I’m in the process of getting my new MacBook Air setup. This involves editing my bash profile, setting system preferences, installing my favorite apps and getting the system ready for development. It used to take days to get a new Mac completely setup. I was able to get this new Air completely setup within a few hours. Homebrew makes it incredibly simple to install the needed tools. About the only thing I don’t use it for is install Ruby and Rails. For this you’ll need to do a little system setup.
I’ve had my eye on a MacBook Air for quite a while now. I wanted to wait a few years to let them work out the kinks and get the specs up to par. Well my wait is over. I have parted with my MacBook Pro (mid 2010) for a new MacBook Air. I have to admit that I was worried about the loss of power and wondered if I would regret it. The truth is I haven’t given any thought to the performance of the machine. Mostly because it just works and I don’t notice any loss of performance in my day-to-day.
Today I sat down to code a shiny new feature but instead found myself ripped into the past to work on a feature that shipped long ago. Bugs in general are never fun but revisiting a feature that you’ve long since “finished” is especially annoying. Today was no exception.
During my interview at Iddeal I was told they would be moving to a new building within two months. Fast forward sixth months and we are finally moving into the new building. It turns out that grossly inaccurate estimates are not exclusive to the programming field.
I took my iPhone and put it back into its box and placed it on the shelf. It would sit there on that shelf for a long time while I explored a new platform: Windows Phone 7. My mobile experience so far has been full of interesting ups and downs. At times I hardly missed my iPhone. Other times were spent cursing the new platform. It’s been just over 7 months of nothing but Windows Phone 7 and I’ve finally had enough. I will be putting the iPhone back off the shelf.
Today’s post is written with a strange mix of sadness and excitement. An odd combination to be sure. Sadness because this will be my last week with my current employer. I’ve enjoyed my time here and met some wonderful people that I will miss working with. At the same time I’m crazy excited to start a new gig. A new gig without VB.NET.
I am new to the Apple universe but I’m starting to see what all the fuss is about. Speaking strictly of design Apple has no rivals. My new MacBook Pro is a work of art. The OS X that I’ve started to play with a bit more lately is equally as beautiful. But OS X does have a blemish even if not visible from the surface. It’s MAC is horrible.
My first “smart” phone was a BlackJack II. It ran Windows Mobile 5. It was pretty awesome at the time. I could write software in Visual Studio and deploy to the BlackJack. I thought it was pretty advanced until I first saw the iPhone. Now that was a game changer.
I quickly turned in my BlackJack to eBay and purchased the original iPhone. I’ve had an iPhone ever since. I am very happy with my iPhone but I do miss the ability to deploy my own software onto the device. Obviously that can be done with iPhone using a Mac but I’m a Windows programmer and I’m not sure I have the time to learn another platform. Fortunately Microsoft has an answer to my problem in Windows Phone 7.
I’m a Windows guy. I’ve never used Linux. I’ve never used OS X. The only operating system I have ever used besides Windows was MS-DOS. So when I say I’m a Windows guy I mean it. I’ve been heavily invested in the world of Microsoft for basically my whole life. I never really considered this to be a bad thing; maybe I still don’t.
After years of using WebForms I decided to venture out and see what other frameworks exist. I didn’t really have any expectations or requirements. I was simply curious what others were using and interested in what’s different (perhaps better) about them. In my search I stumbled across a light-weight web framework known as CodeIgniter.
