Blogs - December 2006

Below are blog entries from December 2006.

Meet the Team - Tim Reilly

By

Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 11:30am

Kirsten: Hi! You’re listening to “Meet the Team” and I’m Kirsten Eidsmoe. Today, I’m here with Tim Reilly, our Support Team Manager. Hi Tim, how are you today?

Tim: I’m good; it’s good to be here.

Kirsten: Good to have you here. Tim, I think that out of everybody at Hannon Hill, you probably deal with clients the most. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you do here?

Tim: Sure, basically any time that anyone has problems with the software or questions about the software, I try to help them out, whether it’s on the support forum, through our trouble ticket system, or on the phone.

Kirsten: That’s great Tim. I hear you’re doing a great job at that. How long have you been working here, and how did you come to Hannon Hill?

Tim: I started working here about 15 months ago and I actually started on the Services team as a web developer. I did that for a few months and then made the transition onto the Support team.

Kirsten: So where did you go to school and what did you study?

Tim: I went to Auburn University in Alabama, and I studied software engineering, which was kind of a treat because it was one of the first five schools – I believe – in the nation that offered that program. So, I’m glad to have been a part of it.

Kirsten: And did you play sports at college? I know you’re into sports.

Tim: I did not play sports in college. Actually, my freshman year I was going to play tennis for Auburn, but I had to basically choose between engineering and tennis and I figured that my chances of becoming a professional tennis player were slim to none. So, I went with the software engineering degree and I think I made the right choice.

Kirsten: It seems to be working out for you. Do you still play tennis? I understand that you play a little bit of ping pong around the office.

Tim: That’s correct. I like to enjoy the occasional ping-pong game here and there in the office. And I do play tennis, outside of work, quite a bit with my buddies from high school and college.

Kirsten: As a very non-sports person, I’m completely impressed. So, do you follow Auburn football? It’s pretty big in Alabama.

Tim: Yeah, actually I’m a huge Auburn football fan and it pretty much occupies my entire life for the fall. And if anyone tries to schedule things with me on Saturdays, it’s not going to work. But I’m definitely a huge Auburn football fan and let me see if I can get a “War Eagle” going. I know that we’ve got my buddy Nedko here in the office; he’s a big Auburn football fan as well. War eagle Nedko!

Nedko: War Eagle

Tim: That’s what I’m talking about.

Kirsten: So Tim, in addition to the football thing, the one thing that we all notice around the office is the diet. Can you tell us a little bit about what kind of diet you’re on?

Tim: I can try, if we have enough time here. I tend to eat about eight or nine meals a day – all healthy foods. Lots of eggs, lots of chicken breasts, lots of fish, and lots of complex carbohydrates.

Kirsten: I have no doubt that you’re the healthiest person in the office. But, how many eggs do you eat every week? Be honest.

Tim: I would say, approximately fifty.

Kirsten: Fifty!

Tim: Five – O

Kirsten: Do people give you strange looks in the grocery store?

Tim: Yeah they do. Normally they think that I’m going to go egg somebody’s house. But, when I tell them that I’m actually going to eat them then they actually give me another weird face. So, it’s tough being me.

Kirsten: Okay, one last question before we wrap this up. What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

Tim: I would probably have to say this interview basically because I’m a pretty cool cat and pretty much everything I do is cool, so the most recent thing I’ve ever done is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done.

Kirsten: Good answer! It’s been great having you on the show, thanks for being with us!

Category

• Commentary

Coding Standards: The Ugly Duckling of Web Development

By Brett Goodwin

Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 4:30pm

A few weeks ago a document came across my desk, which at first glance caused me to grimace with distaste. It was a department-wide memo to our Professional Services team reminding us of Best Practices procedures for writing XSLT code. Anyone who has experience with programming has inevitably had that one professor or supervisor who insisted that you comment every single line of code and organize your code sections as though he were going to print out the finished source, frame it, and stick it on the wall. Most people know on some level what they are supposed to do to maintain their code’s readability, but very often it gets ignored. In fact among some programmers there is a kind of perverse pride in being able to write functions so complex and obscure that no one could ever decipher them. And sometimes this is seen as a kind of job security, if your employer is dependent on you to maintain the rat’s nest, which supports the entire corporate infrastructure.

Nevertheless, on further reflection I decided that it might not be a bad idea to make an effort to keep my code in line with our established best practices. It is, after all, a show of courtesy towards my coworkers, and would help cut back on the number of people coming by my desk to ask me about things I had written. And as much as we like to think that we have the capacity to interpret everything we’ve written at a later date, sometimes reviewing things that I’ve coded as little as two weeks ago can require 15 minutes spent refreshing my memory.

That being said, I’d like to go over some best practices that we’ve been putting to use here at Hannon Hill in the development of our XSLT stylesheets. Ignore them at the risk of your own frustration.

• First, and most obvious, indent (and do it with tabs, not spaces).  The standard practice is to add one tab of indent for each enclosing tag.  For example:
  
  <xsl:stylesheet>
        <xsl:template match="/system-index-block">
             <h1>xsl:value-of select="heading"/></h1>
             <p><xsl:value-of select="paragraph"/></h1>
        </xsl:template>    
  
  

• Comment your code liberally. If you feel like you’re putting in too many comments, it’s probably just enough. Specifically, be sure to give explanations of the purpose of any variables you use, and the function of each template.
  
  
• Try to keep your XPath statements simple. These are the statements that appear with select=”…” sections. When these statements get too long they can be very hard to decipher, so it’s best to simplify as much as possible.
  
  

These are just a few of the most significant rules, but there are many other things you can do to improve your code’s readability. You will develop your own style as you become more proficient in XSL, but hopefully it will be one that won’t cause future generations of developers any grief. Just remember the golden rule: “submit code unto others as you would have them submit code unto you.”

Category

• Commentary

Hannon Hill on iTunes!

By Elizabeth Starkey

Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 3:00pm

Here's a riddle for you: Where can you find The Colbert Report, Pac-Man, Todd Rundgen, and Hannon Hill?

Give up?

The answer is iTunes, of course!  Perhaps you've noticed the orange and gray "Podcast" icons at the top of each blog page that link to MP3s, which you can download via your web browser.  Now you can listen to our blog podcasts directly through iTunes, absolutely free.  This definitely gives us a few extra cool points, especially with the Apple gurus.  So while you're browsing through iTunes, looking to download the latest episode of The Office and a game of Tetris for your iPod to get you through the long flight home for Christmas, look up Hannon Hill in the iTunes Store Search bar and listen to the latest Hannon Hill news.  Just click the "Subscribe" button to keep up with our audio blog all next year.  It's kind of like the Cheese of the Month Club, only more frequent, calorie free, and never goes rotten.

Category

• News

Meet the Team - Nedko Hristov

By Syl Turner

Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 1:30pm

Syl: Hi! You’re listening to “Meet the Team” and I’m Syl Turner. I’m here today with Nedko Hristov who is one of our Software Developers. Hey Nedko, how are you today?

Nedko: Hi, I’m great! Glad to be on the show.

Syl: Great, we’re glad to have you here on the show. So, how about you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and where you’re from?

Nedko: I’m originally from Bulgaria, and I have a degree in Computer Science – which is the reason why I’m currently in Atlanta. I started my education in Atlanta, after I transferred, as an engineering student.

Syl: What school did you go to?

Nedko: I attended the University of West Georgia.

Syl: Did you have a good time doing Computer Science there?

Nedko: Yes, the program there is really interesting and I had a great time.

Syl: So, do you like Atlanta?

Nedko: Yes, I like it.

Syl: Well, what do you like about it?

Nedko: I like the different activities, I like the Atlanta Braves, and I like the entertainment.

Syl: Do you go to a lot of Braves games?

Nedko: Yes, during the summer.

Syl: It’s always fun to go out to Turner Field. Grab some brewdogs, get some peanuts, watch a game. So, what do you not like about Atlanta? There’s got to be something.

Nedko: I don’t like the heavy traffic in Atlanta.

Syl: How long does it normally take you to get to work?

Nedko: Again, it depends on the traffic. But, due to my long commute, it takes me about an hour.

Syl: What is your role around here, at Hannon Hill?

Nedko: I’m a developer for the Cascade product; and I work on new features and bug fixes for it.

Syl: Mostly fixing database issues, right?

Nedko: Yes, that’s another one of my duties. I perform Oracle database administration and some .NET development.

Syl: What do you really like doing, as a Software Developer, here?

Nedko: I like being creative and being able to come with new ideas.

Syl: So, you’re a big fan of college football, I hear. Who’s your team – you’re college football team?

Nedko: I like Auburn University.

Syl: Why do you like Auburn so much?

Nedko: Because it’s a great competitive team with a lot of talent.

Syl: Do you go out there and check out a few games every now and then?

Nedko: Yes, I’ve been to every home game this season.

Syl: So, how did you get interested in football? I mean – you’re from Bulgaria; you guys don’t play football out there, do you?

Nedko: No, I simply had the chance to go out to a couple of games and to learn more about the sport, and I got into it.

Syl: Well, I guess we’ll end on this question: Is there a talent that the other Hannon Hill team members may not know that you have?

Nedko: I used to swim for a long time, so I guess that’s still one of my hobbies. I like to play the guitar, and from time to time I like to experiment with cooking, which is also very fun.

Syl: Right on, right on! Are you going to cook us some stuff – like some cookies?

Nedko: Maybe. I’m not that into deserts too much, maybe something else.

Syl: Like pasta? Are you going to make us some pasta?

Nedko: Sure.

Syl: Well, you know what? I can’t wait. Thank you for coming on the show Nedko. We really appreciate it and you better get back to work.

Category

• News

Ten Steps to a Useful Intranet

By David Cummings

Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 1:30pm

A lot of companies have an intranet in place already, but we're discovering more and more often that they're not being utilized as well as they could be.  At Hannon Hill, we use our intranet for just about anything you could imagine - company-wide announcements, departmental procedures, H-R policies, minutes taken during meetings, and more.  If you've got a languishing intranet at your company, here are some tips for making it a more valuable asset:

1. Update it frequently (announcements, news, etc)
   By updating the information on your intranet site frequently, your staff gets recent and accurate information.  An intranet is a great way to spread the news.

2. Make it simple and easy to use
   If it’s not easy to use, people won’t use it.  The goal of an intranet should be to simplify and consolidate, not add to the mess.

3. Provide a search feature
   Your intranet is useless if people can’t find what they need.  Even the most logically structured intranet needs a search bar for people in a hurry.

4. Track the usage (hits and visitors)
   Your idea of what’s useful and what’s actually used may be completely different.  Keeping stats is a good way to help you shape your intranet according to your staff’s needs and expectations.

5. Organize it logically according to departments and teams
   By organizing content around departments, you give each department its own place to call home.  An intranet’s functionality should reflect the functionality of the company.

6. Provide a starting page for each department
   A starting page for each department provides staff quicker access to relevant information. It eliminates confusion and allows for much easier navigation.

7. Include files, documents, policies, procedures, etc.
   Keeping important information on your intranet makes it easy for staff to find what they need.  And having one central location makes for faster updates when information changes.

8. List phone extensions and contact lists
   Instead of having to search around for a hardcopy of phone extensions and contact lists, putting this information on your intranet makes frequently needed (and often forgotten) contact numbers easy to find.

9. Allow for feedback forms
   Feedback forms and comments are a great way to improve communication and collaboration – which is the whole point of an intranet.
   
10. Use a content management system
    We use Cascade Server to manage our own intranet.  Using a content management system is the quickest and easiest way to maintain an active intranet. ... but you all already know that, right?

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