I'm late to the party here, but I thought it was worth mentioning that the Purdue University Research Repository (https://purr.purdue.edu) is designed as a Trusted Digital Repository for research data. The default lifetime is 10 years, but the Purdue Libraries will add noteworthy datasets to its permanent digital collection after their default lifetime expires. (And yes, I am a programmer on the project.)
You might want to look at LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (http://www.lockss.org/)) -- we are integrating PURR with the MetaArchive Private LOCKSS Network at Purdue (PURR is the Purdue University Research Repository, which is a Trusted Digital Repository for research data).
Perl5 had switch/case statements added to it by Damian Conway, at least (I think there are other switch/case implementations, but I can't recall them now). I have little doubt that I could have added a switch/case to Perl5 (although Damian's would be significantly more elegant than mine would have been). Perl6 should enable language modification easier than Perl5.
Most of what you mention (class libraries, object frameworks, class and instance behavior, etc.) are all available in Perl5. Perl6 looks to be shaping up to be even better than Perl5.
I don't know why Smalltalk didn't catch on any better than it did -- I remember reading the BYTE articles back in the 1980's on Smalltalk...
You need to work with Test::More, which provides a nice standard framework for unit testing in Perl. You may need to extend Test::More by deriving from Test::Builder (the underlying library) if you have more sophisticated test reporting requirements.
Writers always ask if I'm related to Pulitzer-prize winning novelist E.L. Doctorow. The answer is "probably." Family legend has it that my paternal grandfather's uncle is E.L.'s grandfather. My folks met E.L. in 1998 and tried this theory out on him, and he said that it sounded about right, but didn't seem very excited by it.
Whether a project manager trusts the estimates given by the programming staff, and whether the project manager's management trusts the project manager's estimates, matters more than the technical qualifications of the project manager. If the project manager doesn't trust the programming staff's estimates, then the project manager will feed management what they would like to hear -- that it can be done instantaneously for zero cost. If management doesn't trust the project manager's estimates, then management will ask the project manager for the project to be done instantaneously for zero cost. Companies where either of these conditions exist usually are not good places to work:(.
I had quit working long hours several years before I created one of the first web-based knowledge management systems, the TCE Corporate Technical Memory (as mentioned in the Interactive Week article "25 Unsung Heroes of the Net for 1998"). The long hours have never been productive for me -- I'm a lot more productive now than I was when I was working long hours. However, as I have learned more Software Engineering skills, I've become more productive in the 40 or hours I do work.
If you can, prepare a project plan showing how much time and money and how many people it will take to convert to AD. This has a better chance of convincing management than just technical arguments. The technical arguments then make a good backup.
It's the same principle, whether driving, riding, or whatever -- anything physical to get you out of your head. I often use horseback riding or weightlifting to help clear my head. The more difficult the task (whether it is maximal lifts, horseback riding at high speed on uneven ground, or whatever), the more attention is drawn to the activity and therefore away from your block. You come out of the experience refreshed and ready to tackle the problem.
Nice book written by the former NASA engineer, Homer Hickam, whose teenage rocketry career was shown (slightly fictionalized) in the movie October Sky (I'd also recommend that movie and the book it is based on). Really, the most difficult task of the Shuttle is the lift-off from Earth -- it is airtight after all, so a trip to the Moon using a Shuttle should be quite possible, given the ability to add a second engine pack in orbit. However, IANARS (I Am Not A Rocket Scientist).
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I'm late to the party here, but I thought it was worth mentioning that the Purdue University Research Repository (https://purr.purdue.edu) is designed as a Trusted Digital Repository for research data. The default lifetime is 10 years, but the Purdue Libraries will add noteworthy datasets to its permanent digital collection after their default lifetime expires. (And yes, I am a programmer on the project.)
You might want to look at LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (http://www.lockss.org/)) -- we are integrating PURR with the MetaArchive Private LOCKSS Network at Purdue (PURR is the Purdue University Research Repository, which is a Trusted Digital Repository for research data).
Perl.
Perl5 had switch/case statements added to it by Damian Conway, at least (I think there are other switch/case implementations, but I can't recall them now). I have little doubt that I could have added a switch/case to Perl5 (although Damian's would be significantly more elegant than mine would have been). Perl6 should enable language modification easier than Perl5.
Most of what you mention (class libraries, object frameworks, class and instance behavior, etc.) are all available in Perl5. Perl6 looks to be shaping up to be even better than Perl5.
I don't know why Smalltalk didn't catch on any better than it did -- I remember reading the BYTE articles back in the 1980's on Smalltalk...
What advice would you give to an aspiring science fiction writer who has already read Jerry Pournelle's How to Get My Job and Cory Doctorow & Karl Schroeder's Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction?
You need to work with Test::More, which provides a nice standard framework for unit testing in Perl. You may need to extend Test::More by deriving from Test::Builder (the underlying library) if you have more sophisticated test reporting requirements.
Whether a project manager trusts the estimates given by the programming staff, and whether the project manager's management trusts the project manager's estimates, matters more than the technical qualifications of the project manager. If the project manager doesn't trust the programming staff's estimates, then the project manager will feed management what they would like to hear -- that it can be done instantaneously for zero cost. If management doesn't trust the project manager's estimates, then management will ask the project manager for the project to be done instantaneously for zero cost. Companies where either of these conditions exist usually are not good places to work :(.
I had quit working long hours several years before I created one of the first web-based knowledge management systems, the TCE Corporate Technical Memory (as mentioned in the Interactive Week article "25 Unsung Heroes of the Net for 1998"). The long hours have never been productive for me -- I'm a lot more productive now than I was when I was working long hours. However, as I have learned more Software Engineering skills, I've become more productive in the 40 or hours I do work.
If you can, prepare a project plan showing how much time and money and how many people it will take to convert to AD. This has a better chance of convincing management than just technical arguments. The technical arguments then make a good backup.
It's the same principle, whether driving, riding, or whatever -- anything physical to get you out of your head. I often use horseback riding or weightlifting to help clear my head. The more difficult the task (whether it is maximal lifts, horseback riding at high speed on uneven ground, or whatever), the more attention is drawn to the activity and therefore away from your block. You come out of the experience refreshed and ready to tackle the problem.
Nice book written by the former NASA engineer, Homer Hickam, whose teenage rocketry career was shown (slightly fictionalized) in the movie October Sky (I'd also recommend that movie and the book it is based on). Really, the most difficult task of the Shuttle is the lift-off from Earth -- it is airtight after all, so a trip to the Moon using a Shuttle should be quite possible, given the ability to add a second engine pack in orbit. However, IANARS (I Am Not A Rocket Scientist).