Lee asked the proverbial question ‘When do I test’ … and then provided the answer http://whendoitest.com/ If you click the answer, you will see there is a short video,
watching the video lead me to ZenTest (autotest) … Which I happily integrated into my project painlessly in a few minutes.

This is a GREAT plugin for Rails development… Continuos Testing .. Who Knew?

I googled … and came across a nice little addition to the autotest gem… colors in the console via RedGreen (also a gem).

So now, my test run anytime I change a file (small issue with migrations) and any failures visually stand out because of the Red

For any developers out there that want to do I I do, (not sure why you would want to subject yourself to the sadism, but it’s your choice)

To Install RedGreen:
<code>> sudo gem install redgreen</code>

To Install Autotest:
<code>> sudo gem install ZenTest </code>

I think the windows people will have to use rails gem install vs. sudo gem install.

I then added the following to a file ~/.autotest (found online)
<code>
Autotest.send(:alias_method, :real_make_test_cmd, :make_test_cmd)
Autotest.send(:define_method, :make_test_cmd) do |*args|
real_make_test_cmd(*args).sub(‘test/unit’, %[rubygems -e "require 'redgreen'"])
end
</code>

To execute, just run autotest from the console, the first time through all tests will be performed, and the console will sit and wait for a file to be saved (I have my TextMate set to save on lost focus). The uber neat thing is that autotest knows which unit tests to run (based on the file being saved) and only executes the tests that would be affected.

Pretty sweet.

I like to take inventory at the end of my projects, I like to look at what didn’t go so well, and then try to come up with ways that I can improve so that I can grow as an individual.

This one project that is finally coming to a close, after being stalled by the client for a pretty signifiant duration. There was no real reason for the project to get stalled, I think the Christmas Holidays played a part of it, and there isn’t really a whole lot that I can do about that. But part of the delay was that the point person for the project (in the clients organization) Fell off the project and didn’t communicate well.

Is there any way that this can be improved on? Well yes, I think there is… Moving forward I will simply insist (and include as a term to working on a project) that the client sets up a weekly (minimum) scheduled time for a status update (regardless of the clients size), from me to see that things are progressing, and from them to ensure that the project won’t linger in the last steps and delay my final payments. I typically do this with large clients just by virtue, but on small things that should take less then a month, its been ‘normal’ to just communicate when you need to, however it’s a little discerning when a 3 week job turns into months of waiting.

In this specific case, there isn’t a whole lot I can do about the ‘human factor’ on the project, and the delays that result from people that just don’t see that they are responsible for getting things done, because as a freelancer your depending of them to pay you. The big clients are the ones that are usually behaving this way, but this isn’t a big client. On the contrary, they are a very small client, but they behave as if they are a big client (one of their major problems IMHO).

In addition, this is the type of client that even though they have additional project work for me, I will be very skeptical of doing business with them again, I think its a good example of knowing when to say ‘no thanks’ to a project. Even if I could use the work. In their case, the unprofessional behavior (leaving me in limbo) doesn’t make them a client that I want to do business with.

With luck this will get finished off early next week.
Still waiting on the client. :-S

Have you ever been on a project (or responsible for a project) that suffers from major slippage? I have, and it sucks.
I have to take the responsibility for the slippage on the current project I’m working on, which is ok, the vast majority of the slippage *IS* my own fault, not enough focus on my part, not asking for help when I needed it, not getting enough done in a day, those are all my fault and things that are totally within my control. Of coarse, the client is a typical client that has changed their mind more times then I can count, and thats caused a fair bit of scope creep. But creep should be manageable.

Well today I want to relieve the stress that this project is causing me, because its a vicious cycle if your inflicting the negative stress on yourself. I do believe there is a positive stress and I’ll discuss that later, for now i’ll just summarize that negative stress de-motovates you, and positive stress motivates you. This project has had a negative effect on me thus far, and I have caught myself looking for distractions just so I don’t have to think about it. gah!

Ok, so lets be methodical about this…
How to clean up a mess …. First, acknowledge the mess. (ok, thats easy … done! … this is a mess and I could use some help). Second, do some inventory, what needs to get done, what is outstanding, what is preventing the forward momentum of the project. (Will do that as soon as I’m done this post) Third, get some focus/help and get back to work.

That should at a very minimum get the mess under control and allow me to move forward.

So, today I’m going to document out the tasks that are outstanding and try to get a grip back on this project so I can get it done and out of my hair, I know my colleagues will understand the current situation, everyone in the development community has been in this situation at one time or another and I’m just as human as the next human (even if I am a little more off kilter).

Hope everyone has an uber awesome day!

Quick post while I wait for my NetBeans to re-compile using Maven2

I had the privileged of meeting Gordon Holland a few weeks ago, super smart guy, he pointed me at the Getting Real book by 37 signals (as a developer who has tinkered with Ruby on Rails I was already aware of 37 signals their very well built web apps). But I wanted to recommend this book to anyone that knows me / has similar interests … sec compile done … app exploded

… recompile … GAH!!!! now I understand why Steve and Craig were surprised that my NetBeans was allowing hot-changes to this JSF application, I wasn’t using my Maven2 install home in NetBeans, I was using the version that NetBeans uses with the Maven2 PlugIn (which allows hot-changes) … So now I’m reverting because its a BIG PITA factor to have to recompile while I work out the page layout of the xhtml (everytime I make a small change) … But I digress

So, the point I believe was that you should go check out the book ” Getting Real “ from 37 Signals…

Can someone please explain to me why Microsoft insists on making error messages that hurt my brain?

Read that a few times … the index out of bounds (OutOfRange) I understand and may even find a little useful, but telling me that -1 is not a non-negative is just a wee bit silli no?, wouldn’t saying -1 is not positive be clearer? and for that matter, why not tell me that ducks don’t have lips while your at it? Do you think I managed to develop software in your IDE and yet still be clueless to the simplistic things like signed vs. unsigned integers? Like the – symbol didn’t tell me that this was a negative number.

I think that messages like this, ALMOST make it worth the drive to Redmond Washington, just to find a developer on the .net 2002 team (it doesn’t have to be the specific developer that came up with that particular message, ANY .net 2002 developer would do) and beat them with a LART for an hour or two

Thats my little rant for the day … BIG THANKS go out to Richard Allen, for its his spaghetti code that I get the privilege of dealing with that gives me these great little insights to why VS 2002 sucks and should only be used by sadists as a means for tormenting the populace.