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An Army Medal For Coding In Perl
shocking writes: Arizona National Guard member Vivin Paliath was surprised to be commended for writing Perl scripts and Excel macros while his unit was deployed in Iraq. His work automated a number of previously manual processes that were part of the logistics processes of his unit. He wrote, '[A]s a programmer, I'm constantly looking for ways to make my job easy. I didn't want to sit and add qualifications, and print licenses one by one. I was too lazy for that, and worse, the whole thing was horribly inefficient. So I decided to figure out how to automate the process. ... I started writing Perl scripts to query the data. By the time we had reached Iraq, I had a working script that generated licenses as text files for all the soldiers. The script only took a second or two to run, and the longest part of the process was simply printing out the licenses. But I wasn't done yet. I was still annoyed that I would have to add driver qualifications manually. So I wrote another script that would go and add qualifications to drivers en masse. The script even had a configuration file where you could specify what qualifications you wanted to add and to whom."
I'm sure there's a CPAN module for that.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
...for coding in Perl.
That sounds like hacking to me.
We used to call guys like that pogues, and we didn't give them medals.
On the other hand, if you could introduce efficiency in military bureaucracy, or any bureaucracy really, good on you!
There's a metal for those wounded in combat, and Perl cuts psyches deeply indeed.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It must be the purple heart.
If you make the perl code readable you get the metal of honor.
Anything that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of our forces deserves recognition. If writing code and automating or stream-lining a process is successful, write the person who did it up for a citation or medal. I did it in the navy 20 years ago and received a NAM (Navy Achievement Award) for my efforts. Not all medals given in the military are for combat duties.
where perl almost set off those missiles!
http://www.foo.be/docs/tpj/issues/vol2_1/tpj0201-0004.html
All I did was float around the Big Pond (East coast) in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club DURING the Vietnam era. I also got a medal for behaving 4 years in a row. This guy actually did something. I enjoyed the article.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Well, at least the Army has 'L' keys that work properly.
I wrote a nice database system to track inventory cards and print out cards that were pretty much identical to the forms our S-4 used back in the late 80s in the Marine Corps. It was much better than the system they had used - which relied on removing old cards, and filling out, by hand, all new cards every time a piece of equipment was checked out or checked in. It helped alot with leakage... and worse, with equipment that was supposedly checked out, but had actually been checked in (and the Marine would then have to incur replacement cost).
There were other things I worked on, but this one had a significant impact on our effectiveness as a logistics unit.
One of the criteria is "meritorious service."
Writing - on his own - a set of scripts that save that much time for his unit? Should certainly qualify.
Sounds like someone who embodies the Three Virtues of a programmer: Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris. Well done!
I'm always amazed at what non-programmers are impressed by. Code up some major application, and... Why doesn't it have this feature? Why does it have that workflow? What kind of colorblind dyslexic idiot designed this UI? But whip up a simple script to automate some repetitive, routine task and you're a genius!
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
More useful things have been invented out of an express desire to be lazy than I can even count.
The realization of "WTF am I doing this by hand when I can write a script" sparks so many cool things.
If he streamlined his job and got better results I don't see why he shouldn't get recognition.
I'm sure the military hasn't introduced the Perl Star or anything, so I'm sure they've worked within existing stuff to say "damn, son, that's some fine work".
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
He should have kept his mouth shut and let everyone assume he was doing everything manually. That way, he could have just played video games all day while his scripts did most of the work. That would have been way better getting a medal.
I avoided the military and so got no medals.
I didn't get shot either, so on balance I consider that a win.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Years ago, I was an Air Force enlisted programmer AFSC 511/491. Sure, I was in the military but I didn't have a combat rating. I haven't looked at the citation that accompanied my medals, but I wouldn't be surprised to see obscure programming references like Ada, PL/1, and CP/M. The one sad change is that it was an awesome career path for people to go high school to military and get their computer training on the job. I've never completed my college education, but hold a job as an Enterprise Data Architect. Unfortunately the beltway bandits now do the same job I was payed less than $1500 a month to perform. And they only gouge the tax payers low-mid six figures to perform the same task (SAIC,GE,SAP,Oracle,etc..). The day's of the low paid high performing enlisted programmer are part of history. Congress and the DOD will never willing cut off a funding source and perpetual wealth through the revolving contractor door.
I find it doubly ironic that the tough guys out there decry our culture of "every child gets an award" but gets choked up every time they see a soldier get a bullshit medal pinned to their chest.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
Get this man to the VA stat!
Uhu, but did your program have a configuration file, you lamer?
I take it Google and NASA are preparing offers for this guy as we speak. (Or Facebook. He obviously knows how to work the networks social.)
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
The next time someone asks "What good is Perl anymore?" or "Who actually uses Perl?" or "Why use Perl?" you can point them to this article. Perl is perfect for this type of quick development. Sometimes the older languages still have a lot of value.
We used to call guys like that pogues, and we didn't give them medals. On the other hand, if you could introduce efficiency in military bureaucracy, or any bureaucracy really, good on you!
Careful where you draw the line between "fighting men" and "office workers". I knew someone who was a Yeoman, does the ship's paperwork, on a destroyer during WW2. He only did paperwork between the fighting. When the ship went to general quarters he put down the pencil and became part of the crew of a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. For those unfamiliar, this was not a gun where the crew had some protection inside a turret. Bofors' crew were on deck and exposed to enemy fire, debris/fuel from aircraft destroyed and friendly fire.
This right here is why we should be teaching basic programming or scripting in middle school. Show young students how to automate simple tasks and they'll apply it to nearly every field that exists. I remember talking to an IT consultant about the recently released Exchange 2007 (when Exchange went all gung-ho about PowerShell) and he said how he hated the de-emphasis on the GUI and the huge emphasis on PowerShell. "On my first deployment I didn't use PowerShell at all. But by my third one, it was all done by PowerShell scripts."
Meritorius medal for streamlining things w/ perl, and a dishonorable discharge for doing *anything* with Excel.
And before the accusations fly, my statement stands no matter what spreadsheet program you replace "Excel" with. They aren't database tools and shouldn't be used as such.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
Perl Traumatic Stress Disorder
My thanks to this young man for his sacrifice, from a fellow perl hacker who's spent 15 years in the trenches...
The hard working guy? He is quite willing to keep on doing his work the hard way,spending his own time and effort instead of the computer's time.
It's us lazy guys that say "this is stupid, the computer can do this part". Then we write the code and let the software do the hard work, instead of us.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
... during Military Funeral Honors as Perl is Dead -- dying in the line of duty.
Seastead this.
This is nothing, I once got a Navy Achievement Medal (one step down from a Commendation medal) for setting up a mail alias on my own domain for my reserve unit to use for group communications, and for installing and updating anti-virus software on the unit's laptops. It all literally took me half an hour to complete.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Getting a medal for it? That's new.
President Kennedy, in a memorandum to the Secretary of Defense, dated 1 June 1962, authorized the award of the Army Commendation Medal to members of the Armed Forces of friendly foreign nations who, after 1 June 1962, distinguished themselves by an act of heroic, extraordinary achievement, or meritorious service.
He used VBA and Perl in order to successfully speed up military bureaucracy - don't you think that qualifies as both heroic and extraordinary achievement, respectively?
Ezekiel 23:20
For writing some translation code in C that did in seconds what took us hours to do manually. That was pretty cool.
The government develops tons of its own software.
What law says that everything has to be contracted out?
Getting a medal for it? That's new.
No it isn't. Although some medals are hard to earn, others are handed out like halloween candy. The National Defense Service Medal is automatically handed out to everyone that enlists. I got a Sea Service Ribbon just for SHOWING UP when my unit deployed (the alternative was to go to the brig). Achievement Medals are routinely awarded to people that go a little beyond the ordinary in solving problems or innovating. I was awarded two Navy Achievement Medals during my six years of service in the Marines. What is described in TFA is routine. It happens all the time.
Remember before criticizing the US Army, it's considered the best in the world, largely because of quartermaster capabilities.
"Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
...but instead of some sort of recognition or reward for increased efficiency, they removed one of our team members. I guess I can at least put it on my resume and apply for a better employer...
Twinstiq, game news
Usually it's lead. Though it might be cold steel.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
That makes no sense, 1 OR 1 is as much a 1 as 1 OR 0
Ezekiel 23:20
anymore
and then have no work done while they find a new guy? also the commanding officer has say over if they want to press changes.
It's the federal government's procurement process. It has not evolved with technology, and therefore everything involved in all of their processes is antiquated, inefficient, and slow.
I dealt with this kind of thing for 8 years as a soldier, and am still dealing with it as a contractor. It's pretty ridiculous when you know how much more smoothly things could be running.
What else can happen when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object?
Getting a medal for it? That's new.
No it isn't. Although some medals are hard to earn, others are handed out like halloween candy. The National Defense Service Medal is automatically handed out to everyone that enlists. I got a Sea Service Ribbon just for SHOWING UP when my unit deployed (the alternative was to go to the brig). Achievement Medals are routinely awarded to people that go a little beyond the ordinary in solving problems or innovating. I was awarded two Navy Achievement Medals during my six years of service in the Marines. What is described in TFA is routine. It happens all the time.
You seem to deride the practice, but handing out halloween candy has a purpose- its a gift to make people want to keep doing what they just did (ie. show up). Small incentives and gifts can be very valuable tools for building relationships. I used to be a field engineer working at power stations. The big thing there was stickers. Millwrights and pipefitters have a tradition (going back probably until the invention of stickers) of collecting stickers and placing them on their hard hats. Stickers are "earned" by attending mandatory safety presentations ("Power Plant XYZ Safety Training 2014"), by belonging to various industry clubs, or just handed out by people (engineers/sales reps) looking to get a favor in the future. A hard hat full of stickers shows that you're an experienced guy who has been around a while. It is a mark of respect and experience. If you work in those professions and don't have a hard hat full of stickers, you're a greenhorn or otherwise somebody who doesn't know what they're doing.
I've shown up to a power station many times with a roll of stickers, and these guys instantly became my best friend and helped me out greatly in achieving the thing I was there to do. Don't underestimate the value of token gifts.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
You thought outside the BOX! That is General material!
But seriously the military does so many things ass backwards and there are people who will be mad at your because you now have replaced 3 people with one person.
Just think on the civilian sector working for the Federal Gov you have eliminated 4 jobs and have saved tax payers millions in paychecks and retirement benefits.
But you have just put 100+ people out of a job and they are mad at your because the Gov owes them something.
Don't rock the boat because people don't want anything to get better. They want things to remain the same.
Want a living wage working at MC Dookies!? Suuuuure!!!! Bring out those iPad POS systems! Who needs workers manning the front counter! Get in the back Fry guy!
All the perl haters missed the whole point of the story. Someone in IT got appreciated who wasn't on the windows help desk! +1 for skilled employees! We used to have a sign posted at work stating, "Doing a good job here is like wetting yourself in a dark suit. No one notices but you get a warm feeling"
It is wonderful that someone took the time to have him recognized. So many times people don't take the time to do things like this.
Regarding contracting out:
I was a boom operator in the Air Force (inflight refueling specialist). In my free time, I wrote an aircraft weight and balance calculation application in basic that ran on desktop PCs (which were brand spanking new at the time). We had been filling a form out (called a Form-F) by hand using numbers looked up in charts. It took about 20 minutes to fill this form out. The Air Force had contracted out the creation of an app that ran in an HP programmable calculator to do this same task. It took about 5 minutes to fill the form out using the calculator. My program could generate this form in about 2 minutes. And my program was also more accurate (and it printed on a full page instead of 2" wide thermal paper). After I wrote my app, nobody used the calculator to generate the Form-F unless they filling it out on the airplane.
I was already out of the Air Force at the time. But a buddy of mine who took on maintaining the program I wrote said it was used to 'load plan' every KC-135 flight in the first gulf war. Not bad for a program that I could not even get certified (if you used it on a check ride you would have actually failed the check ride, even though the result was actually more accurate).
I certainly never got a medal for my app. It did get me Airman of the Quarter at our base. But, the real reward was that it worked and that people loved it. The fact that it worked better than the contracted solution was icing on the cake. I think this guy's story is great.
This story bears out the old adage: "A lazy programmer is a good programmer"
The really well-known medals like Victoria Cross / Congressional Medal are not awarded for merely doing your job, but there are medals for all sorts of things.
Simply being in a combat zone, regardless of the actual task one is doing, is more dangerous and requires more courage than anything most people will do in their entire life, and merits recognition of a certain degree.
That someone still uses Perl? ROFLMAO
-- 29A the number of the Beast
I wonder what one could do with R and C doing the IO with Java scirpts, HTML and XCEL? It's nice to get correct answers for a change in R.
Red,
The National Defense Service Medal [wikipedia.org] is automatically handed out to everyone that enlists.
I'd expect you to at least know the meaning of the first medal you got. Everyone currently in the military has it, yes, but that's not automatic or even upon enlisting. It's only during a time of war. I think that should be recognized.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
The US Army, at the forefront of technology. What is this revolutionary thing called automation and programming? And what is this Peal stuff? Futuristic alien technology? Fuck yeah, US Army entering 1950 with vigor!
I got a Letter of Commendation for coding in Aston-Tate's dBase II in the mid 1980's. I don't see a controversy.
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
And if it matters, I still write data to .dbf files. (Because Excel will still read them, unlike Lotus 1-2-3.)
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
"during time of war" is more broad than you would imagine. While the wikipedia article specifies the timeframe for the Gulf War I period of eligibility through 1995, I remember a brand new butterbar coming into our unit around the end of 1992, and we all made fun of him because he only had the "I made it through Basic!" medal.
I know it's broad, as are the definitions of combat zones. However, I think that's more reflective of America's extreme involvement across the globe, and doesn't necessarily diminish the value of a legitimate medal.
Now, the paperpushers who get bronze stars for their heroic hiring of contractors and writing of contracts...
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling