Unfinished Projects

Things I haven’t finished:

• A tutorial on SQL for data scientists
• A tutorial on systems programming for data scientists
• A tutorial on web programming for data scientists
• A tutorial on building a dashboard engine
• A very simple static site generator for the projects listed above
• Another volume of The Architecure of Open Source Applications
• Another 15 examples focused on concurrency for Software Design by Example in Python
• Research Software Design by Example (a follow-on to Software Carpentry)
• A synthetic data generator for the project above
• Managing Research Software Projects (another follow-on to Software Carpentry)
• Building Tech Together (advice for students doing their first team project)
• Data Science for Software Engineers (which doesn’t currently have an online home)
• Software Design by Example in Roc (to explore functional programming)
• Beneath Coriandel (an adult fantasy novel told from multiple viewpoints)
• The Bookster’s Apprentice (a YA novel set in the same world)
• Still (a YA novelette based on this short story)
• Madica (a middle-grade story about fairies, ninja cats, and robot dinosaurs)
• Maddy Roo (a middle-grade story about furries and robots)
• Iffy (a YA novel about a girl growing up in a post-Melt Antarctica)
• All the Other Santas (featuring RoboSanta, Clausbeard the Pirate, Zombie Claus, and others)

What I should be working on:

1. Re-doing the slides for SDXPY and recording a 30-minute video for each chapter
2. Trying to get Beneath Coriandel, The Bookster’s Apprentice, and Still published
3. Finishing Iffy, All the Other Santas, or the sequel to Maddy Roo
4. Trying (again) to write Sex and Drugs and Guns and Code

What I’ve learned about myself:

1. I have lots of ideas, most of which don’t make as much sense to other people as they do to me.
2. I start things before I’ve thought them through.
3. I have trouble finishing things (largely because of #2).
4. I enjoy tinkering with small pieces of software much more than I enjoy contributing to large ones.
5. I enjoy teaching and mentoring more than I enjoy managing.
6. I run out of steam when I’m working on my own or don’t have a specific audience and deadline.