Simulae3 Update: Room Object? What ever do you mean?

This is just a simple, quick update to let it be known that the issue pertaining to how to accurately represent a room in Simulae3 has been resolved.  I spent about an hour with a blank book of graph paper and pen poised in my hand and thought about the problem till the following realisation hit me:

Rooms are an abstract, a void.  They only exist as a concept without substance to us.  They are the empty space created by barriers, some of those barriers contain portal objects (e.g. windows, doors, openings).  It is using this logic that the next piece of Simulae3 can be designed.  

SimulaeKaart.py

A simple cartography-based program (kaart) being the word for map in Nederlands (Dutch).  Physical space will be represented in 10 centimeter square grids (though variable map design may be possible).  The whole point of this is that in the real world, we use GPS and surveying to accurately place physical locations, Simulae3 will be no different. 

The other quick note is that the concept of rooms are also knocked out in that a room knows not of its purpose, it is only by human reasoning and deduction that a particular enclosure/void/"room"'s purpose can be ascertained.  If you take an empty house with two rooms near the room with the stove and dishwasher, how does one know which is the dining room (if either).  One doesn't, one chooses to assign that role by the placement of the appropriate objects (appropriate to a dining room that is) within said void. 

Simply put, this conundrum has been resolved and the next phase of design and coding can continue.

Future Aspirations.

I recently had dinner with a previous pseudo-co-worker from my previous contract to catch up on things since parting ways.  I say "pseudo-co-worker" because ultimately when one is a contractor, he/she has no co-workers with only the exception of other contractors on the same project for which they were contracted.  He works for a software production firm primarily in Java, and that little tidbit of information started me thinking.  What I have wanted for all of these years in the profession was to work for a software house.  

I know that some of the open source crowd are going to say "why not contribute to new and/or existing open source project?" to which I simply point out that is isn't the same.  I have written and distributed code under both the artistic license as well as the BSD license, but ultimately it isn't solely about the code, it is about the environment.  Right now, I work in an environment in which there is really one person with whom I can speak and joke regarding code and geekdom in general, and I enjoy that.  I do know however, that much like my previous work associate, I want the whole environment, surrounded by other coders of varying capabilities and disciplines.  

I'm sure some might imply that I have a sort of fantasy view of these environments, but I beg to differ based upon the opinions of others that I know personally.  There is a certain camaraderie in highly skilled engineering/creative homogeneous work place environments which just isn't found elsewhere.  If anyone reading this has ever had the opportunity to read any blogs from the original coding group at Netscape or Apple, you'll know full well as to what I'm referring.

I know full well that there are high stress time periods at those companies and that more so those environments are more conducive to non-family-life encumbered employees, but there are definitely exceptions as such.  

Either way, back to my friend.  I think he pointed out something to me that I feel would me help with my, dare I say, professional environmental depression, that being -- attending programming/tech conferences.  Back in 2000, I attended Linux World in New York at the Jacob Javits Center, and then again in 2001.  It was a blast, by and far.  I do have to say that 2000 was a much better event than 2001 not only because of the IBM sponsored rave, BattleBots, and free (as-in "beer") bar, but because of the people there.  It seemed to go quite a bit more corporate in one single year.  I met many interesting people during those conventions, and even received several job offerings as well, though I didn't take any, as much as I should've since a few were at software houses.   Either way, I've lost my focus of this post, but I can say that I've made it a personal resolution to start heading to more developer related cons, now the questions are, which ones?  PyCon?  JavaOne?  LUG Radio Live (US or UK)?   I guess time will tell.  

Some Coders that Stand Out in My Mind

   No, no, no..  Unlike in the movie “Antitrust", I never was fortunate(?) enough to work in an environment like “The Egg”.  I’ve never worked for a huge computer company or internet startup during their heyday such as Google, Netscape (back in the day) or Apple though after reading of some of the stories of those of have, I feel like it must’ve been a blast (albeit tiring).  I can however say that I’ve met a multitude of interesting people over the years and would like to mention just a few of them here, with the hope of eventually getting in contact with one or more of them in the future.

    I will try to keep everyone in a quasi-chronological order for the sake of clarity when discussing the environment in which I interacted with said individuals.

    Joseph ‘Joey’ Springer III:    Joey was my neighbour as a child who happened to live right around the corner.  We both had obsessions with computers from the earliest days of our youth.  His father was Joseph Springer, Jr., an engineer at RCA and ultimate provider of an early teletype machine along with a seemingly endless supply of punch cards with which we would goof around for countless hours.  While we never coded together, he was a close friend whose intelligence shone through at all times, not to mention he was a keen player of ‘Dark Castle’ on his sister Kathy’s Macintosh which she was required to have since she was attending Drexel University at the time.  I haven’t see Joey since the late 1980’s but know that he’s out there somewhere.  Last I heard he was achieving his degree in Mathematics somewhere in New Jersey, USA.

    Walter ‘Walt’ Thesing & Michael ‘Mike’ Simons (a.k.a. Jesus):  Back in the 10th grade at the high school I attended after my stint at an Engineering and Science magnet school in Philadelphia, I took a class in Pascal.  I’d been programming for many years at this point, but never took any formal classes on the topic.   I’d known BASIC for quite some time but never had any experience in in other languages at any kind of serious level.   Well, it was in this class that I met Walt.  He was quite adept at coding the older Apple ][‘s our school utilised and spent much of his free time coding and playing his version of Tetris.  We ended up befriending one another in class along with my coding partner (at the time) Michael ‘Mike’ Simons (a.k.a. Jesus) and through the process learned that we shared a certain fondness for coding whilst listening to the B52’s.  It was through coding whilst listening to the aforementioned musical ensemble that the idea for this post as well as the memory of Walt popped into my head.  I don’t know if Walt went into computers professional, or another science/mathematics field, but it woud be a sad loss for those fields if this were how it played out.  Mike Simons went on to work with the Slackware Linux distribution and I last saw him at Linux World Expo, New York in 2001.  I’d like to hear from either of them if they’re out there.

    Daniel ‘Dan’ Ervine:  During my seven year stint at Alliance Remanufacturing in Philadelphia, PA, USA at the turn of the past millennium I worked with a fledgling Network Engineer fresh out of a Marist College (a.k.a. Mattress College) named Dan.   

    When Dan and I first started working together he was still very much a Microsoft tool, but after exposing him to the real world of Unix and Unix knock offs like the various Linux distributions out there, I deemed him cured of his previous MS affliction.  We only got the opportunity to work with one another for a couple of years due to a restructuring which saw him lose his position right around the same time as his birthday and wedding.  

    We’d worked together on several projects (primarily me assisting in his Networking world) since it was something I wanted to at least learn and partake in once since I never work in the administrative capacity these days.  We grew to become friends and had the joy of travelling several times on business together (including two Linux World Expos in New York) and CAMM in Connecticut. 

    He’d changed dramatically over the years, all for the better and while it has only been a few years since I’ve been able to see and/or talk with him, I’d like to as I’m curious as to what he and his wife are up to, and where he is in his career, though I’m sure it’s a good place.

    So as I said earlier, there are many individuals with whom I’ve had interactions in the computing field which I’d like to speak to again given the opportunity.  I have many others whom I’d like to make mention but being that it is 00:45 in the morning as I type this  whilst watching “Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex” on the tele, I need to end it here.  I will continue this list in a later thread when time avails itself.

My Adventures in Software Engineering Consulting

  Starting in August of 2006 I ventured into the world of independent Software Engineering contracting.  Having just completed my previous salaried tenure at a financial firm, and a small side stint for a Fashion magazine as a favour to the owner(s)., I came upon a new offering.  I was hesitant at first because it was a 1099 contract job, a realm I’d never ventured into before in my professional career, and as such the time had apparently come. 

    The position was simple, the company in question was a contractor to a large retail clothier whose name rhymes with ‘Hurlington Boat Factory’ and is located in a town in New Jersey possessing a similar sounding name.  The CEO of the contracting firm requested specifically someone with considerable experience in Python who could build a real-time return transactions processing system which would utilise both XML and Oracle 10g.  While I have a strong dislike (along with many other software engineers) for XML, the reality of getting paid decent money for coding 100% in Python was all that I needed to hear.

    I have to say that I was excited not only because of the prospect of a Python pure coding environment but that I would be working initially and then periodically out of a satellite office in Cherry Hill.  This was exciting because for the first time in my decade plus career, I was finally in a scenario where I was writing code for a company whose primary purpose was producing JAVA software applications for sale.  The office in Cherry Hill consisted primarily of the CEO, a lead developer and a secondary developer.  There were several other individuals who would at times utilise the office including the owners, project managers and other associates of various roles, but ultimately it was an office with other competent coders one of those being quite the master of Cold Fusion technologies.  

    After my first few weeks on site in the Cherry Hill office it was time to start working on-site at Hurlington’s headquarters along with the only other consultant coding in Python.  This was the beginning of a very enjoyable period in the contract due to the excitement of the project and the joy and experience of worthing with another Pythonista.   

    The details of the project are much like any other project you might encounter when modelling a new project off of a customer version produced for a specific client.  It got ugly for a while due to the multiple aspects of the project including client systems which needed to be integrated for proper functioning along with an existing array of registers distributed nationwide and a database number records approach a half a billion entries.  The normal in fighting and finger pointing existed but it was all worked out in the end with a finished product delivered and a contract satisfied 100 percent. 

    The only issues encountered which left a bad taste in my mouth were those pertaining to a clueless project manager who regardless of his claim of years of experience was apparently lacking considerably outside of his realm of Oracle, which caused unnecessary attitude due to his ignorance of coding and APIs.  There were other issues dealing primarily with suits, but I doubt that this specific issues varies much anywhere.  Suits and Engineers rarely if ever mix, let alone get along except on a faux-cordial level.   The ultimate end of the contract was due to the project portion I was responsible for coming to fruition, even though I was already working on leaving regardless.   It wouldn’t have mattered much anyway given that the main contracting company is located up north in the centre of New England and are in the process of relocating everyone to that locale, an act which I am unwilling to do.

    I do like certain aspects of software consulting, but given that there is a considerable amount of extra taxes which must be held aside, some unholy hours which must be adhered to for the purposes of meeting quite strict time lines, and the reality of being a second class citizen in the work environment (or 3rd class in my case as a sub-contractor).  It all comes to an end in two days and I go back to a normal, preferred work environment in five days when I start up in a salaried position again working for a web host writing a multitude of applications and revisions of existing software, in a nice relaxed geek environment, also in New Jersey, but this time around, I’m excited to not be a consultant.   At least for the time being.