One of the greatest thing about being involved in an open source project like OpenJUMP, at least for me personally, is the opportunity that it offers for self-improvement. I find my flaws are shown more clearly in the OpenJUMP community than it is in my professional work as a Land Surveyor. I'm not really sure why this is. Perhaps it is because I am much more competent as a surveyor than I am as a programmer. (Let's hope that is the case.) Or perhaps it is because I'm not faced with the deadlines and other requirements for performance in my hobbies that I am at work.
At any rate, I know what personal flaw has shown up the most clearly to me this past year, and that is a lack of modesty. It seems I'm always biting of more than I can chew. "Boldness" is what my programming friends like to call it when they are being polite. :]
For 2009, I will try to live a life of programming modesty. No new major projects, no bold and exciting announcements, just humble and quiet coding... :]
We'll see how I do.
What are some of my modest programming goals for 2009?
- Release a stripped down (but functional) version of the Super Select Tool for OpenJUMP.
- Get my GPX2 module accepted as an "official" unsupported Geotools module.
- Make some small improvements to my GPX library.
- Tinker with my refactoring of the OpenJUMP core. (Not promising any functional code from this.)
That's it. If I can work on those 4 things in all of 2009, I'll be off to a good start on my quest for more programming modesty.
Thank you OpenJUMP, for helping me see a little more clearly how I can improve as a person and a programmer.
The Sunburned Surveyor
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