Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

The new job is working out OK, I guess. But it could be better. The project is to write a file-based source control system to manage remote servers. Puppet is package-based, and doesn't give us the necessary granularity to manage items on a file level.

This past week, I've been trying to learn how to write plugins for yum. Yum stands for "yellowdog updater, modified", and is the installation package manager for RedHat, Fedora, and CentOS. It's completely new to me. Plugins are writen in Python, which I've worked with before. But I have no familiarity with the modules I need to import.

My tech lead gives me partial information, and expects me to figure it out on my own. That may be how he learns things, but I need more hand-holding and spoon-feeding than that. The tried-and-true method of RTFM doesn't work for me; most of the documentation is written from the point of view of someone who understands how it works. Man pages are a reference, not a tutorial. And if I look at the code, which often doesn't contain any commentis, it doesn't make sense to me.

Deep down, I know he's not out to mislead me or send me on wild goose chases or snipe hunts, but it certainly feels that way at times. So why am I projecting or superimposing my past experiences onto him? Because it's what I know. ( And I'm reminded of several bad experiences I've had while being on teams. )

So....zorya_thinks asked, in my previous post, "Have you thought about walking upstairs occasionally and engaging your team members face to face? "

This question is kicking up a lot of stuff for me.

The short answer is "no". There's no guarantee that the folks I need to talk to will be at their desks and available to answer questions. Plus I think there's a company policy about not having meetings or conferences in cubicles, because it creates too much noise for neighbors. We primarily use Microsoft Communicator (instant messenger) and Lotus Notes (email) for communication. I don't even pick up the phone and call them..

But I hate asking people questions. Sometimes I get a look or a tone of voice that conveys to me, "I expect you to know these things." Or I'm rebuffed with "I'm too busy". Or I'm given the passive-agressive response of no answer at all.

After all, asking for help is a sign of weakness. I'm expected to figure this stuff out on my own. That's why they hired me, right?

When I worked at AGI two years ago, one of the tem leads -- Mike -- resented my questioning him. He'd respond with "Google is your friend!" or provide me a link to lmgtfy.com (Let Me Google That For You). It was like he was saying to me, "Go away kid, you bother me."

I don't know when or why I learned to not bother people with questions. I guess it was in elementary school. I suspect it was my 3rd grade teacher who was tired of my incessant questioning and implored me to leave her alone. (I don't think she ever taught a gifted kid before me.)

For my current client, I'm developing Perl code for a Windows platform. This code is taking data from two data sources, merging them, and preparing a file for import to a third system. While I can get by with just ActiveState Perl and Notepad, I'd prefer a more elegant -- and less painful -- solution.

I asked my boss about getting a copy of the ActiveState Perl developer's kit, and the Komodo IDE. It costs about $500. And so he said no. So I had to come up with a plan B.

I started using the Eclipse IDE when I was writing Java code. It just so happens that there's a plugin to use Perl in Eclipse: EPIC. So, with my boss's OK, I installed Eclipse and EPIC.

There was still a missing piece: PadWalker. This package would enable me to examine variables in subroutines while debugging. And so I fired up the Perl Module Manager -- PMM -- to select and install it.

And so, for very little cost, I have a bona fide Perl development machine running on a Windows XP platform.

I can't get any work done today.

For the past several weeks, I've been getting "out of heap space" errors when I try to run code through the debugger. This is despite me having 3 Gb of memory on my machine.

The Eclipse startup icon on my desktop has the following command:
C:\eclipse\eclipse\eclipse.exe -vmargs -Xms512M -Xmx768M -XX:PermSize=256M -XX:MaxPermSize=512M

Everything I’ve seen on the Web about this suggests I boost up the parameters. I think I’ve boosted them as high as I can go. (I tried 1024M and the virtual machine wouldn’t start.) I even tried running MyEclipse 6.0.1, but I'm still getting the out of heap space errors.

Another big factor is that I'm the only one in the office running Vista and IE 7, because the machine came with it pre-installed. Everyone else is running XP, and not having problems.

I therefore deem Vista not suitable for Java software development with Eclipse.

Last week, I received 2 Gb of memory to install in my Dell Optiplex 740 desktop computer at work. I'm running with 3 Gb of memory now. So why is Eclipse telling me it's running out of memory? There should be plenty of room for heap space and eden space!

At least it's only taking me 90 seconds to restart Tomcat.

And now we have a hard drive crash on the system that houses our development and test databases.

I'm ready to go home.

[Updated 15:15 EDT] It's back up now. Never mind.

This morning, I received an "emergency" fix to enhance a customer survey to add a question. This was requested by a general, and the unwritten rule is "whatever a general asks for, a general gets".

Now I have to drop the conversion effort for a few days, swap out what's in my head, and work on enhancing this survey. That's going to delay everything else.

I remember that a former boss of mine (and a retired Lt. Colonel) once said in an all-hands meeting, "Excellent customer service doesn't always mean saying 'yes' to the customer."

I'll work it, but under protest I'm not terribly happy about doing so. :-|

I figured out how to get Tomcat running on Vista. Here's what I did:
1) Redefined PATH to include the Java bin directory.
2) Defined CLASSPATH to include the Tomcat bin directory.
3) Defined JAVA_HOME to include the Java home directory.

It's up and running, but I can't start or stop it from within Eclipse. [Updated 16:03 EDT] I found the configuration settings inside Eclipse, so it shows up in the menu, but I can't do much more with it.

Speaking of which, Microsoft Easy Transfer didn't copy my Eclipse workspace. I have my old machine set up in an unused office, and I'm currently copying my workspace files to a flash drive, which I will then sneakernet to my new machine's Eclipse workspace directory.

This morning, I brought in a KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) switch and cables so I can work on both the old and new machines in tandem. After everything was hooked up, I worked on the emergency fix, which I finished right before lunch.

The afternoon was spent reinstalling software. Thankfully I had kept a detailed log of all the installs with the old machine, and was able to find all the license and registration keys. (Yes, I receommend keeping a log of installs: what was installed, when it was installed, where it is, and where it came from.)

I'm feeling a little better about Vista now. Probably because I'm starting to get used to it, and that nearly everything I had is running on it. Except for Tomcat, which I'll look at later.

Tomorrow I bring in a double-headed USB cable and begin transferring my files from the old machine to the new machine. Then when that's done, I can go back to making those database changes in the Perl CGI scripts.

I was supposed to get a new computer at work yesterday. One with Lots Of Memory that will enable me to run MyEclipse and Tomcat and not die of old age trying to rebuild my projects. 256 Mb just isn't enough, and the system's old enough that the cost to upgrade the memory is more expensive than getting a new computer.

It's not here yet.

And worse, the A/C in my building has shut down for some high temperature alarm or power conservation program. I'm glad I have a camp shirt on today.

[Updated 15:05] I just found out that the PC was shipped to corporate HQ in Herndon, VA. It will be another couple of days before I receive it. Grr argh!