Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: github, local::lib, Padre, Perl
Thanks to the great job of Kaare Rasmussen (kaare) and Kevin Dawson (bowtie) moving the Padre repository from a stalled svn/trac setup to github (and keeping the repo alive), hopefully the development can be rebooted.
I posted a small howto about setting and development environment to hack on Padre (svn), but it’s already outdated due to the new libraries that Linux distros now package (gtk3, wx 3.0.1, etc.). The fastest way I found to setup a Padre environment is using local::lib (https://metacpan.org/pod/local::lib).
Because recent Linux distributions have recent Perl and Padre packages, you won’t be working with ancient packages. E.g., Ubuntu 14.10 comes with Perl 5.20.1 and Padre 1.0 (this is also valid for Debian Testing/Unstable). Kudos to the Debian Perl Group (https://pkg-perl.alioth.debian.org/).
These instructions are provided for building an development environment to hack on Padre itself or to keep track of the most recent changes on github.
These are the step to get Padre fromgithub:
- Get the OS dependencies. The easieast way is just to install the packaged padre. Its dependencies include local::lib:
$ sudo apt-get install padre
The OS-packaged Padre can of course be starting by just typing:
$ padre
- Get development dependencies for Padre:
$ cpanm -l ~/perl5 Module::Install
- Install Padre and dependencies:
$ cpanm -l ~/perl5 .
- Run Padre:
– in dev mode:
$ ./dev
- or the local::lib installed app:
$ ~/perl5/bin/padre
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: devroom, fosdem, fosdem 2015, Perl
So far, the reactions to the Perl presence at Fosdem have been great. The dev-room was more than packed most of the day, the Perl booth was by far the nicest there (biggest Perl library in the world, huge and small camels, wall sized banners, books, stickers, wine from the city of Perl (!), …) and Larry’s big announcement in a packed 1400 sits auditorium made waves: Christmas got a date.
So a big thank you for everyone helping out: the speakers, the dev-room (Theo, Geoff!) and booth volunteers and of course the audience!
According to the Fosdem people, the videos should be online Real Soon ™…
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: An old man with a stick cursing and ranting about something he doesn't understand, Perl, PerlJamRant
In my experience (in an academic setting), positive public talks can often be categorized in two scenarios:
– You are knowledgeable about the subject, but by no means an expert. You have something to share that you think will be interesting for the audience.
– You specialised on a subject, and you hope the expertise you built and your experience will interest/help others. You know there are experts on related subjects out there and you’re curious in what they have to say. Oh, and maybe you’re not an expert after all. Maybe you are. You don’t care.
With a positive attitude like that these kind of talks tend to be fun for you and for the audience. With or without jokes, depending on the setting and your style. It boils down to knowledge (can they audience learn something from you, or at least did you made someone there think about the subject) and openness (are you willing to learn?). If you’re a superstar in your field, you may get pretty far with knowledge alone. The audience may forgive you for being an arrogant prick. For some time. Maybe. (If you declare yourself an expert, you’re probably no superstar.)
Most of us are no superstars: enter the “Perl Jam Talk”. Wouter (@debian) presented a nice technical rebuttal. I am sure there are other out there. Someone that learnt the basics of Perl with O’Reilly’s Learning Perl (I did) of stayed up to date with 2014’s Perl by reading chromatic’s Modern Perl (a wonderful gift to the Perl community), knows that the ranting has no technical merit.
So, in this case it wasn’t ignorance that hit me. We are all newbies one way of an other, life would be boring otherwise. I think I may even stand arrogance. But the combination? No number of “suck” and “fuck” exclamations during a talk can save you there. The tantrum route for not understanding something? Here is what most sensible people do: reread the paragraph or ask someone to explain it. I am pretty sure that even superstars do that once in a while.
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: bookreview, books, goodread, Java, o'reilly, Programming
I am not really a fan of Cookbook style books. However, by looking at the table of contents of the Java Cookbook, it’s clear that the chapters on this book run parallel to chapters in more classical technical books, e.g. the excellent Core Java books by Horstman and Cornell. While the more classical books try hard to provide a logical structure within the chapter with the needed context (a story) to master the content, cookbooks give you independent ready-to-use recipes (yeah for metaphors!). So it’s really about getting a proven solution fast than (deep) understanding. But you should get that from the title, so no surprises there.
My specific use case is simple. I want to do some Java coding soon, and needed a quick refresh on the language. While not so long ago I used Java 7 features for a private project, most of my Java coding in the past was based on Java 6. Java 8 seems to have nice improvements, so a fresh-from-the-press Java Cookbook (3rd edition, July 2014) seemed a fast way to get up to date. With 900+ pages, “fast” is of course relative. By this standard, the books delivered.
The content is *very* varied. Some chapters needed careful reading (or even re-reading), while others could be skimmed or even skipped. Recipes include (citing the product page):
- Methods for compiling, running, and debugging
- Manipulating, comparing, and rearranging text
- Regular expressions for string- and pattern-matching
- Handling numbers, dates, and times
- Structuring data with collections, arrays, and other types
- Object-oriented and functional programming techniques
- Directory and filesystem operations
- Working with graphics, audio, and video
- GUI development, including JavaFX and handlers
- Network programming on both client and server
- Database access, using JPA, Hibernate, and JDBC
- Processing JSON and XML for data storage
- Multithreading and concurrency
As you can see, it’s a mixture of very basic and advanced stuff and that kind of thechnical width has its risks. Some recipes are too obvious and not more useful than the javadoc showing the classic usage of a standard method of a standard class (e.g. substr from String). As such, I don’t think it can replace a good book from a “Learning/Starting” series if you’re new to Java. A similar phenomenon happened on the other side of the spectrum. For more complicated subjects (like the new functional aspects in Java (lambdas), GUI development or threading) a cooking recipe just doesn’t provide enough context to really grasp the concepts. I hope the following screenshot from the book illustrates my point (and also shows what I don’t like about java):
Try to put this in a recipe!
Despite this warning, I can say that most of the recipes are useful. By example, even the first chapter (“Getting Started: Compiling, Running, and Debugging”) was surprisingly useful because it included things like ant, maven and gradle. There is lots of content to skim (it’s OK, it’s a cookbook!), lots of interesting stuff to read, lots to use with a mental note “need to dig deeper here” and even some annoyances from time to time (I wish the author would stop pushing his own classes for trivial stuff, like removing tabs (!)).
As a conclusion we can say that if you like cookbooks, this could be a good one. If you don’t, it depends on your expectations. Mine were met, no more, no less. 3 out of 5.
- Title: Java Cookbook, 3rd Edition
- By: Ian F. Darwin
- Publisher: O’Reilly Media
- Print: July 2014
- Ebook: June 2014
- Pages:898
- Print ISBN: 978-1-4493-3704-9
- | ISBN 10: 1-4493-3704-X
- Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4493-3703-2
- | ISBN 10:1-4493-3703-1
|
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: Architecture, Java, o'reilly, video
Well if the first video got a 5/5 rating, you can be sure that the second part deserves that as well. Although more advanced than the first part, it’s pretty obvious both videos must be considered to be one workshop. Looking a the clothing of the instructors and audience in the studio (2 people), tt’s pretty clear they were recorded on the same day :).
While the first video was more about common sense and obvious rights and wrongs (patterns and anti-patters), the second part seems to boil down to ‘it depends’. TIMTOWTDI (There is more than one way to do it) will Perl people say. By example, it was clear the instructors had a very different opinion about SOA and Continous Delivery.
Like in the first part, the chapters titles are well chosen and give a correct overview of the subjects that make up the course. The video starts with Architecture Tradeoffs (see above), followed by Continous Delivery, Abstraction and Choosing and Comparing Architecture. More applied are the chapters about Web Services and Messaging, SOA, Integrations Hubs and the continuation of Continous Delivery. More abstract where the Approaches to Enterprise Architecture, Strategies, Evolutionary Architecture and Emergent Desing.
Again, this video delivers what it promises. Neal Ford and Mark Richards are still enthusiastic about their teaching and seem even more involved in the second part.
Again, great series. Kudos to Neal and Mark.
By Neal Ford, Mark Richards
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Final Release Date: April 2014
Run time: 5 hours 57 minutes
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: Architecture, Java, o'reilly, video
Concerning learning, I don’t consider myself a “visual” guy. I am pretty happy with a good book. Although I often read O’Reilly books, this is the first “full feature” video (7 hours) from the publisher watched. While I am very interested in the topic of I.T. Architecture, the idea was to give this “new” format a chance.
The chapters titles are well chosen and give a correct overview of the subjects that make up the course. Starting with an introduction defining the role of architect, it goes through the more social (Architecture Soft Skills) and infrastructure role (Continuous Delivery) of the job. Some chapters are very close to the developer level (Understanding Large Codebases, Design Patterns), while others are very specific for the architect role (Architecting for Change, Architecture Patterns, Architecture Anti-Patterns). Some chapters are more geared toward Enterprise Architecture (e.g. Enterprise Architecture Concepts and Fundamentals).
I must say, this video delivers what it promises. Neal Ford and Mark Richards are good and enthusiastic speakers making it a very pleasant experience. Also the concept of a limited studio audience helps to make the format more active. Going back and forth between Soft Skills (leadership, technical depth/breadth, multi-platform skill, business domains, etc.),
Architectural Techniques (adaptability, integration, Architectural and Design Patterns, etc.). The course gradually present the basic knowledge to understand more complex enterprise architecture approaches, strategies *and* implementations. I liked it.
By Neal Ford, Mark Richards
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Released: March 2014
Run time: 6 hours 57 minutes
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: book, o'reilly, review
When cloud technologies go beyond the hype, they can be very interesting. I have spent some time looking and evaluating different stacks and cloud providers. Amazon’s AWS is certainly the 800 pound gorilla of Cloud offerings. I had high expectations for a book with a title like
“Resilience and Reliability on AWS”. If you have an UNIX administration and architecture background “Resilience and Reliability’ is specially what you’re looking for (and evaluating) in cloud offerings.
Let’s start by the good part. This little book (<150 pages) is a will give you a good overview of the many components of Amazon’s cloud setup. Some information about FOSS projects is useful outside of AWS.
The bad is that while there are some tips and nice ad-hoc examples about Resilience and Reliability, this is by far not the subject of the book. You get the feeling the authors know about the principles of good and stable engineering and administration, but as a reader you don’t benefit from their experience. You’ll be a witness of their success histories, but you will not learn about the basic principles.
Besides the bad, there is also the terrible. Maybe half the pages are filled with terribly formatted code. Pages and pages of white space sensitive Python without syntax colouring and bad formatting is too much for a Perl guy :). There are other ways to deliver code in 2013 (publishing year). IT moves fast and cloud offering change all the time. Printed code tied to a service will be dead even before… well, it should be useless by now.
I would not recommend if you want to learn about Resilience and Reliability. Maybe a third could be useful as an introduction to AWS, but you may get better results by reading the docs or the upstream howto’s.
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Released: January 2013
Pages: 150
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: fosdem, fosdem2014, foss, Perl, thanks
Just a short post with a huge “thank you” to everyone that made the Perl presence (dev-room + booth) at FOSDEM 2014 a success: the speakers, the video and booth responsibles, the volunteers that decided on the spot to help us man the booth or helped us to set it up/break it down (this was a heavy job: we had the biggest collection of Perl books *in* *the* *whole* *world* and a huge camel with us…) and of course everyone who attended the talks or talked to us at the booth.
And last and not least, the people from FOSDEM itself. Organizing and running an event of such size and importance is a herculean task. And yet, every year 5000 FOSS people leave with a smile on their face and full batteries to continue our work advancing FOSS.
Thank you,
Claudio and Wendy, the Perl@Fosdem organizers.
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: fosdem, fosdem 2014, Perl
Also this year will Perl be present at FOSDEM, certainly one of the nicest and biggest (+5000 hackers) Free and Open Source conferences in Europe. Also this year, we’re very enthousiatic about the lineup. Let’s have a look:
Dev-room: Saturday, February 01, 11-19 h., room K.3.201
Video recording responsible: Theo van Hoesel
Please remember to also visit us at out Perl Stand, K.level2.13 (same building!, see https://fosdem.org/2014/stands/ ). The stand will be open non-stop during the conference, Saturday *and* Sunday. Please consider dropping by to help at the start and end of both days for helping setting it up/secure it for the night/dismantle our Stand. Also during the conference your help is welcome (so people can take breaks, etc).
We also plan going to dinner together. Keep an eye on this Perl-Fosdem specific twitter account: @PerlFosdem. (If you don’t use twitter you can always read the announcements here: https://twitter.com/PerlFosdem ).
See you soon!
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.
Tags: call for speakers, dev-room, fosdem, fosdem 2014, Perl
It’s almost time for FOSDEM (February 1st & 2nd), and like every year we need to make sure that the Perl community is manifestly present. We applied and got both a stand and a dev-room. Yes!
So what do we need to make this year a success and how can *you* be part of it?
- We need talk proposals for our dev-room (Saturday 1st February, 11-19h). We really do. This is *our* room, it’s not only a meeting place for our community, but also how we show ourselves to the free and open source world. Please send you proposals *as soon as possible*. We’re flexible about the format and time. If you can not make it, hassle your Perl contacts to send a proposal. It’s has been an interesting year in the Perl world, so why not make it know? SEND YOU PROPOSALS NOW! We don’t have a lot of time left (the FOSDEM people need to print the booklets), so don’t make me use blinking text! (I remember the tag).
- We need a video volunteer. This year the nice people at FOSDEM want to record all the talks. This is great for our outreach and breaking out of the dreaded echo chamber. What will the volunteer need to do? Make sure things get set up and recorded. Video material and specific instructions will be provided, so technical video knowledge is not needed. More info here: https://lists.fosdem.org/pipermail/video/2014-January/000078.html
- We need stand volunteers (so everyone can take enough breaks, visit talks and eat/drink). The Perl booth will be present on Saturday and Sunday 1st-2nd February). What need you need to do? Help to set it up / break it up and, most importantly, share your enthusiasm about Perl by talking to people. I know that this may sound scary, but it’s actually *really* a lot of fun. Give it a go. Also, you can always drop by and help out. Always welcome.
- We also appreciate promotional materials of your company or organisation for this event. Brochures, flyers, pens, buttons, stickers, little toy animals, etc, etc: it is welcome. The more interesting stuff is gone *very* quickly. Please let us know that you want to send us your promotional materials and we will let you know the address to send it to.
- And finally and rather obvious, visit our dev-room and stand: don’t be a stranger :).
Please send your proposals and/or your volunteer timeslots to us:
Claudio Ramirez (El_Che, nxadm, email: padre.claudio at apt-get.be) and Wendy van Dijk (email: nl.pm at wendy.org).
Please get in touch and see you at FOSDEM!
PS: Forward/twitter/facebook/g+ this link as wide as possible:
URL: https://nxadm.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/call-for-speakersvolunteers-perl-devroom-2014-february-1st-fosdem-brussels-belgium
Short link: http://wp.me/p69IC-j7
