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Info on Info Remix class
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Mixing and Remixing Information
pydoc
I would like to have automatically generated distillations of the documentation in the Scholar's Box. My first search brought me to PythonDoc ::: www.effbot.org. I would like to get the Javadocs-like output promised by PythonDoc. I downloaded it and ran it on some modules but found that because we will have to change the formatted of our comments before getting the benefits of PythonDoc. Such a change might be worthwhile, but I wanted to see what I could get with no further work at this point. Further searching turned out Related Projects, which discusses projects related to Epydoc, "a tool for generating API documentation for Python modules, based on their docstrings." After skimming through the document, I settled on using pydoc, which comes with the standard Python distribution since version 2.1. Now to get some browsable docs, I type:
1 2 | import pydoc pydoc.gui() |
I paid money for PHP Hacks
I bought a copy of PHP Hacks : Tips & Tools For Creating Dynamic Websites (Hacks) even though as a UC Berkeley person, I have access to an electronic version of the entire book online at safari.oreilly.com. I had stayed away from learning PHP until this semester because I didn't feel I had room for yet another programming language in my toolkit, which was already under-exercised. Working through many PHP-based examples in Flickr Hacks convinced me that I needed to know PHP better, if for no other reason than to help my class through PHP.
I got to hand it to the O'Reilly folks for getting me to fork over money for essentially the same information in a different package. I considered buying the PHP in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell) but decided that I am fine with treating it as a reference book for which electronic access alone is adequate. In contrast, I like sitting in an easy chair or curling up in bed with books such as PHP Hacks so that I can soak up the ideas and allow myself to imagine the possibilities of the technology.
UC Compensation and Drucker: Take One
At a party late last fall, someone asked me what I thought about the stories that were breaking in the San Francisco Chronicle about how the perks that senior administration at the UC system were getting. I expressed my natural outrage at the situation but didn't think a lot more about the situation since I didn't think anything would ever change. (I've gotten sufficiently cynical to expect bad behavior from the people at the very top. Isn't that sad?) Recently, I started to follow more closely the ongoing coverage in the Chronicle (including the latest article SENATORS DEMAND ANSWERS ON UC PAY / Unreported compensation raises ire at panel's hearing ), as well as the PR responses of UC Berkeley and the system as a whole. The more I learn, the more I'm longing for some deep wisdom in this matter. How much I get paid or you get paid or anyone gets paid -- or should get paid -- is a hot-button issue. I've been fascinated by the types of arguments that have been marshalled to justify various positions. At the risk of incorrectly characterizing the debate, it seems that those who are justifying the high pay of senior people argue that we need horizontal parity; UC leaders should be paid at comparable levels to leaders at peer institutions. Those who express outrage at the compensation of senior leaders draw our attention to the lack of vertical fairness; is it right for the pay at the highest levels to be going up, while the rank-and-file (who could really use the money!) are not similarly benefiting?
I know that it's more complicated that what I set out here -- and that's what I'm trying to get at as I sort through the arguments. More fundamentally, I've been searching my own heart on how I currently feel and how I would feel should I ever going higher (or fall lower) down the hierarchy. I keep asking myself to what extendt are my views -- and those of everyone involved -- more self-serving than reflective of a concern for others. There's a lot more to say. I will close with bemusement the following quote from the Wikipedia entry on Peter Drucker: Peter Drucker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
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His most controversial work was on compensation schemes, in which he said that senior management should not be compensated more than twenty times the lowest paid employees. This attracted criticism from some of the same people who had previously praised him.
(I'm looking for the source for the 20:1 figure and plan to follow up once I find it.)
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