Code, databases, gadgets, words and a geek cornucopia
Marc Hedlund suggests that to become a Web 2.0 entrepeneur, you find a good UNIX command and webify it. e.g., find and grep became Google.
What’s your favourite UNIX command that doesn’t have a web equivalent?
I’m a big fan of Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror blog. A while ago he wrote about supporting your favourite small software vendor, advocating Windows’ users to finally register the useful tools they depend upon while conveniently ignoring nag screens (WinZip, anyone?).
As a small software vendor myself (Win32 Font Lister, yours for $10 
I thought I should act on this. Today, I registered – and recommend to you – Anagram Genius. I enjoy wordplay and although there are free anagram finding sites online, this program really beats them all by far. It removes rubbish phrases and it lets you prioritise words you prefer and has many other tools to really help produce entertaining results. I’m not sure I’m so happy that “David Williams” is an anagram of “Wild dim saliva” but that’s not too bad; Alivad.com is an anagram of the panic-inspiring “avoid calm”.
These people can’t …
Are you an agile developer? How do you rate on this test?
I rate myself at 39 which is “Agilist in training.” My better areas were in delivery frequency, measurement of performance and process philosophy. My weaker areas were in team location, user accessibility and team communication.
What about yourself?
And, to provoke discussion, are all the tenets of agile development positive in every instance? With respect delivery frequency, I believe in producing regular working builds with enhanced functionality. Indeed, I even believe that code should be used before all the features are available, giving the users an opportunity to take advantage of what has been implemented while the rest is still in progress. Yet would this work in, say, a bank? Or for an operating system? Imagine buying Windows “half-baked” edition where some features just didn’t exist until a future download. (Ok, let’s ignore the obvious jokes here about patches and updates 
Can it be said that agile programming’s core aims and virtuous in each and every case?
While on a Melbourne train I noticed the following amusing sign. It says,
“ATTENTION FARE EVADERS
If you’re not paying for your ride then someone else is. Maybe you should find them, apologise and take them out for a nice dinner.”
Took my usual trip down to Melbourne today with a 4am start for a 6:15am departure time. Due to fog on the runway – and soon, a number of planes causing “tarmac congestion” as the lady over the speaker said – I was held up for three hours finally leaving Newcastle after 9am, and getting to my Box Hill destination by 11:30am instead of 8:30am!
I did ok, though – one flight was entirely cancelled because the necessary plane was unable to land.
I’m still tossing up the ASUS VX2 Lamborghini. I’m also looking at the Dell XPS M1710 – but it’s 17″ and 4kg which is not so conduicive to travel.
The Lenovo T61 has caught my attention, at 2.5kg and with the Intel Santa Rose chipset – but with only a 14″ screen.
I really like the “cosmic green” that Alienware’s top-end laptop comes in, but the rest of the machine is under-spec’d for its price.
I’m really leaning towards Dell at this time – and it comes with a docking station too. I might have to find a 4kg bag of flour and try carrying it around for a while to see how it feels
First the exciting news: I’ve accepted a new role for my “day job”. I’m moving up to the rank of Chief Information Officer! So, now I’m included in the “CxO” search term!
Which brings a dilemma … what laptop to choose?
I’m interested in something powerful. There’s some very nice stylish portable laptops out but I like a bit more grunt. I’m interested in a 15″ or larger screen, a beefy CPU, dedicated video card, 2Gb RAM and roomy hard drive. I don’t just run Word and Internet Explorer, but need to pack in large spreadsheets, Visual Studio, SQL Server, IIS, Exchange and AD tools ad other fairly heavy apps.
At the same time, I want to be fairly conservative. As much as the Alienware cyborg green SLI laptop appeals, I think some restraint is sensible.
I’m considering the Fujitsu E8210 and HP Compaq nc8420 – both of which have compatible port replicators. I do have a penchant for ASUS though, and keep looking lustfully at the ASUS G1 (I thought of the G2, but 4.5kg is just a bit too much – especially as carry-on luggage on the QANTAS propellor planes out of Newcastle!) and the new ASUS VX2 Lamborghini model. The VX2 is especially attractive – but I do take the view that IT management should set a standard and avoid having flashy equipment that is unavailable to other staff.
Anyone have any other recommendations for a performance laptop?
Tim O’Reilly – the Tim O’Reilly, of O’Reilly and Associates fame – has proposed a blogger code of conduct, yet to my surprise this has received some harsh criticism.
I find the proposed voluntary code fairly amenable. The gist of it is
Now, I do take some exception to point five. I do not believe in forcing people to register to my site so they can post a comment. Let’s face it: there’s nothing here which is that compelling I should force people to register. I’m just grateful someone has read something of interest and that they want to comment!! Mind you, if an anonymous comment merely criticises me without any explanation why then I’m happy to just delete it. I will gladly take criticism but not from cowards
I do also want to comment on point two. It is definitely true, bloggers should not write anything they wouldn’t say. I’d even go further, myself. I am prepared to write anything I would say. I have seen many, many people who will not commit things to writing. I suppose they have a fear of it being used against them in some way. Yet, to my mind, that is betraying your own beliefs and conscience and your own committment to your point of view. I am not afraid to write what I believe, and I will never hold to something which although I am prepared to say it, I would not be prepared to write it.
To lighten the tone again – point three is not likely to be a problem for me; I can’t imagine making such a blip in the blogosphere that anyone would be writing about me and need correction
Here’s a fun quiz that I found from Carly Lyddiard’s blog – what type of programmer are you?
According to the results, my programmer personality type is DLSC.
You’re a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.
You like coding at a Low level.
You’re from the old school of programming and believe that you should have an intimate relationship with the computer. You don’t mind juggling registers around and spending hours getting a 5% performance increase in an algorithm.
You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There’s no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.
You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently.