Too Much

I have been asked a few time what the hardest part of writing a book is:

• Is it coming up with an outline? No.
• Is it forcing yourself to regularly write? Maybe.
• Is it not having enough to write about? Definitely not for me.

My problem is: I have too much to say and it comes out in my writing.

This may surprise many people. I am a typical introvert. I try to keep to myself and don't usually join conversations unless it is something I care about. But if it is something for which I would call myself a geek, sometimes it is hard to stop. That could include Cooking, TV Shows, Programming, Cars, Racing, Modifying cars, writing blog posts... I should stop now.

The perfect example of this is in the book I am writing. The estimate for Chapter 3 was 40 pages. I worked carefully on the estimate. I know that software developers are famous for their poor time estimates, and I wanted to be as close to possible both on time and length.

I completely failed on time estimates: I hadn't planned on some family health issues, covid-19, quarantines, losing my job, and a host of other things that hit most of the world over the past few months.

I found that when I was searching for a job, it was hard to get motivated to write. I found myself reading job listings and dealing with job searches and recruiters. I got to meet a lot of great people, and also a bunch of people who apparently never read my resume.  Where in my resume of software development would they get the idea I should be a purchasing manager?

Anyway, the other problem with Chapter 3 was the BIG problem. I over achieved on page count. When I finally turned in my 45 page chapter, I had 63 pages. Even with that many pages, I felt like I had cheated on some sections and not written enough. After talking with my editor [Packt has a great editorial team!], we decided to split the chapter into two chapters, which changes the outline for the book, but we think it is for the best.

Sometimes when I am talking or writing about something I know or am passionate about, I find I have so much in my head that I am trying to get out about the subject. Other times, I write a what seems like a quick simple thought, then I realize that I am assuming knowledge that others might not have, so I have to go back and make sure I have covered that, which sometimes make me go back and ... you can see where this is going.

In the end, I am getting a lot of appreciation for teachers who have to go through this when they are developing new syllabuses. Writing a Hands-On book is quite similar. It's important to present the information in a way that makes sense and is complete enough for everyone who my be in the class (or be the target audience for the book) to understand.

As I continue writing the book, I am sure I will find this problem again... It could be worse, I could have nothing to write about.

-John

PS: You might have caught "when I was searching for a job." Assuming everything goes well with background and drug checks, I should be starting a new job doing Qt development with a new employer in a totally new application field. Honestly, I'm a quite excited to get going!

A Time of #EmbraceTheSuck

What a wild start to 2020! I have been swamped with too many things happening, some good, and... as you can guess from the title... some not so good.

The Next Book

Work on my second book for Packt continues. It is focusing on Qt. Unfortunately, it encountered real life. We are still looking for publication this year, but not quite when expected. I'm still really excited about the project. As in my previous book, I am learning so much. There's an old phrase about teaching: Learn-Do-Teach. That's exactly what I am doing, and I love it!

Something Old Comes Back

In the midst of all of that, I got a totally unexpected call for help with a project I last worked on over 6 years ago.

I had setup a Jenkins CI Build machine to build and test a C# project. We used NCover, NUnit, and some custom tools I created. Sometime after development on the product finally finished, someone decided they could get rid of the VM the build machine was running on. Not being able to find a image to restore from, they have called me in to rebuild it.

The cool thing is I get to work with some of the best SW developers I know. I also finally got a job with a consulting company, First Consulting Inc. of Rochester, NY, that I have admired and hoped to work for. It's only a small project, but it should be fun!

The Bad

Amidst the good have been some bad things that have adjusted my focus and challenged my resolve: A family member was diagnosed with cancer, a family friend unexpectedly died, COVID-19 came to New York State, and I was laid off from my full time job. COVID-19's even impacted that. (Most of the past week has been dealing with all of the issues around the latter.)

[For those noting the cancer diagnosis and job loss, and assuming benefits loss: You are right. Luckily the cancer patient qualifies for Emergency Medical Coverage.]

What Now?

Honestly, the first thing is looking for a job that provides benefits. I'm a giver and not much of a receiver. The first time I had to apply for any government assistance was about 10 years ago, and I resisted do it until a friend sat me down and said "John, you paid into the system so it will be there when you need it. Swallow your pride and use it." So, this time I've done my due diligence in that regard and also kicked off the job search.

While I am searching, I plan to be continuing work on my short contract and writing both my book and blog. But, these will probably be at a slower pace. In New York State, every day you "work" is a day you can't collect unemployment. It doesn't matter how much work it is or how much you made from doing it. It just matters that you worked. (I am trying to find answers on what qualifies as "work." Is writing a book if I don't see money immediately? How about this blog? Lots of questions to be answered.)

Want to Help? Here's How

I hate asking for help, but I'm swallowing my pride here:

• Buy Hands On Embedded Programing with Qt from Packt or Amazon. I doubt I will sell enough to make up what I lost from my job, but everything helps.
• Read my book and leave reviews.
• Tell others about my book!
• If you know of a company looking for a Qt developer, C++11 programmer, and/or author that will allow remote work or is in the Rochester, NY area:  Please let me know and feel free to pass my name on to them. Visit my professional website at http://john.werner-ny.net for my resume and more!
• 
  

#EmbraceTheSuck

The day before I lost my job I wrote "This is the year of #EmbraceTheSuck." How ironic that it would get suckier.

The phrase "Embrace the suck," comes out of the military. The basic essence of it is "I know the conditions you are in suck, but you are going to have to choose to 'ring the bell' and give up, or push through it. So, embrace the situation, make the best of it you can, and push through it!"

("Ring the bell" is another military expression. It means giving up.)

I have to remind myself everyday to Embrace The Suck and Not Ring The Bell. I even keep a reminder I designed on my desk as a mouse pad.

(The star field was captured by me.)

#EmbraceTheSuck is hard, but it is worth it. Feel free to use the artwork under CC-BY-SA

Stay Safe Everyone!

-John

It's Been A While...

Greetings!

When I started this blog, I promised myself I would do at least one post every month and try for one every two weeks.

That hasn't happened because of... you know.... life.

Anyway, now that we a month into the new year, I thought I would at least post something to let you know I am still alive.

What's Been Happening

After returning from a whirlwind trip and speaking in Pittsburgh back in October, I got to work on my next book, Hands-On Design Patterns with Qt. It has been taking a bit more of my time than I expected. I will say that I am learning a lot during the process and I am already starting to see both where I have been using design patterns for years and how I can more efficiently design things I am coding.

Finding A New Tool

One of the big things I had to figure out while writing my upcoming book was how to draw the pretty pictures I am using for illustrations. I am doing most of my work on Ubuntu Linux Machines, so Microsoft's Visio wasn't a good answer. What else was there?

State Machine Drawings

For state diagrams, I have been using the excellent SCXML Designer that is part of Qt Creator. It has allowed me to create state diagrams in Qt Creator, turn them into executable code, and even export them as PNG files.

This state diagram was a rather complicated example I came up with for a simple Cruise Control system. The really cool thing is that to add it to an existing Qt Project, I only had to tell the Qt project that I was using SCXML, create the diagram, and then import the header file for the working state machine.

I talk more about designing with State Machines in an earlier blog post, Designing with State Machines, and also in my book, Hands-On Embedded Programming with Qt.

With state machine drawings figured out, it left me looking for a tool for Class and Sequence Diagrams. Qt Creator has some support for modelling them, but it wasn't quite a feature rich as I wanted.

Class and Sequence Diagrams

I looked at a variety of solutions. I tried LibreOffice, but it didn't quite do what I wanted. Finally, I settled on the Dia Diagram Editor. It comes with optional support for UML and is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. This GPL'd software works very well for drawing both Class and Sequence Diagrams.  Here are a couple of examples I did for Hands-On Design Patterns with Qt.

The fist is a simple class diagram for the Observer Pattern.

This second is a Sequence Diagram for one of the exercises. It uses the Broker Pattern.

When Hands-On Design Patterns comes out, you will find many more diagrams created with Dia.

Speaking of books, I really should have mentioned this promotion about a month ago, when it started.

Book Sale!

Writing books is one of the things I really enjoy. Part of the enjoyment is in explaining and teaching new things, and another part is in learning new things on the way. 

I keep a copy of my first book, Hands-On Embedded Programming with Qt, on my desk. I treat it much like a notebook. I will often crack the book open and look up the solution to the problem I am trying to solve in Qt. My skill is really in knowing where to find answers, not knowing all of the answers. That's why I refer to my book and other resources like Stack Overflow or the all encompassing search engine of my choice.

Lately, it has been Hands-On Embedded Programming with Qt. I put a lot of work covering just about every aspect of Qt I could fit in the book. While I wrote it for others to learn, I also wrote it for me so I could find the answers to problems I know I have already solved.  (I expect my next book will be the same.)

Right now, Packt is finishing up a sales promotion on all of their books.  You can pick up Hands-On Embedded Programming with Qt for $5 until the end of the promotion. Just follow this link:

Hands-On Embedded Programming with Qt

Other Things

I have way too many other interests. One of those, Digital Photography, came back in a big way. A few months ago, I purchased a OnePlus 7 Pro [right before the 7T and 7T Pro came out -- duh!]. If you don't know the OnePlus brand, I wouldn't be surprised. They are a bit of a niche Android phone maker for people who are interested in good solid hardware, Android unburdened with bloatware, and reasonable prices. They listen to their customers and try hard to be customer focused.  They have become known for their camera sections. The OnePlus 7Pro (and 7T and 7T Pro) feature three different hardware cameras: Normal, 3X and 0.3X, and they produce very nice quality pictures, sometimes exceeding older DSLRs. (I also carry a Nikon D7000, so I have a basis for comparison.)

Seeing as the OnePlus 7 Pro is easier to carry than my D7000, and I always have my phone on me, I am finding I am taking a lot of pictures with it and looking for opportunities to use it.

I also discovered a myriad of ports of Google's Pixel Phone Camera App. These ports can run on almost any Android phone and often offer a variety of customizations. This led to me seeking out even more software and configuration files to try and taking more photos.  It's an endless cycle, but there are some cool things that have come out.

If you want to check out more of my photos, you can follow me on Instagram, Flickr, or SmugMug.

-John

#Qt5 #Qt #cplusplus #softwareengineering #embeddedprogramming #embeddedDevelopment #programming #embedded #designpatterns #swengineering #scxml #statecharts #statemachines #flckr #instagram #smugmug

Self Promotion, Paying the Bills, or Just some Good Resources

I've spent the last 28 years developing embedded software, the last 10 years working with Qt, and the last year writing a book on how they can be used together.  The book has been published by Packt.

If you haven't checked out Packt's Hands-on books and are interested in learning new software development ideas, you really should see what they have. I have bought several books myself so that I learn things like GPU programming.

For a limited time, Packt is offering some great discounts on their books in print and e-formats, including mine. Check it out: https://bit.ly/2Moffku.

-John

And Now For Something Completely Different...

In restarting this blog, my intent is to publish useful, software engineering related material every week or so.  To that point, I have almost 2 months of ideas planned out.  They including everything from using drawings to build state machines to some of the more useful design patterns I have found.

But something came up. Something I think you will enjoy when it is completed, but something that needs some immediate attention.

I have been contacted to write another book for Packt, and I am working to develop the proposal.

What's all this about writing another book?

One of the more frequent questions I when I tell people that I am a published author is "How did that happen?"

There are a couple of ways to get a book published. One method is to write the book and self-publish.

The next is to write a book and then shop it around to different publisher. This is the way many authors start out. The trick is to find a publishing house with an editor that will say yes. It is not easy.

In many ways it is like trying to find a job.  You network, send out "resumes" (or samples of your writing), make calls, etc. etc.

When I was looking for my last two jobs, I did all of that stuff, and it got me nowhere.  In the case of my last two jobs, the companies reached out to me (through a recruiter).  In the case of my first book, the same thing happened.

For "Hands-on Embedded Programming with Qt," an Acquisitions Editor reached out to me to see if I would be interested in writing a book on the book.  I actually declined at first, but he talked me into it, and I am glad he did.  (I like to say I was commissioned to write the book.) It was hard work, and there were some sleep deprived days, but in the end I really enjoyed it.

Recently, the Acquisitions Editor reached out to me with two book ideas.  I read both them and discovered that one proposal is almost exactly the next book I was thinking I should write.

So there you have it.  I've been commissioned to write another Packt book titled "REDACTED" that will be tentatively published in REDACTED of 2020.  I'm really looking forward to it, and I am hoping that now that I know the process, it will go quite easily.

And In the Meantime...

In the meantime, I still plan on covering the topics I had planned for the blog, but will also probably slip hints in about my progress on the new project.

Selling the Merch...

Please Check-out "Hands-on Embedded Programming with Qt".  It is available on both Amazon and Packt websites.

• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1789952069
• https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/hands-embedded-programming-qt