When I use vim I find myself constantly, opening windows, splitting them and generally putting production code next to my specs. Sometimes on a really big screen I'll manage a 5 window split. I have yet to find an editor that gives me the same power and speed in window management as vim does. But it certainly isn't due to the default key bindings.

Having come to ruby just recently from scala and groovy one of the things that frustrates me most is knowing exactly what I want to do to a list, but not knowing the name of the method. I have rdoc open in a browser, but basic operations like list manipulation, input output and File io should really be known by heart.

A lot of interesting books have been written in the last few years about randomness, the future, and just how bad us humans are at understanding risk. Risk is all around us, in the market, job interviews, business ventures - it plays a part in every important decision we make.

Quick facts about me : I’ve been developing JAVA web apps (Spring/hibernate) for 5 years and in fact stepping outside the JVM is a major hurdle for me. I’ve been using grails for the last 1-2 years and rails now for the last month.

I am perfectly happy with grails, and would definitely consider it in taking up new projects.

I love playing with new languages and learning new things. I’m a commited lifehacker too. But are there times when searching for that next best hack is in itself a form of procrastination?

choices and fear

After reading an article on Memoization I had a little fun with the Fibonacci sequence in groovy to try it out. As a developer Fibonacci is probably well known to you. Not because it serves any practical value, but because of its tendency to pop up as the defacto example on closures or during interview questions.

This is the last of a 3 part series introducing the common functions of regex. Arming you with enough of the basics to get through most of the common text searching problems. Part 1 is here.

A regex tester is provided as well, and it is highly recommended to try some of the operators out as you go.

Greediness

This article is a continuation of Regex Primer - Part 1. If you haven't read that yet, it might be prudent to do so first. You can test the queries as you go here

Negation [^ ]

Ok! We've been introduced to []. One important feature we haven't covered is negation.  If you want to say something like any character but a.

[^a] # matches b,c,d,e,f,\n .... anything but a

There is a tool for every job, and when it comes to searching text - regex is the king. As a developer, dealing with text day in and day out, learning regex is one of the best things I did to up my productivity.

I’ve been reading the book Zen in the Art of Archery. It is the true story of the western philosopher, Eugen Herrigel, who goes off to study the craft of Japanese longbow shooting. And if you have any interest in Zen or eastern mysticism I can’t recommend a better introduction.

Interestingly enough, some of the wisdom that flowed out of the book made me think about my own craft, programming.

A problem many freelancers face is estimating time and scope when dealing with a new project. Countless books have been written on time management, project estimation, and the next generation planning system but it is a spot where I found myself in the deep and drowning.