I've read a couple of articles in the last couple of months that have resonated with my beliefs and aims with regards to development. One of these is Renaissance Developer, a blog entry by Charles Cook. The gist of his post is the following: If you only concentrate on what satisfies your immediate career needs, … Continue reading Renaissance Developer →

I came across the My Favourite Word website while I was browsing del.icio.us, and I had to submit an entry for sesquipedalian: This word makes me laugh, because it can be used to describe itself, as well as anyone who uses the word. It's like a self referential joke. This has been my favourite word … Continue reading Sesquipedalian →

On the subject of changing jobs, here's a few points I've been considering: I'm in a stress free but relatively low-paid job as a software engineer in an insurance company. Three miles from home to the office is very handy, especially considering I often have to pick up children from nursery. However... I'm generally frustrated … Continue reading When to Change Jobs →

It's been a while since I left, but they're trying to pull me back to school. Not quite kicking and screaming, though, as it's the 15 year reunion of the Class of 1990 in May. I really would like to go, but unfortunately I'm currently on the wrong side of the world to be able … Continue reading Joeys Forever →

Lately, I have been pondering the politics of process improvement in a large software organisation. This relates directly to me being invited to join my employers' Software Engineering Process Group (SPEG). This committee is also known as the Software Process Improvement Group (SPIG) in other circles. I attended my first SEPG meeting yesterday. After seeing … Continue reading The Politics of Process Improvement →

I am a very enthusiastic champion of life-cycle processes and development techniques that can produce better software products. My view is that improving process methodology in key process areas can give enormous benefits in terms of quality and time to market for software development. However, too much process change in the short term can have … Continue reading Process Versus Product →

It's taken two years, but I've finally updated my Curriculum Vitae. After dusting it off and reading over it again, I'm surprised by how many different technologies I've managed to play with so far in my career. I still have the sneaking suspicion that I won't be stopping learning new things yet, and the holes … Continue reading Curriculum Vitae Online →

It's been a long month. I've learnt more than I wanted to about Linux hardware compatibility, but I've finally managed to get Fedora Core 2 up and running. Configuring mail, web, etc has been interesting, as it's all slightly different from what I've been used to with Debian. Over the next few weeks, I'll tweak … Continue reading Signs of Life →

A blackout last Friday did a pretty good job of killing the exubero.com server. It looks like a power spike got through the surge protector and left a smoking crater where the CPU normally sits. I've got a new one on order, but with limited time it could be a few weeks to get back … Continue reading Smoking Crater →

I'm in the middle of updating the exubero.com site to try and get a more three dimensional and less blocky look and feel. Phase one of this project is to convert to a proper two column layout (now complete). I borrowed design ideas from Dan Cederholm's SimpleBits to come up with a right floating content … Continue reading Two Column Layout →