Putting grails on hold, peeking at rails 11 May 2011
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.
But there are specific frustrations I experience with grails, and thi...The search for productivity or procrastination for developers? 14 Apr 2011
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
Choice is the first area this pops up. Which language is better groovy or scala? Should I use lift or wicket? Intellij or eclipse? Vim or textmate? Remember The milk or Toodledo? And the list...
Getting groovy with Fibonacci 24 Mar 2011
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.
As a quick reminder it goes 1,1,2,3,5,8 with every subsequent number being the sum ...Regex Primer : Part 3 02 Mar 2011
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
greediness is a special case, but one you are bound to run into when you start doing more...Regex Primer : Part 2 22 Feb 2011
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
Regex Primer : Part 1 17 Feb 2011
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.
Zen And The Art Of Programming: Beginner's Mind 28 Jul 2010
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, programmin...Quality takes time 16 Jun 2010
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.
Some clients are plain pushy, and will gladly test what they can get away with. And as much as I hate the stereotype; a lot ...
