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  • 1 min read

Great new book on Object Oriented design (in Ruby)

I first came across Sandy Metz in this video:

[vimeo 12350535 w=500 h=281]

2009 - Sandi Metz - SOLID Object-Oriented Design from Gotham Ruby Conference on Vimeo.

If you are interested in Object Oriented design you will enjoy this. She is a wonderful speaker, and fun to listen to. Even if you don't agree with (or understand) some of the concepts, I promise that you will enjoy listening to it. Since then Sandy has come out with a wonderful new book which I highly recommend: Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series). You should definitely take a look at it. I won't even attempt to summarize it but I really love her writing and how she expresses herself. The writing here is a cut above all the other techie books I've read recently. I'd go as far as saying that it's "literate" … whatever that means, exactly!

The book starts with a wonderful expression of "purpose" as an engineer thinks of it:

"We want to do our best work, and we want the work we do to have meaning.

And all else being equal, we prefer to enjoy ourselves along the way."

is that not just perfect?

  • 1 min read

I created this quick and dirty list of useful resources for some friends who wanted to dig into the latest thinking on web and mobile user interface design. I am sure this list is incomplete and quirky but I thought it would be good to share:

  • 1 min read

Is Skype “Full Duplex”?

What an antiquated term: Full Duplex. I don't know if that term is used anymore but what i mean is this:

I use Skype on many many voice calls, either to other Skype users or to telephone. It seems to me that while the other person is talking, I cannot interrupt them. In other words, either I am talking or I am listening, but not both.

Am I mistaken? Or is my Skype set up incorrectly?

Full Duplex is a term that used to mean, maybe still means, that both parties to a connection can be active at the same time. Last time I used it, it was in reference to a teletype machine!

  • 2 min read

Sparrow vs. Mail.app and Mountain Lion

Did you hear that Google bought Sparrow? Sparrow is a really cool email client that I for one have been using very happily for a while now.

Did you hear the announcement that there would be no more development of sparrow?

Did you hear that some people were upset at this, while others defended Sparrow's "right" to let themselves be sold? (Huh????)

Anyway, I am not getting into that discussion. I was selfishly sad , because I am very fond of Sparrow and I know (from first hand knowledge, more than once, but also as a customer) that the product that is acquired doesn 't often do well in its new home, and so I need to end my addiction to Sparrow.

But then came the announcement that Mountain Lion (the new OS X for Mac) was coming out today. I thought I had a theory: Maybe Mail.app on Mountain Lion would be every bit as good as Sparrow.

*Sparrow, seeing the writing on the wall decided better*not to wait for the inevitable, and ran into Google's arms. (After all, I can think of many worse companies to be acquired by.)

For that and other reasons (like impatience) I bought my Mountain Lion ($20 for all three computers -- good deal!) First impression: Hmm, what's changed? Second impression, quick let's go look at Mail.app!

Bad news. Mail.app is a clunker compared to Sparrow. It's slow to launch and slow to work with compared to Sparrow. Sparrow works much more nicely with GMail than Mail.app.

I guess I will stick with Sparrow, for now.

  • 2 min read

Stand up! No, Sit Down!

You know the old joke that today they say something is good for you, tomorrow it's bad, and the day after it's good again? Recently there was a lot of press that sitting 3 hours a day could take years off your lifespan. "Sitting for More Than Three Hours a Day Cuts Life Expectancy", so said the Wall Street Journal:

"Sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person's life expectancy by two years, even if he or she is physically active and refrains from dangerous habits like smoking, according to a study to be published on Tuesday in the online journal BMJ Open." (from the Wall Street Journal)

Yeah but I thought: nowadays, a major part of the economy involves sitting for more than 3 hours. Start with office work. But add truckers, and pilots, and other kinds of drivers, people working in many kinds of factories, I mean, are we all doomed?

Oh don 't panic just yet. "Don't Blame Sitting-Yet-for Shorter Lives", so said the Wall Street Journal a short while later:

"Headlines last week suggested that people who spend a lot of time sitting were in mortal danger. Sitting too long each day could shave two years off one's lifespan—or, for the glass-half-full crowd, sitting less could extend life by two years, the media reports said.

The study that led to the news accounts cautioned that no such conclusion could be drawn from the available research. Sitting studies haven't yet fully gotten off the ground, thanks to technological, cost and ethical limitations. Yet the evidence so far all points in the same direction: that sitting more is tied to higher mortality.

But that doesn't mean the act of sitting itself is deadly. Instead, it could be that people who spend more time sitting are less healthy to begin with, or that those who sit less are using that time in healthier ways such as exercising." (fromthe Wall Street Journal)

Phew. That's a release. I can sit down again!

  • 1 min read

Hey, you’re an entrepreneur!

I like this quote:

"Everyone here introduces themselves as an “entrepreneur.” It’s as if they hand out the title at the airport when you arrive. “Welcome to San Francisco, you are now an entrepreneur! Which start-up T-shirt would you like?”

This belief that everyone is an entrepreneur has a stultifying effect. It can drive founders to seek an easy acquisition instead of a quest for true innovation and a sustainable, profitable business — a truly entrepreneurial challenge." (from Bits Blog, NYT)

  • 1 min read

We spend too much on silly litigation

Lucky Me! After tortured litigation and lots of legal fees (not mine, of course), I am receiving a check for $0.47 as my payout for the litigation between Hanson and Google.

What, never heard of Hanson? Well apparently the law suit was about Google doing something wrong in how the charged or paid for Google Adwords. Which I think I might have used a little some long time ago.

But really, how does it make sense to pay out 47 cents? I am sure the lawyers (for both sides) are laughing all the way to the bank!

Stupidcheck 2

  • 1 min read

T-Shirt Design

Code T-Shirt, © Pito Salas, 2012. Let me know if you want to order one!

Screen Shot 2012 07 10 at 8 48 00 PM