First post
Hi, I wanted to create this blog to document some of the coding work I'd like to do, mostly in Ruby and iPhone development. This is mostly for me so I don't forget what I work on, but I hope it's...
View ArticleBuild simple PDF search engine in Ruby (Part 1)
I decided to build a simple Ruby search engine to search through PDFs.The main application was that I wanted a quick way to search through songsheets on my church's Web site. I didn't want to...
View ArticleDisplaying Ruby code on a blog
I spent a bit of time trying to figure out the best way to display Ruby code on this blog. Initially I just converted the code to Courier font but it looked ugly and was hard to work with.I eventually...
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Merits of Customer Development
I wouldn't be a card-carrying product manager without some thoughts on product management.My latest product management interest has been following a trend known as Customer Development, advocated by...
View ArticleMeasuring memory per Unix process
Wow, it's been a long time since I've written anything here. Since my last blog post, I've been taking two classes (in two very different topics), along with the other daily responsibilities of...
View ArticleRelevance of "Social Studies" as a college major to product management
Whenever people ask me what I majored in at college, I always hesitate a bit before answering. The real answer is Social Studies, though I typically don't give this answer anymore. People would either...
View ArticleConverting string to unique integer in perl
I'm writing some perl code for a project I'm working on. One of my needs is to convert a string into a 32-bit integer. The catch is that the conversion must be deterministic (i.e. a hash function).I...
View ArticleThoughts on the iPad
There are many, many posts on the iPad already. I was quite surprised about the intensity of the debate of its merits, or lack thereof.I've had my iPad for about 5 months now, and I love it. I...
View ArticleConnecting to SQL Server from OS X perl
I've been spending my coding time in the offhours working on Perl instead of Ruby. My coding time in general has been very limited, which is part of the reason for the length of time between updates....
View ArticleConnecting to JDBC data source from OS X perl
Here's another blog post on a similar topic. I recently had to figure it out and I documented it already, so I thought I would share it here too so I don't forget.Here are instructions on connecting to...
View ArticleUsing multiple versions of Ruby on the same host
I've recently come across a tool called RVM or Ruby Version Manager. It enables you to run different versions of Ruby on the same host.RVM uses git so my first step was to install git with the Homebrew...
View ArticleWorking with VMware vShield REST API in perl
Here is an overview of how to use perl code to work with VMware's vShield API.vShield App and Edge are two security products offered by VMware. vShield Edge has a broad range of functionality such as...
View ArticleBuilding a Hadoop cluster
I've recently had to build a Hadoop cluster for a class in information retrieval. My final project involved building a Hadoop cluster.Here are some of my notes on configuring the nodes in the...
View ArticleUsing chef to build out a Hadoop cluster
After not posting for a while, I have about 3-4 posts that I'd like to get out there. The first is about using chef to build a Hadoop cluster.Chef is a configuration management tool that allows one to...
View ArticleCreating a Hackintosh
I've always wanted to create a "Hackintosh", i.e. a standard PC that runs OS X. My PC is over 5 years old so it was time for a refresh. I figured this was the best time to give the Hackintosh a...
View ArticleThe #1 Mistake Made by Product People at All Levels
In my 20+ year career in product management for B2B enterprise companies, I have seen product managers at every level make a certain kind of mistake. It is so easy to make that I occasionally make it...
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