Just Trying to Test Leads to Cleaner Code

October 27, 2009

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been trying to get some unit testing going so that I can keep focused and gain a higher level of comfort with the code I’m writing. I started by trying move a business method that had crept into the model and put it in its own business [...]

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Refatoring for Unit Testing

October 17, 2009

I’ve been working on LaG for a month or so. Progress has been slow, because I haven’t set enough short term goals. I really need to get back to my GTD weekly review to prioritize and get to a list of actions for the project. Most of the work I have done has been to [...]

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Project Setup

September 11, 2009

app-engine-patch Let’s get down to some programming. First, I downloaded app-engine-patch 1.1RC. This gives me Django 1.1 with Google’s model classes instead of Django’s own Model. For those who don’t know, Google App Engine (GAE) uses BigTable instead of a relational database like SQL Server or MySQL. With BigTable you trade the data integrity of [...]

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UI Design

September 11, 2009

My UI Design Paradigm Let me say upfront that User Experience (UX) design is a major weak spot in my skill set. I’m pretty good at exposing the functionality to accomplish a given task, but optimizing workflow, influencing behavior, and polishing experience are areas I need to work on. Part of the problem is that [...]

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Designing the Game

September 8, 2009

In my continuing exploration of whether video games can convey the Gospel, I’ve decided to develop a Facebook game that incorporates some of my thinking along the lines of basic catechesis and apologetics. The basic idea is to have a Mafia Wars like game which has “catechetical tasks” instead of “jobs” and “apologetic encounters” instead [...]

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Facebook Game with Django on Google App Engine – Setup

September 7, 2009

Now that I’ve decided to write a Facebook app using Django on Google App Engine I plan to document as much of the development process as possible. The first steps were purely administrative. I registered a Google App Engine application called “law-and-gospel” (lawandgospel was taken). I then registered a Facebook application called “LawAndGospel.” Nothing complicated [...]

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That Was Short Lived

September 4, 2009

I started working through the Lift getting started guide and other documentation and I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of the benefits of using Lift aren’t applicable to the project. The project is a Facebook app and I have a little experience writing those with Django and Google App Engine. All the nice [...]

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Here I Go

September 1, 2009

I’ve decided to start my project using Scala and Lift. I installed them by following this quick tutorial. My next step is to fire it up under Eclipse.

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My Roving Eye

August 25, 2009

After my experience with Groovy and Grails, I’ve been thinking about what to do next. I’ve got an idea for an iPhone application, a Facebook game idea to research, and a Flash game concept I’d like to flesh out. While wandering about the internet to help me decide on what to work on, I came [...]

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Getting Used To The New MacBook Pro

August 21, 2009

I just got a new MacBook Pro 13″ to replace the old PowerBook G4. The migration has gone very well. All my day-to-day stuff is working fine and my Grails project came over in good shape. My one concern is all the stuff I’ve installed with MacPorts. I don’t know if any of the existing [...]

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