What...Where....... I'm Back.......

I know, strange title. I just wasn't sure what to call this post so why not put the questions that people would ask.

What have I been doing? Well, going stir crazy would probably sum it up pretty good at the moment. Between work, family and other craziness, its been since January 15th that I last posted. I thought about it yesterday and couldn't believe it had been so long. **hangs head**

On an update note, I was learning Ruby, but due to my work actually having an online training site again, I have signed up for a bunch of Perl courses. I love Perl and structured training being a better way to learn than OYO (On Your Own) for some things, I am quite pleased that they have available the courses that they do. I have put my Ruby learning on hold so that I can take the courses I signed up for.

The courses are actually quite good and give a lot of examples and coding tips/tricks. Yes, the information is in books like the Camel book and Llama book, but without the extraneous stuff. I have been going through the courses and learning the straight up basics and also reading the Llama book on the side. Learning all of the syntaxes and how to use the control structures, sub routines, and functions ahead of time make understanding what Llama book is putting forth a lot easier to take in without having questions flow through my mind about how something actually works or its syntax since those questions are already answered.

I just finished the part of the course that covered Regular Expressions and I must say that I understand them a LOT better now than I did before. Now, delving into the Mastering Regular Expressions book is more enjoyable because I have a basic understanding of how to assemble a regex to match what I need to. Granted, I am no professional regex'er, but I can wing it while I get more experience doing so.

The training site also has other interesting course such as a number of XML courses that I will definitely be taking. So, Ruby is kind of back-burnered until I finish the other training.

Where have I been? He he, either at work or at home watching the kids while my wife is at work. And to think that this is all due to bills. Once we get all those pesky credit cards paid off, she won't have to work so much, but that is still off in the distance.

With any luck, I will now have the time to make more regular updates to this blog, and maybe even post some useful code snip its that I have picked up.

Oh look.....an update.

Yeah, yeah. I know, its now 2 weeks into the new year and I am finally getting around to posting. Believe me, it has nothing to do with laziness, that is for sure. The holidays were an insanely crazy time and my wife has taken on another job and has been working many nights. Thus, I have been watching the kids and putting them to bed (almost) every night. Usually I am spent enough by the time that they go down that I just grab my pick axe book (Programming Ruby) and head to bed to read and doze off.

So, a belated Happy New Year to everyone and yes, its about time that I continued my postings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year!

I know this is an extremely short post, but it is 22:30 and I am wicked tired. Bed has a lasso around me ans is drawing me in quicly.

Good night everyone, and Happy Holidays!

What a gem

As some coders out there know, when it comes to coding, sometimes a project requires you to pick up another language. I have been actively playing with Perl for a little while now and have been working on a couple of scripts for work. Recently though, my Web Development job (outside of my day job) has had a realization regarding a project that we have in the works (sorry, cannot divulge any details). We are trying to figure out some of the details, and one of them is, what language would be best for the project. Well, in talking with my colleague ( who happens to own the company ), we are presently looking at Ruby as the language to code in.

I started looking at Ruby last week and must say....Wow....that is quite the interesting language. It is completely Object Oriented and written almost like you would speak (kind-of). My wife works at Barnes & Noble, so I utilized her deeper holiday special discount to pick up the "pickaxe" book at an incredible price.

I know that most people in the geek community have pretty much heard of Ruby, but in case you have had any incling of curiosity surrounding the language, here is the online version of the "pickaxe" book. This book would be the equivelant of the 'camel' book for Perl.

Here are some other good links that I have found (Ruby related), that I would like to share as well:

1 http://tryruby.hobix.com/ --> This is a small intro as well as a an interactive Ruby shell session to allow you to experiment. its pretty nice really.

2. http://www.rubyquiz.com/ --> This site has a bunch of quizes to which you will have to produce a solution. Nice way to practice your skills.

3. http://www.zenspider.com/Languages/Ruby/QuickRef.html --> A good Ruby language quick reference guide.

4. http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ --> Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby. Another online "book-like" reference to ruby. There are some cartoons to make the learning a little more fun, but similarly good information.

5. http://www.rubyonrails.org/ --> The Ruby on Rails website. Rails is a framework for creating web based apps and interfaces.

6. http://rubymanual.org/ --> The Ruby reference manual.

I know that there are some developers/coders who are strictly loyal to their languages, and I fully understand that, but I also believe in learning all that I can, including other languages. So please, no flames or flame wars over this please as I just want to share what I have found.

I hope that you have found this interesting and informative. Please feel free to comment with your additions to the Ruby knowledge links.

Tis the season

Well, it is that time of year again. Time for egg nog, holiday parties, gift wrapping, shopping for gifts, and yes......... the advent calendar. This year's "Perl Advent Calendar" is available here for your viewing.

What's nice is that each day has a perl tid bit inside of it for your coding enjoyment. What's also nice is that you cannot skip ahead as the future dates are not allocated until their time comes.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

In Defense of (Perl) Programming

Nobody can deny the fact that the Internet is absolutely flooded with information. If you want to know about it, you can more than likely find a link to it on the net. Being an aspiring Perl coder, I am always on the lookout for interesting articles on Perl coding.

Today I ran across the article called "Defensive Perl Programming" and found it to be quite good from the perspective of a beginner (so to speak). I know that there are some real Perl hackers out there and each believes in a particular style of coding, as does each of us. In fact, Randal Schwartz ( Merlyn ), wrote a book titled "Perl Best Practices", that I believe to be quite the bible of what to do and what not to do when coding.

It is with the assistance of resources like these, that one can learn to be a better coder and JAPH.

Yet Another Novell Update

My last update on the Novell sell out was back on November 11th, where I elaborated on the facts of the situation and added my own commentary and thoughts. I have seen quite a number of posts on my local LUG mailing list surrounding Novell and Micro$oft and today was one that was completely blog-worthy.

Bruce Perens has written a letter from the Open Source community to Novell, in a calculated, well thought out response to Novell's "deal" with the Evil Giant that is Micro$oft. If you are as insanely upset with this deal as the rest of us, then please, read the letter and sign it because it is also a petition to Novell to say that none of us are pleased with what they have done.

Even if you don't sign it, the letter is definitely worth a read as it points out some interesting points. One of the most intersting is that even though companies like Micro$oft and SCO feel it necessary to sue Linux companies to get what they want (whether that be $$$ or control of what they cannot control (in Micro$oft's case)), patents exist, and there are so many patents related to the software industry that if those who own them constantly enforced them, the industry would come to a screeching halt. People like the aforementioned corporations are just using their patents as a strong arm technique.

I would say to any other companies, "Stand Your Ground!?.

MPAA Nonesense

OK, the last time I checked, so long as I purchased a movie legally, I was able to play it in my own home.... on my own television.... without anyone trying to level their own conglomerate beliefs and restrictions into MY HOUSE!

Yes, if you are wondering, the MPAA has taken steps to now try and limit HOW you can view the movies you buy. Here is an article I found on Slashdot ( /.) that describes the MPAA's latest idea.....If you have a TV that is over 29" AND, if you have "at least two comfortable chairs, couch, or futon" then you must pay some silly $50 registration fee to register as a "home theatre", thus, bending to the MPAA's silly, confused ways.

Personally, in my honest opinion, the MPAA can stick it up their A$$!!! What I do in my own home and how I view my movies is my business. If I want to have a few friends over to watch a movie, SO WHAT!!! Who gives a rat's ass?!?!! So long as I don't charge admission ( and who the heck would), I don't see how you can say that I am running a "theatre". This definition in order to level a fee is absolutely confounded and ridiculous. I highly doubt this will be able to be enforced, its an invasion into my privacy and my home.

Oh, and to go along with this new "registration", should you get caught, they want a minimum "$500,000" fine per movie shown". HA!!! I paid my $$ to buy the movie, and that is all you will get out of me. KISS MY LILY WHITE ASS! There is no flippin' way that anyone is going to bend to this strong-arming. This is NOT a communist nation and you cannot just impose any will you want upon us.

I mean come on, isn't the almost $10 average movie ticket price enough? Heck, its the reason I refuse to go to the movie theatre anymore. Stop paying actors those ridiculous salaries and bring them back to reality and you might have more money in the bank and may be able to lower ticket prices. Hell, get an original idea for a movie instead of remaking everything that has been made, and maybe more people will see them. Yes, I am sure that piracy is cutting into your golden pocket liners, but tacking that cost back onto the average home viewer is NOT THE ANSWER!! If you want to fight piracy, go ahead, but leave those of us who buy the movies for our collections, ALONE!

The art of convincing the (perspective) client

One of the things I enjoy most is doing web development. I enjoy designing websites and I love getting engrossed in the back end development as well.

Most of my experience as a web developer has been working for a friend's company as his senior web developer. All the clients that needed sites designed had already been convinced to go with us and were ready for development. Up until now, I have never been involved in the process of pitching to a client to convince them to purchase your services to design and build their website.

Well, I went last night and pitched to my first client, outside of my friends business (he is all for it as I work for him on a contract basis). The site I would like to design is for a restaurant that a bunch of people I know, frequent, and is popular in the local community. When I talked to the owner about whether he would be interested in a website to display his menu and draw in new business, he was very weary. He didn't know much about the Internet and hadn't really experienced it before.

Yes, this has/had me worried. I didn't know if I could even get him interested in this venture. Well, I did have him agree to let me do a 1-2 page mock up to see what I could do for him. To me, that is a step in the right direction considering how difficult it may be to get this sale.

I talked to my friend (yes, the one I work for) and he actually gave me very useful insight on how I can convince him to purchase the site.

You see, with someone like this, someone that isn't really computer or for that fact, Internet, savvy, you may need to do a little work with the hard copy world as well as soft copy. It is suggested to me that I do the mock up and the do color print outs of the site to hand to him. I will also explain to the client that granted, they do a fair amount of business and have a lot of very loyal customers, but wouldn't it be nice to draw in more of a crowd/business by putting his menu and directions online for everyone else to see.

So, I am going to be working on the mock up of the site and then, going to pitch it to him in a sit-down meeting. Hopefully, with any luck, I can convince him to go with this project.

Wish me luck!

Much ado about Novell

You can consider this post an update on my previous posting regarding the deal between Micro$oft and Novell.

Within a couple of days it was released that the deal between M$ and Novell included a payment to Novell of $385 million. So, yes folks, the sell-out is complete, they have accepted money. I got curious to see if this would effect the Linux community with more than just the loss of a really good distribution ( imo) of Linux. What I ended up finding is that Novell, unbeknownst to me, had acquired Ximian a short time ago. As some of you well know, a couple of years ago, Ximian acquired the Mono Project, which is an open source port of the Micro$oft .net development architecture.
So, in one foul swoop, Micro$oft has managed to not only take from us an awesome distribution, but they have also managed to get its evil claws into a project that I am sure really urked them. I mean come on, someone except Micro$oft put .net on Linux, that must have been blasphemous to ol'Steve, but now he must be happy as a lark.

Granted, I am sure I could rant for days and days about this, and others could as well, but I think we need to sit back and see what happens and hope that M$ does not put any evil influence into Novell's release of its product for that would definitely taint everything. If they don't....awesome. If they do.....well...its been fun Suse (Novell), but we will have to take our leave of you.