If you’re reading this from an RSS feed, then the changes looks like this:

These new sections make use of the services I created earlier - my resume content is pulled directly from LinkedIn via my Resume service, the Reading Lists and Reviews are being pulled from Amazon via my Amazon service, and I’m still working on a personalized greeting module which will make use of my Whois service.

Now, when I update my resume on LinkedIn, add a new item to my Amazon wishlist, or write a new Review on Amazon the content is updated within this site and indexed by the Google.

It took longer than expected to get these new pages up and running - mostly due to a couple false starts. You see, I’m running this site on Windows shared hosting which unfortunately doesn’t give me many options - sure, sure, I could purchase another hosting account, but developers are like freak’n MAcGyver we like working within ridiculous constraints. It’s all about the challenge! Anyways, I first tried using Ruby on Rails on shared hosting (fail), then tried using PHP on Trax (fail), and finally reverted to ASP.NET MVC. While ASP.NET MVC is heads and tails more fun than Web Forms / Classic ASP.NET, the impedance mismatch between strongly typed objects and web languages (JavaScript, CSS, XHTML) is still annoying. Thankfully the MVC Contrib project solves some of these pains, however it can’t solve them all.

My next steps with this site are to: finish the greeting module, update the layout (drop the WordPress theme), and finish a Github / Google Code repo widget (kind of like this one) for the sidebar.

Contribute, view, or download the openly available source code here.

However, I felt that many of the concepts discussed have become common knowledge (part of popular developer culture) and were somewhat obvious. To borrow from the Dreyfus Model; this book is probably best suited for Novices or Advanced Beginner. It’s also fair to mention that I thought Andy’s other book The Pragmatic Programmer suffered this same problem, but also keep in mind that “the obvious … is never seen until someone expresses it simply” (Kahlil Gibran). In the end, I do recommend this book. It’s a fun read, excellent for those who are new to the software industry. It would make a great addition to College / University programs.

I found the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition neat. It’s a central theme throughout Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt.

Here’s how Wikipedia describes the Dreyfus Model:

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition postulates that when individuals acquire a skill through external instruction, they normally pass through five stages. … the five stages of skill acquisition are: Novice, Advanced beginner, Competent, Proficient and Expert - Dreyfus model of skill acquisition

We have different skills and are at different stages simultaneously in each skill - for example, someone might be an Expert at underwater basket weaving and a Novice at cooking. As we cultivate our experience we progress through these stages.

The categories (again, from Wikipedia) are as follows:

1. Novice
   • rigid adherence to rules
   • no discretional judgment
2. Advanced beginner
   • situational perception still limited
   • all aspects of work are treated separately and given equal importance
3. Competent
   • coping with crowdedness (multiple activity, information)
   • now partially sees action as part of longer term goals
   • conscious , deliberate planning
4. Proficient
   • holistic view of situation, rather than in terms of aspects
   • sees what is most important in a situation
   • uses maxims for guidance, meaning of maxims may vary according to situation
5. Expert
   • no longer reliant on rules, guidelines, maxims
   • intuitive grasp of situation, based on tacit knowledge
   • vision of what is possible

Presented with these categories we can draw some parallels with the software realm. Like say, create a list of events that you’d most likely find these different categories of software developers hanging out.

Developer Event Attendance and Developer Skill Categories:

1. Vendor or Technology Specific: User Groups / Code Camps / Corporate Training / Evangelistic Events
   • Many Novices
   • Many Advanced beginners
   • A small number of Competents that are transitioning to Proficients
   • Proficients and Experts might be leading the group or may have been mandated to go by their organization
2. Open Book Clubs / Non Specific Technology Meetings / Non Specific Bar Camp Type Events
   • Mostly Competents, Proficients, and Experts

Of course, this is just my opinion. I’ve noticed that my attendance to the events listed above continually shift. Initially I thought I was becoming a curmudgeon, but instead I shifted a couple Dreyfus categories.

I found Andy Hunt’s description of Sheep Dip Training funny:

A sheep dip is a large tank in which you dunk the unsuspecting sheep to clean them up and rid them of parasites. The sheep line up; you grab one and dunk it in the tank … It wears off, of course, so you have to dip them again.

Sheep dip training follows the same model. You lineup unsuspecting employees, dunk them in an intensive, three-to-five day event … and proclaim them to be Java developers, .NET developers, or what have you. It wears off, of course, so next year you need to have a “refresher” course - another dip.

Companies love standardized “sheep dip” training … There’s only one drawback. This naive approach doesn’t work … - Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life … I think Perfectionism is based on an obsessive belief that if you run careful enough … you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people [are going to] have a lot more fun [than you] … -  Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

The Enhanced Whois web service lets me know where my visitor are geographically located, provides filtering capabilities, and can act on referrals. This will allow me (or you) to personalize site greetings, hide my email address (or content) based on the visitor, and provide a unique personal experience. Alternately I can use this service as a classic Whois service.

How it works.

We’re not anonymous on the internet and IP addresses are what uniquely defines your internet existence. Whois services let us determine the registrant of internet resources.

Using my Whois service you can:

View your enhanced whois record.

By the visitor’s IP address (your IP) URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois/enhanced.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois/enhanced.xml

Response (using my IP):

<WhoisEnhancedRecord xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <City>Calgary</City>
  <Country>Canada</Country>
  <FilterMatches i:nil="true"/>
  <FriendlyMatches i:nil="true"/>
  <IsFilterMatch>false</IsFilterMatch>
  <IsFriendly>false</IsFriendly>
  <Organization>Shaw Communications Inc.</Organization>
  <StateProvince>AB</StateProvince>
</WhoisEnhancedRecord>

By the visitor’s IP address specifying a referrer, and a filter URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois/enhanced.{xml|json}?filters={filters,filters,…}&referrer={referrer}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois/enhanced/xml?filters=CA&referrer=Twitter

Response (from an IP owned by Google, with a filter for California, and a referrer of Twitter specified):

<WhoisEnhancedRecord xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <City>Mountain View</City>
  <Country>United states</Country>
  <FilterMatches>
    <string>StateProvince</string>
  </FilterMatches>
  <FriendlyMatches>
    <string>google</string>
    <string>twitter</string>
  </FriendlyMatches>
  <IsFilterMatch>true</IsFilterMatch>
  <IsFriendly>true</IsFriendly>
  <Organization>Google Inc.</Organization>
  <StateProvince>CA</StateProvince>
</WhoisEnhancedRecord>

View your classic Whois record.

By the visitor’s IP address (your IP) URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois.xml

<WhoisRecord xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/whois" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <DomainName>68.146.10.100</DomainName>
  <RegistryData>
  <AbuseContact> ... </AbuseContact>
  <AdministrativeContact i:nil="true"/>
  <BillingContact i:nil="true"/>
  <CreatedDate>2002-06-03</CreatedDate>
  <RawText> ... </RawText>
  <Registrant>
    <Address>Suite 800630 - 3rd Ave. SW</Address>
    <City>Calgary</City>
    <Country>CA</Country>
    <Name>Shaw Communications Inc.</Name>
    <PostalCode>T2P-4L4</PostalCode>
    <StateProv>AB</StateProv>
  </Registrant>
  ...
</WhoisRecord>

So… why is this useful?

This is the first step for this site’s personalization - if I know where the user came from, where the user is geographically located, and have the capabilities to filter their Whois responses, then I can tailor my content to the user. For example: if someone from Google landed on my site I could mention that I’d love to work there and provide my email address and phone number, similarly if someone from Calgary landed on my site I could provide my public calendar of local events. The possibilities are endless.

This service will be wrapped by a JavaScript widget that will take care of the asynchronous service polling, but that sounds like another post.

Contribute, view, or download the openly available source code here.

How it works.

If you have a resume on LinkedIn and you’ve added services@adamdotcom.com as a contact then you can:

View your resume - retrieve your Resume by first and last name.

By first and last name URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/resume/linkedin/{firstName-lastName}.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/resume/linkedin/adam-kahtava.xml

Response:

<Resume xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/resume" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Educations>
    <Education>
      <Certificate>Computer Programming and Analysis</Certificate>
      <Institute>Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology</Institute>
    </Education>
    <Education>
      <Certificate>Bachelor of Science (Honours), Computer Science</Certificate>
      <Institute>Trent University</Institute>
    </Education>
  </Educations>
  <Positions>
    <Position>
      <Company>Corbis ...

Wow that was exciting, so now what?

OK, maybe not really exciting - like I mentioned in my previous post I’m in the process of creating a page / client to make this data look pretty and search engine friendly.

Contribute, view, or download the openly available source code here.

My online portfolio is increasingly scattered through the internet (reviews and wishlist are on Amazon, source code on github / Google Projects, resume on LinkedIn, and so on). I’ve been working on a couple services that will eventually pull my portfolio together while keeping a single point of reference, and… I’m sharing these services.

Introducing my Amazon Web Service.

How it works.

Basically if you have a Wishlist or a Review list on Amazon you can:

Discover your profile - retrieve your ListId (for WishLists) or CustomerId (for Reviews):

Discovery URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/discover/user/{user-name}.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/discover/user/adam-kahtava.xml

Response:

<Profile xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <CustomerId>A2JM0EQJELFL69</CustomerId>
  <ListId>3JU6ASKNUS7B8</ListId>
</Profile>

View your Reviews - retrieve your Reviews by username or Amazon CustomerId.

By customerId URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/reviews/id/{customerId}.{xml|json}

By username URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/reviews/user/{user-name}.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/reviews/id/A2JM0EQJELFL69.xml

Response:

<Reviews xmlns="http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Review>
    <ASIN>0321125215</ASIN>
    <Authors>Eric Evans</Authors>
    <AuthorsMLA>Evans Eric.</AuthorsMLA>
    <Content>Through this book Evan's ...

View your Wishlist - view your Wishlist by username or Amazon ListId.

By listId URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/wishlist/id/{listId}.{xml|json}

By username URI:

http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/wishlist/user/{user-name}.{xml|json}

Example:

Request: http://adam.kahtava.com/services/amazon/wishlist/user/adam-kahtava.json

Response:

[{"ASIN":"0471467413","Authors":"Mostafa Abd-El-Barr, Hesham El-Rewini", ...

So now what?

I’m in the process of creating a Reviews and Wishlist page / client to make the data look pretty. This service was built on a previous iteration of my Amazon Web Service (How To Display Your Amazon Reviews and Wish List Using Amazon’s Web Services).

Contribute, view, or download the openly available source code here.

Where did the term ‘bug’ originate?

According to Phil Factor:

The word ‘bug’ actually is short for Bugbear, sometimes found as Bugaboo. The meaning is much closer to ‘Gremlin’, where the people who worked on engineering prototypes often grew to suspect that the problems were due to malicious spooks. I sometimes still hear it said that a particular piece of software is cursed with malicious spirits. The ‘Bug’ or ‘Bogey’ part of the word is traceable back to the fifteenth century in the meaning of ‘Hobogoblin’, devil or ghost. … the word ‘Bugbear’, first recorded in the sixteenth century, is still used in referring to problems with machinery. - Confessions of an IT Manager, Phil Factor

How many bug types can you name off?

Wikipedia lists six types of bugs: Heisenbugs, Bohrbugs, Mandelbugs, Schroedinbugs, Phase of the Moon bugs, and Statistical bugs.

Which music should you listen to while squishing software bugs?

The Bug Song by Canada’s Stompin’ Tom Connors of course.

Bugs Bugs Bugs, If I had them all in jugs
I’d dig dig dig, till a big big hole was dug dug dug dug–
And that would be the end of the bug song…repeat

I once had a strong aversion to Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, pick the site of the week, …) but today I embrace it. In the old days, I thought these sites were silly, a waste of time, and preferred to spend more of my time pursuing technical / academic activities. In retrospect, I think I was feeling insecure in my technical abilities (placing to much focus on technical pursuits), I probably thought I had a boring life (and thought everyone else was bragging about theirs), and I certainly misunderstood the fundamentals of Social Media (somehow I thought being part of the conversation meant I had to consume everything).

I eventually realized that Social Media is a lot like TV. TV is overwhelmed with commercials and mediocre shows, the content is hard to find. When I watch TV (if I watch TV) I mute the commercials, flip through the channels looking for something interesting, and multitask (magazine, laptop, …). In the end TV is a leisure activity, I don’t try watching every channel (I know I can’t) and don’t pay attention to the advertisements. I do the same thing on Social Media sites too. I don’t pay attention to every post (I can’t) and I don’t pay attention to self promotion, promotions, or advertisements.

Today I embrace Social Media because it lets me participate in the conversation, share my opinion, connect with friends and family, and be an active part of our world. Oh yeah, and it’s fun too!

“Don’t be shy … or nobody will know you’re there” - Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens

I joined the HP Pavilion tx1000 drop dead club last month. Apparently the tx1xxx models of the HP Pavilion laptops have an issue with the NVIDIA chip frying the CPU hamsters (melting the solder on the motherboard) - I’m not really sure about the technical details, but a broken laptop is bad news.

Whatever happened it first killed my wireless, then the machine wouldn’t turn on (black screen, no BIOS, no boot). However; I’m writing this post from the same defective laptop. That’s right folks! I did NOT have to find a penny older than 1982, I did NOT have to dismantle and cook the computer under a halogen lamp for 5 minutes. Instead I…

How to fix your tx1xxx laptop:

• Put your laptop on a firm grounding like the floor, counter, or sturdy table
• Placed your right elbow on the enter key and push down hard
• Pull on the opposite side of the laptop casting until you hear creaking (while pushing on the enter key with your right elbow)

I heard creaking and crunching as I physically bent the case (and the motherboard I’m sure). Now, aside from a crack in the case and a still defunct wireless card I’m temporarlily back in business - and in active search of a replacement laptop.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

I’ll give any company or product a chance, but quality and user experience is the deciding factor. I doubt that I’d purchase another HP machine, but I now have an excuse to get a Mac!

Free to a good home: JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan.

It’s rare for technical books to be held in such high esteem, but the numbers speak - this book has close to 200 five star ratings on Amazon, confirming that The Definitive Guide is still one of the seminal guides to the JavaScript language. Flanagan’s book is a must read for developers and designers alike. Along with JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford of course. I reviewed this book a while back, you can read my review.

The Details:

• Comment on this post
• Leave a valid email in the email comment field
• The winner will be chosen at random and notified through email on Oct 1st
• I cross my fingers hoping that you don’t live on the other side of the world (I pay for shipping)

Good Luck!

And the winner is Dan Carlson!

The title of Jeffrey Zeldman’s book (Designing with Web Standards) says it all - this book promoted accessible, usable, search engine friendly web design and development through the use of XHTML and CSS while debunking the myths surrounding web standards. Zeldman is a well recognized name among web developers and designers - he’s the the founder of A List Apart, and co-founder of The Web Standards Project (WaSP). His writing is entertaining, witty, easy to read, and insightful - it’s very much like the content we’re used to reading at A List Apart. It’s also fair to mention that this book has been edited by industy experts and influencial writers like Eric Myer. Any developer that works with the web should read this book along with JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford.

Classitis is the measles of markup, obscuring meaning as it adds needless weight to every page. The affliction dates back to the early days of semi-CSS-capable browsers and the many designers’ initially childish comprehension of how CSS works.
Alas, many have not yet outgrown that childish misunderstanding of CSS … Classitis is as bad in its own way as the <font> tag ever was; rarely does good markup require it … At other times classitis is exacerbated by a still more serious condition … divitis … Classitis and divitis are like the needless adjectives with wich bad writing is strewen. They are the weeds in the garden of meaning. - Jeffrey Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards

An example of markup wraught with divitis and classitis:

13 div elements and 11 classes for a single item. What a stench!  View this markup in action.

The equivalent markup disease free:

Cleaner, more meaningful, and with all the functionality of the former code. One div element and 3 classes for a single item.  ShamWow! View this markup in action.

Both of these markup snippets are visually and functionally equivalent. In the first example the divs, classes, and cryptic ids weigh down the page and pollute the meaning of the markup. In the later, a more semantic / structural approach is taken  Both these snippets were pulled from my attempts at the Google Web Developer Exercise.

Clean meaningful markup is the API that users and web crawlers consume - it’s important and easy to keep things clean, it just takes a little experience. Thank goodness for patterns like MVC that let us control our API (the markup).

What Is Semantic / Structural Markup?

Markup is “semantic” when tags are chosen according to what they mean. For example, tagging a headline h1 because it is the most important headline on the page is a semantic authoring practice. Tagging a headline h1 “to make it look big” is not. … I use the phrase “structural markup” to mean pretty much the same thing as “semantic markup.” (”Structural markup” takes its name specifically from the idea that the web document has an outline-like structure.) - Jeffrey Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards

Zeldman goes on to make many great points on why semantic markup matters, here’s my paraphrase.

Why Does Semantic / Structural Markup Matter?

• it helps make web sites more accessibile
• it provides a means to meet government mandatied web accessibility guidelines
• it’s a critical component for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because the Google search engine is the biggest blind user on the web - Zeldman
• doing the right thing is the right way to do things - developers should have a sense of pride in being a craftsman
• did I mention Search Engine Optimization?

If you’re interested in learning more about semantic markup then view A List Apart’s source code, or read their many online resources: Topics: Code: HTML and XHTML.

MVC Public Service Announcement #6 : Modularity from EnvyAds on Vimeo.

Keep watching these videos here: http://www.railsenvy.com/tags/MVC

I did the exercise yet again (the third time) because my last attempt needed some improvements:

• it suffered from chronic classitis and divitis (too many classes, ids, and divs were making me itchy)
• it wasn’t really using semantic / structural markup (all the extra divs etc… cluttered my markup, and some of my class names like container-borders are non-semantic altogether)
• it performed poorly and wasn’t accessible (everything was being rendered in the DOM, there was no immediate rendered markup which kind of violated the idea of unobtrusive JavaScript, nor was it screen reader friendly)
• it wasn’t making use of any JavaScript libraries to abstract browser inconsistencies out of the code
• it suffered from my software ethnocentrism (my variable and object naming like GoogleExercise was mirroring statically typed languages and not the native language they were being written in)

Here’s my latest Google Exercise (addressing all the above concerns):
View this post outside your RSS reader to see it in action or view it here.

This attempt makes use of jQuery and uses 57 lines of JavaScript (almost 200 lines less from my last one).

You can view the code for this attempt here: google.contact.widget.js, index.html, google-contact-widget.css.

You can view the old code here: GoogleExercise.js, index.html, GoogleExercise.css.

If you think I can improve on my code then let me know. Oh yeah, and if you’re a recruiter from Google then hire me!

As an entry level developer I thought professional meant:

• talking incessantly about technology (hiding my personal life behind shop talk)
• dressing up for my cubical (wearing polyester dress pants, cotton dress shirts to work, and occasionally ties)
• focusing on things that can be proven (giving little concern to interpersonal relationships or the general untestable messiness surrounding softskills)
• writing the FASTEST CODE EVER (I was sidtracked with premature optimizations)
• I tried to be a programming machine (working 29 hours a day)
• becoming an Microsoft Most Valueable Professional (MVP)

Those ideas were skewed and I was probably running the risk of becoming a bit of a douche.

Today I think professionalism means:

• being comfortable in your own skin
• being able to delegate tasks within a team
• being an effective member of a team (not participating in gossip, back talk, or other activities that erode a team)
• being transparent
• maintaining a work / life balance
• choosing the best tool for the task

It’s funny how experience can change perspectives. I wonder what my definition of professionalism will be in five years?

Now, I’ve been finding Behaviour Driven Development fascinating in a geeky kind of way (kind of like functional programming languages, and programming paradigm debates), but BDD has left a gnawing uneasiness in the back of my mind - generally this mind chewing begins when I’m missing the bigger picture or when something just isn’t right. I got a chuckle out of Spolsky’s writing as he discusses specification frameworks:

the geeks … focus on things they can see in the code, rather than waiting for the users to judge. They’re programmers, so they try to automate everything in their life, and of course they try to automate the QA process. This is how you get unit testing … In order to mechanically prove that a program corresponds to some spec, the spec itself needs to be extremely detailed. In fact the spec has to define everything about the program, otherwise, nothing can be proven automatically and mechanically. Now, if the spec does define everything about how the program is going to behave, then, lo and behold, it contains all the information necessary to generate the program! And now certain geeks go off to a very dark place where they start thinking about automatically compiling specs into programs, and they start to think that they’ve just invented a way to program computers without programming.

Now, this is the software engineering equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. It’s one of those things that crackpots keep trying to do, no matter how much you tell them it could never work. - Talk at Yale: Part 1 of 3, Joel Spolsky

Hehehe… Anyhow; I need to cut this post short. My DIY Nuclear Fusion Reactor and perpetual motion machine are calling my name. Errrr… I mean, I need to continue working through the RSpec book and playing around with other specification frameworks, because there’s always value in learning something new.

When you encounter a large system that is poorly factored, where do you start? In the XP community, the answer tends to be either one of the these:

1. Just start anywhere, because it all has to be refactored.
2. Start wherever it is hurting. I’ll refactor what I need to in order to get my specific task done.

I don’t hold with either of these. The first is impracticable except in a few projects staffed entirely with top programmers. The second tends to pick around the edges, treating symptoms and ignoring the root causes, shying away from the worst tangles. - Domain Driven Design, Eric Evans

I can think of many times where developers (myself included) have really just been gold plating under the guise of refactoring, or other times when refactoring activities contributed superficial cosmetic changes while the real mess lies beneath - getting to the root of the problem requires significantly more time and work than we’re often allocated and the cosmetic changes give us a sense of motion without moving. Then there are the occasions where seemingly superficial refactorings lead to an insightful break through.

Of course Evans isn’t suggesting that we stop refactoring altogether, instead he suggests that we think about what we’re refactoring, and that we focus on the parts of our software that provide the most value - in the context of Domain Driven Design this would be our Core Domain.

It’s also fair to mention that this book has been charged as being just another patterns book, and while I can see this perspective, some of the concepts do come across as being overly abstract without clear implementations (code) to reference, but this books is much more than another patterns book. As a developer you don’t want to overlook this book, it’s an insightful snapshot into the mind of an experienced developer. From my experience the concepts and patterns surrounding Domain Driven Design frequently crop up in Service Orientation, MVC/MVP structured Web Applications, Object Orientation, Test Driven Development, Model Driven Development, and other modern staticly typed best practices. If you do find yourself grasping for more concrete implementations then you’ll want to read Jimmy Nilsson’s Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET book too - Nilsson’s book provides many code examples while directly referencing Evan’s text.

I highly recommend this book, it’s a great reference to have alongside Steve McConnell’s Code Complete, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert Glass, and the Martin Fowler blessed books too.

A group of us reread this book as part of The Calgary Book Club. View my review on Amazon.

I ran my first half marathon this past weekend. Finding training resources online was difficult so I’m passing on the advice that I found useful.

How to train for a half marathon:

• Ensure you can maintain 30 minutes of moderate running at least a month before your running date (this is the most important step)
• One month before your race, run 18 kms (6 easy, 6 moderate, 6 hard, don’t worry about how long it takes)
• 7 days later run 20 kms
• 7 days later run for 90 minutes hard
• 7 days later run for 60 minutes at a moderate pace
• 1 day before the race run for 20 minutes at an easy pace

The week before the race you should be feeling lazy, lethargic and ready for the race - you’ve tapered correctly. Tapering leads to improvements in running economy and muscle strength. Learn more here Tapering For a Marathon.

Other tips I picked up:

• If you’re planing on taking gels or sports drinks during the race then make sure to take them while training
• Don’t mix sports drinks and gels - take one or the other or you’ll get end up getting sick (like me)
• Bring Advil or Tylenol with you
• Avoid fiber foods 2 days before the race (you don’t want to visit the portables)
• Add more carbs and salt to your meals the week of the race
• Have your last big meal 10 hours before the race
• Have your breakfast 2-3 hours before the race

Running with 3000+ people for the first 16 kms was an amazing experience, after the 18 km mark I was questioning my sanity, and when it was over all the race participants were on top of the world. I highly recommend doing a half or full marathon. I raised some money for Team Diabetes and managed to finished under 2 hours.  Next year I’m doing the full. Look me up in the 2009 HSBC Calgary Half Marathon Results.

This begs for the question: how different are the developers that award themselves the title of Software Architect from George? How is it that someone can have a resume that reads developer, developer one week then next month reads architect, architect? Are we so insecure in our livelihood that we need to inflate out roles?  Anyone can claim to be an architect, and being one rarely means the same thing across organizations, doesn’t require certification, and some architects appear to live in ivory towers (tend to live in fantasy worlds like George). Has the title of Software Architect become synonymous to being Full of Baloney? If George didn’t switch careers and become a hand model he probably would have started pretending to be a Software Architect too.

I’ve joined the millions of a happy WordPress users. This site was running dasBlog - now dasBlog was pretty swell 4 years ago, but so was PHP-nuke, DotNetNuke, table-based-design, ASP.NET Themes & Skins, and ASP.NET AJAX. Web technology changes at an accelerated pace, and some software / technologies / frameworks need to run their inevitable natural evolutionary course (extinction). dasBlog did its job, but it’s time to move on - not to mention I’ll sleep easier knowing that Rhett won’t be taunting me about how my blog reminds him of SharePoint. Adios dasBlog!

The new digs:

• WordPress running on IIS 7 hosted by GoDaddy’s shared hosting plan ($203 for 4 years!!)
• Redirections by ManagedFusion Url Rewriter
• WordPress plug-ins installed:
  • FeedBurner FeedSmith - uses feedburner feeds in place of the WP vanilla feeds
  • Google Analytics for WP
  • Google XML Sitemaps
  • WP More Feeds - generates feeds for categories like musings (this feature was native to dasBlog, but not to WP)

Be sure to update this blog’s RSS feed to: http://adam.kahtava.com/journal/feed/. Old feeds will continue to work, but you may experience some oddities.

The plan was to sell domain names, web hosting, and deliver websites to my clients - a one-stop-shop of sorts. I’d frequently obsess over the idea and smatter my coworkers, and friends (actually, anyone that would listen) with my fantastic ideas. I was obsessed. By obsessed, I mean, I obnoxiously sent out weekly (sometimes daily) emails containing mindmaps, and reams of links - all while maintaining a wiki bursting with my exceptionally mediocre ideas. I purchased reseller accounts, hosting plans - nothing was stopping me! Now that I think of it, obsessive tendencies probably run in my family - to this day my Mother vacuums her house three times a day, sure there were 11 people in our family and things got messy, but three times a day!! Try watching TV with the vacuum running three times a day It’s enough to make you quit TV and take up programming. Anyhow, during the time of my obsession, a couple senior coworkers gently suggested that I need more experience. I remember thinking:

Man, I’ve already been through school, I have an freak’n edumacation. I’m building sweet programs. How much more experience do I need?

Of course they were right. Since then, every year / month / day has brought heaps of new knowledge and experience - experience is one of those things that can only be acquired with time. My idea of the one-stop-shop crumbled when I realized that I couldn’t compete with discount hosting like GoDaddy / Dreamhost. I also realized that I enjoyed working in teams on large web applications rather than solo projects. Today I’ll occasionally meet an obsessive CEO, I’ll offer some advice, and smile. Good ideas tend to be self evident - they don’t require wikis and link farms to convince people. If you can execute your idea (develop it yourself) then your personal passion and drive will contribute to it’s success or at least provide you with irreplaceable experience - even if it is a hair brained idea.

If you’re interested, I still have the reseller account which offers reasonable domain discounts. Thanks to all my friends who tolerated me through those growing pains.

Some of our pictures from Japan.

A video of our messy apartment:

My training up to this point has been terribly lax, I’ve been running 7km in about an hour. At this pace it’ll take at least 3 hours to break 20kms - Ouch!

If you're interested in donating (or better yet, joining the run too), then follow these steps:

1. Visit The Canadian Diabetes Association
2. Search for Adam Kahtava
3. Donate

Anyhow; life isn't just about geeking out. I've got to run.

Content matters, design doesn’t: Subscribers read your blog through RSS readers. Content is key, twitter widgets, plug-ins, and badges are self serving - they matter more to the blogger than their audience. If readers desire a more granular need-to-know-you level of information, then chances are that they already stalking you. If you’re a graphic designer then aesthetics do matter.

Debriefings on local events without a unique personal voice are lame (actually, anything without a personal voice is lame): Most subscribers skim, they seek out information and move on. Well written articles with a unique personal voice continue to draw me in. Information about the number of people who showed up, what you ate, or the decor of the venue are minor details. Seriously, I’ll email you if I’m interested.

Subjectivity is interesting: Reading / writing / learning is about considering alternative views and new opinions, there’s always a degree of subjectivity - nothing is absolute.

Some authors are always right, which is always wrong: A blogger’s blog is their domain, but it’s distasteful when an author defends their posts in an attempt to save face (to appear right all the time). Sharing opinions publicly is about collaboration, and validation, not being right or wrong.

Gary Vaynerchuk offers this piece of advice:

The only way to succeed now is to be completely transparent, everything is exposed, everything you do - Gary Vaynerchuk

For most web / knowledge workers, transparency is key to cultivating an online presence - today, your online presence (your Google search results) is your resume, everything you do online is fair game - your search results (or lack of results) generally reflect whether you're an overall good-person, experienced, or a bit outdated.

A reassessment: last month the faltering economy finally hit home - I was out of work. While search for a new job, I was surprised that most potential employers (nearly all) were looking me up on Google. From Google they'd land on my blog, my Twitter account, flickr, and so on. In one of my interviews I was told of an unfortunate candidate that had questionable content and photos online - this was a deciding factor in his no-hire decision. This had me feeling a little uncomfortable and begged for a reassessment of my level of transparency.

Randy Pausch once said:

I'll [hire] an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term - Randy Pausch

I echo Randy's sentiments. If you're an earnest, authentic, and good natured person, then transparency can be a huge asset. You should be exposing everything you do! Well… maybe not everything, there's little value in knowing what you ate for lunch, or when you're sleeping / awake - practicing some self moderation and making use of your inner monologue is recommended, because excessive transparency can bleed into white noise.

no matter what remember the web is NOT Las Vegas. What happens on the web does NOT stay on the web. I'll bet this guy wishes he'd have remembered that. - Arcanecode, Guard your credibility

With applications like Twitter and Facebook it's easier than ever to be transparent, but do we run the risk of being too transparent? How much is too much?

Over the past couple months I had the pleasure of working in a Java shop. Up to this point I've spent most of my time in the .NET realm. Working with Java was a great chance to experience the similarities and contrasts between environments, cultures, and web application implementations. Here are a couple of my observations.

Java developers are more knowledgeable than the typical .NET developer. Java developers tend to gravitate towards complexity, Linux, UNIX, open source, and continuous learning. They are less familiar with the wizards and drag-n-drop style development that often characterize .NET development. The Java developers I worked with didn't depend on a single unified IDE (like Visual Studio), instead each developer chose their text editor / environment (Emacs, Eclipse, TextMate, E-TextEditor, and jEdit were all being used on a single project). Each developer was responsible for being productive with their editor; and took responsibility for learning shortcuts, and other performance enhancing techniques. This broad use of editors placed an emphasis on the core command line tools which ensured that developers knew how the application was put together, and cultivated broad application troubleshooting skills within the team.

Unified IDEs (like Visual Studio or Eclipse) do not result in faster development, better developers do. Developers empowered with the ability to choose their development environment / text editors / operating system resulted in more passion and responsibility. Informal friendly rivalry between editor users drove development faster while providing diversity within the work place.  

Programming languages and technology stacks don't matter to experienced software developers. As a developer it's easy to become a fanboy of languages or technologies stacks, but… they don't matter - writing good software within the bounds of our project do. There's no reason to be tied to a specific language or technology stack. Sure, languages fall into a specific category (dynamic, static, classical inherited, prototypical inherited) but programming languages are very similar.

Steve McConnell has been saying this all along:

mastering more than one language is often a watershed in the career of a professional programmer. Once a programmer realizes that programming principles transcend the syntax of any specific language, the doors swing open to knowledge that truly makes a difference in quality and productivity. - Steve McConnell, Code Complete 2nd Edition

Don’t write frameworks for dummies. [Frameworks designed by organizations] that assume some developers are not smart enough … are likely to fail because they underestimate the difficulty of … development. … This attitude also poisons the relationship between [the developers and framework designer]. - Eric Evans, Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software

Evans goes on to make the point that there’s a fine line between designing for dummies, and providing useful encapsulation / abstraction. I found this advice interesting because I had been wrestling with whether the ASP.NET AJAX Framework is for Dummies.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Mohandas Gandhi

I like the RubyGem system just as much as Ruby, it makes a developer’s life easy.

For example, let’s say I want to design a new class:

• Install Ruby
• Install the Test-Unit Gem (along with a couple automatically installed prerequisites):

C:\>gem install test-unit
 Successfully installed test-unit-2.0.2
 Successfully installed hoe-1.8.3
 Successfully installed rubyforge-1.0.2
 Successfully installed rake-0.8.3

• Create a new test.rb file along with a new class.rb file (alternately we could have used the Interactive Ruby Shell directly from the command line)
• Run the test (test.rb):

C:\>ruby test.rb
 Loaded suite test
 Started
 .
 Finished in 0.001 seconds.
 1 tests, 1 assertions, 1 failures, 0 errors

• ???
• Profit!

Contrasting this to the Java / C# world: I’d be installing a compiler (or slower yet an IDE), then installing / configuring a testing framework. I’d also probably be installing a build process tool (like ant / nAnt), then I’d need to create a build file.

Similarly if I wanted to install Rails at the command line I specify gem install rails or if I want to use  RSpec gem install rspec.

The Ruby tools, ecosystem, and community is fantastic.

These books set the tone for my perspective in this new year.

A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) emphasizes that, as humans we rarely know what we're doing - our existence as a species on this earth is a tiny fraction of time, but we continue to kill ourselves while obliterating other species and our environment. This book was also a great reminder that the greatest innovators and inventors are individuals with a burning passion - not individuals with a laundry list of formal qualifications.

The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Thomas L. Friedman) argues that, we can't accept complacency in our jobs or careers - the world has changed and you'll be left behind. Bureaucracy on every level may save your job today, but this won't be the case in an increasingly global world. As individuals our careers and future are solely our responsibility - we should be versatilitsts, not specialists.

The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management (Art Kleiner, et el) demonstrate that, most corporations / business / organization don't really know what they're doing (MBA theory is based on the past, and not entirely relevant for the future). Many successful businesses have been run by heretics - people who understood the system around them, then push the limits of these systems to provide more value, innovate, and become successful. Also, that success is almost entirely dependent on people, teams, integrity, honesty, and the relationships that ensue.

The Last Lecture (by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow), is a sober reminder that living life to the fullest and living a good life are what really matters. Also, that: “engineering isn't about perfect solutions; it's about doing your best with limited resources” - Randy Pausch.

Cheers to another great year as we continue to gaining broader perspectives, seek out a better quality of life, get out and do more things, meet new people, and cultivate existing relationships.

It feels like Web Standards have always just existed, but they’ve only been around since the 90’s. Today, they’re the default for cross-browser compatible web applications. However; some people still like to talk them down - fingers are pointed at ambiguities within the written specifications, imperfections, and various edge cases between browser implementations (most of which can thankfully be resolved through test suites and browser vendor collaboration). Today, if you’re not embracing Web Standards, then you’re missing a bigger point.

The importance of Web Standards lies in its unified language. Web Standards offer a common paradigm, a starting point, they’re intended to be built upon / extended, and (like everything else we’ve created as a species) they’re not perfect. Web Standards and the Object Paradigm (Object Oriented Design / Object Oriented Programming) share these similarities. Eric Evans describes the value of the Object Paradigm to be its widespread adoption, not its technical superiority:

Today, the object paradigm also has some significant circumstantial advantages deriving from its maturity and widespread adoption … Objects are already understood by a community of thousands of developers, project managers, and all the other specialists involved in project work. - Eric Evans, Domain Driven Design

On a similar thought Bill Bryson describes the dark ages of chemistry - before standardized conventions and the periodic table was formed:

chemists for so long worked in isolation, conventions were slow to emerge. Until well into the second half of the century … Chemists also used a bewildering variety of symbols and abbreviations, often self invented … Despite the occasional tidying-up, chemistry by the second half of the century was in something of a mess … [Mendeleyev] began toying with a way to arrange the elements … thanks to Mendeleyev’s invention [the periodic table], chemistry was now on a firm footing. - Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

Today, Web Standards are understood by a community of thousands of developers, designers, project managers, and most of the other specialists involved in web work. Web Standards are our firm footing. Web Standards aren’t about being perfect, they’re about a common language, about working collectively towards (or at least embracing) a goal. Web Standards are here to stay.

Our postulation wasn’t earth shattering by any means. Basically we were reiterating that: if you already know how to do it right (or at least righter than the alternatives), then do it right the first time. Developing cross browser compatible web sites using web standards jumps to my mind as another example - a cross browser site is trivial if you’ve had a previous success. This idea extends well beyond software. Experienced professionals like Mike Holmes (from the construction industry) runs his organization (Make it Right) on this very idea.

If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time - Mike Holmes 

Some people advocate frequent backups - and some go so far as to suggest making use of offsite storage, duplicating their DVD/CD collections, and so on. This fixation on personal data redundancy seems multi-compulsive for an individual or a family (running a company is obviously a different situation).

I personally do not have a data backup plan - aside from online storage like Google Docs, Flickr (for photos and videos), and source control. I have lost years worth of files a number of times, and every time my hard drive comes screeching to a halt, I feel that burning pit of anxiety deep in my stomach, but guess what? It doesn't last long. Seriously, over the years there has never been a case where I lost something that I absolutely needed (again, personal pictures and videos are an exception). After losing data, I find myself pining for a couple recently created / used files, I then recreate the files in a quarter the time it took me to do the first version, then I forget about the heaps of digital baggage I was hording over the years.

Personal data loss might be part of a natural regeneration process - like a forest fire, it makes way for new growth and forces us to focus on the present.

Stop fighting nature, forget about a data backup plan, involuntary random data purging might be good for all of us. Perhaps a digital natural disaster is in order for you.

Can you let go of your bits? What is your backup strategy? Why do you backup?

The Law of Two Feet is just as applicable to life, as it is to Open Spaces.

The Law of Two Feet:

If at any time during our time together you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet. Go to some other place where you may learn and contribute. - Open Spaces, Wikipedia

By applying this philosophy to software development (programming languages, operating systems, and development ecosystems), I’ve really been been re-igniting my passion as a software developer. I am foremost a software developer and the tools and products I choose are secondary, but I lost sight of this over the past couple years. I was buying into being a [insert your choice of ecosystem, language, operating system here] developer.

Anyhow; this isn’t to say I won’t be raising my concerns (running away), I’ll continue to make noise (because I believe it has value), but when change doesn’t manifest. I will (like so many people before me) use my own two feet and move towards a situation where I can continue to learn, contribute, and be the change I’d like to see .

Like a horse with blinders on, avoiding some degree of Big Design Up Front (BDUF) can force your team and project into tunnel vision, because… If you don’t look at what you’re building in its entirety, it is harder to see the big picture, to have to that ah-hah moment that leads to a break through, to maintain conceptual integrity, or have a successful project.

I worked on a project where we attempted evolutionary design (avoiding Big Design Up Front) while taking an Agile approach. We used Continuous Integration, and Test Driven Development. Looking back, our attempt at trying to avoid Big Design Up Front was fatal for our project’s success and probably our biggest mistake. The funny thing is, the only reason we avoided BDUF was because it seemed non-Agile (note the capital ‘A‘ in ‘Agile’ read Yegge’s post Good Agile, Bad Agile for the reference). As a development team we were inexperienced Agile (eXtreme Programming) teenagers and somewhere along the way we exchanged our brains for dogma.

eXtreme Programming [is at odds with] “Big Design, Up Front” (BDUF) _ Because “Ya Ain’t Gonna Need It” (YAGNI) … [but this is often] taken as permission to not do any planning - Gerard Meszaros’ Alberta TechFest slide deck ‘07

In the past Big Design Up Front (BDUF) was associated with large inflexible architectural solutions that are designed upfront (before development begins) - like the waterfall methodology. However; BDUF (like most techniques / methodologies / tools) are quite useful when used with a sprinkle of common sense and moderation. BDUF can be a productive lightweight tool for fleshing out the high level overview of a system. It is important to note that I’m not advocating Big Architectural Design Up Front which is often composed of reams of documents, UML, ERDs, diagrams, and other unneeded artifacts. Instead I’m advocating for paper based story boards, wire frames, paper prototypes, user stories - anything that is easy to create, destroy, and recreate. These techniques provide the foundation of the final product, they start to verbalize the common product goal and can start to draw out the language, metaphors, and model that will eventually compose the project.

Avoiding some Design Up Front was a mistake for our project. As a team we were trying to cope with the complexities of our domain under very tight deadlines. Our code became increasingly brittle, we had overlooked obvious shared functionality that a high level overview would have fleshed out. At the same time we had segregated our application into sprint sized silos with no clear relationships - each sprint was essentially a two week tunnel, and disconnected.

Without some form of BDUF it was difficult to:

• maintain conceptual integrity, a common goal, a consistent user interface
• estimate the whole product cost
• have a successful project

We should have headed Steve McConnell’s words:

people were claiming,  “I don’t have to do requirements or design because I’m using object-oriented programming.” That was just an excuse. Most of those people weren’t really doing object-oriented programming-they were hacking, and the results were predictable, and poor. Right now, people are saying “I don’t have to do requirements or design because I’m doing agile development.” Again, the results are easy to predict, and poor - Steve McConnell, Code Complete

Or perhaps Martin Fowler’s suggestion:

the planned design approach has been around since the 70s, and lots of people have used it. It is better in many ways than code and fix evolutionary design. But it has some faults. - Martin Fowler, Is Design Dead?

Not doing some Design Up Front is probably another excuse for being sloppy, but what do you think?

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius

In the IT world the debate over the value of formal education vs the school of hard knocks (real life experience) has been waging for a long-long time. I’m biased towards the education side of the debate to some degree, and here’s why I think having a formal education is important.

It’s easier to work or migrate to foreign countries
With a University education (regardless of discipline) it’s easier to obtain work and long stay Visas in foreign countries. Candidates with a formal education can move through the Visa process quicker and in some cases those without degrees are bared entirely from obtaining a Visa. While I don’t think these restrictions are fair, unfortunately it seems to be the global statuesque.

Job security, and increased marketability
When an employer chooses between two candidates for a position, experience often trumps education, but an educated candidate with experience can trump both - education and experience is the best of both worlds. In addition, as an junior / intermediate some employers will bill you out at a higher rate based on education, and some clients feel more confident with certificates and education - both factors increase your marketability.

A strong core, a long term personal investment
I attended Community College before University. While attending Community College some of my friends were enrolled in Computer Science at the University level. These friends would talk of fascinating things like: assembly language, processor registers, paging tables, and abstract data types. Sure my Computer Science friends were immersed heavily in theory, but I was immersed in the practical side of programming (without the theory) - I felt that I was missing out and was envious of their University education. After completing University, I found that the process of working through University helped me cultivate my ideas, understand the basics of computation, draw other disciplines into my work, and relate with the larger world. Today, I think of my University education as the center (hub) of a bicycle wheel - all the spokes branch out, but they all start at the center (this center being the core, the theory of the computer / software world). Sure, we can learn the theory on our own, but working through a conventional program with assignments and with instructors that continue to push you, enforces rigor and promotes personal growth (for myself anyways).

There are no recipes for success and formal education is not the end all - although every advantage helps in our increasingly globally competitive world. To this day, I’ve only been asked for proof of my education on two occasions: once while applying for a Japanese Working Visa, and the other while considering a position in the US (I’m a Canadian). To anyone considering a B.Sc in Computer Science or going to University, I recommend it over experience - it is a long term investment.

I built on his script and extended it to:

• Post messages to Twitter
• Retrieve Twitter replies
• View my Twitter friends conversations
• Display the classic Twitter Fail Whale when an error occurs

Screen Shots

Sending a Twitter message:

Viewing my friends conversations:

The classic Twitter Fail Whale:

There’s something beautiful about the classic green console on a black background - I think it’s about being closer to the metal. What do you think?

If you’d like to provide some design guidance, fix a bug, or request a feature, then visit (or join) the project on Google Code.

I think of Twitter as a mash up of instant messaging, IRC, and the web. It's a great tool for keeping abreast of the global technical sphere and a great place to connect with people from your local community. The flexibility of Twitter, it's growing user base, and it's APIs are probably what has accelerated its use.

A couple neat examples of the flexibility of Twitter that I've seen are:

• Mo Kahn using Jott to transcribe his phone messages to twitter text
• A sensor for your house plants that broadcast their water health
• A Continuous Integration server module that notifies the software development teams of a failed build

What innovative uses of Twitter have you seen or do you use?

The most interesting courses at school were my non Computer Science courses (the comp sci courses were pretty easy since the instructors depended heavily on code samples and textbooks), and Stephen Regoczei’s course on Digital Multimedia tops my list for being the most interesting and inspirational course.

I usually picked my summer course while tree planting since most of the course syllabuses were online, but Regoczei’s course (aside from a vague 200 word blurb that the course digital multimedia related topics) had little information.

I emailed Regoczei requesting a syllabus and received a reply along the lines of:

Due to socioeconomic reasons, I do not respond to my email.

His course was ironically about communicating, the internet, and digital media, but yet he wouldn’t respond to email?! This was weird! I signed up for his course, I was intrigued.

On the first day of class, I sat near the front - but not in the front row (I was trying really-really hard not to be too geeky). Like most students in the class - I was clueless to who this Regoczei character was. Ten minutes after the class was scheduled to start we still didn’t have a professor, and students started leaving. Minutes later, a man who looked like he could be our professor walked through the door, but he then sat down among the students took off his jacket, took off his shoes, and the class waited a couple more minutes. The man who could have been our professor, started striking conversations with those around him, then stood up and walked to the front of the class, and introduced himself in a strong foreign accent as Stephan Regoczei - he was our professor.

With a series of five chalkboards available to him, and a full class, Regoczei would start jotting his notes on the middle black board, he’d then move left (not right as one might expect) to the next board, then back to the middle board. Then to the bottom left corner of the middle board, to the top right corner, filling in any empty space with his notes. He never touched the left or right most blackboards, but instead created a jumbled nest of notes that were impossible to follow if you hadn’t been taking notes. Regoczei often hedged around answering assignment / test related questions, instead he assured us that we would either “get it” or “not get it”, but he would say that he felt we were smart enough to “get it”. Over the first few weeks students would occasionally storm out of the class as they were obviously frustrated with his unconventional approach to teaching. When students did storm out he’d giggle and make funny remarks like “I guess they won’t ‘get it’, they must have been in the wrong class”.

The marking structure for this class was as unconventional as his teaching style - which had many students griping (I think some were on the verge of starting a petition to try and have him fired). The assignments weren’t hard, but they were extremely open ended which made you think. One assignment was along the lines of “present four topics in the Media that you found interesting”. Submissions in the form of a four page essay consistently scored lower than a single sheet of paper filled with bullet points and hand drawn color pictures. At the end of the course most of the students that “got it” had abandoned their pens and computers for paint, scissors, and pencil crayons. On my final exam I used a pair of scissors to turn my exam book into a pop-out, and had answered every question with a different colored pencil crayon.

In retrospect Regoczei really forced his students to think outside the box in a conventional setting - if we didn’t think outside the box we received a poor mark. For me, he demonstrated that if you understand the constraints of your environment, then you can play within these rules and thrive as you change the rules. Today I’d label Regoczei as a heretic.

Regoczei’s course also promoted a great sense of community - the first 45 minutes of his class were dedicated to a media show-and-tell where students could show an exciting product, or bring up an article for discussion. In a couple discussions we debated whether the oil slicks (highways) covering our country were worse than the oil spilling into the oceans and the emissions in our air, or how antiques featured on the antique road show can maintain value whereas mass produced replicas were cheapening our world, and we had ongoing conversations on quality vs quantity. In addition to the discussions, his extremely open ended assignments forced the class to come together and compare their marks and assignment strategies in an effort to figure out his bazaar marking scheme.

Today I think Regoczei’s main points were (but I’m not sure, and every student walked away with different ideas):

• You need to think outside the box in order to be successful
• We should question everything
• People that can get beyond conventional thinking will never need to look for a job, because the jobs will always find them
• There is a world of difference between “Kiddie” computing (Microsoft based PCs) and “Grown up” computing (unix, linux, macs, anything else)

This course along, with my discussion based English seminars were the most exciting, inspirational, and though provoking courses at Trent University. These were the courses that really taught me how to learn, inspired me, and left me hungry to continue learning, reading, writing, thinking, and growing.

This quote from Arden’s book reminded me of Regoczei’s approach to teaching:

Good marks will not secure you an interesting life.
Your imagination will. - Paul Arden, Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

What inspirational teachers have you had in the past?

I WANT MEANS if I want it enough I will get it.
Getting what you want means making the decisions you need to make to get what you want.
Not the decisions those around you should make.
Making the safe decision is dull predictable and leads nowhere new.
The unsafe decision causes you to think and respond in a way you hadn’t thought of.
And that thought will lead to other thoughts which will help you achieve what you want.
Start making bad decisions and it will take you to a place where others only dream of being. - Paul Arden, Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

In one of my previous posts I said that I wanted more passion in my work - I want to be a happy satisfied developer (to use the tools, editors, frameworks, computers, and languages that make me happy). After publishing those thoughts, I wondered if I was being self centered - I kept thinking: “maybe I should just be happy with where I am? People are in worse situations right?” Then Arden comes along and offers that bit of encouragement.

We only live once, happiness and passion is important, I can’t settle for mediocracy. I continue to want.

“If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all” is bad advice and here's why.

During the process of discussing something not nice we develop a vocabulary to express our discomfort with the item in question. Once we've developed this vocabulary we can then communicate our concerns within our community - the chances are, others probably share these concerns / frustrations, but they might not have developed the vocabulary. The community discussions might result in a resolution to the problem, or may be ignored, but at least you can feel satisfied that you tried.

It's kind of like that one person during a lesson / presentation / lecture that asks the exact same question you were thinking, when the question is presented a whole new slew of questions are asked as the class engages in discussion.

Conversely, saying nothing, does nothing, you remain isolated, and your concerns / questions / frustrations are permanent.

Speak your mind, you only live once, and most of us can accept that your ideas today will differ in the future - we change. More companies / people / organizations should take feedback as a compliment and encourage discussion.

Today Wikipedia lists 80 different web frameworks that use MVC - with Java and PHP topping the list for the languages with the most MVC web frameworks. MVC enforces a separation of responsibilities: Markup / CSS / JavaScript, Domain Objects / Containers, and Actions / Controls are broken up into their respective directories. In addition MVC provides the ability to test most of your code and is more intuitive with how the web works (REST like, based on URIs, plays nicer with the browser, and not dependent on POST backs).

Finding good resources specifically for ASP.NET MVC is impossible at this time, but the books covering Ruby on Rails (RoR) are invaluable. RoR has been around since 2005, it uses the same basic MVC approach, similar routing, similar control structure, has a mature community, a large collection of plug-ins, and well established tools (anyone claiming that ASP.NET MVC can’t do what WebForms can, should look to Rails as an example). Gasp! It’s almost like ASP.NET MVC has copied Rails!!

Anyhow; the more I learn about Rails and Ruby, the more I realized that the communities like RoR (SmallTalk, and even some of the PHP world) are years ahead of my native .NET community. At this point I’m considering abandoning .NET in favour of Ruby / Rails / RSpec or at least Merb / Ruby / RSpec. In the future when ASP.NET MVC and IronRuby are more mature or when the corporate world starts using ASP.NET MVC (read never ever!) or when I’m approached to work on an ASP.NET MVC project I might move back into ASP.NET. In the mean time I’d like to contribute to IronRuby as I work towards jumping my current technology stack. I’ve armed myself with Textmate (the E Text Editor) and a MacBook Pro is in my future. I’ll get back to you on how this goes.

GUY KAWASAKI: Okay. … so it was like in the ashtray of your Lexus?
STEVE BALLMER: I’m a Ford guy, and I’m slightly offended by that. My father who worked for Ford would be offended, but nonetheless …

Fair enough, Ballmer likes Ford, but what kills me is that he apparently made his choice by association. Like Ballmer, my extended family are (were) also employed by Ford in the US Rust Belt. However, I still value quality and the economics of a purchase over my family affiliations. Of course, this is a broader issue - many people favour historical affiliation / brand loyalty over critical thinking and this may never change, but Ballmer is the CEO of Microsoft!

Now Ford, GM, Chrysler are on the verge of bankruptcy, and while many factors contribute to their situation. I think most people agree that these automakers kept making poor decisions for short term revenue gains - they kept making bigger expensive, less efficient cars, they were inward focuses and failed to look at possible future scenarios (like a global economic recession, skyrocketing oil prices, doomsday, blah-blah-blah). Basically, the big three automakers have been out of touch with the rest of the world. People like me (and probably you too) have never owned a domestic car. For myself, imports offered better value for my money (better fuel efficiency, a higher resale value, and a longer life). In addition, imports felt safer, sturdier, and were more aesthetically pleasing. Imports offered quality over quantity, and they looked nice too - imports made me a happy satisfied consumer.

Like the big three automakers, Microsoft (or Ballmer at least) is out of touch with their community (their developers). For myself, the community oriented / collaborative communities outside Microsoft are continually drawing me in. The openness of these communities and their open solutions is one part of the interest, but I’m also growing tired of working in an ecosystem (and with developers) that literally lag years behind the rest of the software world. Down here in the trenches Microsoft centric developers bear a striking resemblance to the unionized American autoworkers - inflexible, arrogant, and inward focused.

I want a development stack I can be proud of, that embraces quality over quantity, to work with developers that share my values, and an environment that offers more aesthetics. In short I want to be a happy satisfied developer.

In all fairness, it’s great how Microsoft is opening up (i.e. IronRuby, IronPython, MVC, etc…), but there are already more open established and mature communities outside Microsoft. I also really like C#, WCF, ASP.NET MVC, and Server 2008, but it’s all the baggage associated with the Microsoft ecosystem. It’s also fair to mention that the ALT.NET community is making great strides, but it is fundamentally discouraging that ALT.NET had to be formed in the first place. I mean, where are all the ALT.Rails, ALT.Ruby, ALT.Linux, ALT.Java communities?!

good programmers tend to cluster in some organizations, and bad programmers tend to cluster in other organizations … (Demarco and Lister 1999). - Steve McConnell

Can we draw the corollary that:

Good programmers tend to cluster away from traditionally closed development ecosystems like Microsoft, and bad programmers tend to cluster toward Microsoft like ecosystems?

Following Robert Glass’s train of thought:

The most important factor in software work is not the tools and techniques used by the programmers, but rather the quality of the programmers themselves. - Robert Glass, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering

Could we conclude that:

Good programmers tend to realize that an investment in their personal development is more important than learning the latest tools? Are product / tool based ecosystems like Microsoft’s at direct odds with the core values of a good programmer?

My hunch is that exceptional developers are versatilists. These developers cluster around organizations that embrace knowledge over tools, open technologies, open communities, and these great organizations also embrace vernacular culture. What do you think?

Try not to wast too much of your time reading [blogs, facebook, twitter, podcasts, and the like]. “Internet addiction” afflicts adults and teenagers alike. … Keep it all in perspective. Not all, but most of this “stuff” just becomes noise in the massive global echo chamber. And when there is so much noise out there, it eventually turns into white noise. And white noise, as anyone who goes to sleep with the air conditioner on knows, is a kind of silence. - The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century