Noise from the Basement

I was inspired to get Mini-Compressor to UWP into the Windows 10 Store a while back this summer. I saw this video several months ago when it was called Project Centennial:

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2015/2-692

Then a couple weeks ago there was a form you could fill out and a Microsoft employee would help you convert your application.  So I filled out the form about my tiny little application called Mini-Compressor and was surprised when I heard back.  The fellow was very helpful but in the end we couldn’t get Mini-Compressor ported to UWP.

Math.

Few people tell me that they love math.

It brings back memories of sitting in a small, windowless room, back in grade 11, with my math tutor. My tutor smoked cigars. Lots of cigars. He smelled like a giant cigar. I really didn’t want to be there, but my math grades were abysmal. I tried - superficially, at best - to memorize the patterns of algebra, but desire to receive a non-abysmal grade in that class was overshadowed by a large teenage helping of “not giving a …”

Routines are great. Sure, they can be difficult to get up and running, but once you have one, things don’t feel quite right when you miss part of it. For the last many months I have been going to the gym every other day. For the last month, I’ve been going to Run With Recruiters twice per week. I was feeling pretty darn good about that and was in the best shape of my life. I wrote all these things on my calendar, and felt a great sense of accomplishment every time I looked at it.

I am about 1 month early on my traditional “what I learned this summer” blog post, but I’m learning so felt the need to write it down!  For those following along at home, here are the lessons covered: 2012, 2013, and 2014.

And now, in the midsummer of 2016, amid the rainstorms, travelling fairs and mosquito bites, I declare that I am learning a lot.  The software developer that I’m married to (Chris) is a lot like an artist or a Granville Island shopkeeper.

Several weeks ago, Chris gave Ada and I a mini-workshop on “version control.” Wondering what that is? (I certainly was, at the time) In non-programmer’s terms, version control describes how, when several people are working on the same code, they make sure that they are working on the most up-to-date version that includes everyone’s edits. Version control uses some pretty entertaining jargon; for example, you “pull” the most recent version of a file, and then “push” the changes you’ve made. Each change must be “committed” to update the file. That way, there aren’t a slew of working copies floating out there and no one knows which is the most recent version. Visually, you could think of it like this: