July 2016 Archives

I'm reposting this survey. The researcher is trying to identify what makes configuration languages difficult to use. If you use Puppet/Chef/CfEngine/Ansible (and more importantly... if you DON'T use any configuration languages) please take this survey. I took it in under 10 minutes.

Tom

I would like to invite you to take a survey on configuration languages. The survey is about 10 minutes long and does not require any specific skills or knowledge, anyone can participate in it.

https://edinburgh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/configlang

The survey is a part of ongoing research at University of Edinburgh School of Informatics on configuration languages. As Paul Anderson has mentioned previously, we are interested in studying the usability of configuration languages and how it relates to the configuration errors.

The survey will be open through the 2nd of August, 2016. It is possible to take survey in parts by choosing to finish it later, but it cannot be completed past the deadline.

Please feel free to forward this survey to others.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact information is linked on the first page of the survey.

Your answers to the survey will be used in aggregate to improve our understanding of how configuration languages are understood and used.

Thank you
Adele Mikoliunaite
Masters student at
University of Edinburgh

Have you seen/read The Martian?

What's so sad about the movie/book is that it is a reminder of what could have been.

Part of the premise is that after the Apollo program, the U.S. continued their plans for landing on Mars. Such plans were dropped for the less ambitious Shuttle program.

Think about it. In most science fiction the science is unbelievable. In The Martian, the science was pretty darn accurate and the unbelievable part is that U.S. politicians had the audacity to continue NASA's funding level.