March 26, 2008

Ultimate Improving

Wednesday March 26, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 55 F, Partly Cloudy, Windy
Field: dry grass
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Another windy game out there today. I think my knee is improving but it's hard to tell. The pain appears to move to different areas of my knee and today it was a very dull pain on the outside of the knee. This may be the result of all the leg lifts and knee presses I did yesterday however. In any case, I can still play effectively for now.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 28
Total Hours Played: 30

March 25, 2008

Ultimate Numbers

Monday March 24, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 40 F, Sunny
Field: dry grass
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

We're getting back to warm weather numbers. Several faces showed up for yesterday's game that I haven't seen all winter.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 27
Total Hours Played: 29

March 21, 2008

Ultimate Wind

Friday March 20, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 33 F, Very Windy
Field: dry grass
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Gusty 30-40MPH winds made for a tough game today. My knee held up ok but it is definitely still not 100%.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 26
Total Hours Played: 28

March 17, 2008

Ultimate Program

Monday March 17, 2008
7PM BUDA Hat league game
John Smith Sports Center, Milford, MA
Weather: Indoors
Field: turf
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

I could only manage to go through one ultimate game today instead of my usual two Monday games that I've been playing over the past several weeks. My knee is still bugging me and I think I have it pinned down as runner's knee (although I am not entirely certain). I've been on the ice and ibuprofen program for the past few days and I went with the knee brace today. That seemed to help it track better and I just had some minor discomfort throughout the game. I'm currently icing it down once again, and I'm continuing basic exercises to strengthen the quad muscles.

Sigh. In any case, we had a good game today but couldn't pull it out at the end. I believe there's just one more winter league game before BUDA spring league starts up in a few weeks. Looking forward to it! (of course not forgetting the perpetual Mon, Wed, Fri lunchtime games!)

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 25
Total Hours Played: 27

March 16, 2008

Maven is Awesome

MavenLogo One of the things that always irked me about Ant (the longtime de-facto standard tool used for building Java software) is that in order to accomplish anything, I need to code long sequences of mundane, tedious tasks. Not only that, but I need to do this in XML. XML? XML is specifically designed for the storage and transfer of structured data. It is not particularly well suited for writing procedural code. Nevertheless, as the lead developer of a somewhat complex piece of Java software at work, I made the seemingly default choice of using Ant. With that choice of course, I sentenced myself to the pain of writing Ant tasks that created build directories, copied source files, copied jar file dependencies, executed javac against copied source files, built jar files, signed jar files, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Now don't get me wrong. Ant is certainly a powerful and flexible tool and it wouldn't be used by countless Java projects if it was without any merit. However, GNU's make has been around a lot longer than Ant, and it:
  • Is just as powerful if not more powerful. Make can execute any task available from the command line shell while Ant must specifically implement each task in a Java wrapper.
  • Uses a more intuitive syntax for writing procedural code (namely a mashup of "make" syntax and shell syntax vs. XML)
This is not to suggest that people should be using make instead of Ant for their Java projects (in fact quite the opposite). However, I would submit that Ant is not a next generation build tool and is instead a make equivalent. Each, of course, is better suited to different types of projects based on requirements, but I wouldn't give Ant any points for innovation.

Recently, though, I was faced with the task of revising our build system. Seeing as it was becoming more complex, with multiple independent modules forming a hierarchy of dependencies, I took the initiative to seek out potential alternatives to the Ant pain. I discovered Maven, and not a moment too soon. In my opinion, Maven is a next generation build tool and turns the entire concept of building Java software on its head. A few of the highlights:
  • Like Ant, Maven uses XML. However, rather than coding the exact steps that you want the build process to execute, you code details about how your project is structured. (Using XML for structured data? Who would've thought?)
  • Maven enforces a default directory structure in terms of where your source code, test code, and resource files live. When building a project, you don't need to worry about copying files around because Maven already knows where your files are and handles these tedious tasks for you.
  • Maven uses a "single project, single artifact" convention. Each module in your overall project is setup as a separate Maven project that produces an individual artifact. Dependencies between modules are declared in the build files, and Maven automatically builds modules in the correct order, and includes their resulting artifacts in other modules' classpaths as necessary.
  • Maven is configured to use external "Maven repositories" to resolve dependencies. This eliminates the need to store third party artifacts in your projects build tree as they can be automatically resolved and downloaded from the Maven repositories.
There is certainly a learning curve associated with Maven. However, after the initial investment, it is undoubtedly time well spent. I have spent the past several days converting our project from Ant to Maven, and I am very satisfied with a cleaner, more elegant, and easier to maintain build system. Give it a look.

March 15, 2008

New Commitment

"If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
I started this blog (my third blog attempt in three years) about two months ago. I didn't have many big plans for it, and I had no delusions about my potential to remain motivated in its upkeep. Truthfully, I thought it might be interesting to simply maintain a log of how often I play Ultimate Frisbee and include commentary about the weather conditions, the playing conditions, and my personal physical condition in each instance. While this has its merits (and I shall continue to do this), the result is not a blog, but more of a log of repeating events. I could probably automate my posts and produce very similar results. Perhaps if I include commentary on my commutes to work and instances when I brush my teeth it will be more interesting?

In all seriousness, though, I'm hoping to liven up this blog such that people might be interested in reading it. Other than my "Ultimate" posts, if I can make one post a week that is about sports, technology, or anything else, perhaps then my currently stealth blog will be discovered.

March 13, 2008

Ultimate Knee

Wednesday March 12, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 40 F, Rain
Field: wet
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Strange game yesterday. It was 40F and raining when I got to the field but no more than 10 minutes later the temperate had dropped 10 degrees and it was snowing. I'm also starting to feel the effects of playing an extra game each week during the winter BUDA hat season. After playing two games Monday, shaking out my legs with a couple miles of jogging on Tuesday, and then playing again Wednesday, my right knee is starting to act up. Definitely nothing major, but I need to keep an eye on it.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 24
Total Hours Played: 26

March 11, 2008

Ultimate Again

Monday March 10, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 30 F, Sunny
Field: firm
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Monday March 10, 2008
7PM BUDA Hat league game
John Smith Sports Center, Milford, MA
Weather: Indoors
Field: turf
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

The third game out of six BUDA games ended in a tie today.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 23
Total Hours Played: 25

Ultimate Late

Friday March 7, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 45 F, Cloudy
Field: soft
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

I'm late documenting this game. Oops!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 21
Total Hours Played: 23

March 6, 2008

Ultimate Mud

Wednesday March 5, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 45 F, Cloudy
Field: muddy
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

A snowless field!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 20
Total Hours Played: 22

March 4, 2008

Ultimate Monday

Monday March 3, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
TRW Field, Burlington, MA
Weather: 40 F, Cloudy
Field: snow
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Monday March 3, 2008
7PM BUDA Hat league game
John Smith Sports Center, Milford, MA
Weather: Indoors
Field: turf
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Another two game day.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 19
Total Hours Played: 21