TechnoMage

If I’ve done this right, this post will appear on my Blogger Blog and my Vox Blog, and my LJ…

PUSH THE BUTTON!

One of the things I like more than anything about my job - I am a coder by profession - is that there is always room for improvement in any application. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ app and there is always something that can be improved upon if there is the spare time to do it.

I am currently contracting at a company called Pitch, working on a project to deploy several websites, or versions of a single web-application that delivers a web-site, across a bunch of territories. While we wait for other bits of the business to send us translations and configuration details that are territory-specific, we are taking the opportunity to tighten up the codebase and ‘do things better’. If you’re not a coder then I should explain that this process is often referred to ‘in the biz’ as re-factoring.

Why is this so satisfying you ask? Well it serves two good purposes, in terms of providing satisfaction. The first is that it reminds us (coders) that there is nothing wrong with accepting that applications are generally better if they evolve than simply coming into being, and secondly that as imperfect beings this means we need to create, use / test and __then__ refine in order to get the best results. Embracing this not only means that we will get better results in the end, but it will also take just enough of the pressure off to allow us to remember why we started coding in the first place; solving problems is first and foremost a FUN way to make your living…

This morning my train into Paddington was quite badly delayed; this is not unusual…

Anyway, just outside the station as we were waiting for the platform clearance the train manager came onto the tannoy to apologise, which he did and then during his patter he said:

“…I’m afraid to say that the only good news I can give you is that on the 1706h and 1806h you can now use cheap day returns and off-peak travelcards, which is a measure that came in yesterday…”

and the thing I never thought I’d hear was the carriage breaking out into spontaneous laughter; irate commuters and day trippers just seeing the funny side together. It was remarkably nice.

Yesterday evening I went to Whitstable on my way home. I had initially hoped to be able to catch up with my friend Sally, but even though she was not around I was really pleased to be in Whitstable - it’s one of my peaceful places - and so I took my camera and wandered about around the beach and harbour. Eventually I decided to wait for the sunset and it was while I was, that I met Steve and Jim. They are a couple of guys, friends, who try to see the sunset as often as they can, and they were both filled with admiration for the variety and uniqueness that they find in it. It was just really cool to meet these two strangers, local to this place that I love and often dream about living in and to learn that they have this real fascination with the view of ‘their’ sunset. Thanks for the chat and the wine guys, it was really great to meet you and talk with you.

Here is the sunset, over The Isle of Sheppey, as seen from Whitstable, Kent today.