Journals 2008
Year to Date
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Time Tables 2008
Year to Date
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Journals 2008
Year to Date
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Time Tables 2008
Year to Date
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
It is -1 C with a high forecast of +5 C. Sunrise 8:26 Sunset 16:52 Hours of daylight: 8:26
noon
I have coffee scheduled for 8 am this morning. This is always a stimulating way to begin the day.
I am still working on organizing my Psychology books. But is is enjoyable work.
I hope that I can add two more book summaries to this page. It should be a book that I have touched in the last few days.
| Learning Category | Planned Activities for Today | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | Continue reading "The World of Zen" by Stephen Hodge | 1 hr |
| Model Trains | Take photos of each of my structures and put them in my web sites | 1 hr |
| Literature | Continue reading "The Pillars of the Earth" by Follett | 1 hr |
| Technology | Add CSS code for Journal pages in 2008 | 1 hr |
| Technology | Continue reading "Wikinomics" by Tapscott | 1 hr |
| Technology | Prepare notes for "The Cathedral & The Bazaar" | 1 hr |
| Psychology | Add to web page in Books 2008 web site for this non-fiction category | 1 hr |
| Technology | Debug a problem with the code for this web site | 2 hr |
Here is the third description of one of my books:
While reading a few pages from Don Tapscott and Anthony William's book "Wikinomics" which discusses open source software, I was reminded of my favorite book on the topic - Eric Raymond's The Cathedral & The Bazaar.
This is the third book that I have mentioned - the first was about a book that I have yet to read, the second was a book that I reread as a result of mentioning it, and this is a book that I read and enjoyed many years ago. Looking at this sequence of three books again, the first was about Philosophy/Religion, the second was on Science, and this is on Technology.
I would recommend reading The Cathedral & The Bazaar first, then try Wikinomics. Raymond's book was written 9 years ago when the open source movement to software development was just getting off the ground. Tapscott and Williams describe the situation 9 years later. Both books are almost evangelical in nature, very pro- open source software. Raymond describes the approach in idealistic and ethical terms, Tapscott and Williams are more pragmatic - it works.
What is open source software? Basically it is the development of software by a loosely connected group of programmers who freely share their code in the expectation that others will be able to improve it. The programmers are all volunteers who do it because it is a challenge and it is fun to take on a challenge and then succeed.
The heart of the book is a updated version of Raymond's 1997 essay by the same name as the book. If you want to see the origins of the open source philosophy this is the book to read. It is exciting material, and much of it appears to be coming true, much to the surprise of the naysayers.
Googling the title The Cathedral & The Bazaar shows that this essay is now in version 3.0 (2000) and it available online. The book contains 4 additional essays by Raymond, making for a superb collection of inspiring views about where we are heading, and why.
By the way, the title is a metaphor contrasting the cathedral model of much of the commercial world (where corporation works to produce a product) and the bazaar (where a group of like minded individuals supply everything that the consumer wants). In Raymond's hands, the comparison is electric.
Tags: non-fiction, computer, open source, software, Linux.I am enjoying writing these brief thumbnails. It is great fun!
I now have most of my books organized on my shelves. That is a great feeling. But I am going to have to show some judgement in my Books website. The list of books I have read, and fondly remember is too large for a simple web page. Let me think about this.
I have spent about 2 hours trying to find a bug in the code for this web site. I have been trying to alter the site so that it will show which links have been followed. It worked on some pages but not on others. The problem was not in the code per se, but in the fact that I had two folders with a space in the names. This affected the way the CSS was interpreted by the browser. Having said this, it only works with the Safari browser, not with Firefox (at least on my Mac) (nor on our PC with Firefox).