Disclaimer – this is an opinion piece (and not even a well organized one, at that).

There’s a recent discussion around the internets about something specifically offensive, and the discussion has also segued into various talks about women in IT, specifically programmers.

Guys, there are females who program. Girls, yes, you too can be a programmer, if you like logic puzzles and can describe clearly how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I’ve been programming since I was 12. Back then, I was one of two females out of about 40 students (5% ) in the summer school computer class (way back in the late 70s). Any computer clubs I went to, I was usually the only girl.

Now, 30ish years later, I’m speaking at a code camp. Out of 24 speakers, there are two females (looking at the names). Which my ms calc says is 8.3%. Not much of an increase there. At my current company, the split seems to be about 50/50 company wide, but at the last several places I’ve worked, I’ve been the lone female developer, often the lone female in IT. (It’s a good thing I like action movies and football.)

This is my opinion, but for most, programming is a solitary task, and for the most part, women are social creatures (Myself not included – I wouldn’t have a social life if not for my kids). And until “social programming” emerges as a viable methodology, IT and programming will remain populated by those who don’t mind the long silent hours populated by the occasional outburst or the required social interaction when getting a drink from the fridge.

But, hey, that’s just me.

This is a test of the Live Writer blogpost editing system. If this were a real blog post, this content would be meaningful. This is a test. This is ONLY a test.

Inserting test picture:

Cool.

<geek alert>

In my quest to learn something well enough to give a talk, I’ve been looking at WPF and Silverlight, and XAML which governs both, and all this whole new paradime (mistake intended) for programming front ends/user interfaces.

I submitted a proposal for code camp, and they accepted. I will be speaking at Nova Code Camp on Saturday, May 23, at 3. (No pizza for me, this time!)

So, I’ve been busy with working on the demo, and I’ll be doing some practice talks here at work. I’ve also decided to do the demo in C#, so I’m in the middle of a re-write. I may make the sample code available in both flavors, but professionally I need to begin programming full time in C#. I’ve been semi-promoted to developer team lead for a major webification effort of an existing ugly winforms system, and the target language is C#. I’ve coasted with VB.net, and now it’s time to get serious.

</geek alert>

 

Just finished three by Linnea Sinclair. OMG! The first one I had trouble slowing down until I knew I could jump right into the second one. The second one I had trouble starting a bit because I was sick, but once I felt better, it was over just like that. So I started in on the third one. It was read in 2 days. And these aren't small books. They have WORDS.

Book Links
Gabriel's Ghost - read this one first
Shades of Dark - sequel to Gabriel's Ghost
Hope's Folly - the whole saga continues, but focuses on a major Minor Character from the first two.

There was a rumor a coupla weeks ago, when I had difficulty in installing SPD on a standalone, no internet system (gasp!), that MS would make SharePoint Designer 2007 free on April 1. Well, considering the date, I was semi-skeptical, but optimistic to the point in suspending my attempts to check.

On April 1, you still had to buy it. On April 2, it was indeed, free. I have now installed on the disconnected system with no issues.

You can get it here.

Three weekends in a row have been horrendous – stress, illness, weather. Although, my sister’s wedding was pretty good, it was surrounded by stress, illness, weather…

Children, on the other hand, have shown remarkable improvement in behavior - for the most part. Both have received kudos from teachers in the last two weeks about their improved behavior and actions.

It was my turn to be sick this past weekend, so I didn’t get much reading done, other than some blogs I keep up with and the news headlines.

I did watch the second Harry Potter movie with the girls this weekend – in two parts. It’s a little scarier than the first one. We’re going to acquire the books and begin reading them. They were fascinated by the world of magic. Although I constantly remind them that it’s all pretend. We do discuss how the computers have added the special effects, and how special camera shots make it look a certain way.

Hopefully, this will be a better reading week and I’ll be back with booklinks in the next day or two.

 

 

I got the annoying throat tickle yesterday, and today, the only thing keeping me going is Dayquil. I’ve had to miss so much work due to kids, that I’m trying not to miss any this week and actually have a real 40 hr work week. Nyquil last night, no TV, straight to bed. I’ve got Bones epis piling up on the TIVO.  

So even though I want to look at the new WPF Composite App guidance in VB.net, I only got as far as the download and install. Maybe when the 2^nd dose of Dayquil kicks in…

In the meantime, I’m attempting to document this crazy scanning app platform that I’ve inherited. Enterprise Records Management cots, Enterprise Scanning Server, Enterprise PDF Search Engine, and custom client that marries the three together in some very weird ceremonial way. Configuration is a pain, and coding, well, I’ve read the code. I THINK I know what’s doing, with whom, and when.

 

I entered a proposed presentation for Nova Code Camp. I’ve been attending for years, and I’ve been looking for something I thought I could either know enough about to give an interesting talk, or to find something that I could talk about that wouldn’t be more of the same.

And I’m nervous. If I get picked, I’ll have less than two months to perfect the talk, then speak in front of a bunch of guys (and a few girls – typical code camp ratio is 5–10% female), some of whom may know much more on the topic than I do, without looking like a complete idiot. (And if I don’t get picked, I’ll forever wonder why.)

Early on, I started in this crazy profession as a trainer, so you’d think I’d be okay. But it’s been over a decade since I’ve done any regular stand up and talk in front of people.

But it’s time. Time for me to start publicly declaring my technical knowledge I’ve accumulated. And continue to.

BTW, the book purchase dry spell is pretty much done. On Sunday, I picked up two Linnea Sinclair paperbacks from Barnes and Noble – in the store – and Tuesday I ordered WPF in Action (w/vs 2008). Book links below. However, I’ll still be keeping the actual purchases of new books to a minimum, since we’ve got disney world at the end of June.

Book Links

Linnea Sinclair – Gabriel's Ghost

Linnea Sinclair – Hope's Folly

Arlen Feldman and Maxx Daymon – WPF in Action with Visual Studio 2008

Crazy weekend after crazy week and previously crazy weekend does not a happy Leah make.

However, I waved goodbye to sick hubby, then ditched the girls with Big Sis, and caught a Clive Owen double feature yesterday – First Duplicity then The International. So, when I finally retreived the girls, and then had to feed them @ 7:30, I was no where near as cranky as I had been at noon, when I dropped them off.

Also, I caved and bought a coupla books. I had some time to kill before the first movie (Amazon link to the theatre apparently doesn’t know about EDT) and the bookstore is one level down from the massive theatre complex at the mall.

I’m making progress on my book app, and I’m figuring also how to apply the same methodology to my knitting app. Primarily desktop, but social features enabled upon demand. For the anti-social persons in all of us.

I’ll try to get pics from my sister’s wedding (this past Saturday) up in the next coupla days.

 

Hi, my name is Leah and I’m a bookaholic. It’s been 65 days since I ordered a book off Amazon dot com.

I’m still reading, though, just plowing through the ones I’d stocked up on, and enjoying the couple of pre-orders that came in. (All links go to amazon page for purchase)

Finished

Patricia Briggs – Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4). (Read in 4 hours in one sitting.) Excellent. Mercedes Thompson is a great heroine, and her adventures and her world are just down the street from my reality. Besides, my father is a mechanic, and grew up in Olympia Washington. Near enough to the Tri Cities area that I pass along the books and he devours them as well.

JD Robb – Promises in Death. Read over the course of two or three days. Mainly because exhaustion crept up on me. I want an Autochef. And Roarke, too, but don’t tell my husband.

Gail Carson Levine – Fairest. Bathroom book to start with, then I had to finish it the other night – stayed up til 1:45 am doing so. Sister book to Ella Enchanted (have, but haven’t cracked yet).

Currently Reading

Ted Bell – Assassin: A Novel. The second Alexander Hawke book. Alex is a spy with a great cast of friends that help him through his adventures. Like the first, the book started slow, and finally the action builds in the latter half of the book.

Elizabeth Moon – The Legacy of Gird (Trade Paperback) (surrender none and liar’s oath trade paperback reprint). Re read. Ms. Moon is finally returning to this world, and while I pretty much read the The Deed of Paksenarrion: A Novel at least every two years, I haven’t read this since I read the original books, so much of this I don’t remember, so it’s like new stuff.

Brian Herbert – Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert the bio of Frank Herbert. It’s amazing how his ideas and thoughts were shaped by his life in the pacific northwest. Tacoma is another place my father grew up near, and I’ve visited. And the Dune saga is pretty much my favorite body of work.

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson – House Atreides (Dune: House Trilogy, Book 1) House Atreides. After reading the sequels, I’m going back and reading the prequels. Not quite the same as Dad’s work, but close enough so that the difference is not annoying.

Steven James – The Pawn (The Patrick Bowers Files, Book 1) Interesting. I picked this up a coupla weeks ago off the sale shelf in a Christian Bookstore. Much of the locale is western North Carolina, which I grew up taking trips to, and tried to go to school at Appalachian State before the great Cancer Experience decided to change my life’s course.

(There’s a book for different parts of the house, and always one in the car. Always reading more than one at a time. Computer reference books don’t count, but it’s still been a dry spell for amazon purchases.)