Our current project uses the Prism framework. Only one member of our team can claim to be extremely versatile using this framework – the promise is that it allows developers to build applications that are easier to maintain.

Some members of the team are on a learning curve, but it seems to be a challenge for them. I experience the same thing a year ago on another project that was using Model-View-Presenter. In theory, the benefits are clear. In practice, not so clear yet. I find that I spend a lot of time learning and/or teaching, and I wonder what it will be like when we add new or different developers to the team.

I get tired of type errors in .NET – I have felt for a long time that the compiler is trying to protect me from making errors I would never make. But, I do not have have anything coherent to say about that right now. I just want to cite an interesting article that states that developers are more productive using Django than they are using .NET.

I have nothing to add – just want to say: I am feeling less productive in .NET than I used to. I like Python – I used it on a project over the summer. It felt great to deliver working code every day. Is it just me?

The Natural Language Toolkit

The software I am writing for Dr. Kelly calculates a Flesch-Kincaid grade level for every assignment he grades. The formula is straight forward enough.

However, I was surprised to find that different implementations of this formula diverge dramatically from each other. The same text can have wildly different grade levels depending on the software you use.

For example, Microsoft word says that this blog entry reads at the grade 7  level, but another implementation says that it reads at a grade 9 level. Who is right? How does this happen?

It turns out that writing code to count the syllables in a word is not an easy thing. Early this summer, I tried to use the natural language toolkit to count the syllables in a word, but the code did not work. I threw the problem into the too-hard-basket for a while, and came back to it last week. A new version has been posted, and it works. It was patched by Alex Rudnick.

Here are two lines of code that show you how easy it is to count syllables in a word using the NLTK:

>>> from nltk_contrib.readability.textanalyzer import syllables_en
>>> print syllables_en.count("hello")

If you get the latest version of nltk_contrib, you will have no problems. However, I did find one small problem. This code insists that the word ‘the’ has zero syllables. The fix was easy enough, but I am not sure this how the maintainers would fix it:

Edit the file called syllables_en.py. It contains a list of so-called special syllables called specialSyllables_en. Add ‘the’ to the list, and specify that it has one syllable.

It is easy to see how this list works. For example “Mr.” has two syllables, but there is no easy way to figure out that “Mr.” is pronounced as “mister.” I may find other exceptions as I go.

However, having fussed with code, and having downloaded the latest version, I am pleased to report that the flesch-kincaid score I generate matches the score that is generated by Microsoft Word. My syllable count is correct, and the rest just follows.

My code will probably never agree perfectly with the score that is generated with Microsoft Word. It turns out that some English words are pronounced with a different number of syllables by English speakers from different parts of the world. Also, the code in the natural language toolkit is sometimes wrong. For example, it says that the word ‘calculates’ has four syllables. However, it is close enough in a great majority of cases. You should give it a try.

He is an interesting man, humble and soft-spoken. He is a natural listener, and he will listen to almost anything you have to say with a gentle and sympathetic smile. But, if you can stop talking and start listening, he will fill any silence you create with lovely stories about his grandfather, Peter Kelly, or Bill Reid, or any of his Haida relatives and friends. His soft-spokeness masks deep passions. One is teaching.

He has developed a system for teaching students to write well by identifying patterns that students can edit to improve their writing. I have written code that uses the natural language toolkit to read student’s assignments and to identify these patterns. Even I have learned to apply Dr. Kelly’s principles to create writing that is clear, lively and easy to understand. Here are things to watch for:

1. If you use Microsoft Word, use the grammar and style tools to check the Flesch Kincaid grade level.
2. Use the grammar and style tools to find and eliminate passive sentences.
3. Ensure that your writing is composed of words that have an average of about 4.5 characters.
4. Write paragraphs that have an average of about 2.5 to 3.5 sentences.
5. Write sentences that have an average of between 12 and 15 words per sentences.
6. Avoid using too many prepositions. Prepositions cause writing to become complex and hard to read.

I was able to improve this article by using our tool. The first draft of this blog entry read at the grade 10.5 level, and it contained several complexifiers. I was able to eliminate these words, and my writing improved. The draft you are now reading reads at a grade 8.6 level. As I use Dr. Kelly’s system, I see that it works.

Plain writing is important. People can find it hard to understand medical consent forms, legal documents, and privacy policies. Is it ethical to write important documents that ordinary people cannot understand? Is it smart?

In the next few weeks, I am going write about our tool. We call it WISE – Writing Instruction Software for Educators. Recently, we realized that we may have to call it Writing Instruction Software for Everyone. Who knows, if the code is easy to use, and if the principles can be easily explained, we may share the code with anybody who wants to try it. We have to get some legal advice first, but we hope to make a file available for download some time between now and Christmas.

I have met people who, at a young age, felt that they could learn everything they needed to know, and achieve some sort of enduring technical competence. They quickly learned that the cycle of learning and changing never ends.

This video makes a few things clear: change is massive, change is unrelenting, change is occurring on a fundamental level. Assumptions are changing. Keeping up with the technical aspects of change is hard enough, but understanding the effect and significance of it is mind bending. Let’s face it, the impact of the change is enough to knock some of us out of our orbits. I will let the video speak for itself:

If I depended on my artistic flair to earn a living, I might be in trouble. Fortunately for me, there are cheap templates, and there are designs I can imitate.

Because I have been using it for years, I have found WordPress easy to start using it as a basic CMS for some of my clients.

My favourite place to buy a template is Themeforest. I host small sites for clients who do not have big budgets. Themeforest provides attractive templates at a very affordable price. However not all themes are equal. Here are some things you should consider.

1) Read the comments. Users often post comments about themes. They contain useful info. You do not want to buy a theme that has problems and issues, and you especially do not want to buy a theme from a designer who does not respond to that are raised problems.

2) Buy a well supported theme if you can. At ThemeForest, at least one designer has posted training screen casts.

3) If you are buying a theme for a client, buy cautiously. Themeforest displays the number of times a theme has been sold. I prefer themes by designers who have made number of sales. Also, I tend to choose themes by designers who have posted multiple themes that I can also check out.

4) Ensure that your theme is web standards compliant. There are tools you can use to check the template before you buy it. Read about this subject to learn more.

5) Use the theme preview and look at the CSS files. Do the CSS files contain useful comments? Can you figure out how the CSS corresponds to the pages you see? If you need to customize the template, you may have to work with these files. Don’t buy yourself grief. Buy templates the employ some CSS best practices.

6) And, finally, it never hurts to have a good book to help you alter the template, or to add functionality. I depend on Smashing WordPress, but there are others. And, of course, there is a lot of information available online.

7) Do not buy a template just for how it looks. Be smart. Buy something you can support and change with ease. Buy something that provides good functionality. Buy something that saves you and your clients headaches.

However, I have bigger plans than that. For five years, I have blogged about whatever I pleased and I have created a haphazard collection of categories to classify my content. Now, I want to blog strategically, and I need to create tags and categories that help drive traffic to this site. I am also beginning to work with clients to show them how to do the same.

Today, I deleted useless categories, and I began to think about what I want to achieve by blogging. In short:

• I need to know what I want to achieve.
• I need to prepare to measure my success.
• I need to measure my success, and course correct as necessary.

I am going to delete more categories, and tags. Then, I will create new categories and tags, and I will apply them to my old content as I see fit. This blog needs focus. This is happening after the fact, but it is never too late.

The first part of the exercise is about branding, I guess. Strategy, for me, is about knowing what you want to achieve, identifying the resources you have at your disposal , and planning how to use them to achieve your end. My blog is a resource.