How About A Little Love

The following post is likely to be construed as treason by a lot of different groups.  However, here it goes……

 I Like Microsoft Office 2007!

 There, I said it.  I feel much better now. 

Yes, I know, Microsoft is evil.  Yes, I know Office isn’t a true “development platform”.  Yes, I know all this.  However, because of several serious personality flaws, I like it.  The overriding flaw is….I am horribly lazy.  When I am approached to help someone with a problem, they usually say something like…”Can Excel do this?  I am really good at using Excel.”

I know many who take a comment like this as an insult.  “How dare a non-techie suggest I use an inferior, non-OO tool for app dev.  They will take what I give them.   Office….hmmph!”

I, on the other hand, think it is extremely smart to give someone a solution using a tool they understand and feel comfortable with.  Allows me to help them…and move on.  Cool.  They don’t call me every time they need a new chart, or report, or a mail merge.  Not bad.  Sure, I may miss out on some extra $$$ for these tasks.  But, in the end, people like the idea I deliver apps to them in a way they can use and extend, that they ask me to do more for them.  Really cool.

I have used Office for many, many years.  However, once Microsoft starting dropping VBA into all of the tools (except that damn Outlook) I started seeing some opportunities.  Access, Excel, and Word…with some Outlook automation…can get you pretty far in the world of small-scale apps for small groups or individuals. 

I know….Office apps aren’t scaleable….they can promote poor development practices…yah yah yah.  But, in these situations, those aren’t compelling arguments.  At least not to me or the office clerk who just wants “their Excel” to do something that takes them a couple hours every week.

I just recently installed Office 2007.  Unlike many of the previous version of Office, this one has some compelling reasons to upgrade.  The UI for most of the core apps has undergone a significant facelift (much overdue), and the new default file format is XML…not the old binary format. 

I haven’t tried tweaking the new UI ribbons much yet….but have played around quite a bit with the new XML file format.  Having followed along with some online labs….I have to say the new formats are a tremendous improvement in terms of programatic manipulation.  I know, this is nothing a user should or would see….but this is such a cool improvement for someone developing with the tools.

As I started this post….so I will finish it…. I know Office is expensive.  I know Office is a huge, fat client app.  I know there are “free” alternatives.  But MS Office is the bread and butter of  almost everyone I help.  And I do think it is something Microsoft done well with this version.

Footnotes:  No, I do not work for Microsoft.  No, I have never been paid to post about Microsoft.  Yes, I am a dork.

Filed under: MS Office, Tools, programming

The Passion Of Programming

I know this title sounds ultra-geeky.  But this post is a retrospect on how cool it used to feel to write computer programs.  Like most things in life, time (along with other things) wears down the enthusiasms associated with things you love to do. 

For me, I can remember sitting in front of a Commodore 64 thinking up cool things to program.  Writing programs that Poked/Peeked places on the monitor….that manipulated the cassette player input drive.  Then getting a modem and actually connecting to CompuServe.  Unbelievable.

In high school we had a TRS-80.  We learned BASIC…and played a lot of Lunar Lander.  That was a program where you tried to land on the moon, controlling thrust and descent.  No real graphics….but it sure was fun.

Then, in the early and mid 80’s learning Pascal, C, Data Structures, Assembler, Fortran, and BASIC.  It was still an incredible rush to figure out those oddball assignments like using recursion to simulate parking cars on the street.  Then, one semester, we had to write our own compiler.  Everyone was assigned to a team of three.  My two partners were more interested in checking out the closest bar than writing the compiler.  At the time I could not understand it.  So, I wrote the compiler.  How could anyone not want to solve this problem quickly???  A valuable lesson in life was learned.

Then, after graduation, came the hunt for a job.  This is where I started to lose that enthusiasm.  Each rejection letter seemed to take a little more out of me.  Finally, I landed a cool job with a good company.  I was sure I would enjoy this.

 Another lesson hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had to go to meetings?  Fill out deliverable documents???  Only 25% of the time was spent programming?  Wait a second.  Then, over the years that 25% was whittled down to 20%, 18%, 10%, to now around 5%.  For, you see, the skill of programming is not the highly valued skill it used to be.  It has been commoditized.  All development must be done according to strict rules and guidelines.  The personal reward and gratification derived by the creativity and innovation has been almost completely stripped out.

This isn’t limited to a few companies.  It is more and more common. 

Yes, I know, I sound like a spoiled baby.  “You still get paid a nice salary.  If you don’t like it, leave.”  I would….but with a family rooted in the area, that isn’t easy.  And I really do like the company I work for….just wish I still had the passion I used to have.

I try to stay atune to programming by writing tools at home, as well as helping organizations and clubs who have purchased computers but need help realizing their true value.  Helping people like that does give me a boost.  There are some incredibly cool technologies now that make computer programming really interesting.  Those keep me pumped, too.

Maybe it doesn’t have to do with programming at all.  Maybe I just don’t want to grow up any more.  I want to be that kid again. 

Maybe I should go to ebay and start looking for a Commodore.

Filed under: programming

APL – Look Ma, No Words

For several years I helped support the APL2 programming language at my company.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with APL, which stands for A Programming Language, is strongest when used to solve problems related to math, science, engineering, data visualization, actuarial science, etc.  One of its strengths is that is manages data in matrices, and provides many native functions that manipulate these objects directly. 

APL was invented by a Kenneth E. Iverson in 1957.  To quote Homer Simpson, the man is SMRT.

 APL has some very interactive qualities, which makes it great for quick trial/error development.  The true uniqueness of APL is the fact that it uses a completely unique notation as its “language”.   When I supported APL, I had to have a completely different keyboard and keyboard map that allowed me to write the code.

For example, here is a sample of APL code:

 

Pretty cool, eh?

While I was never a true APL guru (many mathematicians I worked with were true power users) I was able to create some very robust applications rapidly.  With its inherent support for matrices, it had a very strong relationship with relational data.  Of course, I pity anyone who picks up an APL program and, without comments or doc or experience, tries to figure out what those arrows and dots really do.

I think this quote really sums up APL well:

“APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection. It is the language of the future for the programming techniques of the past: it creates a new generation of coding bums.” Edsger Dijkstra, 1968

Filed under: Languages, Past Work

A Word Or Two About AMIATTTW

I have worked in the IT industry for almost 25 years.  I have seen a lot….and have enjoyed the entire trip.  I have always wanted to have a way to capture and share my thoughts on technology (past/present/near future) injecting a little humor along the way.

This blog will be my outlet.  In the coming weeks and months I will be looking back at some of the cool stuff I have had the opportunity to work with….as well as talk about technologies I think are cool today.

Welcome to my mind 

Filed under: Intro