iPad Review

At my work, our department is starting to do some iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch development. This week I had the opportunity to check-out a company iPad to bring home and play with. They want employees to get better aquainted with the device, and who was I to argue?

I brought home the device, hooked it to my computer, then installed pretty much everything that I normally have on my iPhone (my apps, music, and videos). I checked w/ my boss to get the "OK" before doing so, of course. Before I took it back I restored it to the factory settings, wiping out all my personal data.

The result: for about a day I had an iPad with the exact configuration as if I had purchased one myself.

Most of the iPhone apps were as I expected: exactly the same as on the iPhone, but with the option to double the size. Peggle and Sudoku were a little pixelated, but fun to play on a bigger screen.

The iPad-specific apps were very interesting to explore. The extra real estate provided by the larger screen makes a huge difference. There are a lot of improved user interface controls that just aren't feasible on the iPhone's small screen. Apps like Safari, Notes, Calendar, and Email are beautifully improved.

Let's take Safari as an example. The larger screen means that you can keep the controls (address bar, search, next, back, etc.) constantly on the screen instead of scrolling them off like the iPhone does. That alone is a huge improvement in convenience! The larger screen also means you can get more webpage in at a time (less scrolling required).

I've always been impressed with the way Apple works to refine the user experience. The iPhone felt like having The Future^TM in my hands, and the iPad just improves on it. It's the little things that make the difference. I find it amusing that one of the "little" changes is making the screen bigger.

Some people have complained that the iPad is just a big iPod Touch. While this is basically true, I think it really misses the mark. To draw an analogy, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle isn't just an oversized moped. The UI changes "under the hood" alone make the device more than what it appears at first glance.

Probably my favorite feature of the iPad (and my iPhone for that matter) is the "instant on": when you press the home button it's ready to go. No need to wait around for the OS to boot up like on my laptop. If I want some information, to play a quick game, or to check email, the device is ready immediately. And the battery supports this model of use.

If I owned one, I'd primarly keep it on the end tables next to the couch and next to the bed. I'd use it as a convenience device more than anything. But in the end, it unfortunately falls into the category of "luxury item". I want one in the same vein as wanting any other new toy.

My wife also played with the iPad and also liked it. She basically agreed that it is a neat device, but not something we need to rush out and buy.

I can easily see how the iPad could be a perfect fit for some people. For example, someone who just wants to get their email and do some light web surfing. Someone who doesn't need to do much content creation but is a content consumer. Because the interfaces are so good, I could see it being great for a parent or grandparent who isn't so hip to computers.

So in summary, the iPad is a wonderful device. I love it and totally want one, but I don't have a real need for one. Maybe someday I'll get one, but probably not in the near future (I'm focusing instead on getting a new iPhone to replace my 1st-gen one).

Water Lilies

Water lilies float
in a still pond with their soft
lilac hues aloft.


This haiku came about because I was using a water lilies image which comes with Windows XP as a placeholder for a program I'm working on at work. For said program, I needed some text. It's amazing what the combination of being bored and tired at work can produce.

Jetsettin'

It's been a few months since I took my new job. I've spent the time working on-site for one of our clients. It has been a good experience for me. The company is quite large -- we were drawn a small part of our org chart one time and it took up the entire wall. Based on what I've heard, I should be working for this client for a while to come.

I guess they have been pretty happy with my performance. My keen senses have picked up on that when they frankly told me so. They have assigned me to be the lead programmer for the upcoming project (which is based on the one I've been working on thus far). Then this week they asked me to travel out-of-state for two days to meet and work with the other departments we work with.

All in all, I am very excited about it. I'm glad that I've been able to earn their trust and demonstrate my ability. This kind of work isn't my #1 favorite -- I'm not actually writing or designing code -- but I'm doing my best at it. When I switched jobs a little while back, one of the main reasons I did it was to increase the breadth and depth of my experience. I think it is working.

The biggest drawback of it all is that I'll be away from my sweetheart. I suppose that these two days will give us a taste of what her upcoming Science Fair trip will be like. Separation-wise, that is.

I'll miss you while I'm gone sweetie!

New Year, New Job

Seeing that 2008 was a hard act to follow, the new year has come on stage with trumpeting fanfare and has presented me with a new job.

As I was not fully satisfied with my current job, I felt that I shouldn't snub any opportunities that came my way. This particular opportunity was audacious enough to call me up directly! Actually, I've gotten a couple of calls from people who have found my profile on LinkedIn. My new job came from one of these calls.

I interviewed in mid-December, but didn't hear back for almost a month. But eventually the job offer came. When I told my boss I'd be leaving my current job they gave me a counter-offer, but after considering my options the new job was just too appealing. Although it is somewhat intimidating, I feel like I've made the right decision for my career and family.

Although I am excited to get into a new job which will take programming more seriously, it will be kind of sad to leave my current job. I've made some good friends. I've enjoyed some fun projects. I've tried to make a difference. It was nice to know how valuable my manager believes I am. The fear of change has tried to deter me from changing jobs, but I have resisted.

In just one week I'll be starting my new job. It is kind of stressful and nerve-wracking, but also exciting.

. . .

Quit my job down at the carwash
Didn't have to write no one a goodbye note
That said, "The check's in the mail, and
I'll see you in church, and don't you ever change"...

Reflections

The dawning of the new year has caused me to pause and reflect on all that has happened to me in 2008. There have been many changes, including some important life-changing ones which I had been pining for over the years. It was a wonderful year.

The biggest and best change of the year (not to mention my life) was getting engaged and married. It is strange how it seems so long ago, even though many weeks tend to fly by. My beautiful wife has made me so very happy. It is hard to imagine life without her now.

The other big change for me was getting laid off and finding a new job. Career-wise, this year has been a veritable roller-coaster! But I think I have been improving my skills along the way. Along with things I've been learning at work (like iPhone app programming!), I've also been working on my own projects and learning from there. Work has also brought about little things, like when I really got into using wikis.

Another change I've experienced is regularly going to the gym. Off and on over the years I've tried to be good about exercising, but in 2008 it actually happened over the whole year. That's another thing that I have my sweetheart to thank about.

Last year brought many good times in the way of games. At the beginning of 2008 I was still riding the wave of Gamevember 2007, playing Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed. Rock Band has been a lovely year-long experience. It is one game that my wife enjoys, and we've built up a decent collection of songs now. Then Rock Band 2 made it all the better. I've also enjoyed Spore, Castle Crashers, and others! There have also been some great non-video games such as Mexican Train and Quiddler.

It has also been a great year for music and movies. Between my wife, Rock Band, and Pandora, I've expanded my music selection quite a bit. For movies, I very much enjoyed Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda, and Wall-E (which I finally saw over Christmas). I also experienced some great older movies, like when my good friend gave me Yojimbo and Sanjuro.

Playing D&D with my friends has been just plain awesome. The game is very fun to play, and I've enjoyed being the DM. But it has also been really fun to be able to regularly get together with my friends.

Recently I've started reading again. I hope that this is something that I can carry over into 2009. There are always so many things that I want to do (including writing on this very blog), but I should try to make sufficient time for reading.

The 2008 holiday season was a joyful time spent with family. I love and appreciate my family so very much. I have especially enjoyed watching and playing with my nephew during his first year. It is fun to be an uncle.

Now looking forward, I'm excited for the things which the year 2009 will bring.

Coding for the Weekend

Sometimes I feel like I'm not living up to my potential as a programmer. All too often I find myself wishing that I were in a situation where I would be expected to write better code. I feel like there is still so much for me to learn, but I've somehow missed the boat.

I've got a pretty good job. I'm glad to have it and I've got some terrific co-workers. The trouble comes in two flavors. Our company has deep seated custom of doing what is needed at the moment without planning ahead. Being flexible is one thing, but we spend days and days resolving problems which could have been fixed by planning and writing the right code in the first place.

The other trouble I find is a bloated Frankenstein's monster which we dubiously call our legacy code. It is patched together into a terrible tapestry. Some pieces are wonderful gems of ideas and well-written code. But for every pleasing morsel there are seemingly dozens of fetid carcasses. And they are all tied together. Nothing is separated, all is unclean. I cringe at some of the security issues that are just glossed over.

I realize that this scenario isn't exactly uncommon. But the combination of the two problems (at least from my perspective) leaves me in a place I do not want to be. I find myself doing a lot of mediocre work just to get the job done. I never feel like I'm taking ownership of my code, as the kids say. But I can't justify taking the time to fix many of these problems. Those kind of decisions are not part of my job description.

But there are a few rays of light that peek through the dark clouds from time to time. We have a relatively new manager who seems to value most of the software practices that I do. I'm hoping that eventually he will be able to change things. And I always look for little places where I can write better code.

I'm trying to keep abreast of many best practices and new ideas, but it can be difficult. One issue that I worry about is that I have little to no work experience with things such as:

• Unit testing (let alone having a testing group / phase!)
  
• Development life-cycles (Agile, XP, Waterfall, etc.)
  
• Design and documentation
  
• Code reviews

So I'm trying to learn on my own and incorporate things into my work as best as I can. But my recurring lament is the lack of time for working on my own projects. I'd like to participate in some open source projects and work on my own projects. But they always get pushed to the back-burner.

So I guess for now I'll just keep plugging along like good ol' Charlie Brown. I'll try to do the best I can, but I know that there will still be many days where I'm still coding for the weekend.

The Goliath Says, "Comm-link Online."

Last week I decided to test the waters at my work concerning instant messaging. When I started my new job I was told that instant messaging was discouraged, but that our department had been cut some slack. I was given the impression that it would probably be alright for me to use one.

But I chose not to. I thought that as a new employee, I didn't want the first impressions I would make to be exploring the edge of what was allowed. Also, I thought it might be good for me to focus on getting to know the new job. So I decided to wait.

Fast-forward to last week. Coming off a busy week of putting in extra hours, things seemed slow and laid-back. Plus management was gone on a retreat, so things were really quiet. I installed my IM client.

I chatted with a couple friends. It was really nice to be able to communicate again. Especially since some of them are people whom I rarely see in person. And it was nice to see the list of friends there and know that I could chat with them, if I wanted to.

But somehow I didn't feel quite satisfied. Being plugged back into my psychic-like connection wasn't all that I thought it would be. And in the back of my mind, I felt a nagging doubt start to grow. What if this is not okay? What if I get in trouble?

So since having installed the client, I've only been on intermittently. This morning I asked my manager about it. He said it should be fine, just keep it on the down-low. Phew!

I'm back.

Crashing More Than Just Castles

With the recent release of the game Castle Crashers, there has been some controversy about bugs in the game. This has led me to think about the difficulty of programming.

This topic has been exacerbated by a recent event at my work. I've been learning how to do iPhone/iPod Touch application development. It is really interesting. It's also very nice to be learning something new. Development has been going really well, but then yesterday I hit a nasty problem. The program is crashing due to a memory issue I cannot find. (For those interested: somewhere something is trying to free an object which has already been freed.)

I spent several hours wrestling with this problem. The debugger was of no help, nor were the tools for tracking objects and memory leaks. I tried all of my usual techniques, but just couldn't find the problem. After I had spent an extra two hours at work, I decided that the best thing to do would be to go home. On Monday I plan to go back and take the component completely apart and start from scratch. Very annoying.

There is a tried and true method for fixing really confounding problems like this, and I'm hoping that it will work in this case as well. The method is this:

• Go home.
  
• Get some sleep.
  
• Get the problem out of your head for a while.
  
• Go back and take a fresh look at it.
  

I am sometimes amazed at how complex programming can be. Computers are complicated enough to begin with! After taking a class in which we built an 8-bit computer from CAD tools, I often think it is a miracle that computers work at all! Then on top of that you add OS software, all sorts of libraries, and your own code... there are many layers.

Unfortunately, one of the truths of programming is that there will be bugs. For non-trivial programs, it is asymptotically hard to find and fix all the bugs in a program. Luckily, like a squeaky wheel the worst bugs usually reveal themselves and are subsequently fixed.

But despite the many bugs and occasionally rip-out-your-hair problems, I love programming. It is a euphoric experience to be able to see the results of well-written code.

P.S. Castle Crashers is a great game!

UPDATE: I figured out the problem with my iPhone program and had it fixed within an hour of showing up to work. Like I said, tried and true.

"Never Ask That Question"

"Could you help me to understand you?"
"Can you help me to understand you?"

(Image from here.)


As a by-product of my recent job search, I've begun to ask myself a question which I haven't yet found a good answer for. It lurks in the back of my mind, growing seemingly more ominous each time I think on it.

"What do I want to being doing in my career?"

It doesn't help that Haylee and I have been watching Babylon 5 recently. My mental Kosh doesn't like the question. Perhaps the Morden-esque nature of the question lends to part of the ominous feeling. But putting that aside, I'm just not sure what I want.

When I was looking at jobs out there, I found that there are many which I'm not very well qualified for due to lack of work experience. I've only been out in the work force for 2 years, so that's not too bad, but I worry that my skills are too focused in the web development sphere. I feel like I've got an excellent education and aptitude, so part of me wants to be branching out more. Proving, perhaps, that I'm a well-rounded programmer capable of much more. So in my search I looked for places where I could get a Java or C/C++ based job.

But that didn't pan out. My most promising leads were in web development. Not that I mind terribly; I enjoy it well enough. But I feel like I don't want to be typecast (what a great programming pun, by the way. heh).

Looking for a job is one activity which I really dislike. In fact, I don't know anyone who feels otherwise. It's the sort of thing that you do out of necessity, and yet try to procrastinate it as much as possible. But I did try to grab hold of one ray of hope I found: getting a job in the gaming industry.

I think that being a game programmer is something I'd really enjoy. I'm pretty sure of it actually. I've certainly spent a lot of my free time over the years doing it for myself. But there is a nagging bit of doubt in my mind about some details, such as: not being in control of the project, having to work on stupid games, etc. On the other hand, it would be a good chance to get out of web development city... or at least live in the suburbs.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a chance to get into the industry. Again the lack of work experience in relevant areas hinders me. But it could still be a possibility in the future.

All of this has led me to think about what I would do if I could choose. What programming projects have most interested me? Mostly games that I've worked on. (Ironically, my Imperium game was built in a web development sphere.) So I've been wondering if there is something there that I could do. Is there a way that I could take one of my projects and make money with it?

I'm scared to take a leap. What I do for now has to be a side-project -- I won't quit my job to try something like this... not now, not without some promise of success. But then I find myself in a dilemma: when would I actually work on it? I really don't want to spend what little free-time I have these days doing more coding. It's almost as if I need it to be my job.

I shall have to think more on this...


"I will teach you."
"About yourself?"
"About you. Until you are ready."
"For what?"
"To fight legends."

Pandora

Here at my new job I've been introduced to Pandora Radio. I find it very interesting, especially with its ties to the Music Genome Project. It is very nice to have something to listen to at work, especially with the variety of music available.

The timing of this find matched up with the new iPhone update which brought the new 3rd-party apps. I haven't really used the iPhone app much, but it seems to work pretty well even over the EDGE network. But the coincidence of timing piqued my interest in the service.

I really like the idea of finding new music by matching qualities with songs or artists which you like. I rarely listen to traditional radio because they play so much junk that I don't enjoy (and that's not to even start talking about commercials). But on Pandora I can control the experience enough to get music that I like.

Of course, playing music that I own on my iPod trumps Pandora overall because I have full control. But then I'm not finding new music.

Now I just need a way to find / review movies and games in a similar way. It's a little bit like what you see on online stores: "People who bought what you bought also bought these things you might like." But the power here is that you aren't just limited to one (well, maybe a few) variables to compare against.

It makes me wonder what kind of algorithms they use to create the playlists...

Incommunicado

I am feeling pretty isolated these days. As I've indicated in my previous posts, things have been changing a lot over the last few weeks. But one change that I did not expect was a drop-off in my level of communication, especially with friends.

Changing jobs seems to be the crux of the matter. I had made friends with people I worked with at my last job, but now I'm not seeing them every day. I like the guys I'm working with now, but we don't have that established relationship.

But the biggest difference is my lack of online presence via instant messenger. Like a psychic cut off from his power, I feel incomplete without my ethereal connection to my friends. I used to sense the presence of my friends and I could communicate with them at will. But now it's gone.

The policy at my new job discourages the use of instant messengers and the like, but our department has been cut some slack. For now however, I don't feel like installing one would be the wisest choice I could make. I've got to get to know my place a little better first.

I've only recently become aware of how this is affecting me, and I'm interested to see how widespread the symptoms and changes will be. I'm wondering how I will adjust to the changes, but perhaps the more interesting question is whether I've been unconsciously adjusting already.

A corollary I find of interest is how people adjust to communication technology in general. I often think that my sister-in-law doesn't need to be so obsessed with her phone. We joke that it would have to be surgically removed. But now I start to wonder if without her phone she feels cut off as I now do?

So for my friends out there who are missing me on your contact lists, if you felt like someone was crying out and then was suddenly silenced, it was me.

Back In The Saddle Again

Over the last few weeks my life has been turned upside down, stirred up, and basically changed completely. But now things seem to be settling down pretty well, so I figured I'd giddy-up for big post #50.

(Speaking of posting #50, since it's been just about exactly one year, this means I've averaged almost a post per week. Not too bad, says I.)

Married life is excellent. The biggest adjustment I'm finding seems to be related to how I spend my time. It used to be that I scheduled my time around when I could be with my fiancé. Now we're always together and I'm having to figure out new ways to schedule my time. It feels like I haven't spent nearly as much time playing games over the last few weeks. I actually get to bed at a decent hour now!

I'm also settling into my new job. Two weeks after being laid off from my old job I had a new job offer. I felt pretty good about it, so I accepted. Now I'm getting to know the people, learning about the existing code I'm working with, and basically finding my place. I feel like I have to ask a lot of questions, but they are all related to how things work here. So I think that's pretty good.

Another interesting thing that has found its way into my week is Dungeons & Dragons! My friends recently expressed interest in playing again, and we've scheduled time to play once a week. I've taken on the role of DM and we're continuing the campaign I started about two years ago.

Thus overall things are going really well for me right now. The dust from the major life events is clearing, and I feel like things have turned out really well.

Disregarding Signs and Portents

Today I was laid off for the first time. I've never been fired yet, and hopefully I won't ever have to find out what that's like. Things have not been great at work lately, and the company is laying off a rather large percentage of employees.

I'm not particularly worried. I'm sure I'll find a good job soon. In fact, over the last few months I had been thinking about finding a new job anyway. There are several reasons for that, mostly for new and different experiences.

But the thing that concerns me is how I've ignored all the warning signs. I've been walking in the midst of Shadows for some time now. I've known that things needed to change. The writing on the wall has been visible and even read by me for some time. But I failed to act.

Luckily I was jarred out of my inaction before finding myself at the point of no return. The timing isn't great with my wedding next week, but luckily my financial situation is stable enough to handle it. Now I just need to move forward.

If there are any of you out there who know my secret identity and are willing to lend a helping hand, I'd greatly appreciate it. If you hear of any programming job openings, or if you have some people I should show a resume to, please let me know.


P.S.
Bonus points if you caught the references.

Meeting My Successor

Today I left work early to help judge a science fair. I really enjoyed it. But little did I know that I was about to meet my CMESC successor.

When I was in high school I worked for a place called the CMSEC (I won't bother explaining it... that would be a very long post). I enjoyed that job like no other. I still think about it sometimes. I wish I could make a living working there. If I could I'd be back in a heartbeat.

So imagine my surprise when I'm talking to this kid and he turns out to be the head programmer there! It was so much fun to talk to him. It was like meeting a friend I didn't know I had. It's nice to know that the CMSEC is in such capable hands. When this kid gets into a CS degree there will be no stopping him!

In some ways I envy his position. He's doing some of the things that I always wished I could do there. But who knows? Perhaps someday I will be able to work with him on some amazing projects. I still know how to dream.

Wiki While You Work

I've known about wikis for quite a while now. The poster-child is Wikipedia which has all sorts of interesting information. But until recently, I never really did anything but read them.

At work we installed a wiki on our internal server. It seemed like a good way to let employees add their own documentation and other important company information. And then suddenly I found that I was enjoying it. The wiki made it easy to put up content, and being empty it cried out for me to start adding pages.

Before I knew it we had stared documenting all kinds of things. Then we installed the Trac project management tool to help us manage our main project. Lo and behold, it has a wiki too! Now I'm finally getting around to adding documentation for our project!

This week I decided that I would go ahead and start working on my game (see my previous post). So what did I do? I created a wiki on my home computer for my game.

I think I've got some kind of wiki fever!

Set Phasers to Fail!

Recently at work I've been getting the short end of the stick. Or at least it sure seems that way. Things have been spiraling out of control on one of our projects. We had been working on it for quite a while with no known deadline. Eventually we set a deadline which I believed to be internal only and also contingent on getting a merchant account set up. But through some miscommunication and forces outside my knowledge (let alone control), said deadline got a lot more emphasis on the dead part.

I know that there is more I can do to let people know when a project is not going to make it on time. I can do more to be involved. But even when I am letting them know, it seems like I get no slack. There is no one supporting me. It's always, "Well we promised the client, so you'd just better do it because we aren't gonna cover for you at all."

Sometimes I feel like the boy who cried wolf... except that every time I cry, "Wolf!" there actually is a wolf there, its wild fangs sinking into my flesh.

In any case, last week was a crunch week. We worked and worked but with no end in sight. What needed 2 or 3 weeks to do correctly had to be done in a couple of days. It all culminated with my project manager, the owner of the company, and the client all standing around my desk. Luckily they decided on a way to save face for themselves while giving me a little more time.

I just don't understand how things tend to get so out of control all the time. And it's not like this project has been some special exception. I'm just glad that these issues aren't a regular occurrence. It just seems to me that if you are going to launch a software product, you should at least try it out yourself first! There needs to be testing time! And it should just be expected that software development will have delays.

Oh well, I guess I'm just ranting now. I know that many other companies have similar software woes. It's just hard to play Scotty on every single episode.

All the Live Long Day

I had to work today. Working on a Saturday is no fun. But when I chose to become a computer programmer, I knew there would be times when I'd have to work more than 40 hours in a week. I'm just glad that it hasn't become a regular occurance. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to avoid it altogether.

Out in the cold

Well, this is not the first time. Somehow I doubt it will be the last, unfortunately.

I'm standing at the front door of my work at 8:20 am and no one is here. The door is locked. I never got a key to this place although I know the security code. At first I didn't want one. If I had one then people would know that I could get in, and they would expect me to come in on Saturdays or something. But I am quickly changing my mind on this issue.

Freelancing

Taking on freelance jobs can be awesome. It gives you a chance to do some work separate from your regular job. For me it is usually simple stuff like making web pages or the like. And you make some extra money. If you are smart about it (and skilled in your trade, of course) you can make a tidy little bundle for a project.

But freelance jobs also suck. They take up all my valuable free time! I get home from work and already have too much to do to keep up the house, do laundry, unwind from the day's work, and eventually get some sleep. I already know that I need to organize my time better and discipline myself, but adding this extra work can be a pain.

This leads me to think about how valuable my free time really is. I know I waste a lot of it. But on the other hand, if I don't have a break from work I get burned out. There never seems to be enough time to do the things I want to do, and yet when I find myself having a lot of free time I don't know what to do with it!