us about 5 min to set the game up, and about 2.5 hours to play all the way through for the first time.

This is another European game made in Germany. The premise is simple, buy power plants, buy access to cities, buy resources for the power plants, power the cities. In our game, the first person to power 21 cities wins. The game is engineered so that no one player can completely run away with the game. Basically, whoever's in the lead is at a disadvantage when it comes to buying up resources and power plants. this keeps the games very tight and makes for some interesting outcomes.

The rules are very simple and straight forward, but again, the strategy comes from off the board. Will you pay more than anyone else for a power plant? It follows auction house rules so you could end up paying much more than it's value. Or will you try to snag up all the resources to cut the other players off? All in all, it's a great financial and resource management game, with a built in player driven economy and balancing system.

4.) Killer Bunnies, Quest for the magic Carrot

With a name like that, who can resist the temptation to play.

The excerpt from the back of the box explains it best

Killer Bunnies is a fast paced, action filled card game, in which you must try to keep as many Bunnies alive as possible, while eliminating your opponents' Bunnies. The problem: Your opponents are armed with weapons and will stop at nothing to keep you from winning the game, which can get dreadfully vengeful, horribly nasty, hilariously messy, and just plain fun! Can you keep from being attacked by the whimsical Whisk or the torching Flame Thrower? Defend your Bunnies with the Magic Spatula, or use a Feed The Bunny card to starve out an opponent! It's off-the-wall strategic fun, where the goal is to survive and claim the Magic Carrot to win the game!

Yes, your goal is to achieve the magic carrot. The wife really likes this one, and we typically play it as a pickup game. It takes about 30 min to work through an entire match. This is in the same vein as Munchkins.

5.) Nexus Ops

Nexus Ops is a fantastic tactical game, without all the overhead and rules of games like Axis and Allies or some of the more in-depth war games. The scenario is that you have brought a squad of units (including aliens) to a distant planet to find resources and stake claim to them in the name of your corporation. But your not alone (wouldn’t be much of a challenge that way).

This is another game where you win by accumulation of victory points. You can duke it out or achieve objectives to get your points, and most likely you'll have to do both. The most stunning thing about this game is the pieces, they are fantastically sculpted and look great under a black light.

The rules for the game are fairly simple and straight forward. Once you've played a game or two, you'll have em' down. this game plays in about 45 min or so for a 2 player game. figure about an hour and half for a 3 or 4 player game. Tactical strategy keeps you sharp on your decision making skills. Now Get out there and kill something marines!!!!

6.) Heroscape

Honestly, Heroscape rates on my "Ok" list. If the boys really want to play it, we will. But the setup time is a test in patients and endurance. Once your up and running it can be fun, especially with several people playing.

My favorite is to create a FPS variant and start doing things like capture the flag and double domination. This game doesn’t get as much play as it did around Christmas, but it's still a hoot when the mood strikes us.

7.) Triple Triumph

Crainium typically makes educational games, and this one is no exception. Visualization, Analysis and Strategy all come together when your trying to out build your opponent. With a limited number of spots on the board, you have to try and match your pyramids colors with those around it. You can also build Up, and get extra rewards for doing so.

This is a fast game, about 15 min or so, and is really fun. My wife and I play this a lot, as do our boys. A great multiplayer puzzle game.

8.) Monopoly, Risk, Uno, Trouble and the rest of the standard fair

With the games listed above, the standard fair doesn’t get much play. We'll occasionally break out Risk or Monopoly on a rainy or dreary day. But with games like Catan and Robo Rally, we really don't have much use for those "Other" kind of games.

Uno, trouble and sorry however...those can be pretty fun and fast paced in the electronic versions. We'll typically break those out with the kids when were a little short on time, but want to get some quality family time in. Definitely worth checking out just for their togetherness factor.

Well, that’s not exactly a comprehensive list. There are a number of other games that we play. And at this moment i'm waiting for Ticket to Ride to come in. Looks like it'll be a good one for the wife, myself and the kids to play. At any rate, these games provide the kind of thought processes that will keep us up on our toes as developers. But the best part is the time you get to spend with friends and family while playing. Nothing is able to simulate that.

Good Times

Dave Redding — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:04:02 GMT

Well, that time of the year has come and gone again. By that I mean Code mash.

I didn’t get a chance to make it to codemash this year, but waking up to find 76 twitterings on my phone (Over half were most likely Dwitters -Drunken Twittering-) is a clear indication that it was both a fun and exciting time for all who attended.

In other news, apparently my blog posts (the most recent one about the '=>' specifically) was the issue of some conversations at code mash. And in the process I managed to offend a few of my friends. Hence you will notice it's no longer published. I took it down as soon as I found out that it had offended a friend; that’s not something I’d ever intentionally do.

I’m still grappling with the "Do I take out the bits that offended my friend and republish it, damn the common idea of a non offensive/vulgar blog post, don't conform, be my own man" or, do I suck it up, go more vanilla. The post itself has had almost 900 unique web views, and an extra 230 subscriber views, my most popular post yet, I can't imagine all those people were deeply offended by what I had to say. So I guess what it comes down to is, should I conform and not risk offending a contingent of people to entertain another, or should I just say "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!” Honestly, it's a rhetorical question, since I’m going to do whatever in the hell I want anyway, but it does feel good to write it down.

A friend once said that to enjoy blogging you have to do it for yourself and no one else, but since I’m even asking these questions, am I really blogging for myself?

That being said, I have a PG rated Tech in 5 min about extension methods Then I think we’re going to get into exception handling.

Till next time.

New terminology for the Blog-o-sphere

Dave Redding — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:54:34 GMT

You ever dealt with some ass, where you just felt like applying a title? Well, I sure as hell do. So I have a point of reference, here are some terms you'll see me using occasionally.

Software Arsonist: Someone who pushes software out the door so fast that it's bug ridden and prone to fire (see Dry Software). Once the software is under intense fire fighting, the Software Arsonist will delegate others to put the fires out, while they send out massive amounts of email showing how much value they are adding, and looking for a pat on the back, for being able to put out the fires without actually "Doing" anything.

Ass Hat: Someone who knows so little about how~~you write software that they~~
Never mind that one

Software Consultant: Similar to a Software Arsonist, but instead of a pat on the back this guy wants money. So he'll be the guy smoking a cigarette, next to the Dry Software while holding a coin operated fire extinguisher.

Dry Software: Just like California, this code could ignite at any moment and cause a 4 alarm fire within any company. It's typically caused by setting incredibly unrealistic deadlines (Read: just plain dumb), and charging forward with a complete disregard for those pesky "Tiers" or any concept of loose coupling. Dry Software can typically be found under the banner reading "The app is only for a handful of people."

Holy Pants: Jeans you accidentally put on in the morning and are so tight they show everyone in the world what religion you are.

So there are a few I feel I made up (Yes damnit, Software Consultant is Mine!!), what are yours?

Here's a quote to go with from Stewie on Family Guy "Your cruelty merely stems from some deep seated inner pain, so the obvious remedy is a healthy dose of OUTER PAIN!"

Technorati Tags: Software , Blogging

New Job, Speaking Engagements and Blog Content

Dave Redding — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:26:26 GMT

    So heres an update. Keith Elder got me setup with Quicken Loans working Full time. Its definatly a major difference coming from working as a contractor, where you feel like a mercenary, to working full time where you feel like part of a team. bearing that in mind, O still get email on a daily basis from several of the recruiters that i work with, so if you've got the hankerin' to jump ship, let me know and i'll see what I can do to hook ya up.

    That aside, i've had some exciting things happen recently. After talking to Jay Wren who is the program chair for AACS (Ann Arbor Computer Society) about getting into the speaking circut. On Sept. 5th i'll be speaking on How to build and configure your own MAME arcade cabinet. They haven't posted the abstract on the site yet, so the gist is i'll be talking about the entire process from simple carpentry and material selection, to how to hack windows into running the emulator without the need for keyboard and mouse. If anything it's bound to be fun. And since this will be my first speaking engagement you should all come down and attempt to heckle my impenetrable cool.

    In addition to my foray into speaking at AACS, I'll also be speaking (given my abstract, when written, is approved) at this fall's Day of DotNet about developing XNA applications for Windows and The Xbox. It should be a riot as this stuff is fun to learn. XNA has really made the leap to developing DirectX games so much easier, and it's really flattened the learning curve. They've made it so that while you have to know that advanced math exists and is used, but you don't have to implement it directly, the framework does so on your behalf.

    On a final note. Keep an eye on this space. If my buddy keeps nagging me enough i'll end up writing another tech in 5 min. Maybe something about how being an asshole keeps you in the pay, or something on the decorator pattern...who knows.

Lmao!!!

Dave Redding — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:55:00 GMT

This has got to be one of the most halirous posts i've read lately: All in RE to software development..

This excrept alone...

in business
we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the
following:

Buying a stronger whip.
Changing riders.
Say things like, "This is the way we have always ridden this horse."

Just halirous, how many times have your bosses said something similar!?

Masons drive Chargers!

Dave Redding — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:28:00 GMT

Maybe it's a bit presumptious... but about 60% of the new (2006+) chargers I see on the road have the mason emblem on their deck lid, or somewhere else equally visible. Maybe it's just me picking them out, but I think if your a charger owner, you have a natural tendency to want to be a mason.

Maybe it's just because I'M a charger owner hehe. Which gives me an excellent opportunity to introduce you fair readers out there to my 2nd great love (in case my wife is reading, ;) ) This is my 2006 Torred Daytona Charger . I love this car! and i love my wife for "Letting" me get it :D I actually picked it up used with like 1500 miles on it. The original owner just didn't drive it, his wife didn't drive it, so they traded it in on a Durango. It puts out 350hp(@4600rmp) and 390lb of torque. We won't talk about how fast she goes since this post is associated with the Masons ;) I've never had it on the track, but as i understand it'll pull 14 on the 1/4 mile stock. I have great plans for her, but that has to wait till my wallet looses the retention problem it's having at the moment.

I've been thinking of taking her up to the SEMB meet&greet's up on Woodward when the weather gets better. If there are any locals reading, fire me off a comment and we'll get together some time. Maybe as a group to drive up to Detroit.

I took some crap when i got the car. Things like "Power to weight blah blah" or "The GTO blah blah". To those people i say "Shove off". This car is a perfect blend of 4 door sedan and raw power. I can fit in it, which is more than i can say for some pony car or rice rocket. Thats saying allot at 6'6". Plus there is plenty of room in the back for passengers. So, putting that all together, means i can drive, i can drive fast, and i can drive fast for almost all of my daily errands.