Blaine Buxton: Positronic Vibrations From Alto Dorado

Oh, You Have Much Left To Learn Grasshopper!

Being a part of the SBlog team thus far has been a lot of fun and I've been learning tons of new things (mainly Seaside and CSS, but also using new applicaions like Monticello, etc). It's been a long time since I played the role of student and I like it. I'm always in a constant state of learning, but it's rare that I get to have someone teach me. It's been a nice turnaround for a change. I've purposely forced myself with this project to do things I wouldn't normally do as well. I think this made me question a lot of what I do. I've found out a lot things from that. Plus, it's great being on a team and throwing around ideas. I love that part of it. I wake up every morning excited to see what the application looks like and what problems were found (usually in my code). I still feel like I'm just touching the tip of the iceberg with Seaside,but I am amazed how much I can do with such little knowledge. It's a testament to its ease of use and power. OK, I'm back off to SBlog land...=)

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming Online!

I just got this email from a friend of mine. It also has lectures. Cool...Now, I have something to do when I get to Nebreska! I read SICP ealier this year and loved it (it was one of the eye openers for Lisp/Scheme) and now I can't wait to see the lectures! What fun! Anyway, here's his email with all of the info:

> Hello all,
>
> I wanted to send this link to some very, very good information. The SICP
> (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Science) book is one of the most
> respected and useful books on computer science. This page provides a link to
> the free online version of the book and to lecture videos that are give by the
> authors each semester at MIT. We are very lucky to have these online for
> everyone to learn from.
>
>
> http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/
>
> Sam

Love on the Seaside

I'm feeling a little gushy today. I've been using Seaside for every bit of 2 days now and I added major functionality to the SBlog challenge today. To say that I am amazed is putting it mildly. What I did today would have taken me hundereds of lines of Java/Struts code (not to mention all of the damn config files I would have had to change) instead it only took a few lines of Smalltalk. Now, most of this power was from the Seaside framework and how it operates. But, still it coupled with Smalltalk is unstoppable!!!! I'm completely sold on continuation web frameworks now (not that I wasn't before). The code is more concise and makes more sense. It's been an absolute pleasure to work with web services again. I'm also amazed at what I have been able to do in just a few days of knowing the framework. It's butt simple! Oh well, I just wanted to write about how blown away I have been. As a side note, I've only had to stop the web server once since I started it (and it was because of a mistake I made)! Of course, to restart the web server takes 1 second (I kid you not...try that with tomcat or apache). I've been changing the code while the server is running with no special cases or what have you (try that in Java...Yeah, I know about hot swap--it only works for simple method changes). AWESOME! GO SMALLTALK!

The SBlog Challenge Update

In between moving and catching up on sleep, I've been paticipating the SBlog challenge. It's been pretty fun so far. I've finally taken the time to learn both Seaside and CSS. I must admit that CSS is very simple. As for Seaside, I amazed by its simplicity as well, but it is very powerful! I amazed what I can do in one line of code that would have taken 100+ lines of Java code (BTW, if you don't know Seaside is written in Smalltalk). I love Seaside thus far. I'm still learning though...=) Jim Benson has been kind enough to post a progress report on what we've done thus far. ENJOY!

Why blogs are cool...

Since I started my blog, I've hooked up with old friends, made several new friends, and have been shocked as to who actually reads it. It simply amazes me. I'm slowly improving my writing skills while I'm doing this as well. I actually now read my entries before I post them. When I started, I would just let them fly. I've realized my mind works faster than my fingers...=) Anyway, I've been shocked by the response and by all of the kind emails. It's really cool! Here's to more blogging in the future!

Moving Sucks

I hate packing up my stuff. Period. End Of Story. Maybe this move, we'll be able to stay for a little while and I'll have time to play with all of my toys. It sucks to put your toys up and know that you didn't play with them enough. I don't know what sucks worse: working all of the time or moving. I'll be glad when we get there....And then, the fun starts...Looking for our first house!

A Good Architect

I've been thinking about this topic lately, "What makes a good architect?" I've experienced my fair share of bad architects as I am sure everyone else has. And the thing that I keep coming back to is that the bad ones are lacking simply: an egoless personality. Now, I stole the term "egoless" from "The Pyschology Of Computer Programming", but I think it fits for both programmers and architects as well (they should be one and the same actually). An architect should not be afraid to NOT be called an architect and she should not care about the title she has. I think a good architect like a good manager is a nurturer. They nurture ideas and let everyone contribute to the software goal. This also means that an architect must be able to teach as well. The ultimate goal should be to bring everyone up to the level of the architect. Information hiding or doing complicated things for the sake of doing of them to boost your ego is WRONG. An architect should design at the level of his team. What good is a design if no one understands it? If you as the architect come up with a design and no one understands it, you have two options. The first is to teach everyone and explain it until everyone does. The second option is to do a design that everyone understands right now with 1-2 new ideas. The outcome should be the same. It all depends on how much time you have. I actually like option two. I think on any one project, you should only introduce 1 or 2 new concepts to the team. Everything else should be familiar. This way you are pushing everyone forward (and maybe even yourself) because you are trying out something different, but everyone still has enough footing in the familiar to be effective. This grows the knowledge and experience of the team. Eventually, it will not be a matter of bringing everyone up to speed, because they will already be there! I love this sort of team building. Just remember the architect should never always be doing the "cool" stuff. I've run into too many architects that only want to do the "cool" stuff and leave the boring stuff to everyone else. Again, this is wrong. Let everyone else do something cool too...=) Help them along the way and bestow your knowledge on them through teaching an example. Let the ego go and watch the team become unstoppable. Soon, there will be no need for an architect because everyone on the team is one. Think of it this way, your job is to work yourself out of a job. You should eventually just be one of the team.