As the title implies, I'm Ryan, and this is my work blog. I work at Acceleration.net,
a small shop based in Gainesville, Florida, where I'm the <fancytitle>Director Of Programming Services</fancytitle>. We're a small,
family-owned business that does web design, programming, and offers broadband solutions nationwide. We're mostly a microsoft shop, but
have been branching out recently, investigating Linux and Python for better solutions.
This blog exists mainly as a way to convey things to my co-workers, but if other people find something I write useful, then great. If something
really helps you a lot, feel free to drop me a line . If something really, really
helps and you feel guilty getting it for free, then consider switching to us
for broadband, we might be able to save you some money. If you read something I post, and I'm just blatantly wrong,
please let me know, because I don't want to be ignorant.
My main interests are currently in the practical aspects of software development, so most of my posts so far have been about
things like Nant, NUnit, and code generation. I'm also an advocate of open source, and trying to move our development in
that direction. I'm still working on convincing the folks above me that we should open our source, but that's gonna take some time.
Any time I write about code-generation, I always hear the question: "why not just work in a better language? Why jump through all
these hoops to be productive?".
Simple. We don't know how to use a better language yet. I know the C#/ASP.NET/SQL Server implementation for just about any business
app. There's usually no need to think of "how to do it". I know that framework well enough that the "how" part is obvious, but actually
typing it all into my keyboard is monstrous. So, dynamic languages are attractive because theres a higher thought/keystroke ratio, but I
don't know the right thoughts yet. Once I know that, and can say to a client: "It will be $X for a Python/Linux/Redland RDF web app, or $>X (greater than X) for a
C#/Windows/SQL Server web app", then there will be no argument.
As a CYA, I'm posting stuff that I find works for me, on my machine, and it might not work for you.
If you try something and it blows up badly, then I'm really sorry, but I'm not responsible.