New year's random nonsese :D

Caught the end of Devil's Advocate yesterday evening. One of my favorite movies, mainly because of Al Pacino's performance. He's an incredible actor, especially when you also see some of his early movies like the Godfather and get a glimpse of what else he could do, before being a little trapped in his current image.

Something cool, the song in the end, Paint It Black, a song I only recently discovered myself. Very appropriate :D.

Since I'm about music, I've been listening to Tudor Gheorghe a lot lately, had it for a while but only got to me now. Some absolutely fabulous songs, from all points of view, including the symphonic arrangements. I think it's the second great Romanian musical product, along with Phoenix. And an incredible talent.

And as the new year is coming, I wish to all my accidental and not so accidental readers a Happy New Year ! Have fun ! :)

The best way to use the online MSDN documentation is through Google :D

Web 2.0, interconnectivity, cooperation etc. Strong competition too. Giants like Google and Microsoft colliding.

Funny stuff though. I'm using the MSDN documentation a lot lately, usually the online version. The problem with it is it's moving excruciatingly slow, and when you're coding furiously this kind of waiting is simply painful.

Solution I came up with in order to speed up the process. Use Google for the search, if you have a decent idea of what you're looking for, the first results will always be from the MSDN. Then go for the "In Cache" option. It's instantaneous :D.

Two thoughts. One: Google is doing a favor to everybody, including his competitors, by providing search and retrieval for all the information available online (this doesn't mean it's against it's own interest) and Two: how pathetic is Microsoft if it can't provide a decent access speed to everybody ? (no, I don't hate Microsoft, this one comes out of sheer frustration)

Happy accidents

I don't know exactly how but I got a great accidental play list start - accidental because I never arrange my songs in a specific order, foobar2000 has a great feature called play queue that would make this irrelevant. Fabulous songs, but not very serious or requiring too much thought (well .. part of them at least :D). This was perfect as a background for work.


PS: yeah, right now I'm too lazy to compare it with my favorite music list and merge it

xsd.exe generated classes causing "Unable to generate a temporary class" exception

This has been an excruciatingly hard problem to fix. Maybe I can get the solution a little bit more exposure if I post it here too, finding it myself was a hell.

The error is triggered when you try to create an instance of a XmlSerializer with a parameter type of a class generated from an xsd with xsd.exe.

I'm working on .net2.0, a class library project. Many of the answers to the query in the title on Google head you to ASP permission problems, witch seams to be just a false lead, and an entirely different matter.

If you get array related stuff like:

Unable to generate a temporary class (result=1).
error CS0030: Cannot convert type 'Data[]' to 'Data'
error CS0029: Cannot implicitly convert type 'Data' to 'Data[]'

read on, otherwise you might be facing something different.

The problem is the xsd.exe tool has a bug when it comes to mapping to a multidimensional array. In most cases you can easily fix it by hand.

In my case, I ran a search on the Data type name in the generated file, and I found this:

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlArrayItemAttribute("Data", typeof(Data), IsNullable=false)]
public Data[][] Row

As it can be seen, the type of the elements of a Data[][] array is not Data, but Data[]. The only change required was:

[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlArrayItemAttribute("Data", typeof(Data[]), IsNullable=false)]
public Data[][] Row

Happy coding, and hopefully we'll be spared of this kind of framework bugs in the future.

Unbelievable

I met a friend. An old friend, incredibly old friend. We've been best friends between 3 and 5 years old, and never saw each other since. He recognized me, and the moment he approached me I realized who he was. I don't know why, but I am very happy to have met him. Probably because it reminded me of the time when my idea of happiness was playing in the sunny garden all day long. And this is exactly what I use to do :).

Another thought. He's like ... a grown up. I must look like a grown up to others to, I suppose. This comes as a little bit of a surprise. I feel like a kid. Always did, and beginning to realize that I probably always will. I feel that I'm growing in many ways, relative to others or to myself, but I don't think this will ever go. One more reason to feel happy :).

One down ...

The apartment is renovated, except part of the flooring that I'm planing to do the next month.

It is great, very spacey, very white, clean and simple. Very good natural light in what will be my office.

Not perfect, of course, I learned some stuff from the renovation of my parents apartment, but this still is a trial and error process. You can't have any idea how the finished room will look when you're picking the limestone model (yes, I know there is software to help you with that, but I don't want to involve a computer in EVERY aspect of my life - 12h/day is enough :D). Overall, very happy with it.

I'm planing to move at the beginning of the next year. Can't wait. A thought to my aunt overseas, she made this possible (she owns the apartment).


Still, there was also a little dimmer on an otherwise bright day and evening.

Parasites going down :D

A great article to read if you have even a slight interest in finances. Even greater since it's about how the world is getting smarter and starts rejecting the parasitic positions that worked for such a long time. I love this, people will, sooner or later, only allow those that have a good consistent contribution to human kind thrive, and this is almost one step up the evolution latter for our civilization. Might take eons though :D.

Google Rulz !

Far from being a "connaisseur" when it comes to art, I've always recognized and appreciated the beauty or the insight or the originality of some masterpieces.

Except for some time in junior high when I've been lucky to have a great art teacher, and some museums I've visited, I never did anything to get seriously into art. But I do like to get my "feed" occasionally.

Google changed it's home page again, this time to celebrate Edvard Munch. I browsed his works a little bit, and I really like it, the vivid colors from some of his paintings remind me a little bit of Van Gogh (same current ? - I've already admitted I'm ignorant :D). Always loved Van Gogh. Very happy to find another painter on my taste.

The point, though, is how great it is not only to be able to access any information on the planet, but also to have it served to you. In an abundance of sources, it's cool to get a piece you really like from something you use every day. ++ for google in my books :).

Manifesto ?

Hugh's idea of a manifesto got to me too. So here's my aspiration to wisdom:

1. Take delight in everything you do. Everything can be useful one way or another, make even the things that are below your ability work for you somehow. Don't be a whiner.


2. Be keen on learning. Change is good for the mind, it keeps it sharp. Challenge yourself all the time, booth professionally and personally.


3. Find out what you really want in life. But take care, deciding on a target too soon can severely cripple your horizon and you could end up being less then you should. Pursuing a single goal can be intoxicating.


4. Find out what drives you. It doesn't have to be something others would expect, it doesn't even have to be within the standards, but it has to be meaningfull to you.


5. Don't be afraid to share what you've got and to give to people that know or have less then you do. This is the only way not to run out eventually and we all need to let the flow run in booth ways. Help others grow somehow, however you can.


6. Don't do things just for show, don't get trapped in chasing appearances and external expectancies. If you cannot find a deeper meaning in something you do, don't do it anymore.


7. Don't EVER let guilt drive you into something you don't really want to do. Learn from your mistakes, take responsibility for them, but don't try to "make it right" by acting out of guilt. this can't do any good to anybody.


8. Never be ashamed with something you really are. Not even when you are less then you could/should. Admit you problems, and deal with them.


9. Be honest to yourself, be honest to others. Even if it makes things tougher, in the long run the people that matter will appreciate you for showing them respect and not humiliating them with lies.


10. Be passionate about what you do for a living, but always have something on the side that has no obvious practical purpose. This keeps you human more then anything else.


11. Have fun. Whatever you do, enjoy it.

Challanges

Dealing with people is hard. It's probably the most important part of the activity of a manager, IT field included. I just read a great post about "ego management", one of the hardest nuts to crack when it comes to working with people in the IT field.

But I'm thinking on a more general scale when I say that dealing with people is hard. You naturally assume that all people can be reasoned with, that deep down inside if you could just get their motivations, you'd have the key to solving any conflict amiably. I really believe this is true, and if I could just get over my own ego and have more patience more often I would probably be able to get further in terms of getting what I want or accepting what other people choose painlessly.

The problem is that some folks are just to closed-minded and too stubborned to be reasoned with. And you don't always have the time to discover their innocent inner child :D. So what to do when something you really need is faced with a twisted, unjustified, mean NO ?

The solution I've been using with some success is to take a break, stop pushing it. Get some distance; if you need to, take a cold shower or go for a run. Think, find a different approach. Depending on the situation, sometimes manipulation might work. It's never ethical though.

I'm trying to do everything right. I always had this ideal of succeeding where others say you can't succeed without compromising something dear to you (honesty in general and honesty when it comes to interpersonal relations - in this case).

After the latest episode of human stupidity and evilness though, I found myself thinking like Dexter. But I will find a solution, no matter what. No, not such an extreme one as Dexter would :D.

Doers and parasites

Let's take a software development company. A big, well structured one, that works in the way Joel thinks it should. What do you really want to do ? produce, be a creator every day or support those that do the work with tangible results ?

I'm a doer all the way. A couple of days ago, I started renovating my apartment, the first step being changing it's old door. I was watching the guys that came to do the installation of the new one while they were drilling holes, adjusting the edges of the walls, the whole deal. And I could hardly stop myself from asking them if they need some help. I just wanted to feel the tools in my hands, to contribute to what was done, and, more then the any other reason, to get some of that type of skill. Luckily (or not) I didn't have some work clothes near by.

Yesterday, I've been to a printing center to get some material on old-fashion paper. I wanted part of it to be tied like a book. Again, I found myself wanting to do the work myself, to operate the machine that punctured the sheets of paper and then to tie them together. The main reason was, again, that I wanted to have that skill, but more like to know how it feels doing it right.

The list could go on, It happens with programming languages, sport abilities, any and type of manufacturing in general. And it's very strong.

The thing is that this desire is a very powerful driving force, especially when you manage it wisely.


People (especially programmers) tend to see management as "parasites". Win a lot of money out of nothing.

But it's just a different abstraction level. The results are not as tangible as a piece of code, but they have the same importance (don't remember where I read about this, but it seams very true to me now). And although not all "doers" can get into management, I'm thinking that all great managers should be "doers".

My point is: a parasite in one position will be a parasite in another too. And there's no free lunch, (except for the truly extraordinary talents) hard work (at one point or another) is a mandatory condition for success.

So what are you ? What do you want to be ?

No del.icio.us tag bundles !

I removed all my tag bundles. Long story short, for a massive del.icio.us poster like myself, tag bundles are absolutely useless, at least in the way they are implemented now (longer argumentation, in Romanian, here).

del.icio.us is incredibly practical, and for me it has been a great breakthrough, before it I couldn't find an bookmarking system that would work for me, especially because of the large volume of links that I needed organized and searched fast&easy (of course, an complementary Firefox extension is mandatory for the fast&easy part :D) But bundles aren't one of it's key features, the contrary.

Google Calendar

It's an amazing piece of software, very well thought, very well implemented (finally, some really useful Ajax) and with a nice user interface (booth from the usability and the aspect point of view). Everything is intuitive, you can schedule events, set notifications (even by SMS - and it works !), and also share calendars so more people can work together on a common schedule. Been using it for a couple of weeks and it actually functions well on the long run.

I think it's fabulous, but won't say more to let you discover it by yourself: calendar.google.com