• It’s just not cricket
• Best laid plans
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• The back of the bus…
• Lee Evans
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• August 2010
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• Daring Fireball
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Why the fuck is the main story on my NATIONAL news something to do with a guy throwing a ball wrong in a cricket match? It’s not even a fucking sport.

Make the NATIONAL news something that concerns the NATION as a whole. Otherwise, stick the cricket shit on a regional broadcast.

BBC cunts.

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I enjoy developing software. I’ve often said that if I could just be locked away in a room writing code, without having to answer phone calls and deal with all the normal day-to-day stuff my job entails, I’d be very happy.

Mostly I’m self-taught, but I have had some formal training (OU) in Java programming, and on software development techniques in general. All good stuff, and I’m sure well intentioned and structured, but how relative is it to real life situations?

My last OU course was on software development, from the ‘software analyst’ stage (trying to get a comprehensive idea of what features and functions the software should contain) right through to unit testing and maintenance. In an ideal world, yes, it would be great to sit down with the ‘end user’ of the software you’re about to write, and have a clear and very structured document that says exactly what the software should achieve and exactly how it should achieve it.

It would be good then to get into the cycle of developing this software, based on modelling and testing, presenting to the ‘client’, taking feedback, developing further, testing…etc. I know how to write class descriptions that are very clear and that have very definitive functions. I understand how to create loosely coupled software with high cohesion. I get all that. I passed exams in it.

In the real world though, the time to sit down and create these plans is a luxury that is sadly lacking. I’ve been working on a project for a few weeks, writing a software package for my company to solve a specific problem, and ultimately save some money (always a good thing for a company!) I would have loved to go through the techniques I’ve been taught to develop this software, but instead, I’ve been writing it as I go along. None of the classes have been particularly well thought out, the coupling is horrendously high, and none of it will be particularly reusable. I have two A4 notepads (one at home, one in the office) that have pages of notes on how I expect the software to function; on how I expect the classes to interact. As I write the code, new ideas for functionality or features occur to me, and I have to adapt previously written code to allow these to exist.

In short, despite my knowledge, training and experience, ultimately sometimes you just have to ‘get on with it’ and be prepared to make decisions and re-do things that you thought you’d already finished, just to get the job done.

All of that said, I’m enjoying this project, it’ll be good when I get the software out there onto some PCs to get some beta testing done, and get some feedback from the users.

Then comes the bug fixing and maintenance…

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Meh.

So, it’s been an eventful few weeks, and almost every one of those events has been bad. There are some people out there who are clearly in need of mental help. That said, what has happened to me over the past few weeks seems so bizarre that it is something you might only read about in a fiction novel; I’m going to write that fiction novel, my life events of recent times have given me good ideas and inspiration!

To follow up on a previous post, I have now read the first two books and I’m about a third of the way through the third. It’s an excellent trilogy, each book seamlessly following on from the last, and improving in quality and intrigue. I will be very sad when I have finally finished the last page of book three.

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Well, I’m surprised I can even remember the password to get into this, it has been that long.

I got an Amazon voucher for my birthday in May from my brother, and I used it about a month ago to buy a few books. I bought a book on iPhone development (I fully intend to make a fortune with my iPhone app that I’ve yet to a) have an idea for; and b) write.)

I also bought the Millennium trilogy, which consists of the following books:

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• The Girl Who Played With Fire
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

I read the first couple of chapters of the first book in the trilogy about a week after it arrived (I had spent the previous week reading the iPhone book, planning my fortune) and then I was too busy with work and life in general to go back to it. So it sat for maybe about another three weeks on the shelf in my bedroom.

Last Saturday, I woke up, and didn’t really feel like getting out of bed. So I thought I’d pick up the book again. I couldn’t really remember what I’d already read in the first couple of chapters, so I started right at the beginning again. I read those same chapters, and then another couple.

I eventually got out of bed, did the usual showering etc, and made breakfast. I didn’t have plans for that Saturday, so after I’d eaten, I sat in the armchair at my window with a mug of tea, and opened the book again. I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was at least two hours before I put that book down again. And that was only because I had to pee.

I pretty much spent the rest of that weekend reading the first book of the trilogy. By late Sunday night, I’d read most of it, but as I was working on Monday, I eventually succumbed to sleep. Not returning from work until after 7pm on the Monday, I made (and ate) dinner, watched some TV, and then went to bed, and read the remainder of the book. I’m not sure I’ve read a book of over 500 pages in such a short time ever before. I literally could not put that book down over the weekend.

When I am reading a book that I am really enjoying, I actually tend to read it in short bursts: maybe a chapter at a time. The reason being that I don’t want the story to finish. Like most enjoyable things in life, I don’t want them to end. But, I’d bought all three of the books in the Millennium series, and each book is thicker than the last, so I knew that what lay ahead was even more reading, and so I was content to speed through the first book in confidence that really it wasn’t going to end at page 538; rather, it was only going to lead into page 1 of 569 of the next book, and thereafter page 1 of whatever of the next book. Upshot is, there was plenty more reading to come in this trilogy, and so I let myself enjoy the book knowing it wasn’t “the end”.

I’m not going to do a book review on that book, and I certainly can’t review the trilogy as I’m only about a third of the way through the second book at the moment (which incidentally is also fantastic so far), but I will recommend that you read it. It’s an excellent book, one of the best I think I’ve ever enjoyed.

Right, I’m off to bed. To read, funnily enough.

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