Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - And I'll definitely be in touch with you on that one, Peter... Thanks!

2 - I'm still thinking about what I want to do with this next year. I have to try and find the best balance between work-related activities and stuff I do just for fun...

As a systems administrator, I'm looking at my draft list of goals and wondering why they're all development oriented...
Most odd.

3 - An excellent question. This year, I want to be more a part of the community. As a consultant, I have spent the last few years focusing on learning what I needed to know in order to complete projects. That has resulted in deep knowledge in some subject areas while leaving me wondering about some other areas that I'm interested in, but haven't had the time to actually work on. I'd like to spend more time sharing some of those experiences (blogging, writing, etc.) and also more time just interacting with others in the development community.

I agree that Ruby on Rails looks very interesting. I also want to go much more deeply into Domino on DB2--there are some pretty exciting opportunities there... And, of course, I just want to be more focused and organized.

Of course, all of the above is professional. My real priorities are to be a better husband, dad, and person in general. Minor stuff...

Happy New Year!

4 - And I agree, Stan. Will you just print that book already?
J/k.

5 - Prepared to help you out with your last goal there Tom.
I am not a development guru but can certainly help you get to the right information / people to facilitate this proces ...

6 - Good question. Personally, I'm trying to focus on the softer side of software development this year. Not so much the nuts and bolts of individual languages or systems, but the art of writing good code. So I've bought a book on algorithms (thanks, Duffbert!), and 2 on design patterns (the classic one and the Head First one), and some books on managing the process of software development.

I'm also going to try and force myself to read more serious books. My goal is that for every 5 frivolous books I read, I'll read one useful book. Not necessarily all about software development, although that's where I want to start. Maybe some about history, or even some classic literature that I never read.

7 - Mine are slightly less ambitious. I want to have fun -- the kind of fun that sucked me into the programming world in the first place -- while making at least as much money as I could take in, say, flipping hamburgers at the local grease pit. I want to wash away completely the mental stains of the unrewarding and trivial. I want to do my things my way, throwing handfuls of the improbable at the impossible until it breaks down and surrenders. There will be a pecuniary penalty in all of that, of course, but I will be better for it.

I promise to stop editing my book while there is still a multidigit page count and just get it printed already.

Oh, yeah -- and I'm getting my *&^(*&( back fixed.....

8 - For anyone interested in learning a dynamically typed language, I think ruby is a good choice. I'm deep into python so I don't have much motivation to learn ruby. As for web frameworks, do check out rails if you learn some ruby. I use django in the python world. It's more content management oriented and therefore a little more in the spirit of Domino than rails is. If you're going to learn ruby, you can just skip perl altogether. With ruby and ruby on rails, you can skip perl and J2EE.

For '06, I'm looking at mastering django, finishing my python library for Notes and mastering the rest of the mozilla platform. All while being the best Notes programmer I can be at my day job

9 - I hear ya, Tom. I too have the "Jill of all trades yet master of none" syndrome. In fact, I was thinking of offering a contest - if *anyone* can come up with either a job title for me, or tell me what it is exactly that I DO in five words or less, they get a prize.

I used to hate not having any particular master to hang my hat on (as you so smartly put it). However, I've come to terms with it, and finally it hit me one day that that I think, Tom, our *versatility* IS our master profession.

In my case, my professional goals for 2006 is to change up and expand on Solace, my community business. I plan on getting a cheap storefront, and doing computer training in classes. Mostly Internet responsibility/privacy protection online. Things like that. Eventually I may even be able to get a computer lab in there.

Stan, you GO! I've done a few things this year that threw handfuls of the improbable at the impossible until it broke down and surrendered . There most definately was a pecuniary penalty, but as you expect, you are right - I am MUCH better (and happier) for it!

(although, in hindsight, some things broke down FIRST which led to the improbable.)