Yikes

Wow, I have not posted anything since December 9th! I guess that is how you know no one cares what you have to write about when no one complains you stop writing! Anyway, I am just doing my job learning as I go. Unfortunately I can't really write about my job, but I will try to post every once in a while about what I am doing in general terms.

Check back, well when ever you feel like it.

Drawing the Mona Lisa with a Genetic Algorithm

I know I haven't posted much lately, but this is something that just really caught my attention.

A guy wanted to play around with genetic algorithms so he set out to try and recreate an approximation of the Mona Lisa using only 50 polygons, and he did a fantastic job!

If you are unfamiliar with genetic algorithms either you can read up on them here, you can read my description at the end, or you can simply not care and just check out the cool pictures!

You can read about it, as well as see an image from a select set of iterations, here.

The term Genetic Algorithm basically just describes a programming technique in which the developer takes an initial population or data set as the starting DNA pool, then essentially just allows the population to reproduce. This is done by various methods to include "cross over" and "mutation". In cross over, part of the DNA from one member in the data set or population, is combined with part of the DNA from another member, just as in human reproduction. The result is two new members of the next generation, each comprised of parts of their parents. Mutation generally occurs after cross over and is similar to a human birth defect in that the offspring's DNA is not merely comprised of its parents. This resulting mutation may or may not be beneficial to the survival. Once the new generation is formed, each member of the population is run through a fitness function. This takes those members that most closely approximate the desired end result and allows them to breed. This process continues until either you reach a maximum number of generations, or you have achieved your goal.

Boredom

What is the point of taking a new software engineer position if you don't get to do anything fun?!? I recently took a new job, with a large aerospace/defense company in St Louis, (vague enough?) and unfortunately I have been stuck doing nothing for the last 3 weeks. Granted I have been told what the plan is to have me do, and it sounds great, but until I get started I will be stuck complaining and sitting here surfing the web!

Yes I admitt it, I am a drop out!

Ok, so the end of last year my wife was being very ambitious and decided to join this blog365 thing. Well I thought heck how hard could that be, and joined as well. Yeah so if you look at the date on the post before this one you will see that my last post was about a month and a half ago. I am a drop out.

Since that last post, the person that slept through our important meeting was fired. I attended Oracle BPEL training in Atlanta. Great training by the way, I would highly recommend Oracle hands on training!

Now we are looking for another BPEL person to both help me and teach me, so that I might be able to pick up future maintenance for our customer.

Umm that is really about it. I have basically not felt like touching the computer all that much when I get home, so I don't think I will be doing the every day thing anymore, but maybe I can try to post a couple times a week!

If anyone does actually read this, let me know what you would like me to write about!!

I have many random thoughts in my head at any given time, and most of them never amount to anything more than a slight shimmer before I get busy and forget about them. So if anyone, other than my wife, wants to provide suggestions I would be happy to post up!

Just for reference, items I tend to talk about a lot are vehicles, mainly Fords, specifically Broncos and Mustangs, the Chicago Bears, just about anything computer and of course software development related.

Some people bother me!

So my project manager comes in this morning and asks me if I was aware of what was going on in the meeting. I said well yes, it was a little hard to ignore. He then tells me that the person that is in charge of our contract noticed. This is bad. He apparently wasn't very happy. On top of that, the new person repeatedly denied that he was asleep. Hmm yeah, I don't think there is any way around it.

What not to do in a business meeting

DO NOT FALL ASLEEP IN A BUSINESS MEETING!!! My team had a new person start today, that was the good thing, the bad, well the first sentence says it all. He got on site around 9am and we went to talk to the developer that has been doing their BPEL. That was a good meeting, I got some good info and my first view of the web application I will be modifying in this next part, and our new guy had several good questions. We left there and I went back to work, while the new person sat at an empty computer on the other side of a partition from me and was supposed to be looking at documentation. It wasn't maybe 15 minutes later I think I hear snoring. Yes snoring. I blow it off, no big deal for me. I am sure he is bored, and he did just move down the day before so maybe he didn't sleep. Our project manager goes over to talk to him and I hear him say his name twice. Then a couple of hours later, the project manager and I had to demo our changes to the business people. The new person decides to tag along to see what it is we have been doing.

The meeting is going ok, first the computer in the conference room will not come on, then it comes on but the projector will not. Crap, so we move to a new conference room. I get signed in to the computer, open a web browser, and, yeah I can't remember the web address of the development server, so I try a few before I figure it out. So I am starting the demo now probably 20 minutes late. Within around 20 minutes I am trying to answer questions when I hear a, quite loud, snore and snort coming from the new guy to my right. Yeah, once was bad enough, but there were several more that I would have to talk over through the course of my meeting, which ran a tortured hour and 20 minutes.

Word to the wise, falling asleep in a meeting with your project manager is bad enough, but don't ever do it in a meeting with a client!

Oh and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Short weeks rock!

I am so thankful for short work weeks! Of course I don't get tomorrow off, St. Patrick's Day, but I do get Good Friday off!!!