Stu Andrews

When Lazy Programming Is Bad

Stu Andrews — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:03:56 +0000

It’s a bit frustrating when people hide behind the “Lazy Programmer” tag.

There is nothing good about bad “lazy” programming.

Discipline yourself in the small things, and it’ll help at 3am when you’re bleary-eyed and trying to work out whether that should be an “equals” or a “not equals” IF statement. Trust me, that’s from more than my fair share of stupidly late nights.

It’s such a simple thing to disable and enable a button on a simple dialog window like this one.

1. By default, disable the OK button (because it’s the one that moves you forward and you want the User to make a choice).

2. When a selection is made, enable the button.

3. OR, default to a selection (eg. “U. S. English” in this example) and the logic enables the button.

What’s the big deal?

It’s often the case that Software Developers, sometimes very very good ones, talk about adding polish later.

There is truth in this, but it’s also a bad thing when taken to the extreme.

IF you can’t spare 5 minutes to write the logic for disabling/enabling a button on a simple choice dialog window THEN you are not fulfilling your mighty destiny as a Software Developer ELSE you gain a little bit of experience for the next level (which no doubt has some cool power-ups).

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Being A Creative Christian

Stu Andrews — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:19:17 +0000

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Genesis 1:1

The very first words in the Bible, that which Christians hold to be the living, inerrant and infallible Word of God, give us a clear picture of God Almighty as Creator.

“And God saw that it was good.”

We are hardwired to create because God creates. We are made in His image. He creates. We create.

This has been on my mind for a long time now. In fact, these thoughts probably began back when I started writing stories and wondering why God put within me a burning desire to make stuff.

Of primary concern to me then is the above. That God is CREATOR. And so I, in His image, reflecting His glory, can create.

All for His glory.

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Within Arms Distance Of Her Majesty

Stu Andrews — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:42:32 +0000

The fat gray drops of rain splattered about, around my feet, on my new suit pants and coat, mussing my new haircut.

The camera, if there were one, pans up and forward, and you can see a line of people waiting to be admitted into the grounds of Buckingham Palace, home to Kings and Queens and not-so-bonnie Princes.

If you were to put on x-ray specs, for that it what you’d need to see inside the Palace, given no cameras or video recorders were allowed, it would be with awe and wonder that you would gaze about at the marble busts of kings, the oil paintings of the royal families, the stern-faced real-life guards upright and silent.

The Investiture was held in the Ballroom. It was a large room, with red-carpeted seat benches lining three of the four walls, and then seats ordered in the front half of the floor.

We were given an order of service, and then one of the officials walked us through what would be happening. Dancing girls, kegs of mead, haunches of roast boar .. Ahem. No.

We were seated right at the back, and above us was a small Orchestra from one of the Military Bands. They played an excellent mix of old, middle and new music, starting with “When Somebody Loved Me”, the song in Toy Story 2 (Sarah McLachlan sings it).

I’ve blogged about Grandpa’s story, and Mum has an entire blog dedicated to the story of Grandpa and Grandma in China as Missionaries, and Grandpa’s time as a soldier.

The importance of the Gurkha’s (of which Grandpa was a Captain) was underlined in the Investiture. Two Gurkha Orderly Officers attend the Queen as she entered the Ballroom, a tradition begun in 1876 by Queen Victoria.

There were quite a number of people receiving awards on that day. By far, the majority were for non-military reasons. I was reminded of the awarding of a “Colors Coat” at school, and the indignation expressed by some (the relief by others) when Non-Sporting Colors were given.

However, in my mind, Grandpa’s award was the most important of that day. Because I’m biased. But also because it was posthumously given over 60 years after being awarded. And because it was for military service.

Two people were knighted. One person was already a “Sir” but got a different Order.

On a more amusing side, someone got an MBE for “Services to Knitting” or some-such. I cast no disdain on the person who received it; But the contrast between an award for battle, war, killing and violence in defence of one’s country or beliefs as opposed to the practice of making scarves is quite stark.

Mum was at the end of the handful of Military awards. As she approached the Queen, things did get quite emotional. I felt Kate (sister) start to feel the same, and I’m sure Dad was too (wasn’t sitting next to him).

There was a lot of weight on this moment in time. There was the amazing story of the last few months, of how the MBE was discovered. There was the life of Grandpa and Grandma White, of which we grandchildren barely knew, but now has been brought to light through Mum. There was the presence of one of the last true earthly Sovereigns.

And there was the memory of Grandpa himself. That he was awarded this, dare I say when these awards meant a lot more, and that he lived his life without it. That he would probably shrug, wave his hand, and think nothing of it anyway. But that we, his children and grandchildren, can honour this memory in the receiving of the award, and in the retelling of the story.

I feel compelled to be clear, as in previous posts. I do not hold Grandpa in a “saint” status. Yes, he was a hero to me, especially as a younger man, but not more than my own Dad is. And certainly in no way sinless.

Visiting the Queen was an amazing experience. The whole weight of Grandpa’s MBE made this something truly special and “once in a lifetime” in it’s events.

Oh, and yes, Her Majesty passed within a couple of meters of us folk in the back row.

Next in this series is a couple of posts about Ireland, visiting some fantastic landmarks and places.

A Man Who Walked The Mountains

London Baby!

Stu Andrews — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:27:20 +0000

I’m sitting in front of a very cozy fire somewhere in the wilds of Northern Ireland.

Last Thursday and Friday I was treated to the sights and sounds of London. I arrived via Fly-Through-The-Air-Mobile at around 5am to Heathrow, and immediately got on the wrong side of the lady behind the train station counter by asking what would be the best train to get to a particular address (where we were staying).

I arrived at the station quite a while later, emerging into the brisk air of a London morning. I wandered around a little, asking people for directions. I finally went into a Starbucks and got some helpful advice. About two miles later I hit up some Police-Folk who advised me I needed to walk all the way back and another mile or so.

Interesting.

Anyway, after a shower and wotnot, I started to enjoy the stay. We got into the city proper (I suppose), and immediately got into the map.

London is an interesting place. Especially for a mortal such as myself who hasn’t ever been there, and tends to be very child-like in my excitement.

First. Let it be known that it was in London I had my first New York sandwich. Salted roast beef. Some kind of gerkin-ee thing. Mustard perhaps? Whatever made up that delightful piece of delicacy, it was fantastic.

Second. Because it was quite cold outside, I figured a fellow such as myself who sweats a great deal would have it wonderfully brisk throughout the day. I forgot to take into account that everyone else doesn’t like to be cold, and so the inside of places is quite warm.

Third. They have some small cars.

Fourth. And this is true for Ireland now that I’ve visited here a bit too. When you look at a building, it’s possible that the building has been around for a long time. I mean, in Aus, it’s an old building to have been around at the turn of the century. Here, wowza. That’s a youngling.

Only being a day after Remembrance Day (11/11), there was a lot of memory around.

We discovered a section for the Gurkha’s, and decided to do a cross for Grandpa.

After this, my brain started to blur. We were given a guided tour of St. Pauls Cathedral. That was a wonder. So much history. One particular piece is that after the Second World War, a fair chunk of the space was given over to architecture for the United States, the men who served, died, and the help that they gave. Also, you get to have a cup of tea in the Crypt. Also, everywhere important has a Crypt. But it’s friendly. No zombies or ghouls that I could see.

I’ve got a couple of videos that’ll hopefully be edited into a single and put up here soon.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Dad and the GIANT lions. Which are metal. But still awesome.

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My Time In San Francisco

Stu Andrews — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:23:30 +0000

Wow.

It was an amazing journey. While I only had two nights in San Francisco, it felt like a lot longer.

Steve was the coolest travelling companion (go those Koalas!). We were the Aussie team, and it was a fantastic time.

I got to play “The PayPal Song” at the big party on Tuesday night. Very cool.

San Francisco is a great city, and I can make that claim from my all-of-2 days in it :)

PayPal’s Biggest Secret

Stu Andrews — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:34:58 +0000

I’m at Innovate09 right now.

You want to know the best thing about PayPal?

The new APIs are amazing, and are the tools to a wonderful kingdom of Scrooge McDuck Money Swimming, but that’s not it.

The direction is encouraging, and obviously well thought out, but that’s not it.

It’s not even that they gave us all a netbook yesterday (Wowza!).

The best thing about PayPal, and it’s their best secret too, because you don’t know about it until you meet them.

The best thing is that they notice you. They talk to you.

I’m sitting in the Code Pit coding away, watching a whole bunch of PayPal folk. They’re sitting with developers mulling over code, listening to a new sales pitch from another dude with a great idea, and walking about making conversation, real conversation.

That’s the best thing about PayPal. I’ve talked about it before, and it’s as true now as it was then.

PayPal Notice You.

And So We Arrive In San Francisco

Stu Andrews — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:17:11 +0000

So I’ve now landed in a completely different country for the first time in my life!

I’m currently struggling to stay awake, but should be fine. It’s 5pm now, will be having dinner soon.

Innovate 09 starts tomorrow .. CANNOT WAIT!

The PayPal Song (Where Nessie Is Real)

Stu Andrews — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:41:19 +0000

Ahhh, it might not be manly, but this song makes me giggle. You’ll know which parts.

It’s less than a week until I’m off to San Francisco to Innovate09 (the PayPal devcon), and this song appeared in my brain yesterday and finished up tonight.

I had a completely different song to begin with. But this just flowed. And was funny. Heh heh. Wiping the Matrix 2 and 3 from history. Gold.

A Man Who Walked The Mountains

Stu Andrews — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:37:31 +0000

Of mortal folk, only my Dad influenced me more as a young man than my Grandpa.

Grandpa was a big man. In stature, but also in presence. He was commanding, even as he grew older. The only time I remember him different was at his deathbed.

Grandpa was a soldier. He fought as a Captain in the Royal British Army, his command being with the Gurkha’s in Burma.

Grandpa was one of the most humble men I’ve ever known. Like my Dad. Sure, on the outside they might have been different. But both men meekly walk(ed) under the mighty hand of God, seeking out His glory rather than their own.

Grandpa was awarded an MBE for his actions in the war. He never received it. He was a member of the British army, but he was born and bred here in Australia. After he returned with Grandma and Mum the MBE didn’t find him.

Before and after his time in the military Grandpa worked in China as a Missionary. It was in China that he met Grandma. It was in China that my Mum was born.

Mum has written a blog called “My China Mystery”. It’s her telling of Grandpa and Grandma’s story from the many letters, photos and memories throughout her life.

I cannot read it without a deep emotion welling up in my heart.

Here is history that should be treasured. Here is a story of courage, of humility, of love both romantic and eternal.

Read the prologue, and you will see a child’s experience of a father who went to war and came back changed. It hurts my heart to read this passage. That a child would know these things at such an early age. That Grandpa was a man broken by the war and (I would surmise) the seeming failure of Christian witness in China. Grandpa, Grandma and Mum had to flee China in 1949.

My Grandpa sent me a letter many years ago. I was at the beginning of University, and had begun “preaching on the lawns”. It was an intense time of passion and facing the fear of rebuke and mockery.

His letter told me of how he had stood on soapboxes in Melbourne, preaching the Word of God. It was a handwritten letter that I kept close for many years. Reading it was a window into the world of my Grandpa.

Grandpa was a man. But he was my Grandpa.

I miss him now, and look forward to singing the praise of the King together with him in the fullness of time.

My Mum was invited to Buckingham Palace to posthumously receive Grandpa’s MBE. Mum invited me, as well as Dad and my next Sis, along. So come mid-November I’ll be sitting in the presence of the Queen of England, thinking about Grandpa who’s no longer broken, but sanctified fully and in the presence of the King of all Creation.

Sadness. But joy entwines it, and brings us through.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Super-Powered Geek

Stu Andrews — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:56:24 +0000

In preparation for recording the PayPal Song I’m writing :), I decided to record Super-Powered Geek.

This was a song I wrote for Barcamp Sydney 2009. It’s on YouTube already, but this is my “home” edition.

Small Disciplines Of A Tubby Man

Stu Andrews — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:49:53 +0000

Yesterday I girded my loins and decided to walk a bit of the way home. I surprised myself by walking over halfway (Don’t forget I had a knee ligament thingy reconstruction a few weeks back). I didn’t push it, cause I’ve been informed by the excellent folk who hook me up to ancient and mad-scientist-looking electrical discharge machines that if you push too hard it swells and swelling is bad for healing.

So. I took the bus. Knee was fine, not much swelling. Icepacked it, but didn’t feel overly sore.

Today I thought I’d try again, but didn’t even think about stopping. Just that I was walking home. 5 kms. Not much by any standard, except that of a tubby man coming off reconstructive surgery (love how that sounds).

Did it, reading a Harry Dresden book on my iPhone, without much trouble at all. The legs are a little muscular-sore, but that’s to be expected (and looked forward to by me I might add, finally, some indication of physical exercise, ha).

So the point of this post is three-fold.

Perhaps it’s the whisper of summer in the air, but I feel motivated to start getting content on the blog regularly in preparation for the upcoming trips.
Little. By. Little. Sometimes my frustration at being unable to exercise leaks out. But it’s far better to be slowly getting better with the future hope of exercise than to be broken without the possibility again.
I do love a good yarn. Or at least a yarn I’m telling :)

And For My Next Trick, San Francisco!

Stu Andrews — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:46:15 +0000

Phew. We (the Beautiful One, Barbarian Kid Hordes, and me) returned last night from four days in the beautiful town of Eden.

Apart from going on an amazing Whale-Watching ocean tour thingy, the main event was the Clarion Aussie Devcon 2009. I’ll be putting up my thoughts on Clarion Folk (along with some mini interviews I did on the iPhone).

Now is the next step in my winter of crazy non-discontent!

This time two weeks from now I’ll be on a plane to San Francisco!

“You lie.” I hear you say. But no, it’s true.

PayPal Australia (Jonathan is Captain Awesome) are sending Steve and myself across as representatives from the Australian PayPal Development community.

This. Is. Going. To. Be. HUGE!

I’ve never been overseas. And here I was thinking the Queen visit was going to be my maiden voyage from the sunburnt country.
The idea that PayPal would find enough in me, in what I do, to send me that-a-way.
The possibilities inherent in going to the States, to the first ever PayPal Devcon (Innovate), to meeting stupid amounts of other developers.
Being able to bring along my guitar (and a PayPal song, awww yeah).

It’s fair to say that this has been / will be so far the biggest, most momentous year of my vocational life.

PayPal Continues To Make The Right Moves

Stu Andrews — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:59:25 +0000

Not long back a decent-sized envelope arrived in the mail.

Contained within were lots of paper, including a Certificate to signify I was now a certified PayPal developer.

Sure, I look very handsome next to the Certificate. And sure, I do google myself regularly.

And alternatively “sure”, any company can send out pieces of paper.

What is quite obvious (and the below is an example) is this:

PayPal is rushing forward into battle, hearts beating to a far better and more awesome drum, wielding more than plastic swords and papier-mâché battle axes.

Last night I was invited to a very trendy place down within the ultra-chic surroundings of Darling Harbour.

Not only did I get to meet up with Scott again after the Sydney Dev Day; Not only did I meet new folk; Not only was there the company of the most handsome and friendly Australia PayPal faces (Jonathan and Spiro, you know who I’m talking about), but:

I got to sit next to and go all “I’ve got this utterly unique earth-shattering idea that of course is awesome” to This Guy. Osama is the freaking Vice President of All-Things-Awesome at PayPal. He’s so cool that he pretended to like my many and varied stories about what I digested that morning and why the world would be a better place if desktop systems came back in vogue (ahem).
I got to swap manly football stories with This Guy. Naveed hasn’t been at PayPal long, but you wouldn’t know it. He’s one switched-on dude, and puts you at ease the moment you start talking. Also, he likes rugby. Jonathan AND Naveed. If I worked for PayPal that would be 3, count em, 3 people who were rugby nuts. Nice.

It’s quite clear that the unveiling of the new Development Environment at Innovate09 is a BIG DEAL.

It’s also quite clear that what the PayPal guys will be unveiling is an even BIGGER DEAL. All of the PayPal folk tonight were excited to talk about what is coming up, even though they couldn’t tell us everything.

Nothing was let slip, except that it will be HUGE.

A lot of what they are doing is out there now, in beta. Developers have already started making some fantastic stuff, like TwitPay, and it’s just (or not even) the beginning!

What’s exciting about hanging out with the PayPal crowd that I’ve met is that their enthusiasm is infectious. It’s real, and your own imaginative synapses start to fire.

So, I’d like to pass on some THANKYOUS:

Thankyou Jonathan, for the invitation, the organising, the time spent away from your burgeoning family :), and for being real good people.
Osama and Naveed for finding energy after such an exhaustive couple of weeks, for asking us what we think should be the future, and for not showing any disappointment at the fact that only half a dozen folk turned up.
And Spiro, for being ultra-cool AND ultra-geek. Leading the way man.

Source Control In A Binary File Environment

Stu Andrews — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:12:14 +0000

The year is 2009 AD. Development is entirely occupied by the Text File Environment. Well, not entirely … One small village of indomitable Coders still holders out against the invaders.

(Paraphrased from that most excellent of stories, the Asterix series)

I work with Binary files. That’s right. And I’m okay with that.

However, as with that small village of indomitable Gauls, it’s a big world of text-editing coders out there.

If you fire up SVN or CVS or VSS (three letters seems to be the norm), they are built around having many developers working on text files and who want to merge and branch and slice and dice. Fancy stuff.

Source Control with Binary Files just doesn’t work the same, inherently.

“Yeah yeah” You say. “Stop boring me and being lame. We all know that.”

Actually, I had head knowledge of this truth for a long time, but until the last week when it was tested, I truly did not _know_.

We have a small development team, but it’s larger than one. There are three of us who work with a development tool that creates binary files. Sure, there are source files that are text, but we don’t work IN them, usually.

Circumstances changed over the past couple of months, so that we had to implement a serious (not just copy and paste backups, which I do with great gusto, having retentive folder structures and the whole kit) source control solution.

Having used Tortoise SVN for a couple of years for myself, I put my hand up to implement that.

It worked, until the “multi” part of multi-developer kicked in.

It failed big time.

Why?

Because of two reasons:

- I didn’t know Tortoise SVN well enough. All my limited experience had been single-user. We needed a solution that would work multi.

- I did not ask the right questions. Yes, SVN can handle what we need (explanation of that coming). But I didn’t ask the right questions when doing some research into it to find out HOW to get SVN to work.

The big problem was that, out of the box, Tortoise SVN doesn’t stop you from committing files other people are working in.

Yes, it allows you to lock a file. And yes, you can make it work this way. But this requires more knowledge and understanding than I had at the time.

So we turned to Visual Source Safe (the VSS from above).

Out of the box, after a nice MS wizard, we populated the repo and assigned our working folders. It makes all the files in the repo read-only. Which means our “app” files are read-only. Which means we’d actually have to make the decision to “UN” read-only them before we could get around the problem. And that step is one big wall in the way of accidental code loss.

What’s my point?

If you develop with binary files, in a multi-developer environment, make sure your Source Control implementation stops you working on a file unless you’ve checked it out.

Installing Windows 7, Even A Monkey ..

Stu Andrews — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:53:48 +0000

Over the past couple of days I’ve put myself through installing the Windows 7 RC.

Apart from one grossly stupid moment of my own doing, it’s been a fantastic experience.

If there was a single word I could give about Windows 7, it would be:

Polish.

I’ve gotten a few tips together in this experience.

Tips

Get an External Hard Drive (and BE PATIENT).
- I picked up a Terabyte one from JBs. While the copying of files can be stupidly slow (especially if you’re using Vista), it’s worth it. I’ve got a lot of potential and actual money on my Development Laptop (DevTop, just because).

DO NOT DELETE FILES UNTIL 10 DAYS LATER!
- I lost my 8G music collection because I was too quick to delete folders without waiting to see what I’d forgotten _about_ said folder.
- Makes me cry on the inside AND outside.
- Also, I’m not sure about plugging my iPhone in. It’ll Synch, which is bad. It’s currently got my latest music on it. The music that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

Be courageous.
- Especially if you’re running Vista, and you’re a Developer, MAKE THE LEAP.
- The Windows 7 installer makes some really intelligent decisions, the best by far being to back up NOT ONLY your Vista (or other) Windows folder, but all of the “windows” folders throughout the system. Users, Documents, etc etc. Very handy.

While Installing, make a list of essential programs you remember.
- I found it a good experience to go from memory. Why?
  - Because it removes the clutter. Only install what you remember using a lot. The other stuff will come.

My Important List

Adobe Reader
AV (I chose Avira, but there’s others .. AVG, Kaspersky, Nod32 – Thanks Steve! ..)
Axialis IconWorkshop
Chrome Apps
- Gmail
Firefox
FileZilla
Google Chrome
Google Desktop
Gtalk
iTunes
Notepad++
Oldaer
Paint.NET
Picasa
Skype
SnagIt
Windows Live Writer

That’s what I’ve got so far.

And there you have it. Tonight will be my first foray into some serious development, using Clarion 6. Have had a few gotchas implementing that as well. Being that Clarion 6 is a 16-bit IDE doesn’t help so much :)

Windows 7 .. Tip of the hat and kudos to the team!