Mizblog

This week I delivered the third of three online learning modules. I built them as I was building the framework that they use, so the process was very dangerous and difficult. Actually, due to the rapid development rate, there are many many known problems with the code, but hey it works and that’s what’s important right now at this moment.

I’ve already started on my next coding project, which is another experiment on how to teach kids to measure things. I think with the new framework available it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

One of the general development problems I keep running into stems from the conflict between creating new code quickly and maintaining older versions of the code. Here’s what happens:

We get a new job that’s a lot like the job we’re working on now, except instead of wanting it to be delivered yesterday, they want it last week. Okay, we’ll have to make quite a few changes to the existing project in order to implement the desired features, but since the existing project doesn’t require those features, and we don’t want to break that project in the process, we create a new copy of everything and add the features to that (just to be safe).

Now while we’re working on this new project, we also fix a bug in code we copied from the original. It’s difficult to realize that we should immediately stop and apply the same fix to the original (and of course test it thoroughly in case it has unintended consequences) so in most cases we don’t apply the change to the original. Later, however, when we’ve delivered the original and someone notices the bug there, we’ll get to go back and fix it there too. Multiply this by several projects and it becomes very tedious.

One way around this is to utilize shared library files. This way, when you fix the library file, everything that uses it benefits from the bug fix. The tradeoff is that if the behavior of the library file changes, all the projects that use it suffer. If different projects implemented different workarounds for that bug, they’ll all need their own individual debugging sessions. Gah! Also tedious!

Another option is to use some kind of source control and try to merge versions. This so-called automated function usually requires at least as much effort as debugging all dependent projects after a library change, because you have to test them anyway, even after you figure out how to incorporate the changes from source control. Also tedious!

I guess what it comes down to is that developing several related projects at the same time is tedious. It involves a balancing act between code sharing and code separation, and it demands testing of every project after every change to library files. This is where automated testing is very beneficial. It lets you spit out a test command and collect results of all your tests. Unfortunately, I haven’t got automated testing down for GUI code. People can come up with so many odd behaviors that I’d never think to write a test for.

As the title of this post implies, I’m now coding in Actionscript 2.0. This is the scripting language used by Flash MX 2004 through Flash 8. It’s Macromedia’s attempt to add object-oriented design tools to their scripting language, and I’m appreciating their efforts in this direction. The parts that are wonky for me are the points of interaction between Actionscript and the graphical symbols on the stage. I’ll figure it out though. Just gotta keep tweaking on it.

I’m coding Actionscript because I’m creating a web-based PLM architecture to support this and all our future learning modules. We’re getting a dedicated server this month too, which should help. The server’s problem sequencing procedures can get kind of complicated, and I’d hate to have to rely on a massively shared webserver to support all our projected users.

Today I made the login screen. Again. This time as an object. I’m not sure how to integrate it with the rest of the framework, because as yet the rest of the framework does not exist. I’ll leave that for tomorrow though.

Last night I found out my dad has colon cancer. I’m not worried though. I’ve always known he’d die of heart disease, and a little colon cancer isn’t going to get in the way of heart disease. Still, you know what they say: “Everyone dies of cancer, unless something else kills them first.”

I’ve been spending most of my free time playing WoW, though I’ve been especially careful to always take care of work first. I’ve started getting back to guitar playing every day. I may even be getting tired of WoW, though I still play it. It’s an addiction.

Tonight is the release of a new experiment we’re making. Testing algebra transformation recognition skills in high school kids, and seeing which of our approaches results in better learning (faster/more accurate/least drudgery). I’m ironing out the last kinks right now, and it’s compiling while I’m writing.

Saturday was supposed to be the day when I finally got to play music with Mark and Teetee. Mark writes really neat, folksy songs with very unusual key changes, and I’ve been dying for some tutoring from him to see how he does it. Teetee is an amazing singer and just an all around pleasure to be with. I was really looking forward to it.

Then Mark crashed his scooter and injured his hand. Our music plans went up in smoke.

To help cheer Mark up, and to have an excuse to hang out with those guys, Sangeeta and I decided we’d make them some momo. Momo, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a Nepali dumpling (wonton wrapper filled with ground turkey, vegetables, and spices, then steamed and served with chutney (sort of like salsa)). We decided that Teetee’s apartment was most convenient for all concerned, since she lives about midway between us and Mark. So we went to her place and cooked. She and Mark bought all the ingredients, and we brought the hardware and some of the spices.

It went really well. The chutney was tomato heavy but was probably the best I’ve had. The turkey that Mark got was very high quality organic turkey, and it made for very delicious momo. Everyone helped, and making them was almost as fun as eating them. Afterward, we hung out and helped Teetee get ready for Scott’s birthday outing. When she left, so did we.

Sunday we visited my parents and their new pets. After Georgie died, they adopted his two dogs and one cat. The cat’s having some adjustment problems, but the dogs seem happy as anything. I enjoyed playing with them. Rob and Jenn (my brother and his new wife) also hung out, and we all went to dinner where we met Greg and Sam. I found out that Greg got a job as a school teacher! That’s just about the most unlikely job I could imagine for him, but as I think about it I find that it makes a certain kind of sense. He’s a good guy, and maybe he really does like kids after all…

So that was my weekend. It was good. I can tell because yesterday (Monday) sucked really bad. Sarala spent the day at my place while Sangeeta worked, and it was all I could do to not go postal. I ended up hanging out in the lab all afternoon. Sure enough, she was still there when I got back. *sigh*

Today’s a little better. I sent off some files to Phil, which will hopefully solve some problems he’s been having with my vocabulary application. I’m crossing my fingers.