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TDD for Infrastructure

Test Driven Development (TDD) is an important principle for producing quality software. This is not a new concept. The Extreme Programming (XP) agile methodology (1999) outlined the concept before the acronym became more widely accepted as “Another requirement is testability.

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Understanding OpenStack developer dependencies

While reviewing the OpenStack keystone codebase on an existing VM used with devstack I came across a dependency problem with Python pbr . Python Build Reasonableness (pbr) is actually a result of work on OpenStack.

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Configuring git-review on Mac OS X

If you are using git-review for the first time the following instructions correctly install and configure for Mac OS X. Software sudo easy_install pip sudo pip install -U setuptools sudo pip install git-review Configuration

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A testimony to Linux resilience

A client released a new version of their website onto 20 AWS m1.medium instances (current site at peak load runs approximately 60 m1.medium webservers). It was clearly an unsuccessful release, but what was surprising was the system did not actually crash, it was effectively a meltdown, but servers were still operational with load averages > 100.

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The lack of good Internet access in the US

The state of high speed internet providers in the “Capital of the World” is rather woeful. Located in Queens, only a few miles from Manhattan leaves you few choices. Always plenty of ads, but options like Verizon FiOS are not available.

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The heavy handed LinkedIn approach to your contacts

I recently wanted to add two individuals to my list of professional contacts at LinkedIn . I was extremely disappointed at the modified user interface (UI) experience that made it difficult to do so.

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Why SQL_MODE is essential even when not perfect

In a recent rant on Why I think SQL_MODE is useless… , I wanted to counteract this statement with why we MUST all use SQL_MODE, even with the inherit flaws.

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Determining consulting rates

It can be hard sometimes, particularly with startups to determine what to charge. I have tried various models over the years from nothing, to greatly reduced, to full-price. Nothing works well.

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Why are we standing still?

I wrote an email a week ago to several close friends titled, “[w]hy are we standing still?” I opened with “[y]ou are all good friends and you are all smart people.

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Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress.

I recently deployed a new WordPress installation to my existing production webserver running Apache, MySQL and PHP for other websites, yet I was presented with the following message. “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress.

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Eyes Only for Recruiters

Dear Recruiters. **I am always open to hearing about exceptional opportunities that will be a challenging role with hard problems to solve and a great team to work with. **

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Successful MySQL Scalability Presentation

Last night I was the invited guest at the SF MySQL Meetup . In my presentation “Successful MySQL Scalability” I talked about a set of principles to ensure appropriate system architecture, data availability and best practices to build an ideal solution for your business.

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MySQL South America tour

DISCLAIMER: This post contains no technical MySQL content however it is good news for the MySQL Community. MySQL content will be included for the first time with the LAOUC (Latin American Oracle Usergroups Council) Oracle tour that is being organized in conjunction with OTN (Oracle Technology Network).

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First thoughts of Augen Android Internet Tablet

In the last few days there has been some press of the Augen gentouch 7″ Tablet . A new cheap tablet that is running Android 2.1 . Image from http://android-devices.net There were a few primary motivations for getting one, the first being price, at $150 I consider cheap for a small tablet, and second it runs Android, something I’m wanting to play more with.

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