Choosing a Development Platform
I have pondered over this for some time now. After narrowing my choices down to three I have decided on the Microsoft .NET platform.
Up until now I had considered Linux/PHP and Linux/Python with a MySQL backend, however I will now go the .NET and MSSQL route. Some of you maybe thinking I am mental and don’t know what I am going on about so I will mention some of the reasons for my choice.
While I am proficient and love working with Linux I have never coded in PHP or Python for a deployed solution, this would be a steep learning curve although a very enjoyable one but would starve me of precious time.
I have designed, developed, tested and deployed a Anticoagulant blood management system to manage dosing of warfarin to patients. This serves thousands of patients in a hospital environment and is considered mission critical as it can cause multiple deaths if errors occur. I used C# .NET 1.1 at the time with a Intersystems Cache (MUMPS) backend.
As part of my day job I also manage over 20+ MSSQL Servers, I feel really confident around the database engine, it’s very scalable, fast and manageable.
I do feel that the above points alone quantify why I am using the .NET platform. It’s also fun and I enjoy developing with it. It’s far superior (in my opinion) than anything else on the market when it comes to a complete development and debugging environment for web applications.
My application will however be developed with change in mind, I will be creating logical layers of separation to my application. This will enable me to change the data store without having to change my entire application should I wish to do so at later date.
One final note - www.plentyoffish.com runs .NET with 1 server and is in the top 10 sites with the most traffic. I think that speaks volumes for the platform. Joel Spolsky and the guys at Fog Creek also use it and they rock.
Posted to WebApp
Macronutrition - Part 1
Macronutrition - What is it? Why should you care?
To understand what my application is about and why I am creating it I thought I would share with my readers the problem I will be solving - Managing the reduction of my body fat percentage through diet and exercise.
My application will be for the people who realise what it takes to get that washboard stomach, and are willing to do it to get there.
With all the lose fat quick schemes that are around today it surprises me that people are willing to try them and pin all there hopes on them due to clever marketing without actually taking the time to learn how their body actually uses food for energy, and why it stores some of the intake as fat.
The primary source of energy for our bodies is via food in the form of calories. Calories are made up of macronutrients, carbohydrates, protein and fat.
Losing body fat is not just about what you eat and what exercise you do; its about math.
Take note of the following information :-
1g of Fat contains 9 calories
1g of Protein contains 4 calories
1g of Carbohydrates contains 4 calories
1lb of Fat equals 3500 calories
As you can see eating the same weight in Protein or Carbohydrates results in less calories consumed than if you ate the same amount of Fat. We can also see that to burn away 1lb of fat we need to have a deficit of 3500 calories which should be spread over the week.
So how many calories should you be getting?
This is where we use the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate. Its has slightly different constants for men and women but the formula is still the same.
BMR for Men = 66 + (13.7 x Weight in kg) + (5 x Height in cm) - (6.8 x Age in Years)
BMR for Women = 655 + (9.6 x Weight in kg) + (1.8 x Height in cm) - (4.7 x Age in Years)
Once you have your Base Metabolic Rate you need to perform one more calculation to figure what your daily calorie intake should be.
Little or no exercise = x 1.2
1 - 3 times per week = x 1.375
3 - 5 times per week = x 1.55
6 - 7 times per week = x 1.725
Very hard twice daily = x 1.9
Take your BMR and multiply it by your selection from the above table and that is the amount of calories per day your body needs to consume to maintain. I cannot stress how important it is to be honest here, it’s about what you actually do not what intend to do, you can always change this figure as you progress and you will need to as you lose body fat anyway.
Summary
So now you know how to work out how many calories per day your body needs to maintain it’s current position. You also know that to loose a lb you need have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories. This deficit needs to be over a week so 3500 / 7 = a daily deficit of 500 calories from your daily allowance.
In part 2 I will be educating you on the best ways to create that deficit and where Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats come into to play.
Posted to Nutrition
Running a blog to support your MicroISV
Blogging is an essential marketing tool when creating something from scratch and Yaro Starak has some excellent tips on the matter. Linking to other successful blogs is a sure way to get notice, Ian Landsman kindly mentioned me on his blog to this effect :-
”Here’s another that looks promising, we’ll see.
PS. Both Tony and Starr (the last one I posted about) hit the secret to getting noticed. Link to me or HelpSpot. I (as most bloggers) watch my referrers, so link and you’ll get linked back. And if you have no readers yet make sure to click the link yourself!”
When I first started this blog I didn’t know if it would be worth it but after only a week I have seen a traffic spike. I have been busy planning how to structure it best and my intentions are to try to post every two to three days. I could post a whole lot more however I need the time to actually build my product.
I think it’s essential to treat your blog as your own personal media outlet and 37signals are the masters of this. They have created a following one can only dream of and there take on web apps and how they should be designed is something I hope to emulate to some degree of success.
I will structure my blog into 5 main categories – building a web app, business, blogging, productivity, and nutrition. The categories should now be visible to the right.
To show how effective this can be I have included a picture from google analytics. It shows how I went from a flat line of no visitors to a small spike when linking to Ians blogg, and then a hugh spike when people clicked through to me from his posting about this site. Simple huh?
Posted to Blogging
