Tariq Ahmed

Adobe Font Folio 11 Flattener script

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:03:00 PST

If you bought or got Adobe's Font Folio, the way it's structured is that each font is in it's own subfolder. This doesn't immediately lend itself to just navigate to the folder in Windows and highlighting all the fonts to install.

In Windows 7 you can navigate to the top level folder and put "*.otf" in the search input of Windows Explorer and it'll build a list of the font files on the file.

But for the hell of it, I wanted to try out C# with .NET to see what developing in that environment is like. It's very simple, and there are probably even quicker ways to do it (e.g. I've seen some recursive methods), so feel free to modify if you'd like.

If you want to use it, here's what you gotta do:

Download the package
The package contains a FlattenFolio.exe and the corresponding source.
Copy your Font Folio software to C:\FontFolio11
Create an empty c:\FontFolioFlattened
Run the FlattenFolio.exe file
All the files in the Western Fonts subfolder should now be in the FontFolioFlattened dir.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;

namespace FlattenFolio
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("C:/FontFolio11/Western Fonts");
      DirectoryInfo[] dirs = di.GetDirectories();
      foreach(DirectoryInfo subDir in dirs)
      {
        Console.WriteLine("Processing:" + subDir.FullName);
        FileInfo[] fontFiles = subDir.GetFiles();
        foreach (FileInfo aFile in fontFiles)
        {
          Console.WriteLine("Copying:" + aFile);
          File.Copy(subDir.FullName + "/" + aFile.Name, "C:/FontFolioFlattened/" + aFile.Name,true);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Are you ready for Agile?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:24:00 PST

Yes, you're ready for Agile. The questions are as follows:

How much agility are you ready for today?
How much can you add tomorrow?
How can you continuously adapt to our ever-changing business climate?

Quote from Becoming Agile in an imperfect world.

Talent - if you can't find it, create it.

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:53:00 PST

As a manager of a ColdFusion centric development team I?ve had to deal with the shortage of talented CF developers on numerous occasions, and when speaking to other managers of CF teams they tell of similar stories.

It?s not so much that there?s a shortage of CF developers, but can?t seem to find ones that are at the level I?m looking for. And typically you?ll come across folks who had the title of Sr. Developers, but their advanced skills are lacking and earned the title from sheer tenure.

The problem is there is no catalyst for many CF developers to push their skills higher. ColdFusion?s awesomeness is based on how easily and fast you can create applications, but an unfortunate negative drawback of that is from a business perspective if the application works and does what it needs, there?s no driving factor to do anything beyond that.

That may change slowly over time as new jobs often require advanced skills thus providing that driving factor to keep ones skills current in order to have marketable value.

However in the meantime, my perspective is there?s a big skills gap in the talent pool range which I?d summarize as:

0.1% Architect level
2% Sr. level
5% Mid-level (advanced intermediate)
92.9% Mediocre level

So what I don?t want is that mediocre level, and this situation has often lead businesses to bite the bullet and migrate from CF to a platform that has a larger talent pool to draw from.

BUT! With all that being said, ColdFusion does allow a small team to output at the level of much larger teams that use different technologies. I?ve personally seen at various companies where it was decided to redo a CF application into Java or .NET, and how much more time and resources it took vs. the CF team. This is a significant advantage if you are a small team, and advantages are hard to come by in the land of business.

Is it the only factor? Of course not, and does that advantage outweigh the disadvantages? Or do other options provide a greater advantage? In our case, ColdFusion continues to be the most advantageous option ? but we need talent to leverage it.

So if you can?t find them, make them.

Instead of banging our heads against the wall over the problem, why not contribute to the solution?

We?re at a point in our company?s evolution where we?re not dependent on having an entire team of rock stars. So the strategy I?m employing is to take someone who has raw talent, brain power, and enthusiasm and grow them into these various levels that are hard to find.

The key is you need just enough (true) Sr. level and/or Architect level guys that can provide direction, guidance, and mentoring to these inexperienced (but eager to grow) staff. To really put the cherry on the top, if you couple that with basic development standards and modern MVC frameworks you now have an environment where junior and intermediate level staff can be successful.

ColdFusion 10 - Wish list

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:57:00 PST

I know a few of these are mentioned by others in their wish lists, but hopefully this will count as another vote.

Replace JRUN, include some actively maintained engine.
Acquire GlobFX, and replace CF's charting with their super awesome charting engine. GlobFX's engine separates the design of a chart with a chart style file which a designer can create and upload to immediately apply.
Acquire Fusion Reactor or SeeFusion and use that for your monitoring tool. FR and SF are able to record monitoring statisics and alerts to a database, which comes in handy for long term performance trending analysis.
Update AXIS, or do something to make it easier to work with complex web services. I find working with any modern external web service is wrought with challenges when using it with CF.
Integrate a new reporting engine, CF-Reports was a well intentioned attempt. But obviously not maintained, and no one uses it as a result of it.
Replace HTML engine behind CFDocument, use WebKit or whatever.
Improve Deployment, take making .car and applying files to the next level.

Thanks!!!

Hello Flex 4! Super fast and fun way to jumpstart your Flex skills

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:34:00 PST

If you?ve been thinking about Flex, or know someone who wants to get a basic understanding in a very short amount of time you?ll want to check out Hello Flex 4 by Peter Armstrong.

This short 234 paged book is an action packed light hearted casual read for programmers who are curious about Flex but may not be at the point where they want to invest a ton of time until they get a general understanding of how it works and if it?s a right match for them.

The tone of the book is laid back, and Peter doesn?t bore you with exhaustive detail, while at the same time there are small cartoons to keep it fun. Structure wise the approach uses sessions/labs to demonstrate concepts, and these sessions provide real working code. As each session progresses it builds upon the last ? leading up to a full blown application.

So the examples are small and easy to understand, while at the same time being practical that you could then apply for you own purposes. In the very last chapter he?s a bit gutsy by incorporating the Cairngorm MVC framework as part of the lab? Cairngorm is a pretty heavy duty topic, so my reaction was would using it in a introductory book be good idea?

Well, if you really wanted to get an honest quick feel if Flex is right for you, you might as well get a taste of what a framework driven Flex application would look like. To my surprise though, Peter pulls it off, and makes Cairngorm digestible (especially considering the reader may not have any prior Flex/ActionScript exposure) by keeping it simple, to the point, and clear about what it?s role is in a Flex application.

So overall, for a quick read and low price, this is a great way to jumpstart your Flex skills. There?s currently a promotion where you can get the book for a measly $10 by using discount code hf410 (I think it ends at the end of the month).

Know thy indexes

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:49:00 PST

Whenever I do a round of interviewing for a developer position one of the things I find is that many people do not have a firm grasp of database indexes, specifically SQL Server indexes (since that is what we use).

I'm probably the furthest thing from a DB guru, and many teams have dedicated DBA's who handle all that stuff, but I believe it's important for developers to have a strong understanding of how databases work as that's often the single point of failure.

SQL Server Central has a recent introductory article on indexes that is a very worthwhile read that I encourage you to have everyone you know read.

"Clustered indexes define the logical order of the table. The leaf level of the clustered index has the actual data pages of the table. Because of this there can only be one clustered index per table. A table that does not have a clustered index is referred to as a heap."

Read the full article

Get 50% off Flex 3 In Action

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:34:00 PST

Interested in getting into Flex, or sprucing up your Flex skills? Check out Flex 3 In Action (Fx3iA) at Manning.com - you can get 50% off today by using promo code pop0928. Fx3iA is targeted getting those serious about getting into Flex ramped up quickly by focusing deep on the most important stuff.

The cool part is that you get the hard copy of the book, the PDF soft copy, and the Flex 4 In Action PDF when it becomes available. So you can get coding in Flex 3 now, and be able to jam on Flex 4 shortly after. Why wait?

Flex 3 In Action at Manning Publications

ColdFusion Developer wanted. East Bay Area (San Ramon), CA.

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:39:00 PST

Do you spend most of your time in traffic thinking about how to solve certain problems?
Do you try to squeeze in one extra line of code before you have to go home?
Do you sometimes lay awake at night because you know there's a better way to do something (such as technical implementations, and supporting processes)?
Do you pay attention to the industry and apply the latest best practices?
Do you consider yourself a hardcore developer?

Amcom Technology, Inc. is looking for an experienced Software Engineer to join our product development team (full time). As part of a team based environment the position involves working on mission critical web based solutions that enable the efficiency and growth of our clients utilizing rapid application prototyping methodologies and rich internet application development.

We are looking for highly self motivated team oriented people who have a passion for solving both technical and non-technical problems.

For more information, click here...

Win some free stuff at Manning's Pop-Quiz contest

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:06:00 PST

Everyday during the month of September, Manning Publication's is holding a Pop-Quiz contest where you can win iPhones, Kindles, eBooks, and daily super deals.

Check it oot (as us Canadians would say) at http://www.manning.com/popquiz/

Review: SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:11:00 PST

Currently I manage a small Web/RIA software development team, and my background is in making Web/RIA applications in ColdFusion and Flex. Our team uses SQL Server 2000, however we?re actively working on our plan to upgrade to SQL Server 2008.

Timing wise I fortunate as I was able to get an early access version of Rod Colledge?s SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action, by Manning Publications. Manning has a program called MEAP (Manning Early Access Program) that allows you to get drafts of a book as it is being developed, which is pretty cool.

I?m not a DBA, and being in a small I.T company, most of the techies wear many hats. So our DBAs are also full time web programmers too.

The book starts off by giving you an overview of the landscape, such as what exactly are the job duties of a DBA, what tools are available, and what are the differences between the SQL Server 2008 editions. We learn things about such new features as policy based management, the resource governor, data collectors, data compression, and encryption.

After laying down the landscape, it?s time to lay down the infrastructure. What kind of system will your organization need, disk strategies such as the number of disks, RAID levels, SANs, solid state disks, calculating I/O requirements, server virtualization, partition strategies, network utilization, fail over clustering, etc...

Having you infrastructure in place, the focus moves onto configuration where you establish your security model, performance tune your system, and overall data management. It?s here where you learn that a lot of performance issues arise from not laying out or sizing your database files properly. You can?t rely on the default settings, because as your database grows you?ll encounter issues such as disk fragmentation. Getting a solid understanding of file configuration, volume separation, and sizing can save you a lot of headache in the future.

One you have your system up and running it?s all about maintaining it. And the last section is more about the day to day operations of being a DBA such as conducting backups, employing high availability for redundancy and DR purposes, dealing with issues, general maintenance (e.g. indexing strategies), performance tweaking, etc...

What I like near the end is the book gives you a DBA action plan of what your routine should include, along with best practices, and worst practices.

The database is often viewed as a business critical system, and when it?s not functioning its best it can impact the business significantly. So if you?re looking to run SQL 2K8, this book is a worthwhile investment.