Archive for the ‘My Life’ Category
Do you ever get the feeling?
Posted by: jeffro in Programming, Rants, Work on March 8th, 2011
I have been working to implement a Google custom search engine into a clients website. I have had to pour through the documentation to fully understand how it works and I am both impressed and revolted simultaneously. I keep getting the feeling that this stuff was originally developed by people that are obscenely smarter than I am. Its obviously brilliant, but like any brilliance, its usually offset by some other glaring omission.
First off, the search API from Google. Why is the primary search API deprecated and the recommended replacement not even out of labs yet? So let me get this straight, I can either use the API that will EOL’d at some unknown time by Google without warning, or I can use the unstable labs API that could and most likely will change in the future. Sounds like a call from the client complaining that their site is broken just waiting to happen.
Second, the API is written in a way that leaves massive holes of undocumented functionality. Usually when you document an API you include ALL the functionality so people can fully utilize all the features. So I am continually finding blogs and other bastions of literary excellence revealing ‘hidden’ features of the Google search API. I have implemented a fair amount of the code I have found on these sites and I am still flabbergasted as to why Google would just leave this stuff out of their documentation.
I am going to be writing up an article on implementing a Google custom search engine over the next few days, one, so I can remember if I have to do it again in the future, good documentation is sparse on this subject, and two so others can refer to it and hopefully avoid some of the frustration I have gone through to get this to work.
These are not the same
I have been coding for over a decade now and one thing about other coders has never ceased to annoy me. In defense of my rant, I present two snippets of HTML code, see if you can pick out the difference and the source of my exasperation, I’ll leave it up to you to make the determination as to which is the good and which is bad:
<div id="content"> <div id="content-wrapper"> <h1 class="layout-indent">Page Title</h1> <div class="separator thick-separator"> <div class="thick-separator-cap thick-separator-left-cap"> </div> <div class="thick-separator-cap thick-separator-right-cap"> </div> </div> <div class="layout-indent"> <div class="yui3-g"> <div class="yui3-u-1-3"> <a href="#" class="link action-link ">Filler Text....<br /> <img class="link-arrow" src="img.png" alt="" /> </a> <div class="clear"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>
<div id="content"><div id="content-wrapper"> <h1 class="layout-indent">Page Title</h1> <div class="separator thick-separator"> <div class="thick-separator-cap thick-separator-left-cap"> </div> <div class="thick-separator-cap thick-separator-right-cap"> </div></div><div class="layout-indent"> <div class="yui3-g"><div class="yui3-u-1-3"> <a href="#" class="link action-link ">Filler Text.... <br /><img class="link-arrow" src="img.png" alt="" /></a> <div class="clear"> </div></div></div></div></div></div>
The structure of these snippets is identical, they probably layout the same between browsers too. I guarantee you that if anyone ever had to make a change, the first one would be far and away easier to change. So why do people still insist on editing spaghetti code? This isn’t just an HTML issue, it happens in every coding language I have ever encountered. I just want to say to people, “Would it kill you to use the tab and enter key from time to time?”, its as if not indenting their code will somehow make them work faster. “Look boss, I saved 2.78 seconds last week, by not formatting my code!!” In my opinion it really shows that someone [programmer] has pride in their work if they spend the extra few minutes documenting and formatting their code.
You can never really escape it
I enjoy running Linux, not only because I am sort of a fanboy about it, but I have been running it long enough to be much more proficient in it when compared to anything else. There are things that drive me nuts about it, just there are with anything. In my job, I am a front-end/UI developer. Not a designer, mind you, I am not terribly good at dreaming up good user interfaces, but I am good at implementing them. This is in the web-based world also I have to add. So that brings me to the biggest gripe I have about my profession, browser differences, or more specifically Internet Explorer.
I have the pleasure of being able to run Linux on my workstation, but I still have to keep a Window partition around so I can reboot occasionally and check my work in Internet Explorer. Usually there aren’t a lot of issues to correct for it to layout right in IE, but sometime there are major problems and I find myself spending the whole day in Windows. *sigh… I guess you can never really escape
There’s nothing like…
There’s nothing like, fixing a huge bug in a nationally visible app that has stumped developers both in the US and India…that I introduced. 
Should I be proud, or hiding under my desk?
The resurrection of RobbinsWeb
I have small linux server under my desk at home that has been chugging away for the past 3 years with nary a peep. Two weeks ago when I entered my office I was presented with the distinct smell of something burning. The smell was emanating from from ole’ trusty. I never realized how much I depended on this little machine until it stopped. No more OpenDNS updates to keep the kiddies safe on the internet, no more dynamic IP updates, no more backups, no more proxy server (for those ‘special’ occasions), no more playing Gearhead at work! I felt like I had lost a close friend, or at least a favorite pet.
Now, three weeks later, a new power supply, RAM, and a mess of case fans, RobbinsWeb lives again. *sigh…welcome back buddy
The road to CIO, luck required, and no small amount of politicking
Computer World wrote an interesting article on CIO’s that followed a non-typical path to the CIO/CTO position. You can read it for yourself here.
I’ve never made it a secret that I would like to move into a CIO/CTO type position in my future. I never did see myself as a grumpy old architect that had long debates over the proper uses of some esoteric programming technique. This is the reason I have gone back to school to get and MBA, I suppose it would be the more traditional path toward those positions. After reading that article, I am a bit disheartened.
As much as I don’t like to admit it, but the more I have learned it seems that the CIO’s and CTO’s of the world are still little better than bureaucrats. I suppose I had a rather Utopian view of what the positions were like, grizzled tech veterans with decades of development and administration under their belt. The perfect amalgamation of business savvy and tech know-how. It seems, however, that the truth is more watered down that that. Apparently a lot of CIO and CTO are simply business people that “showed an interest” in computers. Wow, I wonder if their Mom got them a ‘puter for Christmas (yes, I just quoted Hackers). It seems what is missing from these poor souls that ‘fell’ into the CIO positions is a techno-lust that consumes most computer geeks. I am open to idea that one must shed certain undesirable traits to become more universally acceptable when bridging the gap between business and technology. Its just a shame that many seem to build the bridge then sit back contently and wave to the other side.
Buy music through Banshee!
I live Amazon MP3. They were the first to offer paid, non-DRM, MP3 downloads. So they get my business. I am not really into the indie music scene, my tastes usually run more mainstream, so that invalidates all the little pay-per-download sites that offer a couple hundred songs for download. The first time I go to look for a song and can’t find it will usually be the last time I merchant a site. That just the unfortunate part of the micropayment system. I want to get what I want now, and I am not going to spend a lot of time looking for a product to spend 99 cents. Make it fast, comprehensive and cheap and you’ll have my business every time. Sorry Ubuntu
Aaron Bockover, founder of the Banshee music player/manager, tells us that 100% of the affliate revenue goes to the Gnome foundation if you buy music from Amazon MP3 through the Banshee interface. Read his blog post here.. So, from now on I will be purchasing my music through Banshee. Sorry UbuntuOne music store, maybe given some time you will be competitive, but not yet.
You don’t know how much junk you have until you move
Here is the situation, I need to move a website running from server A to server B. Server A is starting to show its age and need some upgrades (hard drives, RAM, and OS). I needed to move a very important web site from server A to server B, so we can take down A for an extended period of time. So after using my best buddy rsync, all the files are in place on server B, all I need to do is point all the services that used to point to server A now will be pointed at server B. Easy right?
Try number 1; Rsynced all files to server B, flipped the switch and realized that something was wrong with the SMTP server, and I would need to flip it back to make the corrections. 1 day lost..
Try number 2; Rsynced all files to server B (there are people actively adding files to this server throughout the day); flipped the switch, and realized that I never installed a custom backup program that was running on server A, crap, I can’t find the source, flip it back to do some searching. Another day lost..
Try number 3; Flipped the switch, then found that the version of PHP installed on the new server had some issues with the CMS software, and I forgot to rsync the files over before I flipped the switch, crap! Flip it back to do some research on the issue. 1 week lost while I tracked down the issue with PHP 5..
Try number 4; Rsynced all the files to server B, flipped the switch…waited for the other shoe to drop…crawled out from under my desk and looked around, everything was running, nothing was broken..I am fully up and running on server B now.
I really should have written down everything that was required since I am going to have to move the site back to server A soon…
Google code hosting
I just put the JRBackup script on Google code here: http://code.google.com/p/jrbackup/
I like not having to keep a server running at home 24×7 to host my projects any more. Now my shoddy bash scripting technique can be on display for the whole world to jeer at! I have found scripts easier to peck at than larger projects like the JHulk project, I have been bouncing JRBackup around by email to myself for a while now.
Focusing on what works
This post from Dan Heath was like a sudden ray of light for me. It amazing that something so fundamental and seemingly obvious, has slipped by me for so long. Rather than focusing on our weaknesses and trying to figure out why we can’t do something right, or why we seem to always fail at something, we should look at what IS working and why its working for us. Then, we can take those practices and lessons and attempt to apply them to what isn’t working.
Now you might say, ‘Well, I do that already!” I seriously doubt it, this is something that is so fundamental to human nature we don’t even think about it. Think about school (for some of us it is further back than others), when you got your marking card, did you look for bad grades? I bet you did. I know I did. Its natural for us to do this. Dan’s advice is to look at the good grades and analyze what worked with those classes.
This idea seems both fundamentally sound, but also terrifically difficult to implement. In my mind I can see two scenarios why something would work for me.
- I found the subject fascinating and working on it didn’t feel like work so I was inclined to be far more receptive when dealing with it
- The subject was simple, or it required little brain power to achieve great results
How then would I apply the ease of art class to the calculus class that nearly ended my sanity? I really have no idea. Calculus required an enormous amount of time for me to get below average marks, art on the other hand, required me to show up. Maybe its just a bad example but I think the idea has a lot of merit in specific situations.
