My TV rocks!

I received my TV on Tuesday and all I have to say is WOW! 40'' is really massive and the image quality is impressive, although I don't have much HD material to really judge. The other cool thing is that I set up my mediacenter PC to output full HD to the TV so I can browse the internet on big screen from my sofa. Now that rates very high on my coolometer! And since I work at home from time to time it's going to be really useful: half the screen for working, half for...euh...well, you get the idea :).

The Role of Models in Software Development

It makes for an interesting reading: Programming with Models - Modeling with Code. I can relate to this article as I tend to design software by defining the rough interfaces of the main components and refine them as I go along. I know it's not the way we are taught at school but I find this approach very natural. Mind you, I usually work on small-to-medium size designs so I can't tell whether it is adequate to large scale projects. With nowadays IDEs, refactoring is not as costly as it used to be, therefore it is fairly easy to change your mind in the course of the project without adding too much overhead. The design grows organically over time and I am often surprised with the end result because I didn't envisioned the system that way. Anyways, what I'm trying to say here is that this design style really suits my personality. But, I'm in no way implying that it's the best approach.

Awaiting stock

That's my new TV, cool eh! Except that I received an email today saying that they're awaiting stock :(. I ordered it last weekend and it already takes 7 days to get delivered so that's not good news. I can't wait! I wasn't planning on getting a TV anytime soon but I bought a media center 2 weeks ago believing I'll have no problem plugging it to the CRT TV in my flat. Foolish me! So I had either the option to not use my media center or buy a TV. I made the latter decision :). Now I just need to be more patient...

I hate Swing

As I mentioned in my previous post. I am working on a certification assignment (Sun Java 2 Developer Certification). I am required to develop a - same old - client/server software stack providing a customer service infrastructure to some broker firm. The idea is to test you on your ability to design software and follow requirements. It's nothing very exiting in itself but I get a change to use RMI which I am not too familiar with and the oh so great Swing API. You see, I'm more of a SWT guy - mostly because I use Eclipse RCP when I need to develop an application -, but boy this API is so bloated. I know it's powerful and all but it's a pain to use. You have to create so many objects. And not to mention the ugly look. Maybe I'll feel better after using it more. At least I hope. Otherwise, I think my assignment is going well. There is still a lot of work to be done but it's coming along nicely. I'm also trying to write the report as I implement so I have everything in memory. My plan is to be done by end of next month so I can travel in peace.

First post of the year

I've been a bit quiet since the beginning the year. A lot of things are happening at the moment: my girlfriend is about to leave the country :) so I helped her moving out of her flat, I have a lot of work - as usual -, I started to work on a certification exam - an assignment - which takes me quite a lot of time, I'm still planning my trip to Asia, I've been spending way too much money on some hi-fi equipment (here and here), I'm still waiting on my LCD TV but it should arrive soon...woohoo :), I've also been out quite a lot in the last few days meeting up with some friends, and it's almost 2am and I still can't sleep. It's funny that my new year's resolution - I can hear you laugh - was to sleep more and eat better...well, not very successful so far but I still have hopes.