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MidLifeXis

by MidLifeXis (Monsignor)
on Jul 08, 2003 at 18:02 UTC ( [id://272364]=user: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

About the image

Interesting image taken "up nort'".

About me

My name is Brian T. Wightman. I provide technological solutions.

org-mode

Org-mode is an emacs-lisp module that implements an interface to a file format that is essentially an outline on steroids. The file format is now being processed by languages and editors other than emacs.

I use org-mode as my GTD storage, work notes (bug tracking, project notes and planning, log book, run book), taking minutes for a board I am on, and consulting records. It is flexible enough to provide a framework that can be customized to allow many uses. I don't intend this to be a sales pitch, but am just a really happy customer :-).

There are some monks that use org-mode:

If you wish to be added to this list, please /msg me.

I am collecting a set of org-mode resources as well:

If you know of other resources (especially Perl), please /msg me.

Sidelining

I am currently looking for some sideline contracting positions for about 5-10 hours a week, remote and off hours. See my consulting link for more information.

I have experience with Perl, system administration, security administration, web administration, and other general system maintenance on many types of Unix. I have administered solo small (20-50 machine) Unix shops to working as part of a team in mid to large (100-500+ machine) size shops.

I am amazed, but I am past my 20 year mark at being paid for this type of work.

If interested, please contact me at consulting<at>wightmanfam<dot>org. Note: the address url is tagged, and will change over time as it is discovered by spammers. The displayed address will work for the forseeable future.

Interesting Links

Other Personal Links

Monks I have met in real life

This is a list of monks I have met in real life and where I met them. If you remember meeting me and are not listed here, remind me of where we met.

  • brian_d_foy - brian d foy - YAPC::NA 2012
  • dasgar - John Ellyson - YAPC::NA 2012
  • szabgab - Gábor Szabó - YAPC::NA 2012

Blog posts and responses

I will see how long this lasts

Disclaimer

Contrary to some search results, I do not have a livejournal profile. That midlifexis is an unfortunate name collision, and appears to be quite a different person. The only valid location for this moniker is here on perlmonks This moniker is valid on sites listed in my Other Personal Links section.


Posts by MidLifeXis
Destructive JAPH in Obfuscated code
1 direct reply — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Aug 29, 2013 at 10:48

    Starting my foray into JAPH to explore various aspects and corners of the language. Not necessarily obfuscated, but more using different aspects of Perl to accomplish the goals of a JAPH. 4x79 code max, Just another Perl hacker, output to stdout. I am hoping to explore a different technique each day, but it will probably devolve to one a week.

    This implementation is pretty obvious how it works, but it uses the DESTROY method of object destruction to output the characters of the output.

    @x = map{ x($_) } split('','Just another Perl hacker,'); shift(@x) while @x; sub x{ bless \$_[0],"x"} sub x::DESTROY{print ${$_[0]}}

    --MidLifeXis

Plugin Overwriting or saving keys in Algorithm::CheckDigits configuration in Seekers of Perl Wisdom
2 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Apr 21, 2013 at 07:15

    Hi all,

    This is a redirection of RT Ticket 84769, which is my request for a patch to allow for plugging external modules into CheckDigits::Algorithm.

    mamawe, the maintainer of CheckDigits::Algorithm has raised a (valid) concern with my implementation, in that it implements a 'last-requested' short algoritm name to module mapping. The author wanted to take the discussion here for more visibility and input (if I am reading the last update correctly :-).

    This node is an anchor point for that discussion.

    --MidLifeXis

RFC: Algorithm::Damm in Meditations
2 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Mar 17, 2013 at 09:36

    I have written my first module for community consumption, and am looking for comments:

    I am pulling comments into git issues, so if you want to save the middleman (or provide a pull request), feel free.

    --MidLifeXis

Coverage tool visibility within emacs in Seekers of Perl Wisdom
2 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on May 25, 2012 at 09:28

    I am starting to put together some code for an emacs module that peers into Devel::Cover reports along the same lines as rcov-overlay.el, but also linking in linum-mode.el instead of highlighting the code lines themselves. I will need to port rcov-overlay.el, and also add a Devel::Cover formatting module to output the JSON used by the rcov-overlay module. There is a compilation output report that generates output that an emacs compile buffer can use, but I would like to display it in the code buffer itself.

    I am searching for other prior art. If something like this already exists that I can just link into my toolset, great. If not, it is a small project to fill in my "spare time", and perhaps a positive contribution to the community. Does anyone know of any other prior art that has previously implemented this on the target platform (emacs + Perl)?

    Why? I have been a user of emacs since the early '90s, but I have not made use of the vast range of tools available to assist my coding efforts. I have recently started using ECB, unit-test.el (along with some custom save-file hooks), and a couple of other pieces of emacs glue (yet to be published), that have really allowed me to step up my game. I am also evaluating PDE, but have not had great results with it, as it seems to be very focused on the author's own development environment and process (not that this is bad, it just didn't fit into my toolchain).

    There are also the Devel::Cover::Report::Compilation module, allowing emacs to provide a compile buffer given appropriate file/line pairs to allow jumping to the offending line, and the Devel::Cover::Report::Vim module, allowing this type of glue within Vim.

    References:

    And yes, I am attending the Tweakers Anonymous talk at YAPC::NA 2012.

    Update: Added actual question, since the question was only implied.

    Update: Added json.el link, omitted from original list of emacs modules (thanks pvaldes).

    Update: Added links to other report types that are currently within Devel::Cover.

    --MidLifeXis

Duck duck go Seeking volunteers to CPANize their API in Perl News
No replies — Read more | Post response
by MidLifeXis
on Nov 23, 2011 at 10:28

    Duck Duck Go is seeking volunteers to convert their web service APIs to CPAN modules.

    Link is from the YAPC::NA web site. Since ddg is a sponsor, I thought it would be appropriate to push traffic through that announcement.

    --MidLifeXis

Current posting ability limitations in Perl Monks Discussion
5 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Nov 09, 2011 at 14:15

    Due to the disruptive antics of certain visitors to the Monastery, most anonymous posting is currently blocked, as well as posting by monks with negative XP. This is a fluid situation -- these and other potentially heavy-handed actions may be employed or rolled back with little or no notice.

    Once things have settled down or when the round-tuits for the implementation of a more surgical approach have been obtained, this will be rolled back.

    The need for these measures is disappointing, but necessary.

    Update (2011-Nov-10): Thank you to all of the monks in the CB yesterday who proofread and made suggestions for wording.

    --MidLifeXis

Node edit and empty titles in Perl Monks Discussion
4 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Dec 03, 2010 at 12:56

    I seem to remember (or perhaps my memory is wrong) a change on the new node creation code a while back to disallow empty titles. Would it make sense to also include this check when editing nodes? See node 87522 (currently [untitled node, ID 875222]) as an example.

    --MidLifeXis

class for cb idle messages in Perl Monks Discussion
4 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Nov 05, 2010 at 15:24

    When there is no conversation in the CB, the quips that show up do not appear to have a class assigned to them -- it appears that they are just a bare <i>...</i> sequence.

    Would it make sense to add an appropriate class to the cb-idle quips?

    I noticed this because I was trying to minimize my attention to them in the sidebar CB.

    That is, unless someone has a nice css rule to identify them :-)

    --MidLifeXis

Link to posting form on each section page in Perl Monks Discussion
1 direct reply — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Sep 09, 2010 at 12:36

    A new(er)? monk asked in the CB today how to post a new question. This user was greeted with the usual 'SoPW' response. The user happened to be using the Seekers of Perl Wisdom link in the navigation nodelet, and stated that the link to Seekers of Perl Wisdom was self referential.

    The SoPW link contains an href directly to the posting form on the Seekers of Perl Wisdom page. If you, however, go directly to the top of that page, there is no mention "above the fold" where to go to post a question.

    Would it make sense to have a hyperlink to the posting form at the top of the page that would be visible to users navigating directly to Seekers of Perl Wisdom (and possibly all of the posting-enabled pages)? Perhaps something as short as "Post a new question in $SECTION".

    --MidLifeXis

Is assigning undef required for DESTROY to run? in Seekers of Perl Wisdom
4 direct replies — Read more / Contribute
by MidLifeXis
on Feb 23, 2009 at 14:52

    I have a vendor's library, distributed in binary mode only. It seems that if I create an object using this library, I need to assign undef to get it to call the DESTROY method. If I assign a new invocation of the item to the object variable, it core dumps.

    This core dumps...

    my $obj = Vendor::Library->new(...); ... code here ... $obj = Vendor::Library->new(...);

    This does not...

    my $obj = Vendor::Library->new(...); ... code here ... $obj = undef; $obj = Vendor::Library->new(...);

    I am probably assuming too much out of this vendor, but shouldn't the two snippets of code be expected to do the same thing, or are my expectations out of whack?

    I will be submitting the bug in any case (I should not be able to force the library to core dump, IMO), but am evaluating my expectations.

    ------

    After further research, I think I may have an explanation. In Conway's OOP, on page 430, it states:

    A destructor is a method with the special name of DESTROY. It is called automatically when an object's reference count reaches zero.

    In the first instance, the creation of the second object happens before the first object's refcount reaches 0, as the assignment happens after the new call. In the second instance, the assignment of undef causes the refcount to drop to 0, then the creation of the new object is possible to happen, then the assignment happens.

    I know that I answered this myself. Documenting this here, with more information, may help another monk in the future.

    --MidLifeXis

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