C#, VB.Net, XML and mass consumption of coffee.

FireFox has been my browser of choice for quite some time. I am the kind of guy who likes customization. There is a certain ways my computer has to be set up, its just the kind of person I am. Perhaps for me the most important feature of FireFox would be plug-ins. This is the best tool for customization of your browser. Now, I have been impressed with newest Internet Explorer, add-ons are step in the right direction, but at this point there are no add-ons to help with coding, but when it comes to FireFox, well, let me just list some:

Most obvious - Web Developer – lets just say that this is a must have if you are coding for web. List of features is just too long and I am just to lazy to list everything, lets just say without it any kind of coding for web would just take too long.

Firebug - simply put one of the best tools for debugging your web site. Add YSlow and get in depth analysis of what is going on with your project.

Pencil – free and quite powerful tool for UI prototyping and diagrams, try it out. It won’t replace industry standard software, I for one prefer Visio or coffee shop napkins and black pen, depends on where the idea strikes me, but if you need to do something quick, Pencil would do just fine.

FireFTP I can’t really count number of times I needed to ftp something quickly. FireFTP serves just that purpose. I can’t really recommend it for transferring bunch of files, keeps on timing out, but then again, I have not really played with all settings to affect that.

Codetch - an IDE like plugin which lets you work with your files in a manner similar to Dreamweaver. Once again, for a full blown project I would use a stand alone IDE, most likely Visual Studio or Komodo Edit, but for a quick change Codetch does the job.

There are more, much more. These are the things that I use quite often. Now, with all that great functionality, would I consider FireFox as a development platform? The answer is no. There are tools that are designed specifically for development purposes, while FireFox is a browser. It might be handy to keep a jump drive with overloaded FireFox installed handy for some quick coding while your machine is unavailable, but for full blow development project, there are tools that can do the job much better.

Have you ever looked at a code that you wrote several years ago? I have to do this all the time, after all I am working on the same application. Not only do I do it to fix bugs, but I do it to optimize the production code. And at times I see my old code and think what was I thinking when I wrote this. You see, with every release our main product grows, new features, core changes, you name it. One can say that we are optimizing the software by adding things our clients ask for and this leads to optimization of code. Optimizing your code is extremely important, normally there are few ways in which a particular problem could be solved, but if you are serious about your work, you do want to pick the most efficient way of doing things. Many books have been written on the subject, simple Google search will produce lots of articles concerning code optimization. Today I am not going to talk about that, instead I will talk about optimizing a developer.

If you are like me – doing coding full time and at times after hours, you want to achieve something which falls beyond simple financial compensation for you work. I want to grow as a developer. I have read somewhere that it takes roughly 10000 hours to master a task – be it musical instrument, a sport or any other activity. I think similar thing is applied to programming. I have been thinking of a way to apply optimization to myself, after all if my code can be optimized, why can’t the writer of the code. Here are some principles that I have came up with. This works for me, might not work for everyone. Once again, just my own opinion. Read more…

Tweet, tweet, tweeeeeeet just keep the 140 char limit in mind. Looks like everyone and their grandma has drank the kool-aid on this twitter trend. I know this is supposed to be cool and useful, and at times it is, but this article is a prime example of why twitter is complete waste of time and effort for the most parts. Jennifer Von Grove goes on to explore some extraordinary examples of how to use twitter, honestly the use of the word “extraordinary” in this article is as appropriate as describing a process of passing a kidney stone using the same term. Let’s look at those, shall we? Read more…

At work I design and code tools that work with data. This data is collected from various sources, mainly people who don’t mind being interrupted at dinner time when data collectors call and ask questions. The issue with this approach in my view is that the data itself can’t be considered 100% reliable. After all, we tend to exaggerate some aspects of our lives even in front of a complete stranger. Human condition; makes you feel more important I guess.

One of the key things that analysts who work with this data are constantly looking for would be up-to-date information. Let’s face it; some things are fluid, changing all the time. If you would want to keep track of the population of a major city, lets say New York, how would you go about doing it? Keep on updating the data manually as new results come in? Have an intern whose job it would be to check daily if those numbers have changed? Well, if you can afford interns, then I guess you can afford some kind of integrated system build based on latest statistical data, but what about the rest of us?

Ever changing data is what sets apart current information from outdated. Consider that some heavy decisions are based on this data; I would imagine that it is important to always be up-to-speed. I am not going to say that GoogleLookup is THE solution, it is A solution, but this is a step in the right direction. Makes me want to consider giving Google Docs another look, despite the worries I have about having my documents indexed.

To me things like that are what make on-line based office solutions more attractive to businesses and simple users. Have a look at documentation, try this for yourself – all I can say, I am thoroughly impressed. For complete list of functions click here.