Time for another update I suppose. Last year I noticed that it seems I’m most intellectually active around April and October, which definitely seems to hold true this year.

Coworking

This year, I’ve been trying to force myself to spend four hours a week at a coworking space. I’m a member of a local space called Spacecubed, who host the local Startup Weekend events and have become a great hub for local special interest groups.

Using the space is fantastic, mostly because its a comfortable place where I can zone out and set time aside weekly for getting things done.

Java EE 7

I’ve recently started foraying into Java again. Borne mostly out of need at work, where I am writing some software to manage software deployments where reliable Git integration is possible. Plus, y’know… all the cool kids are on JVM these days.

Self-learning EE has been rewarding, and it looks like it has come a long way since I last looked at it. It looks like Java 8 will also bring about a lot of long-needed language improvements as well, including Lambda expressions - something I’ve found makes writing fluent code really nice in C#.

Angular JS

As part of the deployment software I’m writing - I’ve also had the time to start learning a good Javascript framework for web applications. I’ve been using AngularJS with Bootstrap as a base, and it’s refreshing to be able to rapidly prototype web apps that don’t feel like they’ve been written by a programmer.

Together with Java EE and JAX-RS - this has given me a good common patern for developing web apps again, so should cut down on the hemming and hawing when I get motivated about some of my many forever projects.

Visual Effects

This has been an interest for a long time, and having recently picked up a dslr that shoots 1080p, has been something I’ve been toying around with.

Whilst I’m interested in the effects side of things, to keep it interesting - I really need to be able to tell a story effectively. Even a one minute narrative is stretching myself a bit thin, but it’s hard to get motivated when you’re camera shy.

In the meantime I’m reading some good books on scriptwriting and creative writing and will keep hammering away on this in the background.

3D Game Engine

This one I’m particularly happy and motivated about. So much so, it’s going to get its own post. Bully for me.