2007 is almost over and what a year this has been for Wave2!

My programming preferences have gone full circle, from beginning the year playing snakes and ladders (Python), I spent the summer drinking coffee (Java) and finally settled down surrounded by Camel’s, Lama’s and Parrots (Perl). Bizarre but never dull!

Steady progress has been made all round and as always the Open Source community has proven a valuable resource. Not a day went by where I did not discover something new or think of a new idea that could be built using Open Source Software. I only wish I had more time in the day!.

My Christmas present came early this year in the form of a MySQL 5.1 Cluster DBA Certification Study Guide. I have been putting off the final MySQL certification while waiting for the book to arrive, and now it is in my hands the only thing preventing me from taking the exam is the lack of free space over the Christmas period. Hehe

I also ordered a Nokia N810 (My Techie Present). My laptop is not small enough to carry around with me and I am hoping to capture more development time on this device. Either that or feed my mind.

Anyway I’m off to hit the WarHawk servers before getting ready to see the New Year in Amsterdam – home of the Blender Institute. With projects like AuthStor making great progress and ideas such as Unix Architect and BinaryStor slowly maturing, I cannot wait to see what 2008 holds for Wave2!

Before I head off I have to mention the Catalyst Advent Calendar. Every year they pack 24 days of tutorials and tips into the month of December. If you are looking to get the most of the Catalyst Framework you really must take a look at this resource. I was able to prototype AuthStor in under 2 weeks and enjoyed every minute!

Wave2 Wishes You a Very Merry Christmas and an Open Source New Year!!!

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted here or even found time to develop any of the ideas that continually spring to mind. In fact this is the first weekend in several where my head is not stuck in a book about Perl, Solaris or UML. Why you may ask? (or not).

Well after finally getting round to taking the Solaris Network Administrator exam, I thought it only right that I complete the set and get to know Solaris Security a bit better by taking the SCSECA.

After achieving the SCSECA, I was just about getting ready to start writing code again when I stumbled upon the UML Certification Program.
I have been a fan of UML for a long time but never found a tool that I felt comfortable using, or more to the point a tool worth the money!. That was until on the very same day I decided to trial Visual Paradigm, could this be the UML tool I have been seeking?

Visual Paradigm for UML is not overly expensive (many price levels to cater for all requirements), it runs on Windows / Linux / OSX and it’s easy to use – I like it!.

Armed with the UML tool I have been looking for and a copy of the UML 2 Certification Guide I spent another week brushing up on my UML skills while studying for the first of 3 exams offered by the OMG, UML Certified Professional – Fundamental.
I passed the exam last week and learned a lot more UML along the way!
So finally, with all that studying out of the way I can finally get back to the fun stuff – Code.

But where does Perl fall into this jacked-in period? Well I have been waiting for Perl 6 for a long time now and plan to use Catalyst as the platform for BinaryStor and AuthStor. So what better way to get up to speed than a Perl readathon of as many Perl books as I can get my hands on. From Learning to Mastering and eventually Best Practices all over again, you never know I might just finish reading before the release of Perl 6.

As for the Code I cannot make my mind up as to where to focus my energy and so opted for a working NetUnit (I did think of porting it to Perl ). It’s far from complete of course and suffers from the constraint of root privileges, but I’m hoping a future Java release will fix that….