Mike Deasy

Several years ago I realized that the Tulsa PBUG (PowerBuilder Users Group) was defunct. After talking to those involved it became clear that interest had waned and there was little officer support - the group died of starvation. It seemed that here was a great opportunity. Since I had taught a couple of semesters of Advanced PowerBuilder at Tulsa Community College, I knew there was an increasing number of PowerBuilder developers in Tulsa. Most of them would enjoy the chance to network with fellow developers and pick up some much needed PB gossip and techniques. Information Gathering and Organizing I attended the 1999 TechWave in Orlando, and (plot brewing in my mind) went to the PBUG Presidents meeting to listen to the various points of view, find out what a PBUG could be and what was working and failing across the country. It was an informative meeting and there see... (more)

DataWindow Tips and Techniques

The DataWindow is the best gift Powersoft could have given to the development community. A primary marketing tool used to sell PowerBuilder, the DataWindow is the one you save for the end of the argument (and win), the exclamation point in the discussion with the VB guys. Why has no one dedicated a book to it until now? Over two years in the making, The Definitive DataWindow captures the essence of the DataWindow with countless little details that Brooks learned the hard way: working with Powersoft engineers, fighting it out in the trenches and trying to build the perfect applic... (more)

What Cost Optimization?

It may not be economically feasible (or necessary) for you to throw money at speeding up applications. Spending a certain amount of money on speed may be expedient and eventually even necessary, but it shouldn't be our first choice as analysts or managers. Too many hours are spent working up cost justification analyses and AFEs (Authority for Expenditures) that could have been spent on actual repairs. You could finance the Sys Admin people upgrading your UNIX server at an often-huge cost or get speedier desktop machines for your users (implying faster solitaire). You could even ... (more)

Improving Your Transition Game

The sport term "transition game" is often used in basketball, as that game requires instantaneous transition from one modality to another. The success of that aspect of a team's performance is based on how quickly they can change their focus. How well do they move from defense to offense and vice versa? With the never-ending progress and the exponentially compounded amount of information in the world of programming, it's no surprise that we need to get better at our transition game. In fact, a good transition game can make or break a team. (The Los Angeles Lakers of the '80s - M... (more)

Managing Management

Bosses are the backbone of middle American management and the harbinger of the quick-fix style. Some bosses are good; some can be a nightmare. There may be a lot of truth to that old saying, "We have a new boss, same as the old boss," but it doesn't necessarily comprise the truth in the IS world. Dealing with a technically inept boss can be either a blessing or a curse depending on his or her management skills, ability, and style. A boss doesn't necessarily have to be the master coder of all time to do the job well. Most Zen code masters tend to shy away from the management promoti... (more)