tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-184468092024-03-13T09:13:29.068-04:00Mental NinjaA few bits short of a byteRobert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-78486586925928991072014-04-10T09:44:00.002-04:002014-04-10T20:52:28.503-04:00A WARNING for Project Managers of software development projectsI had a conversation with a friend last night and he was telling me about how an acquaintance of his, a project manager, had to watch the development team like a hawk to ensure that they delivered on time. If you work on technology projects you have likely seen this behavior before, and in my mind this is a dangerous game.
To understand why we need to go back in time to when we were kids. Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-34980994866328260932010-04-17T10:28:00.000-04:002010-04-17T10:31:11.450-04:00Use the right tool for the job, or notAn intelligent developer always advocates that you should "use the right tool for the job". But is there really a "right" tool, or is that just the developer's way of being tolerant to other languages and tools? I suggest that in 90% of development projects the "right" tool is strictly the preference of the developer and that there is no concrete reason that the tool chosen is the best fitRobert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-84804939496727705762010-04-14T09:48:00.003-04:002010-04-14T18:37:41.712-04:00Philly ETE 2010 - Battle of the Frameworks (slides)Here are the slides from the Battle of the Frameworks, which was held on April 9th 2010.The audio of the event can be found here.Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-52407851783261291002010-01-30T09:04:00.004-05:002010-01-30T10:23:41.713-05:00The Humane InterfaceIt has been a long time since my last post, but it is time to shake the dust off my blog and get back to work. There are a few cool things going on for me including a new book, a speaking gig, and some interesting projects. I'll post about all that stuff in the weeks to come, but for now I wanted to share a book that I am reading, The Humane Interface by Jef Raskin.Wait, wait! Don't go!I Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-31949254796421032822009-07-26T09:52:00.003-04:002009-07-26T09:59:05.568-04:00Managing a Remote Development TeamA friend of mine called the other day and was asking some questions about managing a development team that is separated by several time zones. I consider myself a thoughtful person, but not very quick, so the answer I provided was off the mark and not very insightful. Now that I have had a few days to ponder my answer, I believe that I now have something valuable to share.To make my advice Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-20744800870625104692009-05-16T09:11:00.005-04:002009-05-16T09:39:51.208-04:00Do you really need to test that?We all know Kent Beck. The co-creator of JUnit, one of the founding fathers of the Agile Manifesto, author of several eXtreme Programming books, just to highlight a few. Now that Kent has spent a decade telling us all to test everything... now he says, it is ok to skip testing.I'll let that sink in a bit.What he is basically saying is that it is ok for the kids to play in the street, if they Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-67389300824591372472009-05-13T21:30:00.002-04:002009-05-15T08:50:17.589-04:00Software CraftsmanshipIt has been a while since I sat down to write something, but that is because I have been caught up in learning. In March I presented at ETE in Philadelphia, and during my stay there I met a programming hippy Corey Haines. Corey was just like all of us, writing code for his day job, and like some of us enjoyed it. In December he lost his job, and with some money in the bank and a lot of free Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-67899757952666342242009-03-28T13:43:00.002-04:002009-03-28T13:47:11.784-04:00Introduction to GWT for DevelopersYesterday I presented a session on GWT at ETE 2009. Both the slides and demonstration files for the GWT presentation are available for download.Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-58472484263884921302009-03-28T08:51:00.003-04:002009-03-28T09:10:10.434-04:00ETE 2009 - Twittering ReflectionsI just got back from ETE 2009 in Philadelphia, and it was really a great conference. Andy Hunt the Pragmatic Programmer was one of the keynote speakers, as was the CTO behind the Obama on-line presence for the campaign.I learned a lot, but something that really stood out wasn't what was in the presentations, it was what was going on between the audience. It was Twitter.I have heard about peopleRobert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-66905009057429109792009-02-17T10:32:00.002-05:002009-02-17T10:53:03.039-05:00My PhilosophyEvery once in a while some tiny little event crosses your life's path and it becomes a keystone in your being. For me one such event was in the late 1990's when I was working as a web developer at a computer manufacturer.I recall talking with Phil from the marketing team. He was explaining some idea he had for the company website, probably related to a new customer tool. As usual I listened, Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-25936122525576627722009-01-14T09:32:00.003-05:002009-01-14T09:38:38.040-05:00Increasing Internet speeds for innovation, education, and the economyPlease Vote: Change.gov has a new feature called Citizen's Briefing Book, where I posted this article. If you agree with what I have to say here, I ask you to please vote for Increasing Internet speeds for innovation, education, and the economy.As a nation we suffer from relatively slow Internet connection speeds. By every account that I have heard, we are 15th world-wide and slipping fast. Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-11916138778436598492009-01-10T13:04:00.003-05:002009-01-10T13:25:23.219-05:00Free book Contagious hits NY Times Best Seller ListI have been listening to Scott Sigler's stories on his podcast for a few years now, and religiously bought his books when the finally came out in print. Yes... he provides the book for FREE as both a podcast and PDF, typically before it comes out in print.On December 30th Scott's book Contagious was released in print, and Contagious hit the New York Times Best Seller list in its first week. Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-79491715403161629302008-12-29T20:05:00.003-05:002008-12-29T20:23:14.791-05:00One RIA Framework to Rule Them AllI took some time on this holiday break to start experimenting with Silverlight and Flex, neither of which I have any experience with. While I was toying around with them I started thinking about the dizzying number of the RIA framework options.With Silverlight I really liked developing in Visual Studio, it was intuitive and fast. I also liked that fact that I could use XAML to markup the layoutRobert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-7641841257756527472008-12-24T13:35:00.002-05:002008-12-24T13:39:39.280-05:00Developing Applications more EfficientlyYour boss walks up to you and says, "we need to be more efficient". This seems reasonable; efficiency lowers costs, and assuming you don't sacrifice quality, who in their right mind would argue that this is a bad thing. But now think about it a little. How can you improve efficiency without being able to measure it? And how do you go about measuring efficiency when it comes to building Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-62340446218547482962008-12-13T08:47:00.015-05:002008-12-15T22:29:49.556-05:00Spring Security + Splunk = Security MonitoringFor many web sites Spring Security provides the framework to secure the site from unauthorized personal. This is a good start, but it won’t let you know when someone is testing your security to see if maybe they can sneak in. That is where Splunk comes in. Splunk is a tool that will analyze your log files real time, allowing reports and alerts to be generated. So if Splunk it to be the Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-34197895327906003592008-12-04T07:53:00.004-05:002008-12-04T08:26:49.241-05:00Log Analytics: SplunkSure, I use logs to troubleshoot problems, but I never gave it much thought as an analytics device since the rise of JavaScript based traffic analysis tools like Omniture and Google Analytics. I must say that I have sorely underestimated the power of logging.I say this because of a tool that I have begun using called Splunk. If I had to characterize Splunk, I would say that it is a data Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-3755874841175964032008-11-30T18:49:00.005-05:002008-11-30T18:58:16.837-05:00Thanksgiving Day Rick RollI know, I know. Rick rolling is so old now that everyone is over it. That might be true, but I can't help but get a kick out it when Rick Rolling hits mainstream television.Don't know what Rick Rolling is? You can get the full explanation here and here.If you didn't happen to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, check out this clip. I had thought originally thought that it was completelyRobert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-7801892642925067792008-07-31T07:29:00.004-04:002008-07-31T07:57:07.610-04:00What do you think "great software" means?I am always looking for new ideas and new ways of doing things. Today I find myself reading Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, and in chapter one it ask you the question, "what do you think great software means?".Ok, I'll take a stab at that.Great software does what the customer wanted, and a little bit more. From the user's point of view it should be simple, reliable, and easy to Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-33165775479496058342008-07-05T11:25:00.003-04:002008-08-20T22:08:28.669-04:00Launched Penlets.com, for Pulse Pen Users<backstory>Back in May I was at JavaOne and had a great time. Among other things I picked up a Pulse pen from Livescribe. If you haven't heard about the Pulse pen, here is the short version... The pulse pen is a computer in a pen, allowing you to record writing and audio as well as write penlet applications in Java. Pre-installed demos include a piano that your draw on the paper then tap Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-21466566426640402322008-05-13T08:54:00.003-04:002008-08-20T22:08:11.151-04:00Pimping for Scott SiglerIf you don't know him, you should. Scott Sigler is an "open-source" author who heard about this "podcasting thing" and just happened to have a finished book lying around. Sigler is arguably the father of serial podcast fiction, attempting to emulate the serial nature of radio stories from the 40's in this new format.His fans are fanatical about his work, and even though he gives away his books Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-25463805380018123432008-04-29T08:29:00.005-04:002008-08-20T22:07:17.334-04:00Countdown to JavaOne 2008 (and Twittering)This will be my first year going to JavaOne, and I am expecting to have a lot of fun. In creating my schedule I was a little surprised by the number of sessions on scripting languages. I guess I shouldn't be though, there has been a lot of news regarding scripting languages on the JVM in the last year. Here is a sampling of the sessions.JRuby: Why, What, How...Do It NowJavaScript Programming Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-21717336187811512542008-04-23T07:50:00.002-04:002008-04-23T08:17:49.074-04:00Are web apps moving to the Desktop?I saw an article on Ajaxian yesterday noting that Google was now allowing you to use their APIs in non-Ajax applications. For instance, you can now use their translation API from the server, or in a Flash application, or perhaps even from a VB application.This combined with the release of Adobe AIR, a platform form running "web applications" on the client, makes me wonder if the future of "Web Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-77276066543888827812008-04-22T17:12:00.002-04:002008-04-22T17:18:42.853-04:00.NET is leapfrogging Java and fairies just stole my underpantsI received an email from Manning along with a link to their forum that caused me to pause. It was titled "Has .NET Leapfrogged Java?".It seems that an anonymous author had three facts that made this true.1. .NET has LINQ2. C# had generics/foreach before Java.3. .NET has Python, Ruby, F# and others.These "facts" seemed a little light to me, and I said as much.If you have an opinion on the matter Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-36838164468489445992008-04-22T11:46:00.003-04:002008-04-22T12:09:28.382-04:00GWT-Ext vs. Ext-GWTIf you haven't seen Ext-JS, you should. It is a wicked cool API for JavaScript containing tons of widgets and tools. What immediately attracted were the rich set of attractive widgets that comes with Ext-JS out of the box.For us GWT developers there is a project that wraps the Ext-JS library for GWT, namely GWT-EXT (GWT before Ext). The initial release was in July of 2007, and since then it Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18446809.post-44523207859825810512008-03-08T08:19:00.006-05:002008-08-20T22:08:55.399-04:00Review: Project Management with JiraAccording to the Jira website, Jira is...JIRA is a bug tracking, issue tracking, and project management application developed to make this process easier for your team. JIRA has been designed with a focus on task achievement, is instantly usable and is flexible to work with.I had already been a casual user of Jira, but due to a business need I needed to look into it a bit further. I am rather Robert Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08140017560087576986noreply@blogger.com13