3 Books: 1 Heavy, 2 light. January 16, 2007
Posted by trmurphy in Books, Computing.add a comment
Ruby For Rails by David Black was tough slogging, but I made it through to the end. (Well I must admit skipping 20 pages of regular expressions; they just never stick… at least at my usage rate.) I really like the way Rails makes quick work out of serving a light Data Base application. I was disappointed that the book never got beyond the DB aspects; I thought I had seen examples of form and CGI manipulation. I was going to make a small “Group Info” server application; but I stumbled across Pimki….. which can easily do much of what I was looking for… Not sure what my next step will be. Anyway, the book is well worth the money. The examples helped immensely with the difficult Ruby/Rail combination.
The library supplied me with an entertaining thriller: Ricochet by Sandra Brown. Judicial arrogance, sex, some mystery too; a fun read.
But I really enjoyed Carl Hiaasen’s newest: Nature Girl. My daughter said I’d be LLOL (that’s literally LOL); and I did. Reminds me of the first book I read by Carl: Accidental Tourist which was one of the three funniest books I’ve ever read. I think these are the only books I’ve ever reread. In fact I do believe I’ve thrice read Confederacy of Fools. CF actually has a “cult-like” following; and it was an author singleton. I’m trying to remember the title of the 3rd funny book.. Storyline/setting was a couple attempting to startup a remote Carribean resort.
How I Use my Genealogy Programs April 4, 2006
Posted by trmurphy in Computing, Genealogy, the Journey.1 comment so far
I make all updates into the PC program TMG. Periodically (I'm going to shoot for 1/quarter), I export the contents to a Ged file which I can then load into phpGedView.
Advantages
- Users aren't bothered with update software
- Users don't interfere with each others updates
- Better control over content
- I have the advantage of TMG reports, analysis, and guidance, etc.
Disadvantages
- User can't see his updates right away
- Other user's view is always a little inaccurate
Of course, I'm always open to suggestions and requests. If for any reason somebody needed a quicker update, I would accomodate.
Gemini project March 29, 2006
Posted by trmurphy in Computing.add a comment
It occurred to me that I've probably never talked about my early computer efforts. And SOME were interesting.. My 1st taste of the '60s "real world" was as a IBM co-op from RPI at Owego NY where IBM had their Federal systems division. In Sept '61 I wrote a memory test program for the onboard computer for the Gemini spacecraft. It was the 1st time I was finger printed.. so I could work on a "Top Secret" project. So, for the 1st time, I was checked out by the FBI. (Would it be it were the last!!; but that's a story in another category and another day) Neighbors at home were use to FBI visits because my Dad would periodically get checked for Summer work as a Customs agent.. (Treasury Dept..). Well, the clearance finally came about 3 weeks before the end of my assignment. Most people in the group were working on Titan rocket program stuff and would disappear occasionally to travel for an on-site blastoff. I never had that pleasure..
I think the source code was 7090 assembly code. Although, I had taken a Fortran course, I think it was unuseful for what was essentially a sensor testing project. The weirdest thing was patching binary punched cards, so that you could bypass the 3-4 hour turnaround time of a batch assembly run on the 7090. You'd figure out, at most a 3 instruction change, say changing a tix to txi. Convert the binary representation to octal; find it's card in the deck; and it's column on the binary card; dupe the card up to that column, make the change and continue duping. And if you forgot to turn off the card checksum at the end of the card; it was all for nought.. This was the only IBM location where I used a small, handheld machine which would let you manually punch a few holes in a card. Binary cards were still used into the late 60s in Poughkeepsie. I still have punch-ed card Christmas Wreath made of old punch cards; Liz would spraypaint them silver or gold…
