Retrospectively Yours

One more co-op term down, one to go. What have I learned? Since I don't have any similar record for previous co-op terms, I'll flesh that out as well:

• Spring 2006: Rational Robot sucks, as does most "business intelligence" software. There's no way I'm doing testing again. Working with other co-op students is fun. Working in Waterloo during the summer is not.
• Winter/Fall 2007: Startup culture is refreshingly dynamic and fast-paced. That said, the almost complete lack of process produces crap quickly. Pair programming works. Food is adequate compensation for late-night project stints. The Salad King chilli scale is a game you can't win. Concurrency is always harder than you think. It's important to contribute in meetings - if you can't, you're not preparing enough.
  
• Spring 2008: Big-company culture is a living contradiction. Perks are awesome. Silicon Valley is a bubble world in all the best possible senses of the term. Testing is a crucial skill in software development. Reviews are a Good Thing, no matter how irate they make you at first. Sleep is optional. Do more better. Warm climates permit vibrant cities. Never rent a place before you meet the landlord.
• Winter 2009: Optimizing without a profiler is like driving with a nightshade on. Optimizing with a profiler will surprise you. Testing is a crucial skill in software development. Do less better. Like everything, parkour requires dedication. Like everything, building a computer is surprisingly easy once you actually do it. Presentations are less nerve-wracking than most imagine. People respect your efforts to speak their language.
  

Naturally, these observations are somewhat abridged, and I've more than likely forgotten 90% of the salient (and/or salacious) tidbits. If you really want to know, you'll have to ask me in person...

Bric-A-Brac, Post-Weekend Style

Decided to try waking up earlier this week. Today: 7:20 am after one false start at 7:07 am. (Yes, I really do set my alarm clock for times like this - my favourite time is 8:08.)

Sugar is wonderful, maple sugar all the more so. I had the inimitable pleasure of visiting a sugar bush on Saturday along with the rest of my office; turns out the uncle of one of our programmer-analysts runs the operation, now in its 27th season of business. Nothing like maple sugar, maple syrup, and maple taffy in one day to mount a buffer overflow attack on your sweet taste buds.

Just found this cool animation off a link posted in a tweet from an ex-coworker; as explained on the video page, it uses data from this site. My $.02: I think all public services, utilities, etc. should be releasing data APIs for the general public to hack on. They could even release the data under a GPL-ish licence that requires any resulting apps to be made publicly available. They could even go one step further - simply hold an online vote to pick the top apps, then host them free of charge on their website. Help us to help you...

Edit: I forgot to post links to the sugar bush photos! Here they are. Additionally, here's some more pics as taken by coworker Boxing Chen and uploaded by the owner, Pierre Joanis.