Nelz' Blog
Ruminations on Development
GraphViz and ant2dot
So, in trying to understand the ANT build here at my new company Widgetbox
, I pulled out an old friend from my toolbox.
Using the ant2dot.xsl file, I was able to transform the build.xml file into a "build.dot" file. Then using a MacOSX port of GraphViz, I was able to tranform the "build.dot" file into a build.png.
Seeing the build dependencies represented graphically can really help with comprehension of a new build.
Posted at 02:46PM Mar 26, 2008 by Nelson "Nelz" Carpentier in Java | Comments[0]
Moving On
It is with both mixed feelings that I'd like to announce that I am leaving PlanetOut.
My Recent Past
I started at PlanetOut one year ago, 'fresh off the turnip truck' from Colorado. In that time, I have seen the Engineering organization perform an amazing transformation. The Engineering group used to be its own worst enemy, stuck in a waterfall process maintaining non-modular code that grew in fits and starts from its TCL beginnings to a fragile ecosystem commingling TCL with several different versions of Java. Now, the Engineering group is a highly-functioning Agile organization that is making great strides on re-engineering the entire Gay.com website from the database on up.
I will be watching the Gay.com website, looking forward to the summer release of the code that we've all worked so hard to deliver.
My New Future
I am overjoyed to announce that I will be joining the team at Widgetbox.com as a Senior Software Developer. The company is still pretty small and I'll be working side-by-side with some of the founders, along with the mostly Senior-level engineering team. They do most of their work in Java which they use to deliver lots JavaScript and lots of Flex.
Widgetbox is about 22 months into their existence with good funding. Getting into the company at this point reminds me of Eclipse's size when I first started my internship there in college. After working for companies in the hundreds of employees range for the last several years, it will be nice to get back to an environment where I'll be able to interact with all my coworkers on a daily basis.
Posted at 09:40PM Mar 16, 2008 by Nelson "Nelz" Carpentier in General | Comments[1]
Links - Groovy?!?
"Unadulterated Java is so groovy"
- This side-by-side and step-by-step look at Groovy totally makes my mouth water. I've really been getting tired of all the boilerplate BS in Java, and Groovy looks to be the lightweight way to combat it!
"Groovy-power automated builds with Gant"
- Since I'm looking into Groovy, why not look into Gant as well?!?
- Java builds could DEFINITELY use some help!
- One point of contention: the author says this several times: "Groovy has a steep learning curve for Java developers -- meaning that we can actually pick it up quite quickly." (Mr. Author, you keep on using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means...)
"The Grinder, a Java Load Testing Framework"
- Since I'm on an alternative-JVM language kick, why not consider The Grinder, which uses Jython?
"Making Agile Reviews Effective"
- I know, I know... But since I've been on such a pro-Code Review kick lately, I thought I'd share an article that identifies some Code Review anti-patterns.
Posted at 04:20PM Mar 11, 2008 by Nelson "Nelz" Carpentier in General | Comments[0]
Links - All Sorts of Database Stuff
"Get Your Database Under Version Control"
- This was the original article, from whence I found all the others in this post.
This 5-part series outlines some great suggestions:
- - "Three rules for database work"
- - "The Baseline"
- - "Change Scripts"
- - "Views, Stored Procedures and the Like"
- - "Branching and Merging"
" SSW Rules to Better SQL Server Databases"
- These hints have some SQLServer specifics, but many of thm can be looked at with DB-agnostic lenses.
Posted at 12:06AM Mar 11, 2008 by Nelson "Nelz" Carpentier in Links | Comments[0]