Posted: Wed 19 October, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Euro OSCON 2005, Geeky, Thoughts |
Fail Fast, Fail Cheap, Be Lazy
I really like a programmer who can stand up and say “I hate programming”. Rasmus Lerdorf, who created PHP is one such programmer.
I’m sat here watching him do a presentation on PHP – definitely a very interesting guy, and some very interesting developments in PHP5 and 6.
Posted: Tue 18 October, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Euro OSCON 2005, Geeky |
On a far geekier note, it’s also been really interesting to be talking to, or seeing presentations from, so many of the people whose IT experience, programs and knowledge I’ve been using for years. People like Rasmus Lerdorf, who wrote PHP, Tim O’Reilly, the CEO of O’Reilly publishing ( the tech books with animals on the cover – and if you don’t know them, don’t worry) and Larry Wall, who created Perl.
That’s just a tiny subsection of the people here, obviously – but all the same, it really is pretty cool.
Posted: Tue 18 October, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Euro OSCON 2005, Geeky, Thoughts |
One thing that’s interesting here (well, I find it interesting, anyway) is how many women there are among the attendees. It’s nowhere near a majority (yet) but I’d say about 15-20% of the attendees are female, which is a huge leap from what it was five years ago.
Definitely a good thing, when so many of the keynote speakers were banging on about (among other things) equality and open-ness in all things.
Posted: Mon 17 October, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Euro OSCON 2005, Thoughts, Travel, Work-related |
Tonight I had an utterly fantastic meal in a restaurant in Amsterdam. (I need to do some research to find out what it was called, because I’ve forgotten) Overall it cost €65, but that included a starter with five full scallops (which was superb, they were absolutely perfectly done), a half bottle of a seriosuly pleasant white wine, and a main course that consisted of a breast of guinea fowl with creme de cassis and smoked bacon. So I’d say it was well worth the money.
However, it’s obvious that I’m SO not used to the entire “funded by the company” thing. I was in two minds anyway about getting the company to pay for the meal, as I knew it was probably more than they’d deem reasonable, but then I went and left the receipt in the restaurant anyway (which is why I also can’t remember the name of the bloody place) so it’s a moot point now. Ah well…
UPDATED : Ah, found a website for it – the restaurant was De Theeboom (the Tea Bush). Heartily recommended.
Posted: Mon 17 October, 2005 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Euro OSCON 2005, Thoughts, Travel, Work-related |
One of the *cough* benefits of this conference is that when you register you get this little cordura “briefcase” emblazoned with “O’reilly European Open Source Convention ’05” (Hello Google), which is all well and good.
However, they are – to be charitable – a bit spoddy. And of course they advertise that a) you’re a geek, and b) the carrier of said bag is more than likely to be a tourist, carrying laptop etc. in said bag. Ergo, it could help to make you a bit of a target too.
Mine’s already back in the hotel room, and everything transferred over to the normal backpack. Makes much more sense to me. But anyway, it’s still surprising to me just how many of the people here are actually using the bags, and lugging them around with them.
Mind you, there’s also a truly disproportionate number of Apple Macs here today. I’m definitely in the minority for having a non-Mac laptop, and even further in the minority for running Windows 2000. Which, of course, suits me fine.
I do, though, think that this laptop’s days are numbered ( especially since seeing that Flybook site) – it’s running horrendously slowly, and also the battery life is beginning to die off badly. Damn.