General stuff

Been doing quite a bit of reading for the testing istqb foundation, where I can get some exams going and see how I do. 

Started using a new plugin to test API's, which is another thing I need to learn and read about, http://www.getpostman.com/.

Completed a programming challenge of validating an ISBN10 which is challenge 197. Compact code so left as is

using System;

namespace Challenge197ISBN
{
  class Program
  {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
          var ISBN10 = "0-7475-3269-9";

          Console.WriteLine("Validating: {0}", ISBN10);
          int total = 0;
          int counter = 10;

          foreach (var letter in ISBN10)
          {
              if (letter != '-' && counter > 0)
              {
                  var current = int.Parse(letter.ToString());
                  total += current*counter;
                  counter--;
              }
          }

          Console.WriteLine("ISBN is valid: {0}", total % 11 == 0);
          Console.Read();
      }
  }
}

Ordered some noise cancelling headphones as the open plan office can get a little noisey. A good demo of them in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EwkaRvIduw

Came across a good video on hacker news about Erlang, quite interesting the idea of bike shedding and trolls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MvKLOecT1I

New desk!

With the new job money is a lot better, slowly getting myself sorted out.

The new desk is sturdy and nice to have some space, underestimated a little as I doubt a second monitor and 3d printer would fit, will have to see if I can move the modem and router underneath. Desk full name is Trexus Contract Plus Cantilever Desk Rectangular Silver Legs W1600xD800xH725mm Oak.

Audible is actually pretty good as an alternative to podcasts as some are a little heavy and can change topics quickly. Audible have a free trial then one audible book a month is £8 which is not bad, if bought singly they are expensive. A few do look good, the chimp paradox and here comes everybody. A shame pluralsight only really do videos which would not be worth while when driving.

Had to do some browser testing, not sure how reliable emulation is via the IE dev tools, either way a colleague mentioned modern.ie
where a virtual machine can be downloaded. I think something like virtual box is needed to make it all run.

First post of the new year!

Was not going to bother this week, however imma tryin'. The new place I work for do a lot of java which conflicts with my c#, asp.net, visual studio experience. Making the most of it, it now looks like I will have to learn java and clojure. Seems a shame to throw all that work away.

Suggested to me that I can move from test to developer by taking the oracle certified developer exam.

It is nice to work with developers regularly now as we get to talk about different computing topics rather than strictly on topic working remotely. Talking of different architectures Endianness
came up.

I am now on twitter, there seems to be a high noise to signal ratio for some developers I am following. Some good has come from it already, the Not Just Code Monkeys presentation, quite fun and interesting about the use of dark patterns by certain companies. 

Researching clojure, good youtube video by Tim Ewald Clojure: Programming with hand tools which contained very little clojure and a lot of craftsmanship. I did find it quite funny with the oh it is not in visual studio so does not exist.