Buzzwords
Is it just me, or is the term “software ecosystem” in vogue now?
Is it just me, or is the term “software ecosystem” in vogue now?
This week I started work in the eSolutions division of EDS. The group I’m in uses ASPs extensively to do their sites (mainly the Commonwealth Bank site). I’ve previously learnt PHP and Cold Fusion but not really ASPs, so I guess having to work with it will give me experience in the last of the trio of major server scripting languages. I don’t like VBScript much, though – it’s not as structured or clear as Java-style syntax and code. Too bad that most companies choose to use VBScript to deploy their ASPs. Apart from scripting, I’ve been told I’ll finally get the chance to learn XML/XSL (something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time) and also to bring myself back up to scratch on DHTML. EDS has also standardised the use of XHTML for some of the Commbank site. So, even though I can see that some (most?) of the work I’ll be doing won’t be the most interesting of tasks, at least it’ll all be a learning experience. Web development like this, however, is probably not a job I would like to go into when I graduate. But who knows, maybe my opinion will change within the upcoming months?
A site redesign (mainly backend) is slowly in progress.
Saw Alegria (run by the French Canuckian Circus of the Sun) today. Cirque du Soleil was in Sydney a few years ago with Saltimbanco, and although I missed that, it looked quite ornate, surreal, dark and not like “traditional circus”. Alegria is a Spanish word for “jubilation”, so although not “dark”, it wasn’t traditional circus either. Very flamboyant, much work was put into costuming, choreography and a rich and wonderful soundtrack. It was a little surreal in the costuming department, with garb and wigs that look like they were taken from the 18th century and further embellished. On the other hand, there was perhaps less emphasis on the acts. The opening gymnastics act was quite ordinary, as was the strongman. The trampolining looked good, as did the fire guy. The contortonist gave me a back ache watching her :) The hoop girl was pretty amazing too. Unfortunately, each of those acts were divided by clowns prancing around. I’ve never been a big fan of clowns, and although the snowstorm effect was well done, I’m still clueless why they started blasting bits of white paper at us. Alegria is recommended for the experience, but not highly.
Sara-Marie voted off Big Brother. Thank you, I have been waiting for that for ages.
Evolution: Looks like a crack up in the trailers, but the movie isn’t really. Lots of quirky jokes that pull smiles and chuckles, but no big belly laughs. It didn’t work for me. Wasn’t a waste of money, but I don’t recommend it.
Finally, EDS HR has pulled their finger out and I start work a week late next Monday. I’m in the Internet development group which is part of eSolutions and based out in Burwood. I spent most of this week on the phone calling up various EDS staff, and waiting for phone calls, which is not a happiness-inducing activity.
In other news, I just finished doing a link system thing for the List over to the left. I haven’t converted it over yet, but when I eventually do, it’ll be running of a relational database (as opposed to a flat text db) and maintenance will be a helluva lot easier as the system can check for dead servers and 404s on its own.
Back home from a beaut getaway at Kangaroo Valley. I was meant to start work at EDS today, but HR stuffed up my placement and the person taking care of it has taken off on long service leave, so I’ve got to chase up that now. More later.
Vic sent me this link, was interesting and educational. It’s a series of “hacking” challenges (there are 8 levels to progress through) that require a fairly general, but not necessarily extensive, knowledge of computers. Give it a go. Just finished it all… it gave my brain a good workout. Thanks Vic!
Travolta finally ends his string of bad films. This is easily an “I will be getting the DVD of this when it comes out” movie. Ok, so they are throwing computer jargon around every-which-way and Hugh Jackman cracks 512-bit encryption in under 24 hours, but hey, chill out and just enjoy the movie ok?
So I get back to Kingsford after spending a few days back in Camden. I boot up the computer and… Blue Screen. Somehow my Software hive shat itself and I have a corrupted registry. So, instead of reinstalling Win 2K from scratch, I replaced the software hive with a copy I found made over a year ago… It helped, but only a bit. I don’t have to go through the pain of driver reinstalls, but I have to reinstall most of my programs meaning basically that my computer is in chaos right now. So much for “getting back to regular updates”, this is going to keep me busy for days. I’m out of town from Wednesday to Saturday too… arrgh, I’m meant to be on holidays.
| 14 days spent in current location | |
| Previously | Dallas, TX |
| » Currently | San Francisco, CA (24/4/24 1:43am) |
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4:11pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow