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programming in the real world

How programming gets distorted in the real world.

programming in the real world

How programming gets distorted in the real world.

Originally I intended to use this project as an example of how to correctly software engineer and program a real world website, with the source code being an example that others could learn from and copy.

Unfortunately, the decisions of the business owners have made it impossible to produce anything other than ugly code. So, this has become an example of how to adapt to what really happens in the real world.

project summary
KickStarter rejected
programming environment
computer

project summary

The project, called Strážbick Radio, is intended to provide a central location for emerging music, where musicians can meet potential new fans and promote their music.

KickStarter rejected
August 30, 2013

The owners have soundedly rejected the idea of using KickStarter to obtain funding. They intend to soon provide me with an antique computer and are paying me less than 1/10th of the minimum wage, but they see no need for attempting to get funding from crowd sourcing.

The owners assure me that they are holding meetings almost every day and theyhave plans for producing income.

programming environment
August 15, 2013

The original plan was to write the website in object-oriented Ruby using Test Driven Development.

The actual method will be procedural PHP and hope things work.

computer

I was asked what resources were needed for this project. I provided a list. The business owner said that he knew someone who could build a computer at a lower cost than Apple would charge.

I emailed the computer crafter and we discussed specifications. Because the computer will be hand-built, it does include a few things that a real Apple computer doesn’t have.

The proposed specs:

case: An Apple-like case that can be opened without using screwdrivers or sliding cases off a chassis.
cooling: closed loop liquid cooling.
operating system: Mountain Lion, with the ability to install Maverick when it is released.
processor: dual six-core Westmere-EP Intel Xeon X5675 at 3.06 GHz, no over-clocking.
chipset: C602.
memory: 8GB 133 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM per processor for a total of 16 GB with slots for a total of 64 GB.
system bus: 6.4 GT/s QuickPath Interconnect.
drive bays: 4 direct attach drive bays (or more).
drive 1: 512GB Apple SS.D
drive 2: 2TB 7200-rpm 32MB cache Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive.
PCI slots: 2 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 slots and 2 PCI Express 2.0 x 4 slots.
graphics card: ATI Radeon HD5870 graphics card with 1GB GDDR5 video memory.
optical: 2 optical drive bays with one Apple Superdrive.
connections:

USB: 3.0, 2 ports on front, 3 ports on back
FireWire: 800, 2 ports on front, 2 ports on back
Ethernet: 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports 10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet (RJ-45)
WiFi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi
BlueTooth: 4.0
audio:

TOSlink: digital TOSlink optical audio input and output
mini-jack: analog 1/8" stereo line-level mini-jack audio input and output
XLR:
ADAT DB25:
RCA:
Phone: (guitar direct)

video:

S-Video:
VGA: asdf
component video: (YPbPr)
composite video:

I/O devices:

keyboard: Apple Extended Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
mouse: Apple Mouse
trackpad: Apple Magic Trackpad

Once the business owner heard the price, he said that I was going to work with a used iMac.

Compromises.

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