SteveHowellBlog

2003-10-14 09:38

I told MikeOrr a few months ago that I'm refactoring computers out of my life. Well, I lost a little bit of resolve and went out and bought a refurbished laptop with Linux on it, so that I can do email, etc. I'm working at a coffee house in Arlington, VA these days, pouring coffee, making sandwiches, etc. The only software I use on the job is our point-of-sale software, which is only slightly clunky at times. I'm looking around in DC now for non-Zope Python opportunities. The word on the street here is that Python's starting to catch on in certain DC circles lately.

2002-12-12 03:20

We are building a project management software tool at work, using a heavy methodology (basically, waterfall documentation-driven design) and a heavy framework (over-architected database layer on top of Zope). There have been some bright spots--the code is Python, and we've been able to use a lot of YAML--but it's mostly been frustrating.
Yesterday my coworker and I downloaded FolderPiki, which was a modification of PikiPiki, which is the code base that sprung MoinMoin. It was amazing to see how much more useful FolderPiki was than our BDUF-waterfall application.

2002-07-17 08:32

Good to see that the Blog functionality is working again. Thanks for fixing it, Jeff! I am in DC today working with another Python programmer. Clark's company has built web-based project management software, which uses Python, Postgres, and Apache. They have a CD that boots up their entire web-based solution, including FreeBSD, as soon as you stick it into the box. Very cool. Clark's one of the leading guys in YAML, and I am writing some YAML-based query tools for him.
I don't know who fixed the code, I just shared how I implemented it inside Boeing. Tell me more about the project management. We use a process called CriticalChain buffer management that many systems don't implement well. It really needs a means of dynamically measuring progress to keep the buffer status up to date. Look forward to seeing you in Seattle. -- JeffSandys
I'm not familar with critical chain buffer management, I'll look into it. Xcolla is still rather a bit immature (although its growing and you have a developer's ear...). If you're willing to work with us, I'll make sure that Xcolla accomodates your requirements. -- ClarkEvans

2002-02-13 14:11

Thanks, guys. I wish I could have been there. Things are going pretty well here. I miss Seattle a bit, but the job is interesting so far, and there are some nice folks here. We're not doing any Python [yet ;)], but we are doing XP, with pair programming and test-first design. I'll write more once I get internet connected at home and when things settle more into a groove here. Did I miss any goodies from the Ward dinner? -- SteveHowell
Yes. See DinnerWithWard -- JeffSandys

2002-02-05 19:19

Steve,
We all gave you a toast and our regrets for not being able to join use for the DinnerWithWard Cunningham. We (also Adam, Brian, Wilhelm, Asim, Stephen and ?) all expressed our wishes that your journey was safe and that you will achieve great things in your new position. And we all look forward to your visit or return to Seattle. -- JeffSandys

2002-01-19 08:26

So we were doing more MoinMoin pairing last night. Both modules ended up being only one screenful of code:
PageSignatureCode -- AsimJalis, BrianDorsey
RecentBlogsCode -- AdamFeuer, SteveHowell

2002-01-18 13:47

I did more work on my Perl project today. A company in South Carolina may hire me to write Perl code, so I wanted to make sure I'd still enjoy it after Python. It turns out I do. I guess programming is programming. I have even written a closure. My Perl code lacks the crispness of good Python code, but Perl definitely lets you think in objects, which is my primary need, I guess. It's been fun to build up a little web site using all objects. I have dabbled with templates before, but I keep going back to objects. Perhaps it's a control thing. With an object-oriented approach, you can do nifty things like automatically make all your pages find each other to link each other. I am sure you could kludge that into a templates solution, but objects are more elegant. I am also incorporating Wiki concepts into making my home page. Right now I handle basic URL's, nested lists, and paragraphs. You basically end up translating from Wiki language to HTML on a line-by-line basis, except it gets mildly tricky to put in the end tags for paragraphs and lists. I see now why the C2 Wiki punted on conformant HTML paragraphs, which makes their pages render poorly under Opera.
I have a week left in Seattle. Some of you know that I'm moving back to the East Coast at the end of the month. It's been a tough decision, but I'm starting to look forward to a change. The gray, rainy weather is easing the transition. I hope to be back in Seattle somewhere down the road. I definitely intend to follow SeaPig from afar.

2002-01-14 07:54

So I was coding in Perl last night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am in the process of creating a home page for myself. I want something a little more attractive than Wiki, with your typical three-panel layout--banner on the top, links on the left, and content on the right. I thought first about building everything up with objects, but I don't want to go to the code every time I need to update data. The other alternative was templates, but you still have to bury some of the data within HTML, and I want to encapsulate the HTML better anyway.
So, I just started using my standalone Wiki to create pseudo-pages. For example, on HomePage, I have this:
```
ThreePanelLayout
banner: StevesBanner
TableOfContents
===
there will be content for each page
```
Then I write a custom module for each Wiki page to turn it into HTML. Most modules are object-oriented, but some just have one method called "text." Stuff below the "===" is generally just a comment.
When I started making the modules, I wanted to test them individually. I had to reinvent Python's concept of _main_. See MainMethodsInModulesForPerl.

2002-01-12 07:59

So I was pairing with BrianDorsey on MoinMoin stuff. We both had lots of ideas, so we broke out the cards. We would discuss an idea, and each idea would lead to a digression, and the cards were starting to stack up, but no code was getting written. At the end of the session, though, MoinMoin's easy extensibility saved the day. We were able to write a tiny BlogEdit action that implemented Blog-like functionality for MoinMoin.
SeaPig is not quite running the latest and greatest MoinMoin, so I had to make one hack to our BlogEdit action to get it to work. I hard code the time, instead of using the new TIME directive that's coming in the next version. It's not a big issue for SeaPig, since most of us are in Seattle, but for a more international installation, we'll want to handle some internationalization issues.