License 2 Code

Now I know why those pragmatic programmers are so productive. I ordered the PDF version of Agile Web Development with Rails 2nd Ed, and was told this:

“Your request to reship the PDF for Agile Web Development with Rails 2nd Ed has been entered into our fulfillment system. Teams of PDF-aware gerbils are this very moment limbering up to deliver your content.”

Its not Ruby, nor capital-Agile. Its the gerbils. One more thing - the note ended:

“Given the current backlog, we estimate that the time to create PDFs is about 11 hours.”

But the PDF was available in more like 11 seconds. So - those gerbils are smart enough to have implemented with Amazon’s EC2 service?

Amazon currently has three general purpose, developer focused web services: S3, EC2, and SQS. S3 stands for Simple Storage Service - and it is just that. Think of it as a large hash bucket for files. EC2 stands for Elastic Compute Cloud and can be considered virtual computing instances that can be programmatically created and destroyed. Lastly, SQS stands for Simple Queue Service and is a standard queue which is a standard FIFO queue which includes a 256K message body.

Amazon S3 is a very compelling web service Read more »

For all the hype that can sometimes be found in DHH’s loud thinking blog, a real gem can atone for rockstar coder excess. DHH’s recent post about criticism and creative motivation demonstrates a sound understanding of the heart in the creative process, and the mind’s ability to protect it. Practical yet uplifting approach to maintaining creative motivation in the face of criticism, and defining personal boundaries for what’s deemed constructive, and what’s not.

Recently at the object technology user group I had the chance to participate in an open space on ‘Test-Driven Development in a Legacy Codebase’. Trying to write tests for legacy code is like hitting your head against a brick wall, installing a door, walking through it, hitting your head on another brick wall, installing a door, walking through, over and over and over. So it was encouraging to find that my peers and I brought a host of brick wall experience, and various strategies for installing doors.

One theme of the discussion was how to disseminate TDD practice. You’ve had some success, now how best to refine it and share it - infect others, in the TDD parlance. Read more »

REINSTATED.