John McDowall

Firmitas. Utilitas. Venustas.

Announcing: The Beast Master

 The Beast Master I needed a specific tool that would help record when a piece of software was deployed to a particular environment, keeping track of the who, the when and the SHA1 from Github that was deployed. So I wrote The Beast Master in a day.

Announcing delimitedfileformats.info (I Need Help)

 Delimited File Formats I’ve come to understand the horror that is working with Text based delimited file formats, such as CSV, TSV or what have you. There are some published specs for both file formats that can be used as guidance when it comes to implementing write support for these formats, but mostly every file I see is broken in some way that expects the parser to be omniscient about the original context of the file.

So, in an effort to increase awareness around Delimited file formats, I’ve started a project on github, and a published site at http://delimitedfileformats.info that will attempt to give people useful information about how to read and write these particular file formats in a way that is consistent and productive.

But I need help.

I need help with the design, the content, and feedback on the overall usefulness of the site.

I’ve made an initial stab at it, but I’m hoping for some lovely team work on this…

Software and Old Houses

 This old House Old Houses are products of accretion. Over the course of many years they gather new extensions, tweaked facades, upgraded central or under-floor heating systems, alarm systems, downstairs washrooms and nursereys. And usually, once one project is completled, you’ll bask in the glow of it for a while until it’s forgotten about and the next one embarked upon. Just like Software Design.

Continuum Movie

While stumbling about the flavors.me site, I found a landing page for a new Indie movie called CONTINUUM. The premise is probably more interesting from a technical standpoint than plot wise: