It was an efficient day ...

• finalized a couple of MS Access data entry screens, which were being tested using our standardized test protocols for these screens.


• Did an install of the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit, although I have to say it will take another day to look into all options it gives me. Right now it only looks overwhelming. For example, right now I can't think of some concrete use for editing the Metabase. But maybe that will come with time.


• Took about two hours to do some VB.NET practice. I'm very glad that finally I find a bit more time for going into .NET coding. Right now there's no in-houses application we've done in .NET, as it's still all Studio 6. But I think it's getting more and more important to get into the new direction more


• the DLT tape streamer was causing problems... again. Yesterday I put the /verify option back on. Our backup server is Server 2003 now, and we found out the backup process is much more efficient now, giving the possibility to do a complete verify after a full backup, and still finish hours before someone arrives in the office. Took me more than an hour to get the streamer back online, with a cold reset in the end. Still don't know what really was the problem, but this thing is taking me more time than I like.


• Had a little more than an hour to do some development on my Secure Web project. But with the weekend already neigh, I wasn't that efficient anymore at that time.


• Tonight I read some more Paul Graham essays. His newest essays are mainly about new spamfilter techniques (of which the Bayesian technique seems to yield the best results). Older articles, some very lengthy, handle about his clear passion for succinct programming languages, the ones that are able to the same with less code. Lisp is clearly his language of choice. Although I've never looked at the language before (maybe I should... do I feel another entry coming?), the general ideas in the articles are very refreshing - to me at least - and had me thinking about the place .NET takes in there (it's nowhere mentioned in his articles), and giving me a broader view on the world of programming languages. I learned mainly Visual Basic, along with some JavaScript / VBScript, which is a world away from his one. Still: highly recommended stuff (mmm, Lisp looks so condensed it's really gibberish for me. This places .NET somewhere in the middle on the scale, right next to the Blub language I guess :)