In Praise of Multi-Boot

I use a tool named System Commander to allow multi-booting. I recently ran into an interesting reason why multi-booting is very useful. I have heard comments that virtual machines make multi-booting almost unnecessary. I disagree. I have a PC that I upgraded numerous times. It started out as a 486 to give you an idea of how long I have had this. I don’t think anything is left of the original Gateway 486. As disk drives became less and less expensive I copied the images of the operating system over to new drives. I configured the system with three separate operating systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Using System Command the computer normally boots up into Windows XP but I have the option of booting up into old Windows 2000 or into Windows Server 2003. On a side note, when I boot up Windows 2003 I then run VMware server and have several VMs. Sometime last summer, the sound out of the system started to act a little strange. There were pops, clicks, and stutters when playing music on Windows XP. I believe two different things causes issues with the sound system. First the sound card may have started to die. Second, one of Window XP innumerable updates may have cause the problem. True to form, the sound completely died. I swapped out the sound card with another slightly different one. After reinstalling the drivers on all three operating systems, I have great sound on two of them: Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. But Windows XP still has pops, clicks, and stutters. This means the problem is not with the sound card, but with Windows XP. It does not solve the problem, but it eliminates one possibility. Besides being able to switch operating systems, System Commander has the ability to repartition many disk formats. It is interesting that only Windows XP is affected. I considered installing Windows Vista. But I did not have the disk space.

Converting Campaign Cartographer Files to XAML

ProFantasy created a program named Campaign Cartographer. The program allows the quick creation of very high quality maps for role playing type of games. I was working on a logo for the company I am trying to start. I wanted to create a Silverlight XAML file for the logo. I knew that Campaign Cartographer could quickly and easily create a piece of the Logo. Now for the challenges in getting that file into XAML. Campaign Cartographer has only a limited number of vector output options. I could easily create a bitmapped graphic in a variety of formats, but I wanted to stay in the vector space. The logical place to start is as a Windows Metafile (.wmf or .emf). I exported the metafile and tried using one of the freeway tools EMFtoXAML. This produces basically produces an empty file. EMFtoXAML does not support any of the drawing commands used by Campaign Cartographer. I then tried reading the .emf file into Adobe Illustrator CS 1 (the most recent version I own). The result is very low quality. My next step was Corel Draw 12 (the most recent version I own). Again, the result was awful. I gave up on .emf files. Now to try another vector format: AutoCad .dxf. Now the fun begins. The current release of Campaign Cartographer is version 3. On my system, Campaign Cartographer 3 crashes when trying to export a .dxf. I then fire up an old PC that has Campaign Cartographer version 2 installed. This program exported the DXF without problem. Then went back to Adobe Illustrator CS 1 to try and import the .dxf file. Again, Adobe Illustrator did not render the import usable. My next step was back to Corel Draw 12. Corel Draw 12 imports the .dxf. The result of the import into Corel Draw is not perfect. The import removes most but not all of the color. At least the outline is clean. Corel Draw can export an Adobe Illustrator file or .ai file. I installed the preview version of Expression Blend 3.0 from Microsoft. Expression Blend 3.0 is supposed to be able to import Adobe Illustrator files and create XAML. I fired up Expression Blend and created a Silverlight project. Expression Blend disables the menu options to import an Adobe Illustrator file when you create a Silverlight project. After fumbling around for a while I tried creating a WPF project in Expression Blend. That allows importing Adobe Illustrator files. I did some searching on the web, and nothing mentions you can only import Adobe Illustrator into WPF projects. I tried importing the Adobe Illustrator file created by Corel Draw 12. Expression Blend 3.0 Preview says it cannot understand the file and cannot import it. I then go back to Adobe Illustrator. I open up the file created by Corel Draw in Adobe Illustrator and save the file back as another .ai file. It is interesting to note the Adobe Illustrator's default name for the file adds the word "[Converted]" to the file name. I open Expression Blend 3.0 back up to my WPF project. Finally I can import the .ai file and the image appears in Expression Blend. The colors are gone, but at least I have the XAML file I can work with. I hope that someday ProFantasy will add the ability to export data directly into XAML.

Windows Forms versus Web-Based Technology

A friend asked a question: "I have a question...curious about what you know about web-based system architecture design. Specifically, use of Windows Forms (.net framework) versus Frames Technology." The short answer to your question is web-based systems run inside a browser, and windows forms based applications run as applications on your PC. But things are a bit more complicated. Web-based systems use a variety of standards: HTML, XHTML, XML, and CSS. Developing a web based application requires testing on a variety of browsers (Internet Explorer, FireFox, etc.). You can access a web-based systems can from mobile devices like a BlackBerry, iPhone, and so on. Because they run in a browser, web based application also run on Macs and other operating systems besides Windows. In general, web based systems do not need to be installed on the computer. To run a web based application you just open up the browser and point it to the URL for the application. The downside is that Web-based systems have limitations on what data they can store or access on your local computer. A well designed web based application allows changing the "skin" of the application easily. Someone can change the colors, fonts, or layout used in an application without the need to recompile or reinstall the entire program. You must have a connection to the network for a web-based application to run. The phrase "software-as-a-service" or SAAS is usually associated with web based applications. Web-based applications run from a server. Changing the application on the server changes the application for every user at the same time. Windows forms based applications only run on a PC. You must install windows forms based applications. This means the application can take full advantage of any hardware you have on your PC. The application can access and store data on your local hard drive. To change the fonts, colors, or layout of the application usually required a new build of the application and a new install. (There were tools to support "skins".) Things are ever more complicated. Technology continues to innovate. Windows forms technology is old. Microsoft replaced Windows forms with Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF. Another name for this technology is Silverlight. WPF makes it easy to change the graphics, layout, fonts, and colors used by an application. This technology allows developers to use a component based development methodology. Developers just click and drop the components they need on the form and connect them. Another name for component based development is rapid application development or RAD. Customization of the application to make it look pretty no longer requires a developer. By the way, this was a huge issue at one company I worked for. I remember one project where the developer finished the functionality of the application in about two weeks. Then the developer spent the next nine months continually changing the colors, fonts, and layout to make the application pretty enough. (I used to get into nasty arguments about the time wasted on changing the colors, fonts, and layout.) Silverlight applications run inside most browsers. The server (or servers) must be up and running twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year for Web-based or Software-as-a-service based applications. If the server or network goes down, everyone is down. You install windows based applications on each PC. If the PC is working the application usually works. However, if the application requires access to a database, then the application only works if the database server is up and running. The biggest headache to windows based applications is the release of new versions of the software. Technology continues to change. Perhaps the best example is the game World of Warcraft. This is an application you install on your local PC that talks to a set of servers. World of Warcraft automatically installs new versions when you log in. The game won’t run if you don’t have an Internet connection. World of Warcraft uses your graphics card to the max. Performance of the game is generally limited by your PC and not by the server. This does put a bit of a strain on some network connections. If you need to make the decision on which technology the first question is: "will the individual computers always have a connection to the network and/or Internet?" If the answer is "no", then in general you want to stay away from a web-based solution. (I did manage a project that embedded a web server inside the application, but that is a complicated solution.) If the answer to that question is "yes", then you need to think about the type of computers each person who runs the application has. If you have a combination of PCs and Macs, then you should go with a web-based solution. If one of the stakeholders places the esthetics of the application very high, then go with a web-based solution. If you plan on changing the application frequently, it is easier to change a web-based solution. On the other hand, if you need to get performance out of the local PC, go with a windows based solution.

Lack of Pride in your Work

I recently downloaded a small program from an open source repository. I took a look at the sources and was shocked. With the exception of some commented out code, the IDE generated all the comments. There was not even a header on the files showing that the source code was under an open source license or giving credit to the original author. I have experience working with poorly written and/or poorly commented code. I admit that I have written some code like that. But I also have written some code that is easy to maintain and is well commented. Early in my career I learned from some excellent teachers. I still have some of the papers that Nelson Beebe wrote about writing portable software almost thirty years ago. Brad Davis taught me a lot when I worked at the University of Utah. I still have some code I wrote way back when that still runs. The code I wrote then did not have a lot of comments, but the naming conventions and structure make it easy to read and understand. If I wrote that code today, I would use some different approaches, but then programming has changed a lot over the last twenty to thirty years. I know the quality of my twenty year old code is better than the source code to the small program I downloaded. Part of the idea of open source is pride in your work. How can a developer lack the pride to polish their code before they publish it to an open source repository? If you publish your code you expect others to read your code. Don't you clean up your home before you invite visitors in? You should do the same thing with your code. Clean and polish your code before you publishing it. Take pride in doing a good job. There is a saying, "a job worth doing is worth doing well." One of the things I require of the people that work for me is that they do a good job that they can be proud of. I know a lot of companies rush to get software out the door. This is particularly true in startups. Get it working is the mantra. But that hurts you in the end. You create products that are not maintainable. I establish the processes and procedure to take an immature software organization and create a predictable, sustainable, measurable, and managed team that delivers quality products on time and on budget.

Adventures with Interactive Fiction

Wikipedia defines Interactive Fiction as "software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment."

I played Adventure, the Colossal Cave and numerous Scott Adams adventures. I looked at currently available systems used to create interactive fiction. There are a variety of mature systems that allow easy creation of complex adventures. I read through the user manuals and much of the technical documentation on several different systems. Then I read the IF Authoring System Developer's Guide by Peer Schaefer. I then decided to try and create my own adventure system. Peer Schaefer recommended, "So, you want to write an Interactive Fiction authoring system? Ok, here's my advice: don't do it." That is interesting advice. Peer Schaefer mentioned two authoring systems that used XML as their base: AAS and Aiee. I have a tremendous amount of experience with XML. It appears both AAS and Aiee are abandoned. No one has done any work with either since 2004. I contacted one of the authors. The authors of AAS never released the source code. It appears that the original source code for AAS may be lost. I tried to contact the author of Aiee. I received no response.

Of the two, AAS and Aiee, AAS had better documentation. AAS also has a development environment. I tried creating a game with AAS. I immediately ran into problems. AAS did not fully implement all the documented functionality. For example, the test to see if a container is open does not work. Fortunately there are eleven AAS games available. After reading through the XML sources I was able to figure a work around. I used AAS to create an entry into the One Room Game Competition 2008.

Technology Professionals Networking Group (TPNG) Meeting

I attended the Technology Professionals Networking Group (TPNG) meeting tonight. The speaker was Kimberle Levin, president and CEO of Teknuko. Ms. Levin talked about “schmoozing”. It was an interesting and lively presentation. She mentioned that little things matter a lot. For example, at a networking opportunity you should have your name tag on the right. When you shake hands with someone their eyes will follow up your arm to your name tag. I admit, I never thought of that or ever heard anyone mention why you would wear your name tag on one side or the other. Ms. Levin gave several examples from her personal life how “schmoozing” and networking worked to her advantage. She gave some interesting examples of how to correctly shake someone’s hand, and how not to shake someone’s hand. All in all, it was a fascinating presentation. I hope to go through the slides to her presentation in detail.

Philadelphia-Area Software Process Improvement Network Meeting

I attended the Philadelphia-Area SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) meeting tonight. The topic was: “How can we measure the value of IT?” Michael Harris from David Consulting Group (www.davidconsultinggroup.com) made the presentation. The phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” implies that what one person things is beautiful another may not. Value is similar. This leads to a similar phrase, “value is in the eye of the beholder”. A developer may value the beauty of a well crafted program. But unless the program generates revenue for the company, management may not see the value or beauty in the program. Mr. Harris brought up an interesting point: value has a time component. For example, if an information technology organization delivers a project that is late by only ten percent, the market value of the project may actually be fifty percent less. I like the analogy of going to a restaurant. I value restaurants that quickly seat and serve you. If a restaurant takes ninety minutes to bring me a meal, no matter how good the meal is, I will not go back to that restaurant. The meal decreased in value the longer it takes to prepare it. The same is true with software development. If you take too long to create the software the market may have found a different solution. The decreasing value over time is the reason for many innovations in information technology. For example, we want a new computer because it is faster than the old one. The value of the computer has decreased because a faster model now exists. I believe our current financial crisis is based on the false premise that homes should increase in value over time. Why should a home increase in value? The plumbing does not get better over time. The furnace and water heaters do not improve with age. Businesses depreciate the cost of buildings and equipment over time because they are worth less as they age. Getting back to the topic of the meeting, Mr. Harris described a variety of standard financial methods that anyone in management in IT should know and understand. Mr. Harris stated the best method was Real Option Valuation. I need to dig a bit deeper into this methodology. I added a book to my wish list: “20/20 Foresight: Crafting Strategy in an Uncertain World” by Hugh Courtney.