2013 Wrap Up

Apparently, I managed to neglect blogging for almost an entire year.
But now, since 2014 is right around the corner, I think it's time to give an update.

It's been a very exciting and busy year that demonstrated that moving from Java web-development back to my C++/Qt roots has been a good decision. The project I have been working on is nearing completion, while I can not disclose many details of it, I can tell that it is something truly unique that has not been done before. Working with bluetooth, gps and embedded arm boards has proven to be a lot more fitting direction for me than Java web-development ever was and I definitely want to continue on the embedded side of things. Also C++ 11 (and soon C++ 14) comes with lots of exciting new features that move it closer to functional languages.
Another thing that I've learned this year is that web-development is also very important and my 1.5 years of Java enterprise were definitely not a waste, JavaScript is starting to show up in the weirdest places (http://creativejs.com/2013/08/tessel-a-javascript-programmable-micro-controller-board/) and I'm pretty sure that this trend will continue (emscripten, asm.js anyone ?).

Between working and my Master's degree I didn't really have too much time for personal projects this year, only a few minor commits in github and various educational projects, but I've already chosen my thesis project and I've already started researching it.

Also, it's a very strange feeling to see your 10th grade project on Linux Insider (http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/74828.html) after so many years. It has been at least 5-6 years and I'm seriously surprised it still works in modern distro releases (or Windows for that matter).
People still keep downloading it, which just shows the huge demand for this kind of app. It really makes me want to redesign it, rewrite it from zero, give it a very solid plugin based architecture and release a new version together with an SDK for third party devs (these were my plans all along). But I simply can not find the time to do it, especially not alone, and I have a bunch of ideas I would like to implement. So I guess it will have to wait. I am of course very sad about disappointing my users and I dislike the idea of abandonware, but I hope people understand that I have to prioritize.

One of the other changes that I've made this year is switching to Arch.
I've been using ArchLinux for more than half a year now and I am so satisfied with it that I've even bought a shirt (http://www.freewear.org/?page=show_item&id=FW0026 , the price also contains a donation to the project).

It's simple, reliable, has great KDE 4 support, rolling releases and just up-to-date enough to be stable (as in bleeding edge, without the risk of breaking). It's great for development environment and for daily use.
Huge kudos to the Arch devs. I will try to install Arch at my workplace too (we use Ubuntu now).

In terms of hobbies I've managed to work on quite a few musical projects this year, one of them is my personal musical project (on which we work with my girlfriend and with various session collaborators) , another was a full band, with regular band practice (but it didn't last for long) and another project on which I did mostly sound engineering related work (upcomming release).

That kind of wraps it up, I hope that the next year will be at least equally awesome.

Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!