Perl blog post #42

Today I’m starting a new Perl series over on my Other Blog.  It’s about a date module I’m fiddling around with.  If you’re not a Perl person, it may not mean much to you, but then again you may find it somewhat entertaining even without speaking all the jargon.  Or maybe not.  But you’ll never know unless you try.

Unlike with my last long-ass Perl series, I do not plan to do an installment on this one every week.  So it’s entirely possible that there may be something worth reading here next week.  But you might not want to hold your breath.

Perl blog post #41

Occasionally my geek worlds collide: being simultaneously a technogeek and a gaming geek often means writing code to do things for games.  I’ve mentioned here that one of my games is Heroscape, and I’ve also mentioned that I’m part of something called the C3V, which attempts to create new units for this now discontinued game.  I don’t know if I specifically mentioned what I do for that group ... I’m one of the Editors, which means I help make sure that the wording for any new cards we create are just as official as the existing cards.  To that end, I have a file with all the text from all the official cards in it, and I have a script which lets me search that file in interesting ways in order to look at all the different official ways to say something.

So this past week or so I’ve had occasion to ponder a way to make this script even more useful.  It turned out to be a bit tricky, though, and evolved into a mini-programming-project.  So I decided to write it up for my Other Blog.  You’ll find this particular article technical, as per usual, but if you know anything about Heroscape I think you’ll still be able to glean some interesting tidbits nonetheless.  If you know neither gaming nor coding, well ... you know the drill by now.  Just look up a couple of inches.

Perl blog post #40

This week I’ve been off with The Mother, her parents, her sister, our 3 human children, and our 1 canine child, on simultaneous vacation and work conference.  This year’s YAPC was in Salt Lake City, a mere 700 miles from our home and 550 from that of the grandparents and aunt.  So we met in the middle(ish) and rented a small vacation house.  I rode the train into the conference every day and brought the boys in at night for social activities.  If you’re interestd in the mostly technical details of my experience, feel free to check out my Other Blog.  But there’s also some non-technical stuff buried in there, so hopefully it’s of some value even to my non-geeky readership.  Assuming there’s any readership at all out there, despite my repeated warnings to the contrary.

But in any event, my YAPC reflections is all you get this week.  The vacation part was quite lovely, to be sure, and I’m quite glad we got away for a while, and quite glad we got to see the closest things I have to in-laws again.  Still, it’s an exhausting week: driving 1500 miles or so, sleeping not in one’s own bed, dietary changes (e.g. a hell of a lot more fast food than I’ve been eating lately), dealing with multitudes and multitudes of people.  So these few paragraphs are about all I can muster at the moment.  Next week I hope to return to my salad series.

Perl blog post #39

This week I finally solved a Perl problem that had been kicking my ass for quite a while now.  So I decided to write a post about it on my Other Blog.  If you’re not one of my more techie readers, you may want to take a pass.  But, if you are, go check it out.  It’ll be fun.  Promise.

Perl blog post #38

I didn’t actually miss a post last week.  I just forgot to post a pointer here to my Other Blog.  So here’s a belated such pointer.

And, due to the magic of computers, it even looks like I posted it last week, when I really should have!  But I didn’t.  Because I’m lame.  Sorry.

Perl blog post #37

Today I’ve done a technical post on my Other Blog.  Check it out if you’re into Perl.  Elsewise, check back in next week.  Or don’t.  That’s your perogative.

Perl blog post #36

Today I returned to Perl blogging with some actual code this time.  Even less useful for those of you not technically inclined.  But fun for those of you who are.  I hope.

Check it out.

Perl blog post #35

Today I waxed somewhat rhapsodic about a Perl-related Kickstarter project, over on the Other Blog.  There’s very little technical mumbo-jumbo, so feel free to pop over even if you’re not a fellow technogeek.  It’s mostly about the interesting choices that Kickstarter gives us techies sometimes.

Perl blog post #34

For the past week and a half or so, I’ve been in Orlando with the Larger Animal and the Smaller Animal.  Last Sunday in particular, I was exploring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, so I missed a blog post for the first time in quite a while.  Sorry about that.

Part of the reason I was in Orlando was to attend this year’s YAPC, which you can read about over on the Other Blog.  I also spent some time with an old friend who lives about an hour and half to two hours north of Orlando, in the Silver Springs area.  Silver Springs is where you can take a glass-bottomed boat ride, which my grandparents took me on a few times as a child, so that was particularly awesome getting to share that with my children.  (If I know you personally, I’ve probably sent you a link to the many many pics I took while I was there.  I’ve just added the final pic and tweaked everything to perfection, but Dropbox apparently hates me at the moment.  It may take a couple of days before the final pics are there.  If you know me personally and I haven’t sent you the link, feel free to email me and ask.)

Traveling this year was particularly hideous, although much better on the way back than the way out.  Almost makes me want to stay home next year.  But I probably shan’t.

Anyway, read all about the conference if you like.  If you don’t like, you’ll have to wait until next week for further excitement here.

Perl blog post #33

 Well, it’s almost time for another YAPC, so I’m firing up the tech talk on my Other Blog.  Pop over if you’d like to see me solve a little mini-mystery in Perl.  I’ll likely be doing tech topics for the next couple of weeks, assuming I survive a week in Orlando with my elder two children.  Wish me luck!

Perl blog post #32

Well, it’s finally happened: my never-ending blog series on my relationship with Perl has ended.  You can check out the final installment over on my Other Blog.

For 13 weeks, I had to come up with clever titles for my blog posts, and I decided to lift them directly or paraphrase them from various sources: books, movies, songs, TV shows, poems, quotes from famous people, etc.  I knew that some people would instantly recognize some and scratch their heads over others, and different people would do so with different entries.  I figured perhaps no one would recgonize them all, as they were quite an eclectic mix ... from the the Bard to the CW (though of course I might be wrong about that).  So I thought it might be sort of fun to give everyone a second chance at guessing them.

Next week, I’ll do a blog post (here, not there) explaining all the miscellaneous references.  In the meantime, feel free to guess at them and see how many you can get.  I’ll include the hints I left on the Other Blog:

1. The Road So Far: a Winchester recap
2. The Power of OOP: Johnny Colla would have done a mean sax solo
3. A Moose Once Bit My Sister: I apologize for the obscure references; those responsible have been sacked
4. A Worthy Program, Exceedingly Well Read: also, profited in strange concealments ...
5. Speaking with the Speech of Coders: a present from Vietnam
6. Perl is Engineering and Art: what’s to learn? it’s a snake ..
7. The Most Powerful Weapon Which You Can Use to Change the World: according to Tata, not Perl at all ...
8. Endless Forms Most Beautiful and Most Wonderful: there was grandeur in his view of life from the Beagle
9. That’s Why I Failed Recess: it was funnier when Rudy said it to Fat Albert
10. What We Talk About When We Talk About DWIM: involving two couples and a bottle of gin
11. Please Mr. Perl, Will You DWIM?: a plea to m’colleague Hugh
12. The End of the Beginning: once described as “sounding more like the Primitives than the Primitives”
13. Here’s to Future Days: why are they called “twins” if there’s three of them?

I rewrote one hint to make it work for people who may not have read the actual blog posts.  Have fun, and tune in next week for the answers!

Perl blog post #31

My never-ending Perl series on my Other Blog is finally ending.  Hop on over and check out part one of the thrilling two-part conclusion.  Or, you know, don’t.  Totally up to you.

Perl blog post #30

Another in my continuing (never-ending?) series about my relationship with Perl on my Other Blog.  This one delves more into the minutiae of Perl, so I won’t even suggest that you try to make sense of it if you’re not a techie.  But it’s all I have for this week.  So, you know, there you have it.  Or not.  Take your pick.  Or don’t.  That’s okay too.

Perl blog post #29

I’m still doing my series on Perl and Me, over on my Other Blog.  You should check it out if you’re a techie person.  If you’re not ... well, I told an interesting story about my college days, so there’s that at least.

Well, I mean, it’s interesting if you know anything about computer science.

Okay, so I told an entertaining story about my college days, which you may or may not see the point of, if you’re not a coder.  But it does reveal all sorts of heretofore-hidden secrets about what a slack ass I was when I was in school.  So ... yeah.

Perl blog post #28

I continue on my quest to understand Perl, and understand myelf.  This week there’s a fair amount of technical jargon, but also a fair amount of self-discovery.  Pop on over to the Other Blog and check it out if you’re so inclined.

Perl blog post #27

This week, yet another entry in my ongoing tech series over on my Other Blog.  This one is a bit more technical than the past couple, but it still contains some interesting philosophical bits about evolution.  Check it out.

Perl blog post #26

Another post in my ongoing series about why Perl over on my Other Blog.  This time I essay the topic of education for computer programmers, and I talk about which parts of my own education were most useful.  In this particular post, I barely even mention Perl, so go on and check it out, even if you don’t normally dig my tech posts.  It’s very non-tech-reader-friendly, trust me.

Perl blog post #25

Somehow I managed to get my latest Perl blog post out on my Other Blog before I keeled over dead from relapsing into the sickness that laid me low just after Christmas.  So I’m writing to you now from beyond the grave.  At least that’s what it feels like.  You know how people say they feel like death warmed over?  This is more like death left out to get get cold and stale.  I wish I felt warmed over.  That would be a major improvement.

Anyhow, go read the post, or not.  I mena, it’s only my dying wish.  But, you know ... do what you like.

Perl blog post #24

This week I continue my exploration of Perl as (sort of) literature.  This one is mildly more technical than the last, but still not out of the realm of interest for you non-techno-geeks, so I encourage you to check it out.

Perl blog post #23 + Hoilday Redux

In my ongoing series on my Other Blog, this week I’m talking about the relationship between coding and fiction writing.  It’s probably the least technical of the series, so don’t be afraid to hop on over and check it out, even if tech stuff isn’t your cup o’ tea.

In other news, I can now report from firsthand experience that having the entire family sick for Christmas really sucks donkey balls.  We were actually at urgent care on Boxing Day.  (Nothing serious, as it turns out, but we did get some antibiotics, so that’s nice.)  Still recovering, as various family members go into mini-relapses, sleep for 11 hours and feel better for a while, etc.  Hopefully we’re all better by New Year’s.