In My Sleep

Well last night was one of the latest I’ve ever stayed up to write code. I didn’t go to bed till 6:30am. By the time I hit the sack I had no idea what to expect at my demo meeting with my client today. I didn’t wake up till 12:30p. The meeting was at 1:30p. Just enough time to take a shower throw my laptop in my bag and jump in the X. I got there on time.

I showed the client around their brand new software. They were impressed and very happy with it. There was not a single error. As I was driving home after the meeting I was kind of amazed. I just couldn’t help rember how my brain shut down right on schedule last night at 3am. However I kept typing for over 3 more hours. I could hardly make it to my bed without bumping into stuff. I think I was about as close to “coding in my sleep” as I could be without actually sleeping. And on top of that it was quality code. And I wasn’t just fiddling with layout or somethign. I was building pretty complex SQL queries. I created a new table and an entity class to match it. I was making a few broad-based interface flow changes. Quite the variety of difficulties and disciplines. But after it was all said and done it was good code and it performed flawlessly today!

I’m incredably satisfied with my software development discipline that I’ve developed over the past 4 years or so. The time I’ve spent writing my Foundation is paying off bigtime. It makes almost everything I do about 4X easier. When a client asks if I can do something the answer is always “yes”. On top of that it is always easier for me because of my AS3 that I took the time to write a couple years ago. My AS3 gives me a big edge over the competition. My AS3 is a perfect example of how I look far into the future and start off by building a solid foundation that perfectly caters to what I want to do.

I really do love my AS3. Have I mentioned that I love my AS3? In case you’re wondering what AS3 stands for, it stands for Application Services Sub-System. It’s a database-driven system that has a set of classes for Security, Settings, AppConfiguration, Messaging, greatly simplified DB Connectivity among other things. When I write a web app it automatically starts off with a whole set of functionality without even writing a line of code yet. Take my QTurret website for instance. I probably spent about 20 hours on it. But it is a db-driven site that already has multi-user support, role-based security, db-driven & encryptable settings. And all of the AS3 features are tested and rock-solid because I reuse the AS3 for every web app I write.

Along these same lines I’ve written what I call my “CTL”. The CTL is a Common Tools Library of classes and functionality that I rely heavily upon for almost all the code I write. It abstracts away the hairy details of many routine coding tasks.

What can I say folks? Coding in Daryl’s world is fun and easy! But that’s because of a lot of forethought and design. I’d love to go head to head with any programmer. Give us both the task to write a standard corporate web app, let’s say, a workflow app. My project will cost less and finish faster. And on top of that my apps are built upon solid best-practices with consistent, easy-to-follow source code that is self-maintaining and easy to upgrade.

So there’s my little commercial for Pro Net Labs. )