zunguka » Books

M-masomo…mobile education

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:01:43 +0000

M-masomo, a collaboration between Nation Media Group and ICT Kenya has just been launched is being billed as “your smart tutor in your hand, bringing you a new way to revise for your exams from your phone”

Update: download url for the application comes from Wandflower Education, which points to adaptation or licensing of the same and not in-house dev…not that it matters.

For Ksh20, you recieve a set of questions fro all subjects with answers and explanations. For KCPE questions you have 5 sets of question papers – english, kiswahili, mathematics, social sciences and science. Three times a week (Mon,Wed and Fri) one would receive 10 questions per subject . For KCPE there will be four sets of question papers – math, chemistry, biology, and physics sent on Tue,Thur and Saturday.

How it works is that one sends the word KCPE or KCSE to the shortcode 4556 and a java application is sent to the phone.The questions then start coming in with the review answers and explanation being received later.It costs 20 shillings per download.

The billing still needs to be made clear though, because the advert says 20ksh per download. The end user, who is going to be a student on a limited budget needs to know the absolute costs of using the service. If it costs 20sh for every download (where the application pulls the content, and an MT – mobile terminated billing message is sent ) that would add up to ksh 60 per week or ksh 240 per month. Is that pricy? I dont’ know , depends on how much you value learning on your cell I have sent a request for the application (10:18 am )but am yet to get the download link …knowing consumers in kenya, they may feel ripped off if they don’t get the content they have paid for in at most 5 minutes.

During last year M4D Workshop in Kampala Uganda, we looked at a number of initiatives that were headed in the way of mobile education. It is good to see that a large media house such as Nation sees the future and opportunities that are afforded by better handset capability, i shall not even being with the “doom and gloom” analogies that many corporates and have towards richer mobile experiences as they are still focused on the masses…masses here defined as the rural and urban poor who number in the millions.

That begs the question as to whether the development of richer mobile experiences and content should be put on the back burner due to “small markets”. We forget that while regular sms and low handset capability may be the norm now, that will not alway be the case and organizations need to be forward thinking lest they miss the bus when it arrives, and it has arrived.

There are a number of other initiatives round the world that we could look at to measure the success and market readiness of product such as M-masomo. Of note is the Mxit execution where government pay the learning channel costs.

Storymoja Hay Festival – many stories, one world

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:00:29 +0000

A three day international celebration of stories, ideas, writing and contemporary culture through books, storytelling, skits, music, live discussion forums, demonstrations, workshops, open-mike sessions, debates, exhibitions, live performances and competitions.

The festival is modelled on The Hay Festival held in the UK every May in which up to 100,000 people attend – ranging from presidents to authors to fans. The Hay Festival organises several festivals in Europe and South America. The Storymoja Hay Festival will be an international festival held in Nairobi, organised as a partnership between Storymoja and The Hay Festival.

The event will be held in a temporary ‘tented city’ at the Impala grounds and will include a main stage for live performances and competitions, and twelve themed tents in which multiple one and a half hour-hour events will be held concurrently. The range of 100 or so events are intended to generate public debate around critical issues facing East Africa including Climate Change, Diversity, Microfinance, Literature, Entrepreneurship, Gender, IT, Self-Development, Music, Film and Education. They will be headlined by star guests in each particular field. Music (our headline act is Seckou Keita) and various competitions will ensure a mixed crowd in celebratory ambiance, and attract extensive, positive local and international media coverage.

Simply put, the Storymoja Hay Festival is a celebration of ideas expressed in many forms. It is part of a longer term campaign to get East Africa reading, writing and discussing ideas.

What are the highlights?
An array of forty plus African and international writers, thinkers, filmmakers will participate in various events at the festival including – Wole Soyinka, Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Seth, Wangari Mathai, Kate Adie, Petina Gappah, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Monica Arac, Nick Broomfield, Jan Blake, Daniel Morden.

Who is invited (audience)?
Day-long fun for the whole family with multiple events targeting men, women and children. Programmes will be distributed with tickets.

Where and when?
Venue: Impala Club, Ngong Road, Nairobi
Dates: Friday 31st July, Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd August, 2009.

Event Schedule
The session on Mentoring is scheduled for Saturday 1st August 4pm-5:30pm in the Enterprise Arena. Feel free to involve Vital Voices and or any partners you think might add value to the event.

What is the purpose of the Storymoja Hay Festival?
The festival hopes to encourage Africans to ‘own’ their problems by exploring our situations/stories, and search for solutions by generating platforms for discussion and debate. To achieve our 2030 vision, we need to read widely, discuss ideas, and exploit our diversity of stories/backgrounds for nation building.

Who are Storymoja?
Storymoja is a publishing company formed by five writers committed to spreading the gospel of reading, writing and thinking has held two previous annual festivals to promote books – dubbed Storymoja Nyamachoma Fiesta. The 2008 event attracted 2200 people. The 2009 Storymoja Hay Festival will utilise and build on that experience, and is the next step in achieving our Storymoja mission of getting ‘A book in every hand.’

People making a difference in the african tech and dev circle

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:21:34 +0000

We want to start highlighting people making a difference in the african tech circle…african or not. To put up their profiles, where possible have interviews with them to see what their vision for africa is, and what they are doing to get us there. From ceo’s who are willing to experiment with technology, government officials adopting tech for increased efficiency at their ministry, developers doing great work, leaders of interesting initiative…the full hog.

Now to track them down and get their stories…done during the 20% hours we will need your help…any guys doing great work that you know of or would like to know more about…just drop us a note.

Standard Investment Bank launches Easy Hisa, with Symbiotic deploying the messaging fuctionality

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:40:27 +0000

Over the last year, Symbiotic Media has been working on EasyHisa with Standard Investment Bank to implement the our robust messaging technology and gateway to realize the vast benefits that EasyHisa has to offer including diaspora access to their accounts via sms from their country of residence.

It is great to finally have EasyHisa out. Standard Investment Bank have come out strongly as being forward thinking and early adopters….but most importantly I commend their support of local talent and competence…they did not import technology from outside our borders but chose to engage local qualified companies and individuals such as ourselves to make the product a success.

Time and again at different forums I advocate for firms to engage local developers to develop the industry as well as set Kenya apart in the African region for software development.

More importantly, the current extensions under development will see the stock trading business overhauled yet again with real-time bank account access and plugin to all major available money transfer services to allow investors take full advantage of real- time information and trading.

Here is an excerpt from SIB chairman’s speech, more pictures and video to come…

Every few years, there is a leap in technology that changes how we do our work, how we invest or how we live our lives. The cellphone changed our lives in ways we never imagined. In the Capital markets there was the Central Depository System and the Automated Trading System, which improved the efficiency of the trading cycle from weeks to 5 days. The wide area network further enabled stockbrokers to trade from the comfort of their offices.

We need to keep our market intadem with the innovations coming through information technology.

We introduce EasyHisa, as the next leap in technology that will change how we trade on the Nairobi Stock Exchange once again. This is an important milestone in our Capital Markets.

Easy Hisa is a new sms service from Standard Investment Bank that allows an investor to rade shares from the comfort of their home or office. The service is so efficient that certain paribus, an order sent is processed and delivered to the exchange within one hour.

Let us ask ourselves, how much it costs to trade on the exchange currently? Along with the commission to the Stock broker there are other extra costs to you the investor.

There is the cost of transportation in which our customers, through our research, have informed us to be between KShs 100 and KShs 1,000.

There is the cost of time away from your employment, business or family. A lot of customers cannot leave their employment or business during the week and sacrifice instead to come in on Saturday when they could have been taking care of other personal matters.

The third is the cost of opportunity. This cost, suffered by some investors, is one that is very important when trading in shares. Profits that you could have made may be lost if you cannot trade instantly.

With Easy Hisa these extra costs are greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.

For instance, remember that Safaricom went as high as Kshs 7.80 before going down to the current prices we see today, Now imagine that a simple SMS would have enabled you to lock in such a profit as you continue with your day to day business. That is why you must have Easy Hisa today.

This service enables you to, among other things, place orders, check the balance in your account or the value of your shares and even hold an order if the price has moved in a way you did not expect. As you can see, there is true control over your shares with this service.

In conclusion, our esteemed customers continuously call for us to improve our service beyond their expectations and we continue to accept the challenge.

The Chairman of the Capital Markets Authority, Mr Cheserem during the University challenge, also asked the industry to face up to this challenge and offer mobile trading among other services and therefore this Launch of the SMS trading is also an answer to that call.

Easy Hisa,

Trade shares anytime anywhere via SMS.

Maker Faire Africa

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:33:18 +0000

While the ICT space has developed a head of steam in some parts of Africa, a “maker philosophy” is yet to occur. [It is imperative that the educated do not perceive technology as what appears before them on a computer screen]. The aim of a Maker Faire-like event is to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, propagated, etc.

Maker Faire Africa asks the question, “What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from Mali with those from Ghana and Kenya, and add resources to the mix?”

Maker Faire Africa will engage on-the-ground breakthrough organizations like Ashesi University and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to sharpen focus on locally-generated, bottom-up prototypes of technologies that solve immediate challenges to development. Specifically, Maker Faire Africa will take an approach that will achieve three principal aims:

Brighten the light on local examples of the “fabrication” ethos
Provide mechanisms to incubate these innovators and their products to a point where they can be taken to market
Connect refined plans to disseminate innovations with venture finance

The aim is to identify, spur and support local innovation. At the same time, Maker Faire Africa would seek to imbue creative types in science and technology with an appreciation of fabrication and by default manufacturing. The long-term interest here is to cultivate an endogenous manufacturing base that supplies innovative products in response to market needs.

Background
When discussions of wealth creation and poverty reduction are made in reference to the continent, for a variety of reasons manufacturing is left off the table. This is partly the fault of education and or orientation. Making fabrication the next “big thing” in a sense could go some way in changing these attitudes. Manufacture – literally, fabrication by hand – is exciting, and exists across the continent of Africa, and is abundant – from centers sited at dumps, where scrap metals are abundant, to more formal collections of mechanics and repairers who have set up shop in the urban core. Much of this curiosity, talent, and entrepreneurial spirit in manufacturing remains trapped in the in

The corporate diary…keeping track of where we are from

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:23:34 +0000

We have often said over those coffee meetings at Java (god bless them and their wonderful steak) that we need to document every step of our copmanies growth. Pictures, videos, notes…whatever. Why?

I personally tthink its important because seldom is the story ever as real, once true success has been achieved. This I have experienced first hand from having talks with persons I kinda look up to as having achieved success. (Perhaps i should go back and do interviews for posting here) Thing is, there always feels as if some magic has been lost through the years as success becomes the norm, with the sweat blood and tears having been forgotten. The way up is what draws inspiration as what the world expects is excellence, so its the journey there that matters….for now at least.

East Africa has fiber-optic cable — now what?

admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:08:10 +0000

In the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, traditional dancers gyrated to tunes, as is common in all functions that involve the president. It was a big day for East Africa because The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) was home.In the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, traditional dancers gyrated to tunes, as is common in all functions that involve the president. It was a big day for East Africa because The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) was home.After a year of hype and threats by the notorious Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, the ship laying the cable docked at the landing station earlier this week, escorted by a French navy ship.

The region has been waiting for TEAMS to light up because it has been billed as the most affordable telecommunications option, given the combination of government and private sector ownership. Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Northern Tanzania and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been busy finalizing their national fiber backbone to get ready for the cable’s arrival.

In west Africa, there hasn’t been much dancing or celebration even though the Africa Development Bank has invested US$240 million for a 7,000-kilometer fiber-optic cable from Portugal through Ghana to Nigeria. The investment by ADB will bolster the South Atlantic 3/ West African Submarine cable, which connects western and southern Africa countries.

The lack of celebration in West Africa may be rooted in the fact that SAT 3 has been operational since 2002. It has been underutilized, the cost of connectivity remains high and the region is still dependent on satellite.

It was therefore understandable that west Africa was not as excited as east Africa. The people in the region have been there and have had their hopes dashed.

The infrastructure investments and developments in the continent therefore raise several questions: Does the problem lie in infrastructure? Content? Policy? Access and pricing?

One major expectation is that the cost of connectivity in east Africa will decline. Businesses have been promised a drop from US$2,500 per megabyte to $400 per megabyte. But how will the cost come down when the market is dominated by the private sector?

“Most of the regional telecom infrastructure initiatives are dictated by commercial agreements between private telecom suppliers; the governments are always caught in the middle between the private sector motive of increasing shareholder value and reducing price for user[s],” said John Walubengo, acting dean of ICT at the Kenya Multimedia University.

The most complicated part is that the big telcos such as Kenya Data Networks, Access Kenya, Jamii Telecom, Safaricom and Telkom Kenya are also the major owners of TEAMS, while the rival SEACOM cable project is wholly private. No company has come up with ways to bring prices down, or said what will happen to those with business contracts for the older technology.

“Cables alone will not bring prices down. Cables plus competition will bring prices down. In instances where cables are controlled by the incumbent operators, prices will be slow to come down,” said Steve Song, telecommunications fellow at Shuttleworth Foundation.

The investors have maintained that the prices will come down, but have not talked about how open their business models would be to people who have not invested but would like to lease the infrastructure.

“The companies that bought shares in TEAMS have invested heavily and will need to recoup those costs before any significant cost savings can be realized by the consumer,” said Mbugua Njihia, CEO of Symbiotic Media, one of the companies that has invested in online products for the youth.

The case of SAT 3 has shown that for the cable to have any meaningful effect on the common person, there must be awareness and open access. The people in urban areas will go online to access e-mail, but rural folk with no prior Internet experience will have to find a relevant reason to go online.

“A lot of people (business people and the regular people) still don’t see the real value that connectivity brings, especially concerning access to information,” said Njihia. “The government and ICT board should shift focus to awareness, otherwise people will have no reason to use the digital villages.”

“No content, no motive to go online, but 80 percent of Kenyans live upcountry,” said Walubengo. “The rural community will only get online once government services (health, agriculture, education, registrations) get online.”

The debate about online content has been going on in the region for some time, and the World Bank has approved content grants that are yet to be disbursed. Content localization has also been an issue, with some people arguing that the sort of content that would add value to the rural community is different from that which would be valuable to an urban user.

“There is no use in having agricultural extension service videos and lessons in English to a group of farmers who do not understand English and would not make sense of it. Currently I don’t think there is sufficient content to serve to the more rural populations that would add value to their lives,” added Njihia.

Bandwidth may be the most popular reason why Africa lags behind as an investment destination, but there are other factors such as legislation, politics and corruption.

“Besides bandwidth, we have to show the world that Africa is the place to invest by demystifying stereotypes and improving governance structures, [and] embracing democracy and issues relating to competitiveness,” said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication.

“Africa has to shorten the red tape, make it easy to establish a business, operate according to rule of law and deal with corruption,” said Song.

The east Africa community will face the ultimate litmus test when dealing with costs among countries and policy harmonization. For instance, one of the challenges facing SAT 3 is a discriminatory tendency among regional operators, which charge more in one country compared to others even when the infrastructure is the same.

Though Ndemo insists that the region is working on policy harmonization to ensure nondiscriminatory provision of services, the EAC is not known for its speed in debating and passing policy documents.

Whether the issues are resolved or not, it is clear that access, content, reach and availability, quality of services and ICT literacy are just as important as the bandwidth cost.

Here is the link to the Stanford Uni Iphone App programing course

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:15:00 +0000

http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/index.php

The Tao of programming – Design

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:01:34 +0000

Book 3 – DesignThus spake the master programmer:

“When the program is being tested, it is too late to make design changes.”
3.1

There once was a man who went to a computer trade show. Each day as he entered, the man told the guard at the door:

“I am a great thief, renowned for my feats of shoplifting. Be forewarned, for this trade show shall not escape unplundered.”

This speech disturbed the guard greatly, because there were millions of dollars of computer equipment inside, so he watched the man carefully. But the man merely wandered from booth to booth, humming quietly to himself.

When the man left, the guard took him aside and searched his clothes, but nothing was to be found.

On the next day of the trade show, the man returned and chided the guard saying: “I escaped with a vast booty yesterday, but today will be even better.” So the guard watched him ever more closely, but to no avail.

On the final day of the trade show, the guard could restrain his curiosity no longer. “Sir Thief,” he said, “I am so perplexed, I cannot live in peace. Please enlighten me. What is it that you are stealing?”

The man smiled. “I am stealing ideas,” he said.
3.2

There once was a master programmer who wrote unstructured programs. A novice programmer, seeking to imitate him, also began to write unstructured programs. When the novice asked the master to evaluate his progress, the master criticized him for writing unstructured programs, saying, “What is appropriate for the master is not appropriate for the novice. You must understand the Tao before transcending structure.”
3.3

There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: “Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating system?”

“An operating system,” replied the programmer.

The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. “Surely an accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating system,” he said.

“Not so,” said the programmer, “when designing an accounting package, the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas: how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to the tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited by outside appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. This is why an operating system is easier to design.”

The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. “That is all good and well, but which is easier to debug?”

The programmer made no reply.
3.4

A manager went to the master programmer and showed him the requirements document for a new application. The manager asked the master: “How long will it take to design this system if I assign five programmers to it?”

“It will take one year,” said the master promptly.

“But we need this system immediately or even sooner! How long will it take if I assign ten programmers to it?”

The master programmer frowned. “In that case, it will take two years.”

“And what if I assign a hundred programmers to it?”

The master programmer shrugged. “Then the design will never be completed,” he said.
Book 4 – Coding

Thus spake the master programmer:

“A well-written program is its own heaven; a poorly-written program is its own hell.”
4.1

A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity.

A program should follow the `Law of Least Astonishment’. What is this law? It is simply that the program should always respond to the user in the way that astonishes him least.

A program, no matter how complex, should act as a single unit. The program should be directed by the logic within rather than by outward appearances.

If the program fails in these requirements, it will be in a state of disorder and confusion. The only way to correct this is to rewrite the program.
4.2

A novice asked the master: “I have a program that sometime runs and sometimes aborts. I have followed the rules of programming, yet I am totally baffled. What is the reason for this?”

The master replied: “You are confused because you do not understand Tao. Only a fool expects rational behavior from his fellow humans. Why do you expect it from a machine that humans have constructed? Computers simulate determinism; only Tao is perfect.

“The rules of programming are transitory; only Tao is eternal. Therefore you must contemplate Tao before you receive enlightenment.”

“But how will I know when I have received enlightenment?” asked the novice.

“Your program will then run correctly,” replied the master.
4.3

A master was explaining the nature of Tao of to one of his novices. “The Tao is embodied in all software – regardless of how insignificant,” said the master.

“Is the Tao in a hand-held calculator?” asked the novice.

“It is,” came the reply.

“Is the Tao in a video game?” continued the novice.

“It is even in a video game,” said the master.

“And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?”

The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. “The lesson is over for today,” he said.
4.4

Prince Wang’s programmer was coding software. His fingers danced upon the keyboard. The program compiled without an error message, and the program ran like a gentle wind.

“Excellent!” the Prince exclaimed, “Your technique is faultless!”

“Technique?” said the programmer turning from his terminal, “What I follow is Tao – beyond all techniques! When I first began to program I would see before me the whole problem in one mass. After three years I no longer saw this mass. Instead, I used subroutines. But now I see nothing. My whole being exists in a formless void. My senses are idle. My spirit, free to work without plan, follows its own instinct. In short, my program writes itself. True, sometimes there are difficult problems. I see them coming, I slow down, I watch silently. Then I change a single line of code and the difficulties vanish like puffs of idle smoke. I then compile the program. I sit still and let the joy of the work fill my being. I close my eyes for a moment and then log off.”

Prince Wang said, “Would that all of my programmers were as wise!”
Book 5 – Maintenance

Thus spake the master programmer:

“Though a program be but three lines long, someday it will have to be maintained.”
5.1

A well-used door needs no oil on its hinges.
A swift-flowing stream does not grow stagnant.
Neither sound nor thoughts can travel through a vacuum.
Software rots if not used.

These are great mysteries.
5.2

A manager asked a programmer how long it would take him to finish the program on which he was working. “It will be finished tomorrow,” the programmer promptly replied.

“I think you are being unrealistic,” said the manager, “Truthfully, how long will it take?”

The programmer thought for a moment. “I have some features that I wish to add. This will take at least two weeks,” he finally said.

“Even that is too much to expect,” insisted the manager, “I will be satisfied if you simply tell me when the program is complete.”

The programmer agreed to this.

Several years later, the manager retired. On the way to his retirement luncheon, he discovered the programmer asleep at his terminal. He had been programming all night.
5.3

A novice programmer was once assigned to code a simple financial package.

The novice worked furiously for many days, but when his master reviewed his program, he discovered that it contained a screen editor, a set of generalized graphics routines, an artificial intelligence interface, but not the slightest mention of anything financial.

When the master asked about this, the novice became indignant. “Don’t be so impatient,” he said, “I’ll put in the financial stuff eventually.”
5.4

Does a good farmer neglect a crop he has planted?
Does a good teacher overlook even the most humble student?
Does a good father allow a single child to starve?
Does a good programmer refuse to maintain his code?
Book 6 – Management

Thus spake the master programmer:

“Let the programmers be many and the managers few – then all will be productive.”
6.1

When managers hold endless meetings, the programmers write games. When accountants talk of quarterly profits, the development budget is about to be cut. When senior scientists talk blue sky, the clouds are about to roll in.

Truly, this is not the Tao of Programming.

When managers make commitments, game programs are ignored. When accountants make long-range plans, harmony and order are about to be restored. When senior scientists address the problems at hand, the problems will soon be solved.

Truly, this is the Tao of Programming.
6.2

Why are programmers non-productive?
Because their time is wasted in meetings.

Why are programmers rebellious?
Because the management interferes too much.

Why are the programmers resigning one by one?
Because they are burnt out.

Having worked for poor management, they no longer value their jobs.
6.3

A manager was about to be fired, but a programmer who worked for him invented a new program that became popular and sold well. As a result, the manager retained his job.

The manager tried to give the programmer a bonus, but the programmer refused it, saying, “I wrote the program because I thought it was an interesting concept, and thus I expect no reward.”

The manager upon hearing this remarked, “This programmer, though he holds a position of small esteem, understands well the proper duty of an employee. Let us promote him to the exalted position of management consultant!”

But when told this, the programmer once more refused, saying, “I exist so that I can program. If I were promoted, I would do nothing but waste everyone’s time. Can I go now? I have a program that I’m working on.”
6.4

A manager went to his programmers and told them: “As regards to your work hours: you are going to have to come in at nine in the morning and leave at five in the afternoon.” At this, all of them became angry and several resigned on the spot.

So the manager said: “All right, in that case you may set your own working hours, as long as you finish your projects on schedule.” The programmers, now satisfied, began to come in at noon and work to the wee hours of the morning.
Book 7 – Corporate Wisdom

Thus spake the master programmer:

“You can demonstrate a program for a corporate executive, but you can’t make him computer literate.”
7.1

A novice asked the master: “In the east there is a great tree-structure that men call `Corporate Headquarters’. It is bloated out of shape with vice presidents and accountants. It issues a multitude of memos, each saying `Go, Hence!’ or `Go, Hither!’ and nobody knows what is meant. Every year new names are put onto the branches, but all to no avail. How can such an unnatural entity be?”

The master replied: “You perceive this immense structure and are disturbed that it has no rational purpose. Can you not take amusement from its endless gyrations? Do you not enjoy the untroubled ease of programming beneath its sheltering branches? Why are you bothered by its uselessness?”
7.2

In the east there is a shark which is larger than all other fish. It changes into a bird whose wings are like clouds filling the sky. When this bird moves across the land, it brings a message from Corporate Headquarters. This message it drops into the midst of the programmers, like a seagull making its mark upon the beach. Then the bird mounts on the wind and, with the blue sky at its back, returns home.

The novice programmer stares in wonder at the bird, for he understands it not. The average programmer dreads the coming of the bird, for he fears its message. The master programmer continues to work at his terminal, for he does not know that the bird has come and gone.
7.3

The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention for the master programmer to examine. The magician wheeled a large black box into the master’s office while the master waited in silence.

“This is an integrated, distributed, general-purpose workstation,” began the magician, “ergonomically designed with a proprietary operating system, sixth generation languages, and multiple state of the art user interfaces. It took my assistants several hundred man years to construct. Is it not amazing?”

The master raised his eyebrows slightly. “It is indeed amazing,” he said.

“Corporate Headquarters has commanded,” continued the magician, “that everyone use this workstation as a platform for new programs. Do you agree to this?”

“Certainly,” replied the master, “I will have it transported to the data center immediately!” And the magician returned to his tower, well pleased.

Several days later, a novice wandered into the office of the master programmer and said, “I cannot find the listing for my new program. Do you know where it might be?”

“Yes,” replied the master, “the listings are stacked on the platform in the data center.”
7.4

The master programmer moves from program to program without fear. No change in management can harm him. He will not be fired, even if the project is cancelled. Why is this? He is filled with Tao.
Book 8 – Hardware and Software

Thus spake the master programmer:

“Without the wind, the grass does not move. Without software, hardware is useless.”
8.1

A novice asked the master: “I perceive that one computer company is much larger than all others. It towers above its competition like a giant among dwarfs. Any one of its divisions could comprise an entire business. Why is this so?”

The master replied, “Why do you ask such foolish questions? That company is large because it is large. If it only made hardware, nobody would buy it. If it only made software, nobody would use it. If it only maintained systems, people would treat it like a servant. But because it combines all of these things, people think it one of the gods! By not seeking to strive, it conquers without effort.”
8.2

A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day. The master noted the novice’s preoccupation with a hand-held computer game. “Excuse me,” he said, “may I examine it?”

The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the master. “I see that the device claims to have three levels of play: Easy, Medium, and Hard,” said the master. “Yet every such device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human.”

“Pray, great master,” implored the novice, “how does one find this mysterious setting?”

The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it underfoot. And suddenly the novice was enlightened.
8.3

There was once a programmer who worked upon microprocessors. “Look at how well off I am here,” he said to a mainframe programmer who came to visit, “I have my own operating system and file storage device. I do not have to share my resources with anyone. The software is self- consistent and easy-to-use. Why do you not quit your present job and join me here?”

The mainframe programmer then began to describe his system to his friend, saying “The mainframe sits like an ancient sage meditating in the midst of the data center. Its disk drives lie end-to-end like a great ocean of machinery. The software is as multifaceted as a diamond, and as convoluted as a primeval jungle. The programs, each unique, move through the system like a swift-flowing river. That is why I am happy where I am.”

The microcomputer programmer, upon hearing this, fell silent. But the two programmers remained friends until the end of their days.
8.4

Hardware met Software on the road to Changtse. Software said: “You are Yin and I am Yang. If we travel together we will become famous and earn vast sums of money.” And so the set forth together, thinking to conquer the world.

Presently they met Firmware, who was dressed in tattered rags and hobbled along propped on a thorny stick. Firmware said to them: “The Tao lies beyond Yin and Yang. It is silent and still as a pool of water. It does not seek fame, therefore nobody knows its presence. It does not seek fortune, for it is complete within itself. It exists beyond space and time.”

Software and Hardware, ashamed, returned to their homes.
Book 9 – Epilogue

Thus spake the master programmer:

“It is time for you to leave.”

The Tao of programming – The Ancient Masters

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:29:05 +0000

Book 2 – The Ancient MastersThus spake the master programmer:

“After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.”
2.1

The programmers of old were mysterious and profound. We cannot fathom their thoughts, so all we do is describe their appearance.

Aware, like a fox crossing the water. Alert, like a general on the battlefield. Kind, like a hostess greeting her guests. Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood. Opaque, like black pools in darkened caves.

Who can tell the secrets of their hearts and minds?

The answer exists only in Tao.
2.2

Grand Master Turing once dreamed that he was a machine. When he awoke he exclaimed:

“I don’t know whether I am Turing dreaming that I am a machine, or a machine dreaming that I am Turing!”

2.3

A programmer from a very large computer company went to a software conference and then returned to report to his manager, saying: “What sort of programmers work for other companies? They behaved badly and were unconcerned with appearances. Their hair was long and unkempt and their clothes were wrinkled and old. They crashed our hospitality suite and they made rude noises during my presentation.”

The manager said: “I should have never sent you to the conference. Those programmers live beyond the physical world. They consider life absurd, an accidental coincidence. They come and go without knowing limitations. Without a care, they live only for their programs. Why should they bother with social conventions?

“They are alive within the Tao.”
2.4

A novice asked the Master: “Here is a programmer that never designs, documents or tests his programs. Yet all who know him consider him one of the best programmers in the world. Why is this?”

The Master replies: “That programmer has mastered the Tao. He has gone beyond the need for design; he does not become angry when the system crashes, but accepts the universe without concern. He has gone beyond the need for documentation; he no longer cares if anyone else sees his code. He has gone beyond the need for testing; each of his programs are perfect within themselves, serene and elegant, their purpose self-evident. Truly, he has entered the mystery of Tao.”