Coders at work

I have just read "Coders at work" by Peter Seibel.

This book contained a collection of interviews with people who have developed important pieces of software such as javascript. The interviewer asks questions about the process of writing code, what books they read, how their career developed. It was interesting to see how most of them didn't use UML or any other diagram formulation, other than some pictures on a white board. Some of them had to also get other people to help them with the version control systems.

I thought this book was fantastic! However, I am not sure I would ever recommend it to students. It would distract them to see the pragmatic techniques used by these coders. Although many of the interviewers used many techniques from computer science degrees.

It would be nice to have a similar book from theoretical particle physicists, that explained what people actually did. However, given the big egos of many theorists and their hopes for Nobel prizes, many of the interviews would end up as fantasy. Personally I wouldn't want some one like Hawking to contribute.

Getting ready for new years eve

I am getting a better at this living in Germany business. On last years New year's eve I went down to my local supermarket at about 4. Only to find it was shut. I didn't expect it be open until 8, but closing at 4 seemed a bit extreme. In the UK the supermarkets put up huge signs with their opening hours, weeks in advance of any holiday. This is particularly weird, because the shops hardly ever close anyway. In Germany, the supermarkets put up a little sign with the hours, if you are lucky. They also close at any execuse.

On New Year's even last year, after I found that my local supermarket was closed, so I walked into town. But I found no open supermarkets, not even the one in the railway station. I was starting to panic that I was going to have a dry New years eve. Luckily I found the off license near the railway station was still open.

This year I went for my beer supply at 12:15 -- just to be sure. There is still snow on the ground, so I am not keen to go for a drink in a bar. Anyway I have not found any fun bars in Wuppertal -- mostly just grandpa pubs. At the super-marked I also got some black fizzy wine. There will be fireworks all over the valley at 24:00, which last year looked very pretty. I have just downloaded the latest series of Dr. Who from Itunes so I am set for the evening.

This year I went for my beer supply at 12:15 -- just to be sure. There is still snow on the ground, so I am not keen to go for a drink in a bar. Anyway I have not found any fun bars in Wuppertal -- mostly just grandpa pubs. At the super-marked I also got some black fizzy wine. There will be fireworks all over the valley at 24:00, which last year looked very pretty. I have just downloaded the latest series of Dr. Who from Itunes so I am set for the evening.

My cousin told me about a German tradition of watching some video of a women and servant eating a dinner on New Years eve. When I looked it up I found that the sketch was actually in English.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest

Yesterday was another wasted morning. Thank God, trilogies only come in threes. I finished off reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson. I started reading the book when I was traveling, but I was to tired to finish it off on the plane and train.

The book was cleverly plotted and it was fun to watch all the investigations come together. Also I got some insight into the way jounalists work -- although perhaps not those who work at the Sun and other UK tabloids.

There are rumors that Larsson had started a fourth book before he died. There is still the mystery of Salander's sister. Also, perhaps there could be a little cyber warfare against Sweden. Anyway I am done after reading three.

Well, perhaps I should watch all the films (from Sweden and not the planned crappy Hollywood remakes) now..

X-mass 2010

So another trip back to the UK for Christmas. I flew into Manchester airport from the Bonn-Cologne airport with German wings. Needless to say I was worried about problems with snow and ice. Every year now we seem to have sub zero temperatures from December to March. I managed to fly in and out on days with no fresh snow.

On the bus from Manchester to Burnley I saw how cool Manchester is. As well as Christmas markets, the city also now has Ferris wheels. I like the way the Cathedral is almost hidden away and not the main area of the city -- as it should be.

On the bus, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a women sort out a cable to a MP3 player. When I looked more closely I saw that she was actually knitting, and of course she was old.

Now I don't want to complain or rant on about stuff, but there was aspect of my holiday, that was not very satisfactory. I was expecting to watch most of the last series of Dr Who on the Iplayer. However the BBC had not repeated any of the episodes recently, so the Iplayer was empty of Dr Who. I was distraught. OK, I enjoyed the Dr Who Christmas special, but it wasn't enough!

Now I don't want to complain or rant on about stuff, but there was aspect of my holiday, that was not very satisfactory. I was expecting to watch most of the last series of Dr Who on the Iplayer. However the BBC had not repeated any of the episodes recently, so the Iplayer was empty of Dr Who. I was distraught. OK, I enjoyed the Dr Who Christmas special, but it wasn't enough!

Back in Germany, there is nothing on the TV, apart from some a program about the Tudors.

X-mas reading

During my Christmas break in Burnley I read Witch & Wizard by James Patterson.

The main reason I read the book was because it was free and I like magic in a totally non-nerdy way. The book was free, because it was given away as part of some literacy drive. The target audience for the book was young adult. I liked the technical aspects of the story. He flipped the perspective of the story from the brother to the sister for every chapter. Also the chapters were very short, which is good, when a person's reading time is sneaking off during an episode of Eastenders.

The author James Patterson has written a lot of books.

snow

It seems only yesterday that there was snow on the ground, but it was March maybe. I have not been out of my flat all weekend. I start to go crazy if I don't go out for a couple of days. Of course, when I say out, what I actually mean is go to the shops or work, rather than a long hike through a forest.

The picture is the view from my window.

Cloud computing

I have spent part of the weekend reading "Cloud Computing" by Christopher Barnatt. The basic idea of cloud computing is to run many applications on giant data servers hosted by big companies, such as google, rather than on your own computers.

Gven that I already use many cloud computing servies such as google docs and indeed this blogging site, I didn't really learn that much. Many of the cloud computer ideas were around in dot-com era, but the time was not right then. Now with broadband and 3G these techniques are more practicable.

I did see people pushing cloud ideas a couple of years ago, but it wasn't clear to me that they would take off. What I did gain from the book was that, these tools are great for small businesses. There is a lot of software for doing things like payroll.

music in Wuppertal

When I lived in Kentucky I walked into a small club called "the Wrocklage" and heard some guitars, and I thought "I can live here for a while."

I have not found any good music clubs in Wuppertal, but I have not been looking too hard. Sometimes I do need to hear some wild sounds and suck down a couple of beers. Last Friday I found club pavillon that is close to the railway station. It sometimes seems to host live music. This evening I could have gone to see a metallica tribute band, but it is cold and there is some snow on the ground. This is probably part of the problem, perhaps my wild years are behind me. (I think not).