Or specifically I hate JavaScript framework debates.
To start, I wouldn't call myself a JavaScript developer.
I've used it for years, especially with great libraries like JQuery.
And I've learned what I needed to make some nice UI look/feel.
But when it comes to debates on MVC JavaScript frameworks, I'm not sure what to think.
I'm thinking non-JS, especially non-JQuery, devs are the ones pushing toward frameworks.
I've done fine with JQuery.
Yes, building JS heavy web leads to JS bloat and custom JS for each page/section/function.
And yes there are lots of options/libs/plugins (as with any lang) and it's nice to standardize.
But I need to see the use cases/dev time/readability/maintainability etc improvements to buy into a JS framework.
I can guess the benefits, but at the same time I can also picture the downsides.
The web is changing constantly, and will the JS framework you lock into still be in dev in a few years.
And then there is the push for everything-as-a-service.
I get this too, especially useful to avoid duplicate functions across teams.
Do I want to just split up the backend into web services with just html/css/js on the front end?
Do I want to walk away from webapps? Well I'm a Java dev after all.
Not to say that I couldn't, but would I enjoy it the same?
To be continued...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Reading
Started two new books from the library,
Outlander (which I haven't gotten far in but so far it made me guess the title could be Pride and Prejudice and Portals)
and an Asimov collection including Pebble in the Sky and short stories (from 1950)
After making my way through the robot series, I'm moving onto the empire series and this was the only one at the library, would need to request others
Outlander (which I haven't gotten far in but so far it made me guess the title could be Pride and Prejudice and Portals)
and an Asimov collection including Pebble in the Sky and short stories (from 1950)
After making my way through the robot series, I'm moving onto the empire series and this was the only one at the library, would need to request others
TV return
So good to have shows returning, epecially Fringe and the podcast
And what a comeback!
It returned with what should have been the season break finale s04e08,
and it was worth the wait.
A return to classic fringe (like a best-of mix)
With crossing universes, shapeshifters, the bad guy (david robert jones), the observer.
And we saw almost all the characters return in one episode, however different they are in this timeline.
And what a comeback!
It returned with what should have been the season break finale s04e08,
and it was worth the wait.
A return to classic fringe (like a best-of mix)
With crossing universes, shapeshifters, the bad guy (david robert jones), the observer.
And we saw almost all the characters return in one episode, however different they are in this timeline.
Deploy Woes
Another all-day-deploy with a list of issues to learn from.
I was mostly in a consulting role for this dev work other than some cleanup, but I should have taken more thorough code reviews.
1. Not commit testing/debug changes, such as removing a needed config or adding a debug dialog
2. Re-releasing during deploy should not happen. This means the new code changes have not been through QA at this point.
3. Make sure all resources are ready to be deployed, to avoid spending hours during the deploy
all day deploy
4. Make sure you have test data needed for proper post-deploy testing (that is not defective/false-positive). For example, an account that fails internally but external users can access the service fine.
Most of this is about preparation, like having the QA dry run be as close to production as possible. And having someone to organize/push for this.
I was mostly in a consulting role for this dev work other than some cleanup, but I should have taken more thorough code reviews.
1. Not commit testing/debug changes, such as removing a needed config or adding a debug dialog
2. Re-releasing during deploy should not happen. This means the new code changes have not been through QA at this point.
3. Make sure all resources are ready to be deployed, to avoid spending hours during the deploy
all day deploy
4. Make sure you have test data needed for proper post-deploy testing (that is not defective/false-positive). For example, an account that fails internally but external users can access the service fine.
Most of this is about preparation, like having the QA dry run be as close to production as possible. And having someone to organize/push for this.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Zambie new year
I have a ton to catch up on, as usual, in the months I've been away
Mostly I've been in the coding cave, with my head down, working away
But I was gifted Dead Island over the holidays and I've been playing it a lot
Definitely fun, lots to do and enjoy
Picked up both Killing Floor and Trapped Dead recently, but haven't much on those yet
Besides some Dead Island on New Years, also watched the start of Season 2 of the Walking Dead
I'm sure I'll have plenty more to discuss on it as I get through the season (especially compared to the comic). I was actually surprised when Carl was shot, I completely forgot about that in the comic. Such a good show.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Backlog 3: DB, JS, Bad Code
I'm not a DB admin or DB anything, I'm just a dev
So it's no shock I have tons to learn about databases, especially Oracle
And so I was surprised to hear when Oracle would ignore indexes
Based on stats/sampling of data to determine if the index would be useful. But the sample picked might not be representative, leading to a bad plan and a SLOW query.
Recent converting of Richfaces to JQuery, attempting to use a newer JQuery than the version packaged with Richfaces. Found it needed to be loaded before Prototype but couldn't change the JS load ordering with older Richfaces version. So solution was to just remove Richfaces components which removed dependency on Prototype (so it wasn't loaded anymore).
Then multiple JQuery versions could be loaded properly using no conflict.
And the Richfaces components, like a modal, could be replaced by JQuery plugins.
In the end it worked out, but after many attempts to fix the script load order.
Another pain point that has persisted is rounded corners and being restricted to CSS2 (using flying saucer and meeting older browsers). Also annoying are browser optional display of background images on printing (seen in IE/Firefox and needed to be configured in page setup).
A nice feature I was able to use with Flying saucer for PDF rendering was image caching by url. Instead of fetching images remotely, load them from a cache by url. Especially useful for generated images (not stored to file - my use case).
So it's no shock I have tons to learn about databases, especially Oracle
And so I was surprised to hear when Oracle would ignore indexes
Based on stats/sampling of data to determine if the index would be useful. But the sample picked might not be representative, leading to a bad plan and a SLOW query.
Recent converting of Richfaces to JQuery, attempting to use a newer JQuery than the version packaged with Richfaces. Found it needed to be loaded before Prototype but couldn't change the JS load ordering with older Richfaces version. So solution was to just remove Richfaces components which removed dependency on Prototype (so it wasn't loaded anymore).
Then multiple JQuery versions could be loaded properly using no conflict.
And the Richfaces components, like a modal, could be replaced by JQuery plugins.
In the end it worked out, but after many attempts to fix the script load order.
Another pain point that has persisted is rounded corners and being restricted to CSS2 (using flying saucer and meeting older browsers). Also annoying are browser optional display of background images on printing (seen in IE/Firefox and needed to be configured in page setup).
A nice feature I was able to use with Flying saucer for PDF rendering was image caching by url. Instead of fetching images remotely, load them from a cache by url. Especially useful for generated images (not stored to file - my use case).
I've mentioned it before, but the lone developer is dangerous,
especially without unit tests or code reviews or good sample data for testing.
How bad can it be? How about killing a production server with an endless loop?
Not just a slowdown, I mean dead and out of use.
How about causing an all day investigation taking up tons of resources?
And what is the cause? A simple condition not checked for.
It just took the right set of data to break the algorithm.
But I guess the lesson is to expect the edge cases/bad input since people are messy and defensive coding is important. And unit tests!
especially without unit tests or code reviews or good sample data for testing.
How bad can it be? How about killing a production server with an endless loop?
Not just a slowdown, I mean dead and out of use.
How about causing an all day investigation taking up tons of resources?
And what is the cause? A simple condition not checked for.
It just took the right set of data to break the algorithm.
But I guess the lesson is to expect the edge cases/bad input since people are messy and defensive coding is important. And unit tests!
Backlog 2: PAX, TV
Finally catching up on some PATV and DnD.
Watched the PATV s03e01 on PAX.
Also watched the DnD videos on youtube from PAX prime 2011 with the always great Chris Perkins from Wizards of the coast. It was entertaining, but overall not as great as previous. Lots of talking with less action and the music was distracting.
Also finally signed up for PAX East in Boston and booked a hotel room.
Enjoying Fringe and the Fringe podcast.
With only 1 episode left before the 2 month break.
Also watched Supernatural (on Hulu!)
and what? no more Castiel?!
The Leviathan and black ooze reminded me of Venom or XFiles (both alien references).
Watched the PATV s03e01 on PAX.
Also watched the DnD videos on youtube from PAX prime 2011 with the always great Chris Perkins from Wizards of the coast. It was entertaining, but overall not as great as previous. Lots of talking with less action and the music was distracting.
Also finally signed up for PAX East in Boston and booked a hotel room.
Enjoying Fringe and the Fringe podcast.
With only 1 episode left before the 2 month break.
Also watched Supernatural (on Hulu!)
and what? no more Castiel?!
The Leviathan and black ooze reminded me of Venom or XFiles (both alien references).
Also the body duplicates / dopplegangers reminded me of earlier episodes (covered in this wiki)
Backlog 1: Computer Bug
Another bug on the computer referenced in this older blog post
To review,
It caused ping.exe traffic on port 18504, repeating sometimes every 20 seconds, and requests random IPs with the browser sometimes opening random pages as well.
Anti-virus was dead for many tried. Existing was AVG but also failed for Symantec. Sophos and MSE found nothing. Malware bytes found some leftover/trace malware (defender.exe/svchost.exe). Super anti-spyware found a rogue dll.
None of these helped, the problem persisted, with the ping exe running whenever the network was connected.
I researched and found some references that sounded familiar related to Java.blacole. And although there was an older Java JDK/JRE on the system, the browser plugins were up to date.
In the end, I just formatted and reinstalled. It was long overdue anyway from the last rebuild.
And now it is back, cleaner, up to date, and working (using MSE now).
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Timelines and alternative universes
Another theme, especially with the latest season of Fringe.
What verse are we in again? blue, red, amber/yellow/gold? This show really likes to show different sides of the same characters.
I've been watching on Hulu, despite the week delay before episodes are available.
This has put me behind on the show and the podcasts.
At the moment, I'm loading up the last 3 podcasts, getting prepared to listen along with watching the last episode s04e04.
Being behind worked out well, I've avoided waiting during this 2 week break between episodes.
In a related note is the recent Community episode s03e04, Remedial Chaos Theory.
I really enjoyed this one, where the 6 different outcomes of a die roll are shown (and the 7th outcome of the original timeline).
And where the evil study group is created in the worst outcome, which I hope does make a return later (fake goatees and all). Which reminded me of Bizarro Sealab 2021 somehow.
Apocalypse
Seems to be one theme I've been into lately.
I was gifted Darksiders on steam for my birthday and became obsessed with it until I finally finished it.
Horseman against demons and angels. I enjoyed the story.
The Portal-ness was okay (yes portals and puzzles) as were the Dune/Tremors worms.
But I mostly enjoyed the atmosphere, and taking out a ton of zombies.
I've also been reading a book from the library called Good Omens on the similar end of the world topic.
It's good, I'm about half way through. I don't quite get all the England references, but the humor makes me think Dogma (or what little I remember).
Actually the beginning of the book made me think it should be called "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the End Times".
Angel, demon, witch, son of satan, horsemen. All with a nice modern twist, not unlike...
Supernatural, if only I was still watching it as well (to complete this trifecta), but it's on hold at the moment. I still haven't had a change to finish the last season.
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