Jacmoe's Cyber Soapbox

My main programming languages are C++ and PHP, mainly due to my two main interests: graphics programming and web programming.

This year, however, I am going to learn Python and since I am into web programming, I will be using Django because it seems to be a well written, popular Python based web programming framework.

I've decided to really learn Python, by putting it to use in real projects, as I can see it's being used a lot by Google and because I want to try something else than PHP for web programming. And because it needs to be completely cross platform.

And I've always wanted to be able to write extensions for Blender. :)

Another bonus is the excellent PySide Python bindings for the Qt framework.

Alright: why not Ruby? And the excellent web framework Ruby on Rails (RoR)?

Good question. :)

I think the main reason is that I find Python to be more versatile. And I really don't fancy smug RoR hipster programmers :P

The idea is to take a project and allot 14 days from inception to execution. This is mainly going to be web projects, both because the media lends itself to projects of limited scope, but also because I need to build up a portfolio and because many real world web projects has to be done in 2 weeks time.

I work the best when I'm under pressure - and I seriously need to learn how to actually finish the projects I kick off: my hard disc drives are littered with unfinished projects and unrealized ideas.

This idea is similar to 14 day projects, but not exactly the same thing. :) Where the two week projects are focused on taking an idea / a project and follow it through from start to finish, this is more like Periods of Focus.

Examples of challenges:

• Focus on Lisp: Build a larger software project in Lisp, or a series of smaller projects.
• Focus on C#: Write smaller apps using the .NET framework, in C# - including web apps.
• Focus on SQL: Dive into the domain specific language SQL and gain a more thorough understanding.

The idea is to allow oneself to pick something - a programming language, a technology - and dedicate 30 days to it.

I've been a fan of Emacs for a long, long time - but have been stuck on the steep learning curve forever!

That changed a month or two ago, helped by various YouTube videos - a part of what seems to be a revival of the Mother of all Editors: Emacs.

I still haven't made it my main programming environment, but I now write everything else - including blog posts - in Emacs. I will dedicate a big portion of 2012 to Emacs. :) And I am starting to really appreciate how efficient it is.

Expect to see some blog posts dedicated to it 'very soon' - I have two posts already planned, so stay tuned.

I have 4, maybe 6 projects written in C++ and using the Ogre3D library for the graphics bit - and they are almost in an abandoned state. Not good.

I intend to tend to those projects as part of my 2012 plan.

I live right next door to a forest - a small, but beautiful lump of trees overlooking an inlet of water. And the fact is that I rarely visit it.

I want to visit that forest for at least 30 minutes, each and every day of 2012!

This is something I've always wanted to do, but never did consistently enough to become any good at it: drawing and painting.

I have a bookcase somewhere with 50 drawings - mostly pencil - some of those are good. I never had the preserverance needed to develop it.

I've always been fascinated by painting - oil painting in particular - but never was able to turn more than one canvas into art. That single painting is hanging on the wall in the living room of my fathers house, reminding me that I really need to do some painting done everytime I see it.

I want 2012 to be the year when I pick up the pencil and dust off the brush and just paint and draw. :)

As you've probably noticed, I am not the world most brilliant writer. :D

It is as if I have a Yoda inside which tries all it can to block whatever it is I want to say.

I will fight it and train myself to get better - and since the best way to get better is to do it, I'll make it a goal to write at least a blog post once a month.

The closer things are, the more neglected they be.. I am sitting less than a metric meter from my electric guitar, and I rarely play it. :)

Not a single day goes by without me promising that I'll tend to it.

So, I really want to do that in 2012. :)