Alan Christiansen

========== To Do

Do a page on C, java, ..(small talk) coding my way ---- XP Do the in your face Page about Paper Tigers and YouArentGonnaNeedIt. Put it In Their Face ..... Do a page on Computer viruses, be sure not to evoke an arms race. Do a page on the nature of learning and Grokking Extend on PSP page StaticMenu

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Lifetime Career.

Observer of all things small. Fixer of broken things. Builder of new things. Maker of machines that go "ping!"

Theological Status

When I was 16, I developed one of my principal guiding principles. Stop and Think. I suggest you apply this principle to the following paragraph.

On some issues I simply have no idea. On some issues I believe many things simultaneously. Some of them are self-contradictory. I have no trouble with this as long as the integral of the projection of the strength of my beliefs onto all subspaces of the belief system is less than equal to one:)

Example of a one dimensional projection : I am very new to wiki and perhaps it's just the initial rush, but I believe in wiki. I also don't believe in Wiki, but the magnitude of that belief is much less. The sum of these two beliefs is less than 1. This may seem silly as clearly believing in wiki and not believing are mutually exclusive and exhaustive options, but for me there is nearly always a potential for a third side to every argument.

I currently simultaneously wear my black and white hats regarding methodology for developing code as collectively described here. I suspect that(synonym for don't know but am trying to find out if) the differences of opinion largely relate to the variations in environment and the relative values of various trade-offs. I believe that wiki and my participation in it will clarify my views.

Recently, I have been programming more in Java IDE, and on tasks that are more like the industry norm (not cutting edge science), and have found I better understand the development methodology proposed here. I can more clearly see test first and the other paradigms espoused as beneficial. This leads me to think what was obvious in the first place, for developing software it is "horses for courses" and one size does not fit all. Before some crank runs off thinking I support them, let me point out that one size does in fact fit the vast majority of programming projects. Note how I seem to both believe and not believe in extreme. See above.

Local Dictionary

things (N) ; as in

broken things that are fixed
new things that are built.

small things

things readily overlooked
"The smallest bird learning how to fly"

My father was a craftsman of wood (amongst other things) and was paid as a crafter of education. I have some of his skills but have broadened my resource base. I hack and hew in all kinds of materials both real and ethereal.

These days, I primarily get paid to craft in code. Like the trekkies say, I like to take my code boldly where no man has gone before. The trick or craft in doing this is to do it only where it is needed. There is no point in solving an old problem a new way unless you need to. In that case, however, you must be able to support the argument that it is in fact a new problem that is not solved by the old solution.

Message Box

Your stuff goes here....

Your Grok* pages are very cool! Thanks for writing them. -- SunirShah

Alan,

Enjoy the skiing, and good luck with new job!

Part of me is scared you don't grok usability - deep down I'm sure you do. The main fear I have is this:

ExtremeProgrammingForGames and OptimizationPatterns are two ideas I put up, which I have much to say on. However, I have not said 10% of what I would like yet, because of time constraints. Perhaps I was premature to put these ideas onto Wiki. So some of what you are saying is pre-empting (in what I view as the "wrong" direction) what I want to say in the future. IYSWIM.

I can tell you fear that I don't grok ANSI ;) Not true: I grok it, I just have no respect for it <g>

-- EddieEdwards