I ran into a student from a class I taught last summer. He’s a really sharp guy, and when I first met him, I was impressed with just how much Perl he could stuff into his brain’s cache. He would write what he called ‘one-liners’ in Perl that, in reality, took up 5-10 lines in…
Category: Python
Teaching a Course on Profiling and Debugging in Linux
Dear Lazyweb, So, I’ve been in Chicago for a week teaching a beginner and an intermediate course on using and administering Linux machines. This week, I’ll teach an intermediate and an advanced course on Linux, and the advanced course will cover profiling and debugging. The main tools I’m covering will be valgrind and oprofile, though…
Shell Scripting: Bash Arrays
I’m actually not a huge fan of shell scripting, in spite of the fact that I’ve been doing it for years, and am fairly adept at it. I guess because the shell wasn’t really intended to be used for programming per se, it has evolved into something that sorta kinda looks like a programming language…
Heading to Chicago
I’ll be landing in Chicago tonight, assuming all goes well. I’ll be there through Jan 23. If there are any Linux User Groups, LOPSA meetings, Python user groups, or anything else cool (a brewer’s club maybe?) then find me on twitter (bkjones), or shoot me an email (same name, at gmail). I’m teaching courses on…
2009: Waiting to Exhale
Lots of blogs list a bunch of stuff that happened in the year just past, and I have done a year-in-review post before, but in looking back at posts on this blog and elsewhere, what strikes me most is not the big achievements that took place in technology in 2008, but rather the questions that…
Holiday Project: Plot Google Calendar Events on Google Map
[UPDATE: 2009/08/08]: I’ve now gotten stuck on two separate projects, trying to find a bridge between Python code that generates data, and javascript code that is apparently required in order to present it. I haven’t found such a bridge. For one project, I was able to do what I needed with ReportLab (there was no…
What do you find lacking/awesome in tech training classes?
Dear lazyweb, Over the past year, I’ve spoken to a few clients about performing on-site training for their staff in things like Linux administration, SQL, PHP, etc. I’ve also gotten a few training contracts as a result, and those contracts have gone quite well, and I have some repeat business already! I really really enjoy…
What Ordinary Users Think About IE: Debunked
Point all of your chain-mail-forwarding family and friends at this post. It’s a collection of things people have said to me, or that I’ve overheard, that reveal little tidbits about what people are thinking when they use IE. I have to use IE – it’s my internet! IE is not your internet. IE is what’s…
Open Source Technology US Conference Calendar
One of the best ways to keep up with your field and network at the same time is to attend conferences. It’s one of the things I look forward to every year. After learning that O’Reilly has decided to commit blasphemy and *not* hold OSCON in Portland, Oregon the same week as the Oregon Brewers…
How Are You Staffing Your Startup?
I have, in the past, worked for startups of varying forms. I worked for a spinoff that ultimately failed but had the most awesome product I’ve ever seen (neural networks were involved, need I say more?), I helped a buddy very early on with his startup, which did great until angel investors crept in, destroyed…