Scott Watermasysk's Simplable & Crinket

Setting A Tab Title in Terminal

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:25:00 -0800

I have been spending a lot more time in terminal recently. I routinely find myself having more tabs open than I can keep track of.

I then end up forgetting what's open and end up opening even more tabs which just make the problem worse.

I finally got tired of this and posted a quick question on Twitter. While waiting for a twitter response, I figured I would finally checkout SuperUser which of course had the answer.

You just need to execute the following command:

echo -n -e "\033]0;YOUR TAB TITLE HERE\007"

Since there is no way I will remember that command (and who should) I wrapped it in a function that I can put in my .bash_profile.

function title(){

echo -n -e "\033]0;$1\007"

}

Now, in any tab, I just need to execute:

title 'My Tab Title'

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Posted to Technology and tagged as terminal , bash , zsh , osx

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Singing With Sinatra

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:39:00 -0800

I attended a couple Ruby sessions at CodeMash this year which really piqued my interest level in Ruby.

For many people (especially web developers) when you hear about Ruby they think Ruby on Rails. While Rails is an impressive framework, there are some other interesting options available. One of them that recently caught my attention (and admiration) is called Sinatra.

Sinatra is a DSL for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort.

Sinatra is a drop dead simple way to create a small site, blog, service, or even a prototype. Here is all it takes to serve a web request with Sinatra:

require 'rubygems'
require 'sinatra'
get '/hi' do
"Hello World!"
end

While the code above returns the UI inline, there is full support for templates, layouts, and much more.

If you are new to Ruby and want to see what you can do with the language with almost no effort, Sinatra is a great place to start.

I have been hacking around on it for a couple of days and decided to write a simple plugin. While I am sure I will cringe at this code a couple of months from now, I figured I would post it see if it is useful to others.

Goal:
Ensure urls served by the application are consistent by requiring no trailing slash and requiring all urls to be lower cased. If either one of these conditions are not met, the plugin will do a 301 redirect to the proper url.

Here is the actual plugin:

A minimal application skeleton. The key line is the validate_url_requests which is what invokes the plugin.

A set of tests.

Getting started:

Setup steps for Sinatra can be found here.

Two things to note.

1. To run the tests, you will need to get rack-test. I mistakenly assumed this part of Rack which tripped me up a bit.

2. You need to grab Shotgun if you want to have the site reloaded anytime you make a change. This requirement was apparently something that changed recently. It is documented nicely on the Sinatra site, but seems to catch people off guard.

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Posted to Code and tagged as ruby , sinatra

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One Less Step

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:59:02 -0800

Every step a user must take provides a chance for failure and frustration.

Compare these two shipping confirmation emails from 1-800-Flowers and Zappos.

1-800-Flowers

Zappos

1-800-Flowers actually says, “2 easy steps”.

However, what they are not counting on:

The tracking code is 18 characters. While more savvy computer users will simply copy and paste, many will try to manually enter the 18 characters. Those that do copy and paste will usually need to highlight the text, go to the edit menu select copy… in short, they are usually not going to use control+C and then control+V.
The UPS website is stuck in the mid-90’s and requires you to first pick your country. Don’t every make the wrong choice here (and of course this adds another step).
Users will need to switch back and forth between their email app/screen/tab and the USP screen.

The funny thing about this is 1-800-Flowers actually has other links in the confirmation email, including one to UPS. They just don’t link to the one that really matters.

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Posted to Software and tagged as ux , simplicity

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NHProf vs. SQL Profiler

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:38:52 -0800

NHProf is a profiling tool for NHibernate.

NHibernate Profiler is a real-time visual debugger allowing a development team to gain valuable insight and perspective into their usage of NHibernate.

What really jumped out at me after using it for just a couple of minutes is how much more useful it is for developers than SQL Profiler (assuming you are using NHibernate).

First a couple of screen shots that really tell the whole story:

NHProf

SQL Server Profiler

Which one of the two screen shots cares about the user?

Seriously, if you had to use of these tools daily; would you choose the one that throws up on the screen or the one which tries to make your life easier?

Obviously there is quite a bit more to SQL profiler, but for the things a developer would care about on a daily basis, you cannot beat the following:

Results grouped by session. NHibernate cheats by encouraging a single session to be used per page request, but either way it is a very useful way to view what is happening per request.
Details about the number of records returned per query.
Alerts and Tips pointing you performance improvements

So far, NHProf has been a huge help in understanding how NHibernate translates mappings and queries requests into my object model.

It also makes we wonder why this level of information is not available out of the box via SQL Profiler, but well…nevermind.

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Posted to Code and tagged as nhiberate , nhprof , sql-server

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A Tough Interview

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:33:32 -0800

I have had a couple tough interviews…

For the record, he is referring to to a gun.

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Posted to Life

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MongoDB and C# Dynamics

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:31:12 -0800

I am a big fan of MongoDB.

There is a good C# driver called, MongoDB-CSharp. Unfortunately, because of the strongly typed nature of C#, the default implementation requires you to work with your data as a dictionary. This has an unfortunate side effect of some ugly code and a quite a bit of casting.

Given a choice of working with a dictionary vs SQL I would choice a dictionary everyday. However, with C# 4.0’s dynamics, we can make this much easier to work with.

The change in usage is minor, but I find it to be much more readable and productive.

Before:

 1: Mongo mongo = new Mongo();

 2: mongo.Connect();

3:

 4: var db = mongo["blog"];

5:

 6: var posts = db["posts"];

7:

 8: Document post = new Document();

 9: post["Title"] = "Hello Mongo World";

 10: post["Body"] = "This is my first MongoDB post!";

 11: post["Published"] = DateTime.UtcNow;

 12: post["Tags"] = new[] { "NoSQL", "MongoDB", "greatness" };

 13: post["Slug"] = "mongo-post";

14:

 15: posts.Insert(post);

16:

 17: Document query = new Document();

 18: query[“Slug”] = "mongo-post";

19:

20:

 21: Document mongo_post = posts.FindOne(query);

22:

 23: string title = mongo_post["Title"] as string;

 24: DateTime published = ((DateTime)mongo_post["Published"]).ToLocalTime();

25:

 26: Console.WriteLine("Title: {0} local published time {1} ", title, published);

After:

 1: Mongo mongo = new Mongo();

 2: mongo.Connect();

3:

 4: var db = mongo["blog"];

5:

 6: var posts = db["posts"];

7:

 8: dynamic post = new Document();

 9: post.Title = "Hello Mongo World";

 10: post.Body = "This is my first MongoDB post!";

 11: post.Published = DateTime.UtcNow;

 12: post.Tags = new[] { "NoSQL", "MongoDB", "greatness" };

 13: post.Slug = "mongo-post";

14:

 15: posts.Insert(post);

16:

 17: dynamic query = new Document();

 18: query.Slug = "mongo-post";

19:

20:

 21: var mongo_post = posts.FindOne(query);

22:

 23: string title = mongo_post.Title;

 24: DateTime published = mongo_post.Published.ToLocalTime();

25:

 26: Console.WriteLine("Title: {0} local published time {1} ", title, published);

While the example is trivial, I think it is a good step forward.

I want to play around with a bit more before I try to figure out how to submit a patch or fork it.

In the mean time, if you want play with the code, download the source from github, and then swap out the Document.cs class with this file.

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Posted to Code and tagged as mongodb

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Passionate Programmer - Review

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:35:01 -0800

Chad Fowler’s, "Passionate Programmer"[1] is a definite must read for any developer who gives a damn about his or her career.

I had heard about Passionate Programmer before but didn't it give it much thought until after hearing Joe O'Brien mention it at CodeMash (review).

At it's core, Passionate Programmer is about taking responsibility for your own career. Employers should do all they can do to help (some do), but at the end of the day, the only one responsible for you is....well, you.

Two quotes which really stuck out to me:

"If you think of your career as a business (which it is), your 'product' is made up of the services you have to offer"

Not much to add here. This really is the core of theme in the book. This is your *LIFE*. Own it.

"Be the worst guy in every band you are in"

Seek out opportunities, groups, events where you are no where close to being the best developer in the room. You will usually find these are the best opportunities to learn and advance your own knowledge.

[1] To get a DRM Free electronic version, check out the Pragmatic Programmers site directly.

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Posted to Software and tagged as books

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CodeMash 2010

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:20:06 -0800

I had the opportunity this year to attend CodeMash 2010.

For those of you unfamiliar with CodeMash:

"CodeMash is all about jumping into new domains. Getting out of your comfort zone. Learning new things from new people."

CodeMash 2010 was without a doubt the best developer event I have ever attended.

Here is my list about what made it great:

1. People - there was an awesome mix of people. Those attending seemed to do a really good job of attending sessions there were outside of their comfort zones. I have seen this attempted at other places, but usually the cliques are usually too strong.

2. Mary Poppendieck - her keynote, "The Five Habits of Successful Lean Development" was easily worth the price of admission. You can see the slides here. I am considering attending an event or two later this year just to see her speak again.

3. Focus on Craftsmanship - there were quite a few really good sessions which focused on refining your craft more than just getting to know technology ABC a little bit better. Joe O' Brien's "Refactoring the Programmer" and Jeremy Miller's "Software Design and Testability" really stood out to me. Both sessions were fabulous and I hope to see Joe and Jeremy present similar sessions at other events this year.

4. Other Technologies - I have been a fan of MongoDB for a while. It was great to attend a really good overview session which helped connect a lot dots. I have also had an on again off again fascination with Ruby. It was rewarding to hear some as passionate about as Leon Gersing walk through some of its’ benefits without the fud.

5. Cost - I still cannot believe this event only cost $175. It takes a lot of time and effort to put on this kind of event. (Seriously, drop the not-for-profit, double the price, and take this show on the road. It sucks having to wait until next year to attend again :)

6. Family - I made the newbie mistake of leaving the family home. This is the first developer event I have attended where family (wife & daughter) would have really enjoyed tagging along.

Besides bringing the family, the only thing I would have done differently are the pre-compilers. I skipped them and regretted it. I was trying to minimize time away from home, but I definitely missed out on great sessions.

I am already looking forward to CodeMash 2011 (and please, AT&T get these folks some 3g. Spotty service is one thing, none is just cruel).

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Posted to Code and tagged as codemash , events

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Branding Gone Wild

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:38:04 -0800

I am not a marketing/branding expert, but I am pretty sure this is not a very good idea.

Scott Watermasysk's Simplable & Crinket

Setting A Tab Title in Terminal

Singing With Sinatra

One Less Step

NHProf vs. SQL Profiler

A Tough Interview

MongoDB and C# Dynamics

Passionate Programmer - Review

CodeMash 2010

Branding Gone Wild

The Obligation

Only Thing Worse Than A Spammer

The difference between hiring and recruiting

Pork

Pragmatic Beer – Thanksgiving Edition

Twitter Mag

Popular items and Personalized ranking

How to be lucky

Ben Huh and the value of keeping it very simple

Google AI

Better GReader & Helvetireader

US Airways

Twitterville

Fire Alarm Fail

If Only 1%

Mono not Chasing Tail Lights

ESPN 360

Doodle Jump

A Rackspace Cloud with Cassandra?

The Science of Aesthetics by Keith Lang

Google Chrome Frame