Jean-Paul S. Boodhoo's Blog

VMWare Fusion vs Parallels 4.0

JPSB — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:03:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I installed a copy of Parallels Desktop for mac. The main driver at the time was that it would allow me to play typing of the dead!!I have been using it since the first week in August. I think parallels is a great product, but I just recently switched back to VMWare Fusion as it was a clear winner in performance (my perceived performance). Parallels also seems to be somewhat of a resource hog. When I first had it installed I installed Windows 7 on a vm allocated 2GB of memory (my MBP has 4GB). I was also running an Ubuntu VM on vmware fusion that serves as my git repository. After about 30 minutes of running the Windows 7VM the Ubuntu VM would error saying that it could not allocate enough memory to continue operation (keep in mind that this Ubuntu VM was only allocated 256MB of RAM).

After switching back to VMWare fusion I can run both vm's quite happily and I am keeping the Windows 7 parallels vm kicking around so I can fire up typing of the dead every once in a while.

Develop With Passion!!

Are you playing in your arena?

JPSB — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Just re-reading an article in psychology today on the topic of late bloomers. The entire article is amazing, if you have an opportunity to read the whole thing (here) I would strongly recommend it. Here is an excerpt that I find awesome (and close to home with respect to the message I try to share with people):

Finding Purpose

"I made a decision that I wanted to be world class at something at a very young age; I just had to find that one thing that made me realize this is my arena, this is where I want to play," says Chris Gardner, founder and CEO of the stock brokerage Gardner Rich & Co.

After a childhood of brutal abuse and an early adulthood as a single parent - homeless and destitute - Gardner eventually found that arena. Seeing a red Ferrari pull into a parking lot, he approached the driver and asked him,"What do you do and how do you do it?" The answer, investment banking, turned out to be a perfect match for the math and people skills Gardner already had.

"This encounter would crystallize in my memory - almost into a mythological moment that I could return to and visit in the present tense whenever I wanted or needed its message," Gardner says in his autobiography, The Pursuit of Happiness."

Many highly creative people mention "a moment, an encounter, a book that they read, a performance that they attended, that spoke to them and led them to say, 'This is the real me, this is what I would like to do, to devote my life to, going forward," says Harvard professor Howard Gardner (no relation to Chris).

Passion burns so brightly, it's clear when one has it. As Chris Gardner puts it, "Passion is the thing that won't let you sleep at night because you want to get up in the morning and go do your thing." By itself it can fuel greatness. "If you're passionate about something, you can develop the abilities," says Gardner. "It can't be taught, it can't be bought. You can't go to Yale and say you want to major in passion. You have to bring it with you."

Develop With Passion!!!

In case you've been trying to contact me!!

JPSB — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:59:00 GMT

This is just a quick post to let anyone who has been trying to contact me through my skype account know that, the reason you have not been able to get through is because my skype out number was inactivated a couple of months ago. I just reactivated it!! Guess I should check on things like that a bit more frequently!!

Develop With Passion!!

Why do I develop with passion!!

JPSB — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:50:00 GMT

(this should have been posted a couple of days ago!!)

It is 6:45AM on a Saturday morning. Having not yet went to bed from completing another course, instead of going to sleep immediately I am blasting this down as I feel that someone out there needs to read this post . One of the many comments that I often receive from students of the courses is that they can't believe how passionate I am about writing software.

I often go into long rants about how I look back at the code I wrote years ago and ,even though it can make me shudder, I still smile with joy when I think about the experience I had while I was writing the software. I will talk on and on about the importance of being focused, dreaming big, living passionately. Of course there is some technical in there!

(!!!!!IMPORTANT - The following comments are not meant to come off as advertising, whether good or bad!!)
Some comments that often come up during courses are:
-How did you get so good
-Man you are fast
-I can't keep up
-I have no idea what I am doing
-You have not given me enough direction to complete the exercise
-Could you please stop changing the requirements part way through an exercise
-You're presentation style sucks
-You don't cater to different styles of learning very well
-I have no idea what you are talking about anymore

I have cut the list short because the list goes on and on and on. I listed both good and bad feedback above to highlight one important topic. Regardless of a students experience with the course there is no student who, having taken the course, is not able to say the following things:

-He seems to love what he does?
-He seems to not be caught up in the mainstream?
-He does not seem to be worried about trying to keep up with everyone else?

So is it a matter of focus? Partially? Am I driven? Somewhat?

Then what is the big deal???

Long ago I gave up the driver seat of my life to someone who knows way may about things than I ever could. I feel passionate about what I do because a long time ago, someone who demonstrated passion for something else, their love for the Lord, was something that changed my life. My wife was one of those people in high school who would walk up to a complete stranger and ask them the question: Are you saved? Do you know Jesus? This was one of the first questions she asked me having just met me. I was intrigued. Having grown up going to church, I was stumped at the question as I did not have any idea what it meant to have a relationship with the Lord. Aaron and I did not end up dating until the beginning of grade 12. Having witnessed the life of someone living out loud, and not being afraid, or even caught up in the popularity traps that can often snare people going through high school; I decided to give my life to the Lord, and things began to significantly change, I began to change!! I was not in a broken place when I found the Lord, I just knew that I needed Him in my life. The moment that I decided to follow Jesus, I started to change, and my perception of things began to alter as I drew closer to Him.

People often realize that the Nothin but .Net courses end up being much more than just about technology. Lots of people end up feeling empowered, energized (despite the long days), and having a renewed sense of purpose for both their development careers and lives in general. Of course, this is not the way everyone feels, but the important thing to realize is that none of it has anything to do with me at all. My family and I believe that God is using this course as a way to wake people up to the possibilities of what it means to have a rich life in Him; one that is not:

caught up in the meaningless comparison traps that bring us no satisfaction whatsoever.
driven by desires that do not end up in delivering any meaningful fruit, or leave us with any feeling of accomplishment/peace
tossed side to side by the crazy events that can happen in our lives
filled with uncertainty about what happens next?

The amount of great opportunities we have had to share the Lord with developers all over the world is amazing, and is the central reason that I believe the course is still going strong.

I Develop With Passion, because I am filled by the One that gives me an unshakable hope for an amazing future, that is promised to all who accept Him into their life!! Even if things in life don't go the way that we would like, there is an unbelievable, incredible, future that awaits all who give up the drivers seat to the One who really knows how to point us in the ultimate right direction!! I Develop With Passion because I want people to ask the question why? So I can point them directly at The answer. It has nothing to do with me whatsoever. I am nothing special. Jesus is everything.

If you want to read more about what it means to have a relationship with Jesus I suggest you take a look at a fantastic resource: notreligion.com . If you have even the vaguest question, please take the time to read through the site. It could be the most important decision you make!!

Develop With Passion!!

Expanding template files in Ruby (for builds)

JPSB — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:44:00 GMT

When doing builds with Ruby and Rake, one of the things I often like to be able to do is expanding a set of template files to a set of corresponding files with the appropriate tokenized settings replaced.

Here is an example of a tokenized app.config file (only the important section of the file has been included for brevity):

Notice that the only interesting thing to look at here is the @config_connectionstring@ value. This is a value that should be swapped out during the build process with settings specific to the machine the build is taking place on. The place where these settings are defined is in a build specific file named local_properties.rb. Here is a small section of one these files:

require "project.rb"

class LocalSettings
attr_reader :settings
def initialize
@settings = {
:app_config_template => "app.config.xp.template" ,
#app_config_template = "app.config.vista.template" ;

      :osql_connectionstring => "-E",
      :path_to_runtime_log4net_config => "artifacts\log4net.config.xml",
      :initial_catalog => "#{Project.name}",
      :database_provider => "System.Data.SqlClient" ,
      :database_path => "C:\\databases"
}
@settings[:config_connectionstring] = "data source=(local);Integrated Security=SSPI;Initial Catalog=#{@settings[:initial_catalog]}"

Notice that the goal of this class is to just define a dictionary. These settings indicate values that will be used specific to each machine that is performing a build (which means each machine potentially gets its own different set of settings. To take a file and have it expand out into a file with all the tokens replaced, I wrote a quick ruby class named TemplateFile that looks like the following:

class TemplateFile
attr_reader :template_file_name
attr_reader :output_file_name

def initialize(template_file_name)
@template_file_name = template_file_name
@output_file_name = template_file_name.gsub('.template','')
end

def generate(settings_dictionary)
generate_to(@output_file_name,settings_dictionary)
end

def generate_to_directory(output_directory,settings_dictionary)
generate_to(File.join(output_directory,File.basename(@output_file_name)),settings_dictionary)
end

def generate_to_directories(output_directories,settings_dictionary)
    output_directories.each do |directory|
      generate_to_directory(directory,settings_dictionary)
    end
end

def generate_to(output_file,settings_dictionary)
File.delete?(output_file)

     File.open_for_write(output_file) do|generated_file|
       File.open_for_read(@template_file_name) do|template_line|
         settings_dictionary.each_key do|key|
           template_line = template_line.gsub("@#{key}@","#{settings_dictionary[key]}")
         end
         generated_file.puts(template_line)
       end
     end
end

def to_s()
"Template File- Template:#{@template_file_name} : Output:#{@output_file_name}"
end

end

The goal of this class is to just take a named template file and generate it out to one or more locations while making the variable substitution from a provided dictionary of settings. All of these things come together during the build process as follows:

template_files = TemplateFileList.new('**/*.template')

desc 'expands all of the template files in the project'
task :expand_all_template_files do
template_files.generate_all_output_files(local_settings.settings)
end

All of the template files in the project are grabbed into an array and the expansion happens during the generate_all_output_files method. For special files you can also create a TemplateFile to specifically point at that file and generate it to multiple locations:

#configuration files
config_files = FileList.new(File.join('product','config','*.template')).select{|fn| ! fn.include?('app.config')}
app_config = TemplateFile.new(File.join('product','config',local_settings[:app_config_template]))

task :from_ide do
app_config.generate_to(File.join(project_startup_dir,"#{Project.startup_config}"),local_settings.settings)
app_config.generate_to(File.join(project_test_dir,"#{Project.tests_dir}.dll.config"),local_settings.settings)

config_files.each do |file|
TemplateFile.new(file).generate_to_directories([project_startup_dir,project_test_dir],local_settings.settings)
end
end

This makes it a snap to add new project specific configuration files as long as I follow a convention that all new "config" files go into the product/config folder (a build specific folder) with a .[extension].template extension. This way, the new file will get picked up without issue and can have tokenized values in the file easily replaced with machine specific settings.

Develop With Passion

Typershark – Improve you typing in just minutes a day

JPSB — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:00:00 GMT

As an excuse to play around with a modified audio/visual setup, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and do a quick screencast on improving your keyboarding skills over time using the game TyperShark.

This screencast gives a brief overview of the game and a sample playthrough of one level.

The screencast can be found here.

If you enjoy the video/sound quality let me know as I am planning to do a lot more in the forseeable future.

Develop With Passion!!

Closing an anonymous method to a known delegate type

JPSB — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:00:00 GMT

If you are using extension methods as a way to achieve more language oriented programming, there are lots of times you will want to be able to run extension methods against an anonymous method, but you will first have to close it to a well known delegate type before it is allowed. Here is a useful method if you want the starting point to be an anonymous method created on the fly:


    publicclassCreateDelegate

    {

       publicstatic DelegateType
of<DelegateType>(DelegateType body) {

           return body;

       } 

    }

Develop With Passion!

Combining two disparate collections

JPSB — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:40:00 GMT

During class last week someone had written a piece of code right near the end of the last evening and I committed to showing them a potential refactoring that could be used. Here is the piece of code in question:


            var info_list
= newList<ResolverConfigurationInfo>(parser());

            var resolver_items
= info_list.Select(x => factory(x)).ToList();

            var index
= 0;

            parser().each(item
=>

            {

resolvers.Add(item.AbstractType, resolver_items[index]);

index++;

            });

The code is not really complicated. The messiness comes from the fact that an index needs to be maintained so that it can be used to lookup into another equally sized collection that is not the target of the iteration. There are obviously lots of ways to solve this, but I thought "why not just flatten the two collections into a single collection which eliminates the need for the index. Here is the resulting code that was produced:


            var info_list
= newList<ResolverConfigurationInfo>(parser());

            var resolver_items
= info_list.Select(x => factory(x)).ToList();

            info_list.union(resolver_items).each(item
=> resolvers.Add(item.first_value.AbstractType, item.second_value));

The union method is a new extension method that will take 2 disparate collections of the same size and combine them into a singular collection of Tuple<T,U> types. I created a simple Tuple class as nothing more than as an immutable parameter object. Here is the resulting code for it (very simple):


    publicclassTuple<FirstType,
SecondType>

    {

        public FirstType
first_value { get; privateset;
}

        public SecondType
second_value { get; privateset;
}

 

        public Tuple(FirstType
first, SecondType second_type)

        {

            this.first_value
= first;

            this.second_value
= second_type;

        }

    }

Finally the code that pulls it all together is here in the extension method that does the heavy lifting:


        staticpublicIEnumerable<Tuple<FirstType,
SecondType>> union<FirstType, SecondType>(thisIEnumerable<FirstType>
first_set,

                                                                                             IEnumerable<SecondType>
second_set)

        {

            Check.not_null(first_set,second_set);

            var first_list
= first_set.ToList();

            var second_list
= second_set.ToList();

            Check.ensure(first_list.Count
== second_list.Count);

 

            for (var index
= 0; index < first_list.Count; index++) yieldreturnnewTuple<FirstType,
SecondType>(first_list[index], second_list[index]);

        }

This method hides the details of the indexer into a utility method that can be used anywhere where 2 sets of disparate items of the same length need to be combined into a singular set.

Thoughts?

Develop With Passion!!

Nothin but .Net London – 2009 Wrap-Up

JPSB — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:31:00 GMT

Just got back from another amazing course in London, England. The class was great. As always I think I learned just as much from the students as I was able to impart to them. There were 15 of us in total, and with each successive course I am trying to find a way to get the students engaging in as much practical lab exercises as possible. There came a point where people felt that it may have been too much lab exercise and that they were not getting enough guidance. This feedback allowed me to make some adjustments. On day 4 and 5 the feedback from the auto correcting seemed to register well with people.

I would like to take this time to thank my London class for the honor of being able to share that instance week of training them. I look forward to seeing what the future holds in store for all of you!!

God Bless You,

Van Presentation on Wednesday 15th July – Developer Productivity

JPSB — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:00:00 GMT

The folks at VAN were kind enough to give me the opportunity to speak on the topic of developer productivity. We are going to attempt to discuss factors that can prevent us from achieving betters levels of productivity in our workplace. Of course, I am sure there are going to be other topics that come up!!

If you have time and are able to make it it would be great to have you join in on the conversation:

Start Time: Wed, July 15, 2009 8:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours
End Time: Wed, July 15, 2009 10:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

Develop With Passion!!

Avoid the trap of perfectionism

JPSB — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:00:00 GMT

I am just in the process of thinking about a VAN presentation that I am going to be delivering. The topic is that of developer productivity. One of the things I read this morning was an excerpt from the book Pragmatic Thinking and Learning (an amazing book). The actual fragment that caught my attention was written by an author named Anne Lamott:

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to de. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are gong to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it."

This fragment sums up perfectly a phrase I say "a lot" to people that I have an opportunity to work with: "Perfect is the enemy of the good", I can't remember where I first heard that phrase many years ago, but it has been something that I tell myself all the time. I am not at all trying to say that we should not strive for excellence in the tasks that we undertake, I am just saying that the very act of wanting to come up with the "perfect" answer/solution right off the bat is the very thing that can often stop you from even starting the effort in a timely fashion. Instead of writing a crappy piece of code and taking the time to refactor to a cleaner solution, you can spend countless amounts of time staring at a screen, reading a book on good design, looking at other good designs. None of these activities are fruitless, but if they are the very things that stop you from making your own progress then they actually become a detriment to your individual progress. Worse, if those activities further cause you to think about how "imperfect" your own initial solution might be, you can very well paralyze yourself and put yourself in a situation where you will waste precious time.

Today you may well be facing down a tough problem, one that you have not yet faced before. My recommendation for you is tackle the problem in context, draw from your past skills, learn from your mistakes, and just take the first step. As a diligent coder you are not going to allow code smells to remain in the product that you build, but allow yourself to let the code take its initial shape and then "refactor without mercy". Rinse and repeat this process until you have your solution in hand. Enjoy yourself, remember why you became a coder in the first place.

Develop With Passion!!