Posted by Mike Blake
Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:16:00 GMT
I’m registered now at Rails Conference. The first day was awesome, though I got in late. I forgot what a great speaker Dave Thomas is.
Someone during the install fest commented that they didn’t like the way layouts are in a separate directory under views in a default Rails application. Dave said that he questions little things like that in the framework. But made the following suggestion. Just go with the flow. Because if you don’t use the defaults, one day 2 years from now, another Rails developer will open up that app, and say “Where the hell are the layouts?”
Dave’s response really captured what’s going on here. The Rails team has created an awesome framework that has so simplified development of a web application so that we can all focus on more important things. It’s like when you first start out on a development team, everyone agrees on certain standards that simplify comunication. It doesn’t really matter exactly what these are, everyone is now on the same page, and you function better as a team.
The Rails guys, by releasing the framework as open source, have in effect included us all on one big team. Mike Clark commented what a great community this is and it’s true. At install fest, people were all just helping each other out, regardless of experience or noteriety. It’s going to be a great conference.
And if you haven’t stared learning Ruby or Rails, it’s time. I’ve noticed a huge spike in the number of ruby and rails jobs on dice and monster in the last few weeks. And rails projects are keeping my own dance card full.
So come on, go with the flow!
Posted in Create | Tags Dave Thomas, go with the flow, Mike Clark, rails, rails conference, ruby | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Fri, 05 May 2006 12:28:00 GMT
Tony Macaluso and Friends are playing at Stardust Coffee and Film this Saturday , May 13th at 9:30 PM.
All Star Central Florida Lineup
Tony’s friends include Jerry Mincey and Luke Bailey. I’ll be playing bass behind Tony with my groovy Rickenbacker.
Tony
Tony writes some great songs that are a lot of fun to play. You can hear some stuff from his first album, but to hear his latest tunes you need to come to the show Saturday. The show is free, so I guess I’m not going to quit my software gig for this, but it will be fun.
Jerry
Jerry Mincey is the quintessential Florida folk singer. He also writes some great tunes , and I’m sure Tony is thrilled to have him perform for us Saturday. Jerry is also playing all three days at The Florida Folk Festival.
Luke Bailey
If you ask Google for pages similar to Luke Bailey’s page the search comes up empty. That’s because there’s no one else like Luke Bailey. Which is probably a good thing. But when Luke and Tony start playing those hysterical tunes, it all comes together. You’re guaranteed to have a good laugh and a great time. You can also hear The Luke Bailey Show every Saturday at 5:00 AM on WPRK 91.5 the Rolins College station.
Posted in Music | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:46:00 GMT
Chad Fowler is the author of an exciting new book Rails Recipes and the organizer of Rails Conference 2006. I’m geeking out today because Chad has mentioned a data recovery recipe I wrote on his blog.
Rails Recipes is a great book to participate in the Pragmatic Programmer’s Beta Book
program. The recipes are right on the cutting edge of Rails development, and you’ll wind up using them in actual applications when you take on a Rails project. By getting the Beta version, you’ll have a head start on common Rails development practices.
Recipes are a more Agile approach to reusing concepts than traditional Design Patterns.
Another book is also out in Beta form, Practices of an Agile Developer by Andy Hunt and Venkat Subramaniam. This book focuses on improving personal habits that make developers more effective. I’m ordering mine today.
Posted in Write | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:12:00 GMT
We don’t get near as many visits from top notch musicians here in Orlando as they do in the big city, so I’m excited about this weekend.
The Rebirth Brass Band
is playing here in O-Town at The Social
this Saturday , April 1st at 9:00 PM.
I saw these guys the first time during my drive accross country.
It will be a fun night, and a great excuse to wear my black and white wingtips
.
Stop by the house before the show for some barb-q.
Posted in Live, Music | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:56:00 GMT
We’ve just released the latest version of Classified Ads. It’s live at Columbia City Paper. It has two very powerfull features that are starting to appear on sites like Google and Yahoo.
One is Live Search, and the other is Live Preview.
There’s a cool book coming out, Rails Recipes that helped me out with both features. I also took a look at how both features are implemented in the software that runs this blog, Typo. (Notice the live search box at the top right.)
I’m astounded how quickly development goes with Ruby on Rails.
For one thing, I’m finally convinced that Ruby is a superior language to Java. Andy Hunt explains the efficency of Ruby well in his article Why Ruby?
Aside from the beauty and simplicity of Ruby, Rails is also the best framework I’ve worked with. It’s designed to get the job done properly, with as little redundancy as possible.
So the combination of the two Ruby and Rails, is incredible. I highly recomend them both.
Posted in Create | 2 comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:39:00 GMT
My muse has been awakening recently. The musical muse that is.
Last Friday, I had an awesome jam with Tony Macaluso . I say awesome because it was lot’s of fun, but I actually didn’t play very well. We recorded it, and I learn a lot when we do that. It’s kind of like “Release Early and Often” with Software.
Then, Sunday night, I jammed with Erwan Baleine. Again awesome. One because we didn’t record it, so I can’t be hyper-critical of my playing, and two, because Erwan’s girlfriend Clara made stuffed peppers with a Cuban flair, and Erwan made authentic, from scratch French Apple Pie.
Although we didn’t record, I have an mp3 of us playing a while back. So in honor of The Pragmatic Programmer’s Beta Book concept, here’s a “beta” mp3. Like a Beta Book, it’s a bit rough and definately contains some bugs, but now we have something to improve on.
Now’s The Time
Posted in Music | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:43:00 GMT
Answering a couple emails on my Treo this morning got me thinking about working remotely. That and an article in The Miami Herald about a growing traffic problem. Businesses are concerned about the growing costs of commuting. The only solutions mentioned in the article are ‘build more roads’ type solutions. I was suprised not to see any talk of working remotely to avoid commuting. Working remotely hands back to the employee both the cost of the commute, and the time lost to the commute. These benifits alone are enormous, but there are others.
Productivity
The modern cubicle based office is littered with bad feng sui. Interuptions, distractions and negative energy are always present to varying degrees. Einstein said most people can only concentrate for a second, but he could concentrate for a minute. Workers who have the option of choosing their work location are more likely to put together valuable seconds when needed.
Creativity
When doing some thinking outside the box, there’s nothing better than being out of that cursed cube. Not every job description calls for creative thinking, but nearly every worker can benefit from it. In Jack Welch’s book Winning he quotes a GE employee who said “For 25 years you had my hands when you could have had my brains as well … for nothing.”
Workers are often the first to see flaws in the system. An occasional day working from home can help to clarify, document, and address problems.
Office Space
Additionally, a productive worker at home frees up a cube and worstation in the office. Companies that allow workers to spend a couple days woking from home accumulate additional savings by creating a shared pool of workstations. And if you haven’t seen it, get the movie Office Space.
Micro Management
A manager concerned about trusting a worker at home may have a problem with micro management. If micro management is a disease, working from home can be a cure. A successful project executed at home builds trust between a worker and manager. There’s no substitute for success. Trust can relieve a manager of excessive worrying about details, and free a worker from needless interuptions.
Back to The Keys
Now no work location is perfect. I’ve heard children crying on conference calls, and I hear some women out by the pool right now. But above are just some of the benefits of working remotely. I’d go on, but you get the idea. I’m heading to the pool.
Posted in Create | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:23:00 GMT
Caught a Irish Session last night, hosted by Scott and Vicki
It’s always a magical time there at The Claddagh Cottage and yes those goregeous Irish girls really do hang out there.
Posted in Music | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:15:00 GMT
MasterLink has contracted me to build a mobile clent for their core product The Intelligent Work Management System (IWM)
IWM combines standardized business classification systems with intelligent workflow. The result is a very effective tool for defining business policies, and executing them uniformly.
Fun fun stuff!
IWM is a J2EE application. Since I’ll be building a mobile interface for the product, I’ll be working mainly to Sun’s MIDP 2.0 specification.
The folks at MasterLink are some great people who I’ve gotten to know over the past year, so I’m really looking froward to working with them. Aside from enjoying their company, I consider them experts in the area of User Driven Development
Posted in Create | no comments
Posted by Mike Blake
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 09:49:00 GMT
I’ve become a regular contributor at Columbia City Paper which is loads of fun.
Atricles
The web site there is a great candidiate for using Typo.
Posted in Write, Laugh | no comments
