Developing Upwards

I was really excited about the One Game A Month challenge as soon as I heard about it. For about two years I've struggled in fits and starts to make my way into game development. This hasn't been productive in any of the ways I hoped when I started. Its really difficult to be fairly experienced as a developer, which I believe I am in my day job as a web developer, while struggling really hard at an area in which your experience just doesn't exist. Its like being a pilot who doesn't know how to drive. But this challenge provided a new breath to this little hobby of mine. It gave me a scaffolding to experiment, to learn, to reflect on finished projects. I had spent far too much time on game projects that stretched on far past their exciting phases, bogged down by bad decisions and regret. And it has worked. I have a lot to learn. I have a lot of experience to gain through trial and error and mistake and discovery. I have a lot of fun...

I've gotten a number of requests lately to contribute only Python related material to the Planet Python feeds and to be honest these requests have both surprised and insulted me, but they've continued. I am pretty sure they've come from a very small number of people, but they have become consistent. This is probably because of my current habit of writing about NaNoWriMo every day and those who aren't interested not looking forward to having the rest of the month reading about my novel. Planet Python will be getting a feed of only relevant posts in the future, but I'm going to be honest: I am kind of upset about it. I don't care if anyone thinks it is unreasonable of me to be upset about it, because the truth is Planet Python means something to me. It was probably the first thing I did that I considered "being part of the community" when I submitted my meager RSS feed to be added some seven years ago. My blog and my name on the list of authors at Plan...

We use the word “diversity” and when we use a word we are packing up some concept as a thing . We can put that thing on a shelf and analyze it, talk about it, and use it like a hammer when we find a nail. Diversity, in this way, is defined as something other than the natural order. That is the result of labelling something: we define it as something that needs pointed out as distinct from the normal assumptions. Not that it is positioned as bad but we conceptualize things as the normal every day we’re used to and then diversify as this extra step we can take. Diversity is an added step. Diversity is optional. You should take this extra step, of course, but it isn’t inherent. But, here is where I’m finding I might disagree with the way we use this language because... Diversity is inherent. We live in a world reaching seven billion people and we are nothing close to  homogenous. The human race is colorful and varied and constantly surprising. You will never meet ev...

Now that the year is mostly through, but we still have enough of it left to talk about, I’m going to make a belated statement and an explanation: I will not attend a single conference this year. No PyCon. No Traveling for packed days of community building and education. No lower key conferences in my own home city, even. Not a single conference will list my name as an attendee for the enter year of 2014. And I feel great about it! My decision not to attend any conferences this year was an intentional one and has been both uplifting and life saving. The thing is, I absolutely love conferences. I love going to PyCon more than I love most holidays. I’m enormously excited to live in the area that hosts both NCDevCon and All Things Open. Hell, I love conferences so much I organized my own just because I wanted to attend it so badly. As an enormous supporter of tech conference attendance, I realized that I had no choice but to take a hiatus from attendance. I had something ...

Wow! Web Components are amazing! Honestly, despite the negative title of this post I'm absolutely floored with excitement for this new set of technologies. This post is my exercise in grounding my excitement a bit with some reality discovered in actually using them in a serious project, and the issues we've run against and had to deal with. Web Components are an important part of the future of web development, and libraries like Polymer and X-Tags mean we can use much of their power today, without waiting browser support (which is already under way!) Like so many new technologies, this is also incomplete. It may be fair, it would be more accurate to say the ecosystem around Web Components is not mature , than to blame Web Components directly. Ecosystems are extremely important. Therefore, the items listed here are the parts of an ecosystem that I believe we need built around this new set of technologies. Missing Item 1: Routing Now this one took me by surprise because,...

So, I didn't see any opening for contributing in any useful way to the discussion about Google's new Chart API , until I read this post . How dare they call this service open. They should have been clear that their greed has lead them to secretly hide abilities of the service from the public, in an obvious attempt to corner the market on really cool graphs in web sites. My theory is that they hope everyone uses their "Open" Chart API, which doesn't include the full service's abilities, so that their own charts, using the entire breadth of charting power, are inherently better than yours. Beware the wickedness of the corporate greed, my friend. My sarcasm drips onto the floor. Now, I mean no disrespect to Marty, but this kind of post really does get under my skin from time to time. Maybe it just struck me at the wrong time. So what if Google has features they didn't document? So what if they use a different URL to access the API? Maybe the undocumented feat...

We had the first meeting of CharPy, the Charlotte Python Group, this morning at Nova cafe downtown. There were only three of us, but most user groups only start with a handful of people, and I'm looking forward to how it grows. We're going to keep this going on the 1st and 3rd Fridays, and anyone else is welcome to join us.

I started a channel on Twitter to follow any python programmers who want to be a part of it. Call it a social experiment. If you haven't tried Twitter yet, and maybe have been curious, it is a good time to jump in, because you can start out with at least something of an audience. Tell your friends.

We live in an open society. Make all of your profiles public, especially if you're commenting on other's posts. Otherwise, its impossible to respond. So, to someone named Patrick, I was in the middle of moving, so I missed your comment about the Harrisburg Python Meetup, which really stinks because I was really looking for one around that area. I'm in North Carolina now, and there is an Agile group I go to occasionally but I might need to make the moves to start a Python group near Charlotte, NC.

The battle has gone on for a very long time. The Microsoft developers hate the open source hippies. The code huggers hate the corporate dogs. When does either side realize the dagger they're digging in is piercing themselves, because we're all the same. We code because we like it. Software is our craft and development tools, languages, and software ecosystems are the spice racks for us chefs of bytes. Some chefs enjoy working on the grill, and others can't get enough from the stove. But if backyard grillers love a good lasagna and bakers enjoy a barbecue, why can't our camps live and let live? Joe likes GNU tools and Mary builds Silverlight apps in C#, so obviously they need to glare at one another with malice, right? Wrong. Can't we all just get along?

Disclaimer: I wasn't tagged, I just read this and liked it. I also copied it verbatim and made a few adjustments! What is Web 2.0? Web-based software You can create and modify your own data Some social-networking aspects (friends list, etc) The Rules Link to this post and the post of whoever tagged you. Create a list of the web2.0 sites you use and categorize them from “daily use” to “weekly use” to “monthly use”. Include links to your accounts if you want so people can friend you. Tag a bunch of people you want to join in. Even if you haven’t been tagged yet, feel free to participate in the comments or to join in on the meme with your own blog. My Web 2.0 Daily Use Blogger.com for blogging (does it count?) Del.icio.us for pretty much recording my entire history Google Reader for tracking other blogs Twitter for keeping on track with the world Now, I want to jump into this for some commentary. I happen to notice the Daily Use list is probably pretty static, give or take ...

I finally gave in and started using twitter. I actually think it might help keep me focused, somehow. Figure this in: I'll be posting what I do publicly, so I'll want to look good. That means I'll try to focus on really doing things more. I don't want to post to twitter that im play minesweeper, but if I am, I will. Posting one thing and doing another is lying to The Entire Freaking Planet, so I don't think I'll fabricate much. Anyone else twitter? I'd like to build a network. My Twitter Page.

Attending my first meetup tomorrow for the Agile Charlotte group from meetup.com. My old area, surrounded by cows and corn, had no chance of getting any meetups, so I'm excited to be back at the city and able to partake in some community. If anyone by chance is attending, or near enough to make it, check out the information and drop a note.

The signs are all over the place. I can count at least five implementations of Python today: CPython, CL-Python, Jython, IronPython, and PyPy. The use of the language is sky rocketting and set to grab real mind-share as the hype over Ruby subsides. Things are looking good for a favorite green snake and british comedy troop reference, aren't they? Trouble is on the horizon in the very ingredients that could push us into true success. Our community and our very language is in danger of segregation, unless we all do something about it and learn to get along. One of the most visible dangers (to me) is being ignored for various political, cultural, and non-technical reasons. IronPython's users are increasingly pushing IronPython-only recipes, libraries, and tutorials. No one is talking about the transition of the alternative implemenations to CPython 3.0 compatability. To make matters worse, we still can not define the language without refering to an implementation. This is very un...

Adult Swim fan? Thought to myself "would be nice to converse with fellow fans during the block". Especially during Sunday nights. Interested? Join ##adultswim over at irc.freenode.net, the next time you're watching [as]. PS - The double #'s is due to an oft-critisized policy at freenode for "non-official" channels to be moved to such a name, signifying it as an "about channel", and allocating the single # channels as "official".

I would consider myself a gamer. The video game industry has been a huge influence on my life from childhood to parenthood. My father was a gamer, who even owned an arcade as a younger man, before I was born. The last machines, a unremembered pinball unit and a standup Qix were the first things walking in the door of his place. I even had a two-screen, six-player TMNT Turtles in Time arcade machine, which made me the coolest kid among my friends. Yes, I am a gamer. Today I denounce my fellow gamers, and I call out to those of you with any backbone to stand with me in decrying those among us who, basically, just make us look bad. The subject of debate is a recent survey making statements about the percentage of females among the online gaming community. The surprising results state that 64% of online gamers are female , and the response to this news is just as surprising: outright denial. Male gamers seem completely impossible to accept that they are not the majority of gamers, while ...

As some of my readers (I have readers?) may know, I am a frequent of #python over at Freenode. A great place. One of the most supportive IRC channels I have ever been a member of. Over the years I have been a frequent member of this channel, I have received an awful lot of help. It is where I went when I first decided to learn Python, and the kind folks there did great things to guide me along. I learned and I stayed, because I still need some good minds to knock ideas around with, and figure things out. I also stayed because the best way I can repay the help I received is to return it to others who seek just that. I want to think my help is appreciated. I happen to know it is. There is an increasing number of regulars, learning their way through, who explicitly seek me for help, send me entire projects to look over, and generally befriend me in response to the advice I give them. I try not to think highly of myself, but I do believe I am valuable to that channel and that many others w...