Tagged "personal"

Yup, Still Learning a New Programming Language Every Year

I gave an update on this lifetime activity of mine in 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2013, and here we go for 2023.

Cholila

Cholila 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.

My First PC

I got my first personal computer 30 years ago this month. It was during the summer of 1992; I had just finished my first year of studies at the Collège Sismondi, and it was the first summer after we arrived from Argentina that looked like a real holiday.

Ukraine

It has been hard for me to think about anything else than the Russian invasion of Ukraine since last week; it is also hard for me to write about it.

Languages

I have the immense chance and privilege of being fluent in three beautiful languages such as Spanish, French, and English.

Managing Professional Decline as a Developer

My friend Gabriel Garcia Marengo shared a great article by Arthur Brooks a few weeks ago, and it prompted me to reflect on how developers cope with age.

Radio Silence

I have had three episodes of burnout in my professional life, in three consecutive years.

Joplin

Note taking is very important to me. I keep everything in my notes, from ideas for blog posts like this one, to code snippets, to web pages, to plans of never started businesses, and so much more.

No Cookie Popup

After eight months of playing with this pure HTML website, the only thing I can say is: why didn’t I do this sooner?

The End of the Tunnel?

From a Swiss perspective it would be easy to think that the COVID-19 crisis is reaching its end.

Vaccines and Software Developers

I am a bit tired and disappointed by the attitude of many in our industry, people supposedly eager to test new technologies and “move the human race forward”.

A Compilation of Old Blog Posts

Looking inside some old archives I came across my first attempt at a book.

Ham Is to Hamsters

I published my first web page in the server of my university.

COVID-19 Vaccination Progress

The (low) speed of the COVID-19 vaccination in Switzerland is infuriating.

Growing as a Developer

You will outlive IDEs. At some point you’ll find them bloated, slow, clunky.

Pascal

From 2013 to 2019 I lived in a small town, thirty minutes north of Zürich by train, called Schaffhausen.

Teaching

In November 2015 I attended the DO iOS conference in Amsterdam.

Mentors

I have had the tremendous chance of working with incredible programmers through the ages.

Opinionated

Programming is a very opinionated activity. Unfortunately, those opinions are seldom based on facts, and most of them are futile, and lead to stupid arguments on Reddit or Hacker News or the comments section of a blog.

Thirty Years

As the taxi rushed away from my old home along Avenida del Libertador, I looked through the rear windshield for one last time.

Touch Typing

Probably the single most important skill that has always helped me when dealing with computers is the ability to type without looking at the keyboard.

Programmable Calculators

As far as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by computers.

How to Desperately Suck at Cliches

I was born in Argentina. This fact, all by itself, provides a rather unlimited amount of smiles in every person I meet.

VSHN.timer

Since August 2019 I took the duty of publishing a weekly series of blog posts called “VSHN․timer”.

Reboot

I started my first blog in December 2004. But that was not my first website.

A Quest For A Better World

This is the presentation I gave at the third App Builders Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, April 17th, 2018.

The Developer Guide to Migrate Across Galaxies

This is the presentation I gave at the second App Builders Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 25th, 2017.

Being A Developer After 40

This is the talk I gave at App Builders Switzerland on April 25th, 2016.

Ten Years

I’ve been blogging for 10 years now. From Movable Type to Wordpress.

Global Conscience

Our objective is global awareness. It is our ultimate goal.

On the Kindness of Nordic People

There’s this common but, in my opinion, largely unfounded idea among Mediterranean people that Nordics are “cold,” so to speak.

Talking to Strangers

I’m not the kind of guy that enjoys talking to strangers.

Auto Portrait

I’m looking for the face I had, before the world was made

I Hate You, Airline Industry

I hate flying. I hate airplanes. I hate airlines. I hate crews.

Swissair

When I was a student in university, I used to work in Geneva Airport, aka GVA, as a part-time luggage handling employee, an “auxiliaire” as we were called, in a now extinct company once called Swissair.

Kuroshio Sea

This is probably one of the most mysterious and beautiful videos on the web.

Tweeting Without Twitter

During my flight to WWDC this year I could not really sleep, and the 12 hour flight was the source of memorable tweets that will never make it to Twitter.

Suecia

en suecia, al menos en göteborg, hay luces en cada ventana.

Blessed

I’m blessed. This post is about life, about the tiny little things that make our current world a great, truly enjoyable experience.

Quotes

A small compilation of quotes I’ve put below the header of this blog during the past few years:

Master

I’ve sent the final version of my dissertation to the University of Liverpool.

Democracy

What amazes me most about democracy is that: Most people associate it with just “voting”.

Creative Processes

It always start with a white space, like this blog post.

A Simple Recipe for Podcast Success

I am subscribed to quite a few podcasts and screencasts here and there.

akosma

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/ifstoneinterview.html Homer calls them akosma. This is the negative of kosmos, whence our words “cosmetics” and “cosmos” derive.

What Happened to Dr. Dobb's?

I have been a big fan of Dr. Dobb’s magazine for years.

Why do I prefer OpenOffice, NeoOffice, or AbiWord?

I use OpenOffice (for Windows and Linux), NeoOffice (on the Mac) and AbiWord (in the three OSs) more often than Microsoft Office, and I many people recently asked me why.

A Happy Couple

My wife Claudia and me (courtesy of South Park Studio)

Craving to Read, Back to Commuting?

I’ve got a couple of books on my desk that I’m craving to read!

Virtually Anything

What’s the hot word these days? Virtualization. Even December 2006’s issue of Dr.

Starting a New Adventure

So here we go again. Last week I started my new job, as Software Solutions Consultant for Getronics, in Lonay, near Lausanne (where I live), Switzerland.

Who Is This Guy, Anyway?

All of a sudden you happen to be browsing some weirdo’s website, plenty of blogs and some of them speak about software development.

Asteroid

It turns out that there is an asteroid (number 15609) named “Kosmaczewski” (well, that won’t surprise many of those who know me too well…) Here’s the story of how it happened, taken from this document: