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- Project Report: PTOS2
May 04, 2010
I just finished a complete rewrite of the Price Ticket Ordering System for the Beer Store. Here's the story.
- A Quick Note on Encryption
Mar 02, 2010
One of my current projects requires a small message to be encrypted / decrypted. This turned out to be trickier than expected but I finally figured it out.
- We're all LUsers
Feb 12, 2010
It's fun to laugh at the stupid people who don't know how to use a browser - but we're all stupid sometimes.
- Thoughts on HAML
Feb 10, 2010
I've been using HAML in all of my projects for the last few years. While it makes it easier to build web pages, what I like most about it is what it makes harder: bad habits.
- Friday Afternoon Hack - Getting Beyond the Basics
Nov 13, 2009
As part of the Halifax Friday Afternoon Hack, I've been typing in a BASIC adventure program from a 1983 book. Read on to get the code and run it - and get details about how I'm going to rewrite it in Ruby.
- Halifax Friday Hack and Back to Basics
Oct 31, 2009
In Halifax, we're taking Friday afternoons to explore new technologies. I'm learning BASIC from 1983.
- Quote from Wil Shipley
Aug 31, 2009
Great quote on 'heuristics' vs. technical programming from the creator of Delicious Monster
- FutureRuby
Aug 04, 2009
Last month, I went to the awesome FutureRuby conference. Here's what I thought.
- Make Web Not War
Jul 30, 2009
A while back I went to Microsoft's "Make Web Not War" conference. It was pretty cool but felt a little ... odd.
- Busy Week I: Toronto Ruby Job Fair
Jun 15, 2009
Last week I attended two interesting developer-related events in Toronto: Employment.nil?: The Toronto Ruby Job Fair, and Microsoft's Make Web Not War conference. This is part I - on the Job Fair.
- Employment.nil - the Toronto Ruby Job Fair
Jun 01, 2009
This coming Saturday I'm going to have a booth at the First Toronto Ruby Job Fair. Unspace breaks new ground again.
- Code Count: Ruby on Rails vs. C#/ASP.NET
May 28, 2009
From my presentation in early May, the table comparing line and character counts between the C#/ASP.NET and Ruby on Rails version of the ClearFit application.
- A Brief Note on Twitter
May 26, 2009
A quick thought on how non-committal Twitter is better than Facebook for conference / event connections.
- The Hub Halifax and Mobile Tech for Social Change
May 26, 2009
This weekend I spent a beautiful sunny Saturday in Halifax indoors, but it was worth it. I went to the Mobile Tech 4 Social Change unconference.
- Deep Thoughts on Microsoft From The Accordion Guy
May 25, 2009
Joey deVilla is changing The Evil Empire from the inside, and he's been doing a lot of thinking about it.
- The Two Kinds of Defensive Programming
May 14, 2009
A side note from last week's presentation: there's the good kind of defensive programming, and then there's the more common 'flinchy' kind. Read on for more details.
- Presentation - Fixing Careerious: From C#/.NET to Ruby on Rails
May 12, 2009
Here are the slides and details on the talk I gave at last week's Ruby/Rails Project Night. I even managed to get some video. Follow the link to see the presentation
- Enterprise!
May 07, 2009
My talk went well, and one of the slides I made was pretty popular - follow the link to see the 'Enterprise Software' successories poster.
- Presenting at Ruby on Rails Project Night - May 7th
May 05, 2009
I'll be presenting at the next Ruby on Rails Project Night this coming Thursday. Free beer!
- New Name and New Look for Careerious/Clearfit
Apr 22, 2009
Last winter I rewrote the core application for Careerious. They're continuing their transformation and are now ClearFit, with a new look and a new website.
- FutureRuby and More From Unspace
Mar 20, 2009
Toronto's Unspace is awesome - two recent reasons: FutureRuby and this post from Pete Forde
- Health Tips for Programmers
Feb 25, 2009
A few things that have helped me fight sitting-hunched-over-a-keyboard-all-day-itis. Hint: the progress bar can be your *friend*.
- This tables meme won't die
Feb 10, 2009
I had a rant a little while ago about how I'm no longer ashamed to say that I use tables for layout. These people did a better job at it.
- Careerious - Ruby and Rails vs. C#/.NET
Feb 09, 2009
I recently finished a project translating a messy C#/ASP application into a cleaner Ruby/Rails application - and making it one fifth the size and up to fifty times faster.
- Yeah I Use Tables For Layout, So Sue Me
Feb 02, 2009
"Hi, my name's Andrew Burke, and I, ... I use tables for layout."
"Hi Andrew. It's okay, we love you."
"I'm not alone? I though I was alone!"
- The Different Kinds of Done
Jan 24, 2009
"Done" is a funny thing in the world of software. "Done" has different meanings for different people, and figuring out which "done" you're aiming for can be helpful.
- Giles Bowkett's RubyFringe presentation
Oct 01, 2008
Giles Bowkett's presentation was one of the highlights of RubyFringe this summer. It's now available online - highly recommended!
- OfficeTime: Great Time-Tracking App for OS X
Aug 07, 2008
I've built several of my own time tracking applications over the years, but I'm now using a fantastic commercial product: OfficeTime.
- Back With A New Look
Jul 18, 2008
Shindig was down for a while but is back with a new layout and extra content.
- Non-DRY Feed
May 22, 2008
Since this feed was added to the torontorb.ca site, I've discovered some url issues in my feed. These have been fixed but some readers may get duplicates of older posts - sorry about that, but links should work now!
- torontorb
May 19, 2008
torontorb is a new site for keeping up with all the Ruby events that are happening in Toronto. They've included the feed for this blog, which means this post will trigger an endless loop of infinite cross-reference!
- Keeping Your Sanity With The Command Design Pattern
May 14, 2008
On May 13th, I presented "Keeping Your Sanity With The Command Design Pattern" at the Toronto Ruby/Rails Project Night. Here are my slides and what I said.
- shindigital Is All Grown Up! (according to the spambots)
May 14, 2008
I know this site is all grown up because I just got my first piece of attempted comment spam. It didn't work, since this site doesn't have comments, but it shows that at least the bots know about shindigital.com. I'm so proud!
- Startup Stars? I'm so bored!
Apr 25, 2008
A recent article on O'Reilly Radar described six new Web 2.0 startups. If these are the stars, then Web 2.0 is over.
- The Magic Words for RMagick
Apr 13, 2008
I just upgraded to an Intel MacBook from a PowerBook G4 and everything went pretty smoothly - except of course for the ImageMagick/RMagick graphics tools. Here are the magic (without a k) words to make it work.
- Jennifer from Operations
Apr 09, 2008
It has been my experience in building business software that everything is straightforward, except for that one step that's done manually by 'Jennifer in Operations'
- You see? Naming is HARD
Apr 07, 2008
Even famous and insightful software bloggers can't figure out what to name their new dot com.
- Business Software as Process Documentation
Mar 24, 2008
Great quote from Raganwald about business processes.
- Deployment note: 'execve failed'
Mar 21, 2008
Small technical note that might help someone else who had the same problem I recently had deploying on fastcgi and lighttp. Hint: check your shebang in dispatch.fcgi!
- Steve Jobs on Market Research
Mar 09, 2008
A great quote from Steve Jobs on market research and marketing consultants, and what it implies about Apple and companies in general.
- Why Canada Is Better for Entrepreneurs
Mar 05, 2008
While there isn't as much of an entrepreneur culture in Canada as in, say, Silicon Valley, there is much less risk in going out on your own - since you don't have to worry about health care costs or insurance.
- "Program first and blog second"
Feb 28, 2008
Why haven't I been blogging lately? As Giles Bowkett says: Always program first and blog second.
- Toronto Tech Collage
Feb 16, 2008
Accordion Guy has a post about Seattle's tech community and includes a collage of Toronto tech people - and I'm in it!
- The MacBook Air Is A Roadster
Feb 13, 2008
There's a lot of chatter on the web about the new MacBook Air being underpowered. It's actually just in a different category than more powerful machines. Nobody complains that a sports car doesn't seat six.
- RubyFringe!
Feb 12, 2008
The geniuses at Unspace have a killer conference planned for this summer.
- Quote of the Week: Steve Yegge
Feb 11, 2008
The mighty Steve Yegge has a great opinionated posting called Portrait of a N00b. Like all good arguments, it confirms a personal prejudice I hadn't noticed before.
- Starting Up: Cards
Feb 07, 2008
The last time I got business cards designed and printed was in early 2005 - and they were obsolete within three months. This time, I did better.
- Great design tool: browsershots.org
Feb 01, 2008
Save yourself from having to dust off that old Windows98 machine to make sure your site looks okay in Internet Explorer 5. Browsershots will do it for you.
- Starting Up: The Logo
Jan 31, 2008
I wanted something fun but also competent, personal but also professional. I think it worked out. The dudes, by the way, are named "Jack" and "Herman".
- Quotes Of The Day: Hedge Fund Interview
Jan 24, 2008
There is a great interview with an anonymous Hedge Fund manager in n+1 magazine talking about the recent sub-prime collapse. Read on for some excerpts and lessons.
- TSOT Ruby / Rails Presentation Night - Part 1
Jan 20, 2008
Last week, I gave the main presentation at TSOT's Ruby / Rails presentation night, announcing Shindig and the S.O.S. Here is Part 1.
- Moneyworks: Accounting Software for Canadians on OS X
Jan 16, 2008
If you're starting a company, it's a good idea to have accounting / bookkeeping software. Being a Mac user in Canada makes one a double minority in this area. Read on for what I found.
- Starting Up: The Name
Jan 13, 2008
Why "Shindig"? Why "shindigital.com"? It could have been "Penseroso" or "Borogrove" or "Semios" or "Sarabande". Or "groovycarrot."
- Nice logo, but why is your site so bland?
Jan 10, 2008
You may have noticed that the site is kind of bland right now. Why did I go ahead and deploy it? Well, these days *something* with links is better than *nothing* - and it will be getting much better very soon.
- Welcome to shindigital.com
Jan 10, 2008
Welcome to the home of Shindig Digital Constructions Inc.
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