Why We Program

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I love Marco Arment’s comment answering the question “Why did you write this software?” after stating clearly it isn’t a unique solution.

marcoarment/secondcrack – GitHub:

Because I’m a programmer, and this is what I do.

Some people jog away from their house every day, only to jog back. Others walk on a treadmill, expending energy to get nowhere. In both cases, it may appear to others that they’ve accomplished nothing, but they’ve chosen to do these seemingly redundant activities on a regular basis to incrementally improve themselves. And it works.

 

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Codemash 2.0.1.2

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Spending the next couple of days as Codemash 2.0.1.2.  There’s a reason why the conference sold out in 20 minutes.  Good speakers, good community, and it takes place at a water park.  Hard to fail with that combination.

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Codemash 2012 Around the Corner!

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Wow, it’s almost here! Codemash (www.codemash.org) is one of the best programming conferences in the area.  It’s also one of the most popular, selling out in 20 minutes this year.  Not even WWDC did that!  It might have something to do with the fact that the conference is held at a huge water park.  I know my family is coming; they’ll spend the day at the park while I’m in session and we’ll do things together in the evening.

The conference is fairly unique in this area since it isn’t bound to a particular platform.  Ruby on Rails, .NET, iOS, they’re all well represented during the course of the week.  Since I enjoy all of those things I always have a great time.

I thought about doing a session this year, but the timing just wasn’t right.  I’ll make a submission next year for sure.  It’s one of those kinds of participatory conferences.  At 750 people it’s the biggest thing going in this area since Microsoft abandoned us a few years ago.

So January 11-13 I may be a bit slow to respond…

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.NET Skillset Sunset?

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There’s been a lot of troubling events in the world of .NET.  It seems Microsoft has changed course (again) and is promoting HTML 5 over it’s own proprietary technologies, such as Silverlight.  The uproar is that many developers have invested their careers into technologies that seem to be almost overnight no longer mainstream.

As Wikipedia says:

“The explicit disavowal of Flash seems also to signal that Microsoft does not intend .net framework websites to take over all interaction with the user. This aspect of .NET would seem at least to be obsolete.”

While I can’t argue that Microsoft is making a bad choice to support standards-based HTML 5 over its own Silverlight or Adobe’s Flash it does make a cautionary tale about investing too heavily into any one platform or technology.

I’ve always tried to “broaden my horizons” when it comes to programming.  Even when I was a heads-down Microsoft WPF developer I spent the time and effort to develop iOS apps and learn Ruby on Rails (both are SO much more enjoyable to work with by the way).  It’s this diversity that has always helped my career advance.

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My New Ride

December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Shelby

Speaking of the car, here’s a picture of my new 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 Convertible!

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Officially Winter

December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

IMG 1585

It’s officially winter… the baby is put to bed for her long sleep.  Can’t wait until spring!

 

Filed Under: Automotive

1930 Packard at Hershey

October 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

20111006-154048.jpg

Beautiful cars here at the Hershey Meet. This 1930 Packard is listed for $165,000. It looks mint. Restored and with a recent fresh paint job.

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Why an iPhone 4S is Anything but Disappointing

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Smartest thing I’ve read on tomorrow release today.  Makes me think we’ll only see one phone and that phone will look remarkably like the iPhone 4.

Why an iPhone 4S is Anything but Disappointing [Opinion] | Cult of Mac: “You’re probably snickering at this ridiculous idea that a unique design completely trumps functionality. I don’t blame you. However, a lot of Apple fans are falling into the trap of this same ideology that claims the looks of the new iPhone are more important than the functionality it will bring with it.”

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Microsoft admits improper Windows Phone location tracking

September 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Heh, why do people single out Apple when this kind of stuff happens? Now let’s see what kind of press Microsoft gets:

Microsoft admits improper Windows Phone location tracking:

Microsoft has quietly acknowledged a privacy problem with its Windows Phone 7 software, following a number of critical reports. The company posted information on its privacy pages admitting that its mobile OS exhibits “unintended behavior” by sending location information, such as details of nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers, even when a user declines to share such data….

 

(Via Electronista | Gadgets for Geeks)

Filed Under: Apple Gear

Kindle Fire

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The new Kindle Fire looks nice. I preordered one with the assumption it’d be impossible to get later on.

$199 means the NOOK is in trouble…

Update: I pre-ordered one… I’m very interested in seeing how it competes with the iPad. Stay tuned.

Filed Under: Gadgets
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