The Weekend at Cameron Highlands
I spent the weekend at Cameron Highlands, at the most excellent Father’s Guesthouse, for a weekend of hacking with Aizatto, Khailee, Khalid and Usher. Given the cheap availability of wifi Internet access, relatively cheap accomodation, decent food and comfy sofa’s, I was pumped to go crystalize some of the ideas bouncing around in my head.
Funnily enough, I received the same room as I was in previously 6 months ago. I wonder if they reserve certain rooms for Malaysians. It was raining a little which led to lower temperatures then expected. Next time, I’ll bring a sweater.
I got some code written up. It has become a force of habit for me to now determine the correct observation points to analyze the system and thus think through and work out the design of the various aspects of the code before actually sitting down and writing it; and even whilst writing it, to continually improve it, if proven necessarily. This had lead to slower developmental speed, but the overall quality of my code is much better. It’s particularly nice to see the various pieces fit together slowly and after several months of hacking, seeing it come together elegantly.
The code I wrote will be open sourced at some point when it is usable. Right now, I need to ensure the core design is resilient and well structured. However, I am not sure whether the code will ever make its way into a product as I built the software to solve a specific document management problem I have been having for several years now, although I can see how it can benefit others - hence the decision to open source it at some point.
Another positive thing I learnt in Cameron Highlands is the game gin-rummy, an amazingly addictive card game. I was losing constantly though, no doubt thanks to getting Happy (note the capital H) 
I was working out the parameters of the game really, with n-different people, how does one maximize the chance of minimizing losses given the inherent unpredictably present in the game? The skill of counting cards is a must when playing against experienced players as is the ability to switch strategies to throw off the others who may be counting my cards 
I met Gabriel, an interesting geographer, from Switzerland. He had just finished his Masters and had cycled (on a bicycle, even!) all the way from Singapore to Kelantan on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In 8 days! Amazing, I must say. We had an interesting conversation on the politics of Malaysia. Gabriel, if you ever make your way to Kuala Lumpur, my couch is available for your surfing
The trip back to KL was … very surreal I’ll leave it at that!
In any case, I look forward to having another hacking session at Cameron Highlands.
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