Like most longtime Microsoft Office users, I have accumulated a large amount of loathing and hate for Clippy, the annoying, not very helpful Office Assistant in versions of office from 97 to 2003. I usually just hid the assistant until later versions disabled him by default.
I saw this picture on icanhascheezburger.com and thought it was hilarious.
...sometimes.
Suzanne and I have this thing going where she works every other Friday. I take the Fridays off when she works so I can watch the boys while she's gone. Then I go in to work the next day (Saturday) to make up for it. That way she can work to keep herself involved in her career and I don't have to take all my vacation time to make up for it (or pay for some sort of day-care service).
It's important to me that Suzanne can work. She's a physical therapist and needs to be involved in order to stay current in her field. As committed as we are that she should be a stay-at-home mom and I will be the supporter, I don't want to deny her the enjoyment of exercising the knowledge and skills she has acquired.
At any rate, I don't mind working Saturdays. It's actually quite nice! Some of the perks:
The only con I have found so far is that I have one less day to spend with Suzanne and the boys together. Well, really it's one less day with Suzanne since I get to be with the boys all day Friday.
And it's hard to be at work on a Saturday when it looks really nice outside (sigh).
I just read a great piece on Jeff Moser's blog entitled "Does Your Code Pass the Turkey Test?" It's a great piece for any software developer writing any kind of UsWare or ThemWare. (MeWare developers are assumed to write code that works in their own localization with some degree of proficiency. If not, you might want to think about finding another profession!)
Basically, if your code is going to be used by anybody else, ensure that it will be usable by people in other localizations. Jeff just happens to focus on Turkey because of some unique peculiarities that exist there.
Read his post. It's worth it.
I use Visual Studio here at work. One of the projects I'm working on right now is done completely in C#, which is an easy language for me to work in. I minored in Computer Science at BSU, and most of the classes they teach there are in Java, especially the lower-division classes. This works out well because Java lets you focus on all the theoretical/academic features of computing without really having to worry about the technical details of a language. Data structures, algorithms, they go down real easy with Java.
I'm also working on a project that's written in C++. This is a little more difficult for me because I hadn't done any C++ coding before starting on this project.
That's right, not one line.
It's kind of a jarring transition from user-friendly, object-centric Java to power-user, uber-language C++. I had done some embedded C programming, which helps with some of the very basics, but that did nothing to prepare me for Windows Application programming in C++.
Message pumps? Thread safety? Templates?
I have a coworker who asked me (in reference to another coworker) the following:
"Don't they teach threading in school? I don't think (this other guy) understands what that means."
My reply was that they don't teach it, at least not in the classes I took. Granted, my CS education is nothing near comprehensive. I don't know what goes on in such lofty classes as Operating Systems or Theory of Computation. My experience is limited to the practical, EE-centered subjects of Computer Architecture and Microprocessors. Much more hardware-oriented than the CS subjects, but that gives me a good understanding of what actually happens in a device. This is especially important when programming for a microcontroller, where resources are limited.
So I struggle with C++. C#, no problem, I look forward to future C# projects. I've got my C++ Bible, The C++ Programming Language by Stroustrup, and I read it daily. I'm sure my skills will improve as I continue to learn and use C++ more.
Anyway, I use Visual Studio 2008. Here's my setup. I've found that I like light text on a dark background. I use the Ragnarok Blue color scheme from this page. It's easier on the eyes, but I found I had to make the font size smaller.
There are some things that I have installed that I have to have now. Let me enlighten you about my environment. Step into my digital world:
The Machine:
I use Vista on a Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad T60. A lot of people dog Vista (at work here, anyway). I am willing to live with its shortcomings in order to put up with the benefits.
The Desktop:
I like my desktop clean and uncluttered. No icons, no folders, no shortcuts, just some sidebar gadgets placed on the desktop. You may notice that I have some tabs at the top of the left monitor, I'll get to that later. Yes, that is a Mac wallpaper. I use Display Fusion to make the wallpaper span both monitors, because I think that looks cleaner. My desktop is quiet place, a serene place.
The Tabs:
The tabs are part of Object Desktop's ObjectDock Plus. I use two docks, a tabbed one at the top and a hiding launcher at the bottom:
The tabbed dock at the top is fully customizable, you can add whatever tabs and whichever shortcuts you want. They make starting commonly-used programs a breeze and add some nice eye candy.
The Switcher:
I use Bao's Switcher for Vista Aero a lot. I find it much easier to use on multiple monitors and with many windows than the standard taskbar that ships with Vista:
Boom! Iconified, tiled windows! It puts each application on the monitor it is open on. I have been looking for this on a PC for quite some time now.
The Music:
I use iTunes. It's medeocre, as far as media players go, but it supports my iPod Touch, so I live with it. I wish there was some way I import song data like I can with the competition's product.
I found this this tool on Scott Hanselman's Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows (that sounds like the latest ATHF movie title). So I am posting this post from Windows Live Writer, and I want to see if it works well. I like Blogger better than Wordpress, even though I was initially swayed by Word 2007's better native support for Wordpress (it couldn't post images to Blogger).
At any rate, the Windows Live Writer looks nice, and uses a familiar Vista-ish interface:
Now there's a paradox for you...
