Dev Dawn

Perhaps not Small, but more often Forgotten.

1. Honesty

2. Fearlessness

3. Passion

4. Diligence

5. Humility

Can you see where I’m going with those headings? Sometimes I hear the vision in my head, but right now, I’m not sure it will come together.

Work is going ahead fervently with Rasp, and more .. building a foundational bulk of software that will help run the business. Not just building either, acquiring is in there too.

Currently I’m putting in User Groups, Security Profiles, Folders .. and the logic that binds them all together. It’s actually more difficult than I first thought. Well, not that I _thought_ about it. Rather, it’s difficult. Period.

I thought, for a change, that I’d look over some external entities. Sometimes this blog can be a little internalised. That’s not necc. a bad thing, but a healthy perspective/character means you poke your head up from time to time.

There seems to be a proliferation of small Web 2.0 apps churning through the mill. This has been the case for some time now, most certainly, but now .. it seems the sueet (spl) is rising to the top. I think this year we’ll see a lot of great ideas being badly executed. Not just what we’ve known last year, but far more. More. MORE! Heh heh.

I also think this year that good development will forge ahead. Software is easier than ever to promote. I mean hey, that’s what all these social networks are for! Isn’t it? Ha. But seriously, if you take a minds-eye look, there are already existing networks, huge, complex, and established. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to _work_ them. I’m in the middle of this right now.

There’s a mercenary component here. For sure. But also, there is diligence in establishing relationships. I want to have bloggers talk about my software some day. Like they talk about Steve, about Vista, Photoshop. Maybe that’s some big dreaming, but seriously .. this is a great place to dream big. The web.

There’s a lot to do. But it’s step by step, little by little (somtimes big steps), every day.

Honesty, because people respect the truth. You don’t have to tell everything, blabbering. But when it counts, honesty is the bom.

Fearlessness, because most often you take a good look at what is before, and it’s scary. Unknown. Risks and turns and bends in the road.

Passion, because people will believe. Passion gives substance to your vision.

Diligence, because it will never be easy. And even when it is, around the corner is a big-ass rock waiting to crush your spirit. Whether it’s a piece of functionality that will just not unwind in your mind, or a business deal gone so terribly wrong.

Humility, because, in my opinion, we are come from nothing to begin with. You will always find someone faster, stronger, quicker. Someone with a better pedigree, a brain that solves logical problems just _that_ much faster. A business mind that grasps simple mechanics just _that_ much easier than you. Humility, because when we understand that, we can let go of the little-man issues, and strive to be the best. I know that sounds like a stupid assumption. But, in my short 30 years, it’s been born out in truth time and again.

And lastly, I forgot one.

Belief, because when you believe, and others believe (tied to passion), magic can hum through the air. Sure, Steve Jobs has this, but there’s a negative connotation that goes with it. I guess, belief has to be taken alongside these other attributes.

Then, lastly (2), this one is important too ..

Happiness/Joy, because without these two, then anything else is meaningless. I’d rather enjoy cotton-chipping in the stinking hot sun than hate a desk-job in the air-conditioning. However, I love my desk-job in the air-conditioning. I find _joy_ in it. And possibly sometimes I make joy in it. Not always. Sometimes the diligence has to kick in and over the laziness/depression .. but .. without happiness/joy, then life is meaningless. Development life. And otherwise.

You know I speak truth.

Or some version thereof.

Ha ha, my looking at other stuff didn’t last long did it. Oh noes.

Cheers,

Technorati tags: rasp, honesty, web 2.0, software, social networks, development, online file management, truth, belief, happiness, joy, humility, diligence, passion

For a while now, I’ve been trying to get the K2 Rolling Archives to work properly with the way I want them to show 3 posts per page. I had gone over my code again and again, and it seemed to be the way things should be.

Then, I was reading the K2 Forums, and out of the corner of my eye read something that twigged. In the Wordpress Reading Options, you can set the number of posts per page.

BAM.

Now, when you use the Rolling Archives above, three posts will appear for each “page”.

Sweet Candaaay. Bam.  (re The Big Zapper, upholder of “Brannigans Law”)

Cheers,

Version 0.2 (Beta) of Rasp has just been released. It’s got some pretty cool stuff in it.

However, I’m having trouble getting the http://rasp.archertechnologyservices.com Domain to redirect. Actually, all 3 subdomains for the products aren’t doing it quickly, if at all.

Hopefully in a few hours we’ll see some more action on that front.

Just at lunch now, so have to get back to work. More later.

.. then I could harvest some resources to build tanks, then buy The Burning Crusade.

Ahem.

Work is progressing. My plans for an off-shoot Rasp program have stumbled. Not done, just .. halted for the moment. I need to build some other thing to get it working.

But the new version of Rasp is done. Automatic/Manual Importing of Files in a brand-spanking new interface! File Types! A Welcome Page! Whoot.

However, I still have to update the Help file, so the install won’t get done until tomorrow night.

Other plans are going ahead. I’ve got another update for SecretKeep due. That and a project app that’s kind of what Projman was going to be. I really need something to keep track of ideas and todos and tasks (same thing?).

Have been thinking about DevCon, and wondering just what I’ll speak on. It’s kind of a scary nebulous vision at the moment. Clarion? Programming? Development? Heh heh. But never fear! There’s always a song or two buried away in my brain .. which might account for the lack of intellect in all things coding.

I’ve become enmoured with the Tennis lately (The Australian Open) .. despite what certain _other_ developers say (yeah Bruce .. that’s you i’m talking bout) .. i love watching these people, warriors almost, battle their way through each match. I love reading up on each player, finding out their .. mythology. I think that’s a good word. It’s like discovering a whole new world of characters who have had lives before-hand, filled out, not-cardboard. Ha ha .. it’s real life i know, but .. there’s something special for me finding out the Nadal is one of only two people to have beaten Federer last year. Or read about the Sampras and Agassi rivalry.

It’s just plain cool. For me. Maybe for you.

Since I have become somewhat disillusioned with the greatest of team sports lately, it’s easier to become attached to Tennis, because an individual can shine despite the lack of efforts of others. They stand alone. Fight alone. In the end, it’s them and the _other_. Nothing more. And that’s just gas.

Cheers,

Yes. Chirriping.

It seems in a few months I’ll be presenting at the Clarion Aussie Dev Con.

Silence. Crickets .. Chirriping.

Can’t wait .. I’m thinking of speaking on the importance of Rugby in development. Or how the Wii will change the Clarion developer’s life forever. Or perhaps even this .. Why World of Warcraft 2 will be written in Clarion. All of it. Even the graphics.

Or not.

Should be a blast. We’re getting quite excited about the conference, and look forward to seeing familiar (from last year’s .. not sure if the apostrophe goes there) faces, and new noggins too.

Yesterday (Saturday) we were at friends, and our car sat without cover for about nine hours, six of which were in the full blast of a crazy-hot day. Sitting in a pew this morning, i reach into the kid’s Church Bag for their crayons, only to discover .. the bottom of the bag had become infused with a layer of wax. All but a few of the two boxes of crayons were melted, and those that were left .. they were tiny-fied.

This got me thinking (how?) .. some things in life are unstoppable. If you stick crayons in the sun, they will melt (unless there’s some new type of crayon with anti-heat-freeze molecules. But (and this is a pretty flimsy connection), acceptance of certain truths makes us better at what we do.

Microsoft have lots of money. So do Google. Steve Jobs creates a vortex of “i believe what you’re saying” around himself. Power comes from money. Yeah, we all know Ajax has been around since before the wheel. And sometimes it’s okay to jump on the bandwagon .. because you could be hitching yourself to a wagon that’s heading for the city of gold (which in the end, if that cartoon I watched as a kid was right, wasn’t really a city of gold. The first one at least).

I accept people aren’t going to be magically interested in any software I create. So I’m thinking up ways to bask in the juggernaut (any juggernaut, except maybe Cain Marko) that is the sun and it’s white-hot rays. Even if it’s just to gain some momentum. Or melt some crayons. Wow .. this is analogy is really hard to pull together. It’s just not happening.

I guess what it boils down to is this. The sun melts stuff. By myself, I couldn’t melt crayons half as well as the sun. I’m going to use the sun to help me out.

Substitute any company, technology, .. in for the word “sun”. Oh .. and change “melt crayons” to describe the action you’re trying to make happen. Ha ha.

Nice.

Well, I think that’s enough crazy-talking for one night.

p.s. Today’s links were brought to you by that herald of all things truth (it’s all of it true, every last word) .. Wikipedia. You can trust it completely, after all, everyone in the world get’s to help out writing it, so if you throw a million articles together from a million people, each of them changing a million other articles, surely truth comes out on top? (lame attempt at witty sarcasm)

Capesoft have begun advertising their 2007 World Tour, and it is gonna be Kickin!

Last year at the Aussie Dev Con, they tore the place up. Mickey Mouse Hands, Practical Development, Mickey Mouse Hands, Using Various Capesoft products, Mickey Mouse Hands .. awesome.

And this year they look set to do it again. Only bigger. Better.

In a nutshell the goal of the 2007 World Tour is to make the event the most productive week of your whole year.

And let me just say, there is no doubting the benefits of attending workshops led by Bruce, Jonno, and Geoff (Hi Geoff, we have yet to meet .. but don’t worry, I only headbutt and tight-head-pop the people i like).

There are people who have trouble connecting with the audience. There are people who don’t have one-on-one communication skills. And there are people who don’t like being up the front, but are pushed up there.

The Boyz (and Girlz I presume, Hi Capesoft Girlz) from Capesoft are none of these. They facilitate _thought_. And this is what makes it such an awesome experience.

One important ability is to excite people again about something they might not be so interested in. It’s been ten years of development, without a big win. Code is getting sloppy, you’re caring little about maintenance. It’s just small bug-fixes being pushed out the door. Come along to the Capesoft World Tour!

You will be challenged and encouraged .. and .. like Mel’s William Wallace bringing passion to the hearts of Scotsman everywhere, the Capesoft Crew will scream about Freedom and Telling The Englishmen ..

And you will believe them.

This is, in the end, the greatest ability a speaker of any sort can have. To make you believe. Belief in whatever it is they are talking about. Steve and his new phone, Watching Clark drop dirt onto his dad’s coffin, white and black so sharply defined (okay, that’s for smallville nerds only), watching a bloke at the front put on big white gloves and tell you that his (their) products will help you be better at what you do.

That’s belief.

But, as is true in life, you probably will have to see to believe. Unless by some freak of chance my words have helped you _believe_. That, or the faint whisper of Jeff Buckley singing Hallelujah in the background, swelling to crescendo as the plot lines resolve in tragedy.

Ahem.

Finally, on a different pimping note .. Rasp version 0.1 Beta was released last night. It’s my third app of the last week, which is pretty sweet. I’m stopping for a while, even though there are a few more in the wings. I’ve an idea to further enhance the core functionality of all Archer (need to get a shorter business name) apps.

[just for the uninitiated, the title is a homage to the wonderful Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld]

Joomla is a lot of fun. The more I delve beneath it’s archaic exterior, the more I like it. It has what I need at this point in time.

I’d _like_ to have everything ajax-i-fied.

I’d _like_ to get some cool prototype-ee image functionality going on.

I’d _like_ to have people start visiting my site (ha ha).

But I don’t need that stuff at the moment. What I need is what Joomla provides. A great way for me to add content and not have to worry so much about presentation. It takes care of what is showing on the front page. Joomla handles what the Forums are up to (nothing yet), and gives me stats like page visits etc, easily findable.

Definately, when the time comes, I’ll upgrade. There’s a new version of Joomla arriving. Perhaps it’ll be that.

Dev Dawn has had a little tweak here and there. I’ve put back some more posts to read on the front page. Along with a bit of css to allow distinguishing the posts, and a bit of extra info (date/time).

I’ve still got to get my third product out tonight (Rasp). Won’t be long. Just have to add Icons to the buttons, the Help File (and File menu link), and the About window. Then package it up (along with the beta licence) and bamf. Upload. Post on site. Post on forum.

What’s been bothering me today is hard to express.

I’m looking for ways to get the word out about Archer Technology Services (ATS from here on in), and the products. My first thought (good/bad .. not sure) was the blogosphere. A lot of other people seem to become semi-famous through use of it. So why not me?

Well. Because. That’s why.

The only way I could think of that wouldn’t require me to abase myself to the Never-Wrong gods of Slashdot and Digg was this .. send out special invitations to a number of blogs to review the software. More specifically. Every blogger gets invited to review two out of the three (currently) existing pieces of software for ATS.

Importantly, in the invite email, the list of bloggers invited is included. The hope would be that those who were too big to care, would see that others of their calibre (in Blog-Kingdom Heirarchy) were invited too. Not sure if it would work. Possibly.

Anyway. I’m still out-to-lunch on the matter. There are other ways. I can contact actual software review sites. Visit mirc channels. Post on other people’s blogs. Go to seminars. Send out emails.

Plus, there’s the (shock) real world interaction too. Telling people at work, at church .. maybe even stopping people on the street, although that might not be a good idea around here, specially after dark (ha ha).

Anyway, the tiredness is creeping in, and i really want to get Rasp done tonight.

Fare thee well

Well. Phew.

As per the previous post, I’ve been working my tail off .. but no longer for imaginary ideas and applications designated to be just on my hard drive, never seeing the light of day. This work .. the WORLD can see! Whoot.

http://www.archertechnologyservices.com is just going off. It’s such an amazingling empowering experience. I’m actually the destiny of this master .. or something like that. Very cool.

I’m aware that a lot of folk have already gone through this experience, and that there’s lots more hurdles coming to .. overcome. It’s just hard to contain the excitement at this point in time. Fervour. Belief. Joy. Awesome.

I had a very naive idea of getting all three products (SecretKeep, Rasp and DeleteThem) ready for distribution this weekend. It was 2am this morning (Sunday), the install of SecretKeep had finally gone through enough testing to get it on the site for download .. when I realised .. it ain’t gonna happen. Although the other two will be considerably faster. I had to furrow a lot of ground with SecretKeep ..

There was the general functionality of the application. Testing on another machine (only one at the moment). The Help file (thanks to Dr. Explain was quicker to push out than it would have been). The Licence stuff (even though it’s in Beta .. i’m still not quite sure about what goes on there). The Installation file itself (do I use my Tarma ExpressInstall which has been discontinued, or InnoSetup, the freebie. I went with Tarma).

Now that I have a rough list of stuff (and I’m not stupid enough to believe it’s everything yet) that needs to happen, like said, the other two should go a little quicker. Not working Sunday’s put a dent in the speed, but I _anticipate_ getting Rasp and DeleteThem up for download (ha ha .. up .. down) Monday night (aussie time).

Anyway, off to watch some Arrested Development .. man that’s a funny show.

Firstly, before I get to the main course .. I fixed one more problem with Search Potato this evening. The Delicious search didn’t like any more than ONE search term. Ha ha. Wasn’t hard to fix, just a str_replace(” “, “+”, $searchString);.

Now, the more exciting (at least to me) news.

The Archer Technology Services website has had a massive overhaul. I’ve got three (and more on the way) apps in beta, and they’ll be up soon. They are small pieces of software, with very simple functionality.

I may have said this before, but a great author gave some advice in regards to entering the world of writing. Write. Short stories, poems .. Something. Just write.

To me, this translates into software development. For myself, in particular. My vision for the immediate future is to release small apps, little functionality, but get content done. I will learn, make mistakes, get better.

It’s been a long few nights working, and I’d like to not be comatose for the kids on a saturday morning :). Ha ha.

Cheers,

[Addendum: 11th January 2007]

Search Potato is now working much better. In both IE and Firefox. Got rid of the “const” declarations, but that didn’t solve the problem.

The main problem was with the structure of the ajax functionality. There was no waiting between calls, which was causing some problems. So I chained the search calls .. Google _then_ Flickr _then_ Delicious. There were a few more problems, mainly with the string literals, which are now hopefully all removed and replaced with constants (although not truly, because you just have to cross your fingers and hope they never get magically assigned elsewhere).

There may have been other issues, but I’m still without sleep. I have got about 2 hours in the last 48 .. which isn’t a big deal for some I’m sure .. but for this stupid black duck, it is. A big. Deal.

Night.

—

For about one and .. well, closer to two .. nights, I’ve been working on a test web app. Not so much what it does, but _how_. That and the structure.

(I can see daylight through the blinds, so this will be short and probably a little crazy).

Anyway.

Search Potato is a mashup search of Google, Flickr, and Del.icio.us, using PHP, Javascript .. and deepening (a word?) the simple js, Ajax.

And guess what! It’s NOT IE compliant! … Burg. I tells ya, perhaps I should have tested earlier in the evening on IE, as I was going along. But no, here I was thinking testing in Firefox was enough.

Perhaps I’ll get around to fixing the problem. Probably not.

Cheers, Good Health, and ‘Nuff Said