Archive for February, 2005

A look into the interviewing process at Microsoft

Published by ugo on February 28, 2005 in devel. 0 Comments

Hamilton recounts the story of his interviews for a position at Microsoft: “I counted 17 interviews in this whole process. I hope someday I face the “hell of the day” again. It was really fun.”

Seventeen interviews? And to be rejected! I knew Microsoft was famous for the thorough grilling to which it subjected applicants, but I would have never imagined that much. Especially when I compare Hamilton's experience to the interview I participated in today. One and a half hour! My boss used most of that time to talk about the company and he seemed to think that that was more than enough.

I would have liked to apply at least some techniques from Joel's The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing, but what the heck. If and when that candidate starts working here, I'll probably be already gone.

Five Goals for Source.zone

Published by ugo on February 28, 2005 in opensource. 0 Comments

Hypergene - Amazoning The News:


There are 5 basic goals that users come to the web for:

  1. Share […]
  2. Inform […]
  3. Create […]
  4. Entertain […]
  5. Transact […]

I'm noting this because these five goals might help to focus onto what I want to reach with Source.zone:

  1. Share: Let users share their knowledge and opinions about Open Source projecs.
  2. Inform: Of course providing information is the main goal of Source.zone.
  3. Create: Users must be able to participate in the creation of the information that the site provides.
  4. Entertain: Software need not be boring. We can use some of the mockups on the article's site as sources of inspiration.
  5. Transact: Buy and sell? Not products for money, probably, but maybe some kind of reputation.

In one of the next posts, I will try to explain how we can use the Five Rules for Net Engagement as tools that will allow us to reach the five goals.

(Hat tip to Robin Good for the link)

Hibernate 3.0 released!

Published by ugo on February 28, 2005 in java. 0 Comments

Hibernate logo

Hibernate 3.0 released!: “Hibernate 3.0 is the world's most sophisticated ORXM (Object/Relational/XML Mapping) solution. Hibernate3 makes it easier than ever before for Java applications to interact with persistent data, allowing a single definition of the transformation between various in-memory representations of the entity data and the relational schema, even in the case of very complex legacy schemas and schemas for historical data or data with visibility rules. Hibernate3 also provides the most comprehensive object/relational query functionality, with three full-featured query facilities: Hibernate Query Language, the newly enhanced Hibernate Criteria Query API, and enhanced support for queries expressed in the native SQL dialect of the database.”

If you've been following this blog, you certainly know that I'm a big Hibernate fan. So I'm very excited about this release and can't wait to start using Hibernate 3. Before I start using it in production, however, I will have to wait for a Spring release with Hibernate 3 support, but I hear that's not so far away, fortunately.

The Mismeasure of Man

Published by ugo on February 28, 2005 in miscellaneous. 0 Comments

Regarding this debate over GWB's supposed low or high IQ, I agree with Doc:
all of this talk about IQ and standardized scores like SAT don't mean
shit. More: the whole concept of ranking human intelligence on a
linear, monodimensional and supposedly invariant scale is a load of
bullshit.

This is what Stephen Jay Gould wrote on the subject:

But ranking requires a criterion for assigning all individuals to their proper status in the single series. And what better criterion than an objective number? Thus, the common style embodying both fallacies of thought has been quantification, or the measurement of intelligence as a single number for each person. This book, then, is about the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups — races, classes or sexes — are innately inferior and deserve their status. In short, this book is about the Mismeasure of Man.

Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

(Originally posted on Sept. 29th, 2002)

Simplicity is not enough

Published by ugo on February 27, 2005 in devel. 0 Comments

These words were written circa 1975, but they are still relevant today:

For a given level of function,
however, that system is best in which one can specify things with the
most simplicity and straightforwardness. Simplicity is not
enough. […] The expression of the things one wants to do often
requires involuted and unexpected combinations of the basic facilities.
It is not enough to learn the elements and rules of combination; one
must also learn the idiomatic usage; a whole lore of how the elements
are combined in practice. Simplicity and straightforwardness proceed
from conceptual integrity. Every part must reflect the same
philosophies and the same balancing of desiderata. Every part must even
use the same techniques in syntax and analogous notions in semantics.
Ease of use, then, dictates unity of design, conceptual integrity.

– Frederick P. Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering

Unfortunately, we tend to forget them and we create frameworks that, even if they are very powerful, are neither simple nor straightforward,as many users can attest.

(Originally posted on May, 6th, 2004).

The unwilling hero

Published by ugo on February 27, 2005 in devel and personal. 0 Comments

David Anderson writes about resistance to change and heroes:

The hero firefighter learns to thrive on chaos. Chaos is the norm in the organization and the hero is the master of chaos. The one who parts the seas and delivers the team from the perils of chaos and delivery of non-conformant quality.

A hero does not want to move to a controlled state because their
self-esteem will drop as they are no longer praised for being ahero. A
controlled organization is one that no longer needs heroes!

Sometimes I feel like the hero in the above metaphor. The problem
is, I do want to move to a controlled state and not be a hero anymore.
It's my organization that apparently does not want me to. And this is
why I will probably leave it.

(Originally posted on June, 29th, 2004.)

Reposting old content

Published by ugo on February 27, 2005 in miscellaneous. 0 Comments

ProBlogger: Helping Bloggers Earn Money » How to Keep First Time Readers to your Blog - Part I: “The way I like to think of it is that my blog’s archives are perhaps my blogs greatest asset. Each post I write has the potential not only to reach current readers - but readers for many years that surf in after finding it on search engines.”

How true. However, when I started this blog, for a couple of reasons, I wanted to signal a break with the past, so I didn't bother recovering all the old posts.

Losing all those assets though, as Darren puts it, would be a big loss. So, in the coming days, I plan to go over all my old posts and repost those that I find more interesting and still relevant. Apologies to all my old readers who will find some old content reposted as new.

Best three-column liquid CSS layout

Published by ugo on February 27, 2005 in devel and web. 0 Comments

If you're looking for a table-less, standards-compliant, three-column liquid page layout, with masthead and footer, look no further than Skidoo too. You get different column backgrounds and borders too.

We, the Blog People

Published by ugo on February 25, 2005 in web. 0 Comments

Michael Gorman, president-elect of the American Library Association:

It is obvious that the Blog People read what they want to read rather than what is in front of them and judge me to be wrong on the basis of what they think rather than what I actually wrote. Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.

Talk about overgeneralizations!

Chalk one more up for Steve

Published by ugo on February 25, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

The SP2 Nightmare: Why I Will Never Install Or Buy Again A Microsoft OS: “I am sincerely dismayed. Speechless. This Microsoft thing is just a nightmare. Not that I didn't know before…but when you hit your nose head into a thick glass wall you tend to realize with greater depth that what looks transparent…”

PowerBookPersonally, I've never used Windows seriously anymore since I started using Linux. With all the inconsistent GUIs, inferior apps and lesser hardware support, still Linux on my desktop keeps running day in, day out, without much of a thought or the need to continually tend to it, upgrade antivirus or anti-spyware and such. And since I got myself a Powerbook, I can even use MS Office and open Word documents and Powerpoint presentations without converting them in and out of OpenOffice. That is, until I can convice my coworkers to get a Mac and start using iWork ;).

(Via Robin Good's Latest News.)

IBM fed up with Java? You must be joking!

Published by ugo on February 25, 2005 in java. 0 Comments

IBM backs open-source Web software | CNET News.com: “'IBM's been so fed up with Java that they've been looking for alternatives for years,' the executive said. 'They want people to build applications quickly that tap into IBM back-ends…and with Java, it just isn't happening.'”

I'll believe it when I see it.

(Via IndicThreads.com.)

Integrate Cocoon with Lucene for Full Text Search of Unstructured Data

Published by ugo on February 24, 2005 in cocoon and java. 0 Comments

DodoJust found out today that there is a couple of Cocoon-related articles on DevX.com:

Integrate Cocoon with PostgreSQL for XML-driven Apps: “XML and relational databases are a natural fit. Learn how to access PostgreSQL data from Cocoon, so you can develop robust XML-driven applications with a relational backend.”

Integrate Cocoon with Lucene for Full Text Search of Unstructured Data: “By wrapping the Lucene search engine's return data in XML and then using Cocoon's XML-handling capabilities, you tap into the power of XML for multi-channel publishing of unstructured information.”

Unfortunately these articles are a bit outdated, as they present XSP and actions as the prototypical method of integrating data access in Cocoon, while the truth is that they are quickly going the way of the Dodo, to be supplanted by flowscript and the JXTemplate system. You've been warned!

New iPods? Better buy an old one

Published by ugo on February 23, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

iPod miniThe new iPods are out and sure the prices for the new minis are very interesting. However, I can only see myself using one while biking and probably the Shuffle is the best for that kind of scenario. Besides, the Shuffle is 149€ vs. $149, while the Mini is 209€ vs. $199. 10€ more is about $13 and I don't see why I should pay that difference.

So, I just ordered a 1GB Shuffle. Too bad the estimated shipping time is 2-3 weeks :(. Oh well, it will arrive just in time for the start of the new biking season.

'Joel on Software' review

Published by ugo on February 23, 2005 in books and devel. 0 Comments

book coverJoel on Software, by Joel Spolsky.

This book by the well-known software developer, entrepreneur and blogger Joel Spolsky is a comprehensive collection of the most interesting articles that have appeared on the Joel on Software website in the course of the last five years.

If you're a devote follower of Joel, like me, there's almost nothing here that you haven't probably already read online. Still, it can be useful to have all this content nicely reorganized and reprinted. As Joel puts it, the book is a heck of a lot more cohesive than the website, where by cohesive I mean «can be read in the bathtub without fear of electrocution.» At the very least, it can be a nice present from a developer to his/her manager, who might get a couple of clues they're still missing.

Inside here, there's plenty of clues indeed and Joel will be very happy to share them with his readers, drawing from his experience as developer, program manager at Microsoft, software entrepreneur and Israeli paratrooper.

Not everything here has to do with technical matters, but you'll also find something about the economy, managing people, business strategy and insulating pipes. This makes for a pleasant and varied reading, particularly if your ambitions go beyond being a good developer. In any case, you can count on the first third of the book to give you plenty of advice in this respect, while the second third deals with managing developers. The third part is a semi-random collection of topics, the majority of which deal with strategy. At the end of the book, you can find three articles on .NET and an appendix with questions and answers taken from the website.

Joel's basic approach can be described as very down-to-earth, beware-of-hype, no-silver-bullet philosophy. This is not to say that what he writes is bland and clichéd. Quite the contrary. He does not refrain from being original and even controversial at times, at the risk of being unpopular in denouncing the excess hype that sometimes surrounds topics like eXtreme Programming or Open Source, or attacking entrenched myths like network transparency or software reuse.

In any case, he his always witty, sometimes downright humorous and never haughty.

Highly recommended!

Dictionary in Firefox

Published by ugo on February 22, 2005 in web. Closed

Micah:

Did you know the default configuration of Firefox includes dictionary access via the location bar? Try typing 'dict innovation' without the quotes. It's possible to customize this, to great effect.

Noted.

There's only one Hani

Published by ugo on February 22, 2005 in cocoon. 0 Comments

It takes style to “pull a Hani”. Unfortunately, some copycats are starting to appear who lack the style and wit of the original and sometimes even the ability to use a spellchecker, like the following moron
(from Google's cache, since he was caught in the act and proceeded to delete the post soon after):

If anyone ever tries to tell you that cocoon is good tell them to fuck off and get a life. It could be the best thing on earth but you wouldn't know as everyone who seem to be or has been involved with the project have been too busy being engaged in mutual feltching to actually explain to anyone how the fucking thing works.

Its such a rancid amalgamation of congealed wank-stains that it even comes with its own ant classes bundled with it as it would have fuck all chance of building in any normal sense of the word. The actual idea of a XSLT framework is a nice one, but just how much deprecated no good to man or beast shite do you need to produce a framework of this sort?

At the core of cocoon is http://excalibur.apache.org/ avalon that excalibur was part of is now officially closed, and I suspect that exalibur will be heading the same way. Sorry cocoon folk but its a monumental fuck up, I have know idea why fuck wits who choose to use this stuff feel that they are in some way superior.

Sheesh…

So you want to manage software projects?

Published by ugo on February 21, 2005 in books. 0 Comments

If your job is managing programmers and software development projects, being a program manager or a team leader, there are some books that are considered classics of the genre. I've put together a brief list of the ones I've been reading recently and I plan to post a brief review of each one in the coming days. Stay tuned if you're interested.

Re: Wherezat?

Published by ugo on February 21, 2005 in miscellaneous. 0 Comments

Wherezat?:

Where on Earth 0001

Methinks it's Heavenly, Lake Tahoe. This picture seems to confirm it, even though I've never been there.

Pssst, Doc, the link to the discussion page is wrong, it should probably be this one. And the URL of the image there is wrong too. It should be this one.

(Via Doc Searls Weblog.)

Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

Published by ugo on February 21, 2005 in books. 1 Comment

CaricatureAuthor Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself: “DENVER (Reuters) - Hunter S. Thompson, who pioneered 'gonzo' journalism and became a counterculture celebrity with works such as 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,' fatally shot himself at his Colorado home on Sunday night, police said. He was 67.”

(Via Reuters: Top News.)

Night of the goose

Published by ugo on February 19, 2005 in personal. 0 Comments

Goose
Yesterday's dinner menu at Trattoria Guallina:

  • Goose fat liver with onion and plum confiture.
  • Risotto with beans and goose salami in red wine.
  • Toasted goose breast with potatoes.
  • Apfelstrudel.

Drinks:

Excellent dinner!