[exprla-devel] strengths and weaknesses

[reid_spencer <ras...@re...>]

--- In xpl-dev@y..., "Richard Hein" <935551@i...> wrote:
Dear XPLers,

I want to make a few comments on the past little while I have been 
part of this group, and the feelings I have so far about taking 
part.  I feel that everyone probably has strengths and weaknesses in 
relation to what we are doing, and maybe it's time we let each other 
know what we can and can't really do, so that we are able to 
effectively split up some tasks among members.

I personally am not a great programmer.  That's a weakness.  My OOP 
experience is minimal, and only related to my own personal research 
and tutorials I've taken.  I've never written a program from start to 
finish in Java, C++ or any other OOP language.  This bites, because 
it obviously limits what I can do.  I program in VB and (mostly VBA, 
for Access, in which I have completed 3 full lifecycle database 
applications in the past year, from analysis to support, including 
one that uses a Palm III to collect and scan inventory, and done lots 
of maintenance and user-interface stuff for about 3 years), SQL (MS 
SQL Server 7 - but I am not very experienced with it).  I am not a 
web developer yet ... but have been trying really hard to become 
one.  

I think I understand most of the XML concepts and technologies, what 
they are able to do, and how they relate, but I am far from a 
complete understanding.  I have tried and tried to make an 
interactive database on the web using XML and ADO linked to SQL 
Server, using stored procedures, for about 2 months, and spent about 
9 months so far, trying to absorb all the info related to XML I can 
handle.  I still haven't pulled off the interactive database yet.  

That's pretty sad, I know.

The reason is almost certainly my weakness in ASP, COM and Java 
related technologies, like EJBs.  At this point I haven't been able 
to work it all out yet.  Presenting static data, or data input 
controls in XML/XSL is easy, but trying to get it back to the 
database from which it originated, has proven very hard for me.  

Just last night I figured it out - in theory, and soon in practice, I 
HOPE.  I didn't realize that it required some things I didn't know 
about to get that data back in.  I found a tutorial at www.xml-
zone.com that finally made it clear what I had to do, and I am pretty 
happy to have read the author's comments that it was a lot of work 
for him to figure out how to do the same thing I have been trying to 
do.  At least he had the benefit of other programmers to talk to 
while figuring it out ... I work independently, and the only 
programmer communication I get is online.  Sometimes I am just too 
embarrassed to ask for help, because I think it should be obvious.  
Well, I finally realized that my pride has gotten in the way of my 
success.

So, I am putting pride aside, and saying I don't know much about any 
of this stuff, even though I research and study it all day and into 
the early morning hours.  I have been coddled by VB and VBA for so 
long I have forgotten most of what I learned about programming to 
begin with (I started programming Basic games from code in magazines 
back when I was 7 years old, on our TRS-80 - dad read the code letter 
by letter, while I typed it in, and we'd switch when I got tired).
  
So what do I have to offer the XPL group at all??

I hope I can offer my research ability.  That's my strength, I 
believe, more than anything.  That's what I do best ... look for 
information that relates, and pass it along.  Sometimes it's useless, 
and wrong, because of the limitations I mentioned above.  Sometimes 
it's helpful.  

For those of you that are really talented at programming, and have a 
strong knowledge of compilers, languages, design, project management, 
and internet protocols (that's another weakness for me), etc ..., you 
can spend a lot more time doing those things, and get me to search 
out the corners of the internet for information you need.  

I know enough about this stuff to be able to find the information you 
might need, if you want my help, even if I don't know exactly how to 
implement it.  Then I can learn more, and grow, and you don't have to 
waste as much time as you might otherwise.  In return, I will be 
gaining knowledge and wonderful experience from you all.  By the time 
this thing is done, I will be a great XPL programmer!  :-)  I am 
learning Java right now as well, and studying up on computer language 
design, sematics, compilers and more, just so I can be valuable to 
this group.  

However, I recognize the fact that I say far-out things, and make 
major mistakes.  I need input concerning these mistakes, and 
unrealistic ideas.  Please, and I mean it sincerely, DON'T let me go 
away believing something WRONG!  Correct me, and I will learn and 
grow.  Maybe it's just annoying to have to respond to things I say 
that are nonsense to you, and I can understand that.  But the choice 
is to either correct me, or to let me say stupid things forever, and 
be a burden to the group, until I finally give up and leave.  

I really want to be a part of this, and it's become an obsession - 
just ask my girlfriend - boy she hates XPL! I think that there are 
other people, in similar position to me in this group who feel they 
can't contribute much, but are far less vocal (um ... well, not 
VOCAL, but you get my drift) than I am.  

However, they must have something to contribute, and together we can 
be very beneficial ... just the very idea that if we don't understand 
XPL, lots of other people won't either, is reason enough for us to be 
here.  

On the other hand, it must be a pain in the proverbial you-know-what 
to try to work on something like XPL, and be surrounded by 
unknowledgable people, who interfere with the "real" work of the 
experts and gurus among the group.  

But on the other-other-hand (if you are a three armed mutant, like 
me, which explains why I type so bloody much ;-)), maybe the fact 
that we are coming in with a pretty open (or empty - like Buddha :-)) 
mind will help XPL break through the classic paradigms that other 
language concepts hold to, but may not work well at all for XPL.  
Older and more experienced people in OOP may be stuck on the idea 
that XPL should be like [insert your favorite language here], but 
that may be completely wrong for the new framework that XML demands 
to make the "programmable web".

I'm a dreamer and an idea man.  Perhaps 90 - 99% of my ideas don't 
work, and 90 - 99% of my dreams have never come true.  But I have 
hundreds of them, so one of them is going to work someday!  I love to 
study, and love to read about new things, but I am not the type of 
person who is good at actually doing it ... I feel that the fun is in 
discovery, not implementation.  My motivation is mostly gone once I 
figure out how something is done, and when I go to use it, I don't 
weather through it well, because it's boring to me.  So that means a 
lot of the time I don't really know if it will work - which is why I 
say, "perhaps this will be helpful".

So, these are my strengths and weaknesses, and I hope that you all 
can work with them, and maybe in time those weaknesses will turn to 
strengths.  I hope so.  I have no illusions that XPL is a massive 
undertaking, and will take a long time to bring into the world, so I 
need to know if you all will be able to stand me, and if I am helping 
or hurting the group, because I want to see it happen - even if I am 
just a bystander (although it's way more fun to be part of it), and I 
don't want to be a stumbling block.

Sorry for the long email ... again.  

Sincerely,

Richard A. Hein
--- End forwarded message ---