Learning A New Programming Language per Year in the Age of AIPeople don’t really learn new programming languages every year anymore thanks to AI, so why do I stick with this activity? Call me old fashioned, but I still like to dive into a new programming language every year, no matter what, and thus here comes yet another update in my lifelong obsession to learn more and more programming languages.
Lucky ManI moved back to Buenos Aires in January 1998: merely 2 days before I boarded the last Swissair flight I would ever take, my girlfriend at the time (and, needless to say, one of the major reasons I had decided to move back to Buenos Aires for) called to tell me that she had unilaterally decided to break up with me.
My Grandmother Herta SchlerffThe name of my maternal grandmother was Herta Schlerff. She died 40 years ago, when I was 11 years old. She suffered a series of chronic health problems, including a couple of heart attacks and a broken hip, but she died peacefully, in her sleep, one morning of April 1985 at the Clínica Olivos, near the corner of Arenales and Maipú Avenue, in Vicente López, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
20 Years BloggingOn Saturday, November 6th, 2004, I wrote the text what would become my first blog post. It’s in Spanish, and I wrote it on my beloved iBook G3 near a boarding gate at the Ezeiza International Airport, after having spent a long month in Buenos Aires visiting family and friends.
Use a BidetOne of the things that I missed the most when moving from Argentina to Switzerland in 1991 wasn’t the meat, nor the alfajores, nor the dulce de leche, but the humble bidet in every bathroom.
BorgesI didn’t grow up in a family where literature played any significant role, other than entertainment, that is. My mother enjoyed reading novels by Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins. My mathematician grandmother read French paperbacks from the collection “J’ai Lu” by authors ranging from Agatha Christie to Guy des Cars.
Migrating De Programmatica Ipsum From WordPress to HugoI finally did it: I migrated my monthly magazine “De Programmatica Ipsum” from WordPress to Hugo, and this blog post explains how it happened.
When My Grandparents Arrived to Buenos AiresAn article on the Argentine newspaper Clarín prompted me to visit the CEMLA search engine and search for the arrival details of my grandparents migrating to Buenos Aires, and guess what, I found them.
Do You Feel It?All around me, things are happening at an accelerated pace compared to last year. People I know are changing jobs, taking trips they never thought they’d take, creating new things, starting new ventures, and moving on to new phases in their lives.
The Time of Augmented ImaginationLast year I made a remark about the crazy world we were living in, with “GenAI” this and “AI” that, including some weird experiences. But I have recently decided to bite the bullet and learn more about all this.
The Core Idea of this Blog is MigrationsThis blog, made of writing pieces I published online in various formats since 1996 to today, is the reflection of the various migrations I’ve experienced through my life.
Fedora 38In December 4th, 2005, I published my first blog post about Linux. I wrote it on Ubuntu 5.10 “Breezy” after installing it on my faithful iBook G3. Many years have passed, and I’ve become a full-time Linux user now, having used no other operating system in the past 5 years.
Yup, Still Learning a New Programming Language Every YearI gave an update on this lifetime activity of mine in 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2013, and here we go for 2023.
Stockholm Syndrome in SoftwareDevelopers working for a particular vendor tend to develop a bizarre version of Stockholm syndrome. It’s something I’ve witnessed at least twice in my career.
CholilaCholila is a little town in the province of Chubut in the middle of Argentine Patagonia inhabited by around 2000 souls. It is mainly known for its National Barbecue Festival and because Butch Cassidy lived there for a while.
MastodonSeeing Twitter becoming the Muskverse was the last straw that took me to revive the Mastodon account I opened in 2017 and leave Twitter for good.
Reusing Apps Between Teams and Environments Through ContainersThis was my speech for the WeAreDevelopers Container Day on February 3rd, 2021. The talk will feature a live demo showing how to build, optimize, and distribute containers to be reused in as many environments as possible, 100% based on the experience of the VSHN team.
Migrating from WordPress to HugoI’ve been migrating old blog posts (2004-2014) to this blog lately, and you can find them by clicking the “Next” button at the bottom of the index.
The Argentine Brain DrainArgentina is currently experiencing a brain drain so strong that it made the headlines on Swiss television. 200 Argies, many with higher education degrees or quite a bit of professional experience, are leaving the country… every day. To put that in context, that’s around 6'000 per month, or 70'000 per year.
Thirty YearsAs the taxi rushed away from my old home along Avenida del Libertador, I looked through the rear windshield for one last time. My mother barely acknowledged my gesture. She was silent, and most probably did not want to turn around. She hid her eyes behind her sunglasses, trying not to think about what laid ahead of us, in a journey that, a few days later, would take us to Europe.
Migrating from macOS to LinuxThis is the story of how, after being a loyal macOS user for 15 years, I decided to start using Linux full-time.
The Developer Guide to Migrate Across GalaxiesThis is the presentation I gave at the second App Builders Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 25th, 2017.
Still Learning One Language per YearQuick update about my “one language per year” lifelong initiative:
Learning One New Language Every YearHere’s an update of the current status of my “one language per year” lifelong initiative:
20 Years AgoExactly 20 years ago, on Wednesday February 20th, 1991, my mother and I arrived to Geneva, Switzerland, from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Migrantes de Vicente LópezMe acuerdo de una fiesta en lo de Viole (una de tantas, qué se yo), allá por el ‘90, en plena época del Bilingüe (época del Austral, de la hiperinflación, del penal de Codesal, y de otras alegrías). Si no recuerdo mal, la casa de Viole quedaba cerca de Las Heras y Chacabuco, o una esquina así en Florida, a unas pocas cuadras de la avenida Maipú.
Migrating iPhone 3.x apps to iPad and iOS 4.0Right now, creating Universal Applications for the iPod touch, the iPhone and the iPad is not really a straightforward task. The current panorama of iOS-compatible software and hardware platforms is getting more and more complex, and this blog post is a small guide (by no means exhaustive) of tips and tricks that have helped me get my apps running in as many platforms as possible, with as few headaches as possible.
BlessedI’m blessed. This post is about life, about the tiny little things that make our current world a great, truly enjoyable experience. Grab a cup of tea, sit and relax on your chair, and read. This is clearly a blog post suitable for a Friday afternoon.
Felicidades De InmigranteEste es un mensaje para SpinDoctor: en Ginebra se consigue Mantecol!!! He aquí la prueba (la latita de Aromat es para probar que la foto la saqué en Suiza ;)
MiopíaReacción a algunos comentarios debajo de la nota “Gran Bretaña endurece las condiciones de los inmigrantes” en Clarin:
Migration: the ReturnYup, the Migration continues. More and more developers are leaving Microsoft technologies behind, and exploring new grounds.
MigrationI came across this interesting posting on The .NET Addict’s Blog. It is interesting to read since it comes at a time when “traditional” Microsoft developers get interested in other technologies, such as Ruby on Rails, Cocoa or Linux. And the same can be said about Java, where lots of luminaries like James Duncan Davidson (the creator of Ant and Tomcat) started moving towards other technologies (in his case, this happened at the beginning of this decade even).
A New Programming Language Every YearSomewhere I read that it was a good thing to learn at least one new programming language every year; I think I have kept up that trend since 1992:
Justo Antes De IrmeBuenos Aires me despidió con un día espléndido. Estoy sentado delante de la puerta 8 del aeropuerto de Ezeiza, con los ravioles de la abuela en mi estómago y la imagen de ella y mi viejo alejándose, después del último abrazo.