I just created yet another application….

MeruthPoster - a tool to create and publish posts on my WordPress blog…

Anyways, check out the projects section for more details…

Pictures are all updated. New pictures include: Beck’s Home Trip, COMPSAC 05, NWESP 05, Katrina, Lagniappe, and NY Trip. Check ‘em out!

It’s up in the projects area now… I added a Web start interface. I do have to change its name, of course… It’s name is already in use. I could just name it meruthumbs or something like that… it doesn’t matter at the moment though. I’ll change it later.

Ok, so I wasn’t happy with any of the freeware thumbnailers, so I wrote my own… in Java… It works fairly well. Eventually, I will post the jar file in the projects area which I plan to start populating soon… I hope!

Anyways, I also updated the pictures area… my new thumbnailer works really well for my purposes… Expect to see more pictures soon!

Okay, at first glance, whatever right? Actually, this is what I was thinking… I learned GUI development in Java very shortly after learning OO development… In fact, as I remember my professors used the basic patterns such as MVC and Observer to dicuss and elaborate on the mechanisms used by Java’s Swing libraries… Swing actually made a good backdrop to learning these patterns… Going into more detail, the professors also taught quite a few of the GoF patterns in those first few CS courses. Now, as a professor, I see why… The focus was on software engineering and not programming. Someone who develops software for a living is NOT a programmer even if they write programs in programming languages, which is often called programming. Anyone who has had a few courses in Intro 2 Programming of any variety can begin programming. However, someone who develops software for a living is a practicing software engineer. There is more to SEing that just programming. There are a variety of other tasks and a tao of actually using those programming skills. For instance, using software patterns is a very important part of SE. Even if we could use a language so that students could just “point & click” and “drag & drop”, I am not sure we should. Java is platform neutral, which allows using Unix or Windows as development platforms. Although, Microsoft did at one point develop a “Visual” version of Java (I want to say J# or J++ or something like that) it never really took off. Suppose that we look at NetBeans or Eclipse as IDEs which allows the use of visual design of GUIs, this removes the developer from having to learn the complex elements of GUI design including the patterns which drive the overall swing architecture. This means the Professor or Educator no longer has the opportunity to use the swing framework in conjunction with other means to teach the patterns in early coursework. The patterns should be taught early and often and if we remove the learning of how the Swing framework works… As you may have gathered from my ranting, the process of learning how to be a good developer of any stripe should be software engineering and not just programming. If other majors require their students to take programming courses, we can teach those as well. However, these classes should be seperate. Why not use something like Visual Basic for people who only need one or two classes? It would give the basic flavor of a procedure/OO programming language with Visual interface. However, for people who need to learn how to develop software for a living, we should be doing more than just teaching them to program. K, so I ranted… and now I do feel slightly better…

Just in case no one has created the following sayings:

“Given enough eyeballs, all skeleton closets are transparent” - M. Ruth

“I have had our share of coffee!” - M. Ruth

“Layeth the Cracketh Down!” - M. Ruth

Evercrack!
World of WarCrack!
Empire Strikes Crack!

MMORPG = Crack!

I have a few new things to mention regarding myself.

First, I got a new job. I will be the newest Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY. For those of you that don’t know Staten Island is one of the five burroughs of NYC… and I plan to be a New Yorker next year… Fortunately, my wife will be moving with me this time. I am most excited…

Second, I am coming home to the big N.O. for Mardi Gras sort of… I have a conference to go to in Baton Rouge the weekend before MG and I will be in town for a few parades. I will be going out for dinner rather than going to Endymion (we have several dinner options including La Provence). Anyways, look for me on St. Charles & Peniston. I want to additionally visit the folks in Metairie as well, but since I only have a few days we’ll see.

Third, I am coming home in early march (during LHU spring break) Hopefully, for a fishing trip or two and to see about a summer job. Anyone listening out there? I need a summer job again this year.

I do miss my friends and whatnot, but following my dream is very important to me. Anyways, not going deep, just doing an update… Have fun!

It snowed last night in Lock Haven and for the first time it stayed on the ground. It’s really rather nice. It is cold, but it just isn’t that bad really. I thought when I moved here that I would freeze to death, but so far so good. I wish my camera was fully operational so I could share the scene, but Christmas is around the corner, so maybe then…

I am graduating in mid-December with a Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from the University of New Orleans… it’s either Dec 14th or 15th. I will call a bunch of people and remind you all, so don’t worry I won’t let you forget… I’ll be down for a while this time… til almost mid-January. School starts for me on Jan 14th. Anyways, hope to see you all very soon…

I am going to stuff myself with Turkey this turkey day!!! Bring on the Tryptophan!!! I am going to the in-laws in upstate NY for my turkey fix… I am going to drive in snow, rain, sleet, or brimstone if necessary to see my wife! and my dog! and maybe not even in that order. I’ll let you know if I survive… or someone else will let you know if I don’t… or I may just haunt you and tell you that way… won’t it be fun?