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Agile is more about the mindset than it is a methodology.

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I’ve been heads down at work lately developing a desktop application, something that is a bit refreshing considering I’ve mainly been working on web applications or distributed systems for some time. Desktop applications have some nice things but developing them also means they have their own fair share of pain (acceptance testing a multithreaded app is not fun!).

The last time I had developed anything remotely serious desktop wise was back during University days when I was using Borland’s JBuilder 2 (yes that means Java 1.1 and AWT) and then slightly later, the terrible Microsoft’s J++ (and non-java classes). I have repeated found that IDEs are wonderful things for building prototype UIs, but anyone who has had the horror of maintaining any of the automagically created code in the background, will agree with me at how terrible it can be.

Not willing to repeat mistakes of the past, on my current project we have had great successes leveraging the JGoodies Forms Layout Manager. The makers of this opensource component specifically designed it with maintenance and addressing the common tasks of simple forms without being excessively verbose about it. They have an excellent white paper on their site and their APIs are intuitive, but I thought it might be useful stepping through a step by step guide anyway. (more…)

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I think that today most people around London, both locals and tourists are going to be puzzled after witnessing hundreds, if not a couple of thousand of New Zealand people descending on pub after pub at every single station along the circle line. It was certainly the last place I thought I would find myself after trying to catch up with a kiwi friend of mine.

The Circle Line Pub Crawl is an infamous event occurring only once each year on the weekend closest to the 6th of February, also celebrated as Waitangi Day for New Zealanders. Although no one seems to know the entire history of this event, the rules are fairly well known. *Only* the circle line shall be taken in an anti-clockwise fashion for up to the full 27 various stops along the circle line. Half pints and shots are acceptable as alternatives to full pints during the 12 hour ride (for those with stamina at least anyway). You cannot hold onto anything whilst riding the line and everything is all about having fun. Another part of this tradition is the 4pm gathering outside Westminster where a crowd of up to 5000 New Zealanders congregate to perform a haka.

Not wanting to entirely crash the party, I hung around for a few stops along the circle line but not before it got entirely messy at certain places. I think the pictures posted speak for themselves.

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Westbourne grove is a trendy street in Notting Hill, stretching from Ladbroke through to Bayswater and crossing Portobello Road, most famous for its diverse markets. This street is a joy for strolling along, with wide paths that are relatively quiet for the area and filled with dozens of nice stores and cafes. One of the more kitsch places to visit on a Saturday or Sunday is 202 Westbourne Grove, a place that is both a fashion store and café in one.

The polished wood floors host the decently numbered marble and wood topped tables that are all set in the back half of this large store. They have a nice garden out back, filled with six tables as well as the sidewalk tables out the front of the store, under the terrace and Italians heaters that people no doubt enjoy the most during the summer months. Depending on what time you arrive, you are most likely to be waiting for a table, particularly if you are with a party more than two, but fortunately our party of four (consisting of Karl, Caroline, Nathan and myself) managed to beat the busy lunch period and secured ourselves a table within ten minutes of arriving.

The brunch menu is simple with no more than, maybe, eight different choices that you can also compliment with a number of sides. The items are modern breakfast dishes and you pay standard prices for them (up to about £8), as is the decently made coffee at £2.50. The prices for the juice and bottled water on the other hand, are especially steep with a large (i.e. standard tall glass) OJ costing you a hefty £4.24 and a 750ml bottle of water costing you just over £6. The 12.5% service charge is actually quite worth it in this place, with the white shirted and jeans clad staff being prompt and efficient without the over bearing or intolerable attitude you can find at just as trendy cafes. Take for instance, my situation this morning when I accidentally spilt a little bit of my coffee onto my plate of French toast and extremely tasty bacon. Although the incident was not too loud, a staff member upon witnessing the incident promptly offered me a napkin to soak up the coffee and a clean plate for me to transfer my now, slightly soggy toast. It was a lovely way to spend the morning and fill up on food for the day.

TheKua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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