If we can have 'artisanal' bread and beer, I don't see why we can't have 'artisanal' software!

And there is a sale of artisanal software over at:
https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/

My own Hyper Plan and Easy Data Transform software are on sale at 25% off. Other CRIMPing favourites such as Tinderbox, Scrivener and Devonthink are also on sale.

Note that some of the software is Mac only.

Thanks, Andy. I've taken advantage of one of the offers.

HyperPlan has been very useful as a companion to task lists.

In my world, managers and customers always craft guaranteed failure modes before making requests. It's like they want to win the lottery, but there's a use case mandate to deliver the winnings by winged unicorns and fairy godmother carriages.

I regularly use HyperPlan to keep track of tasks, categorizing modes of constipation against managers experiencing urgency.

The first part of such projects is always stressful. Once developers can get managers fighting among themselves, we poor soldiers in the trenches have a chance to deliver polished solutions in a relaxed, manager-free, work environment.

HyperPlan is great.

Andy Brice wrote:

My own Hyper Plan and Easy Data Transform software are on sale at 25%
off. Other CRIMPing favourites such as Tinderbox, Scrivener and
Devonthink are also on sale.

Note that some of the software is Mac only.

I just saw the video for Easy Data Transform - impressive!

Our local property tax district is out of control. I asked for a copy of the tax roll and got a text file containing a single line of 336 million characters. Deliberately, I'm sure, no explanation of the data format was given.

Some research in their budget revealed a software vendor which led to documentation of the file format. I'm sure they intended me to not make sense out of what they sent. Python is my friend, and I wrote a class that parses the data, which is about five data structures intermingled.

Curiously, there are totals records in the file which are wildly wrong. I'm very curious what else I can find.

Rather than spend a lot of time coding, I'm going to see what Easy Data Transform will do, either with the raw fixed length records or with excerpts I can write from the file in CSV or Excel format.

Andy Brice wrote:

My own Hyper Plan and Easy Data Transform software are on sale at 25%
off. Other CRIMPing favourites such as Tinderbox, Scrivener and
Devonthink are also on sale.

Note that some of the software is Mac only.

categorizing modes of constipation

Ha. Maybe I should A/B test that as a tag line on the home page. ;0)

HyperPlan is great.

Thanks!

I just saw the video for Easy Data Transform - impressive!

Thanks. The video is of a rather old version. I need to re-do it.

Our local property tax district is out of control. I asked for a copy of
the tax roll and got a text file containing a single line of 336 million
characters. Deliberately, I'm sure, no explanation of the data format
was given.

That is pretty inexcusable.

"All professions are conspiracies against the laity" (George Bernard-Shaw)

Some research in their budget revealed a software vendor which led to
documentation of the file format. I'm sure they intended me to not make
sense out of what they sent. Python is my friend, and I wrote a class
that parses the data, which is about five data structures intermingled.

Curiously, there are totals records in the file which are wildly wrong.
I'm very curious what else I can find.

Rather than spend a lot of time coding, I'm going to see what Easy Data
Transform will do, either with the raw fixed length records or with
excerpts I can write from the file in CSV or Excel format.

You can often combine transforms together to do things that aren't immediately obvious. Just ask on https://forum.easydatatransform.com/ if you get stuck on anything.

Andy Brice

Apologies if this is a duplicate post. My browser burped. I don't see my post. I resurrected the below from browser history.

Andy,

I bought Easy Data Plan. Currently, I have only one use for it. I could easily complete my data examination in the trial period, but that would leave me vulnerable in the future.

After all, Marshall Dillon doesn't settle his differences at high noon with a six-gun out on a test drive.

Batman doesn't rent his cape.

Easy Data Transform easily handled 350 meg of tax roll data. The only thing I had to do was add a line feed after each fixed length record and write different embedded record types to different files. Pfft, mere seconds of work in Python.

I had hundreds of columns to rename. There were bunches of repeated columns non-nerds would need to retype repeatedly. Keyboard Maestro solved that, but it would be a nice feature to be able to highlight a range of column names in the "rename" transform, copy, and paste either into additional columns, or to duplicate in a different transform.

There were also cases where I skipped a column in the rename transform. That would have meant retyping columns from the point of error forward, over a hundred on my first such goof. Again, KM did the trick with a macro to start at the bottom and jog each name down by one.

Perhaps the coolest cure would be able to load column names from a single-line CSV file. Or, better yet, slurp off the top line of a CSV to rename columns.

Anyway, I hate to gush, but Easy Data Transform is really cool. IBM InfoSphere would do the trick, too, but I don't know how I could hide the $2,500/month subscription from my wife. Altair has a nice solution, too, but at $2,000/year it would still leave a mark on my wife's pesky spreadsheets.

Given the price of other solutions, I owe you an apology for buying Easy Data Transform at the SummerFest pricing. Really crass of me, but, see above, my wife's spreadsheets are a force.

And, snickering with the panache of Snidely Whiplash twirling his mustache, I now have data science tools for analyzing her spreadsheets and correlating her Amazon purchases!

Er, wish me luck on that one.

Easy Data Transform easily handled 350 meg of tax roll data. The only
thing I had to do was add a line feed after each fixed length record and
write different embedded record types to different files. Pfft, mere
seconds of work in Python.

You might have been able to do that with the 'split rows' transform. Hard to say without seeing your data.

I had hundreds of columns to rename. There were bunches of repeated
columns non-nerds would need to retype repeatedly. Keyboard Maestro
solved that, but it would be a nice feature to be able to highlight a
range of column names in the "rename" transform, copy, and paste either
into additional columns, or to duplicate in a different transform.

There were also cases where I skipped a column in the rename transform.
That would have meant retyping columns from the point of error forward,
over a hundred on my first such goof. Again, KM did the trick with a
macro to start at the bottom and jog each name down by one.

Perhaps the coolest cure would be able to load column names from a
single-line CSV file. Or, better yet, slurp off the top line of a CSV to
rename columns.

You can substite a header row from another file. Just input it and 'stack' it on top of your data (align by column number).

I have also thought about providing find and replace as part of the 'rename cols' transform.

The 'split rows' might have avoided having so many columns.

Anyway, I hate to gush, but Easy Data Transform is really cool. IBM
InfoSphere would do the trick, too, but I don't know how I could hide
the $2,500/month subscription from my wife. Altair has a nice solution,
too, but at $2,000/year it would still leave a mark on my wife's pesky
spreadsheets.

Given the price of other solutions, I owe you an apology for buying Easy
Data Transform at the SummerFest pricing. Really crass of me, but, see
above, my wife's spreadsheets are a force.

At least with the Summerfest promotion, I'm not paying any commission, just an up-front contribution to the publicity. Thanks Mark Bernstein of Tinderbox (the organizer)!

And, snickering with the panache of Snidely Whiplash twirling his
mustache, I now have data science tools for analyzing her spreadsheets
and correlating her Amazon purchases!

Er, wish me luck on that one.

Software can only do so much. ;0)

We are a bit off-topic. But feel free to email me Easy Data Transform related questions at the support email (https://www.easydatatransform.com/support.html or post on https://forum.easydatatransform.com/

I wish I had a use for Easy Data Transform. I watched the demo video and was amazed by the power and ease of use.

I am a happy user of HyperPlan and can vouch for Andy’s responsiveness as a developer.

Thanks! I really most update that video...

What follows can be considered a brief ode to artisanal software, so in topic :)

I think I bought Easy Data Transform briefly after it came out. I used it for one particular thing which would have taken me hours to do otherwise, so it paid for itself straight away.

Since then I have used it no more than a few times, but each time it is the same: I need some data manipulation, I think that perhaps EDT will do it, and then find that it does.

(I remember years ago Steve Z. writing something similar about Zoot.)

On one occasion it didn't (concatenate rows) so I thought of writing to Andy to consider adding it. By the time I got round to this particular to-do, version 1.18 was out and, of course, it had that function too:
https://www.easydatatransform.com/easydatatransform_v180.html

This ethic of constant improvement is characteristic of what I can only call a craftmanship attitude, going far beyond corporate kaizen.

I am certain that Mark Bernstein has chosen well other participants to this sale. It's one of the few times that I wish I had a Mac.

The following video on the value of craft may be of interest to others who think alike:
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/02/new-documentary-the-future-is-handmade-reflects-on-the-values-of-craftsmanship


Amontillado wrote:

Anyway, I hate to gush, but Easy Data Transform is really cool. IBM
InfoSphere would do the trick, too, but I don't know how I could hide
the $2,500/month subscription from my wife. Altair has a nice solution,
too, but at $2,000/year it would still leave a mark on my wife's pesky
spreadsheets.

Given the price of other solutions, I owe you an apology for buying Easy
Data Transform at the SummerFest pricing. Really crass of me, but, see
above, my wife's spreadsheets are a force.

The resoundingly positive accolades for Easy Transform had me questioning whether I would need it. I can usually cobble together a data transformation in some language or another on my own accord. It occurred to me however that I spend significant time on one particular transformation. We get grade reports from our LMS in an exhaustively full set of columns as a CSV. We have no way to limit the export of data at the LMS. I usually import the full dataset to a spreadsheet (Numbers), duplicate the tab, and then tediously cut out the columns that are of no interest.

Light bulb moment ...

* It might be easier if I pass the full CSV through a transformation first to remove the undesired columns.
* If I can create a useful set of transform templates, I can offer them to my colleagues.
* Easy Transform works on both macOS and Windows.

I've just taken advantage of the sale.

Thanks for the supporting discussions!

So well said, Alexander!



Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

What follows can be considered a brief ode to artisanal software, so in
topic :)

I think I bought Easy Data Transform briefly after it came out. I used
it for one particular thing which would have taken me hours to do
otherwise, so it paid for itself straight away.

Since then I have used it no more than a few times, but each time it is
the same: I need some data manipulation, I think that perhaps EDT will
do it, and then find that it does.

(I remember years ago Steve Z. writing something similar about Zoot.)

On one occasion it didn't (concatenate rows) so I thought of writing to
Andy to consider adding it. By the time I got round to this particular
to-do, version 1.18 was out and, of course, it had that function too:
https://www.easydatatransform.com/easydatatransform_v180.html

This ethic of constant improvement is characteristic of what I can only
call a craftmanship attitude, going far beyond corporate kaizen.

I am certain that Mark Bernstein has chosen well other participants to
this sale. It's one of the few times that I wish I had a Mac.

The following video on the value of craft may be of interest to others
who think alike:
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/02/new-documentary-the-future-is-handmade-reflects-on-the-values-of-craftsmanship


Amontillado wrote:
>Anyway, I hate to gush, but Easy Data Transform is really cool. IBM
>InfoSphere would do the trick, too, but I don't know how I could hide
>the $2,500/month subscription from my wife. Altair has a nice solution,
>too, but at $2,000/year it would still leave a mark on my wife's pesky
>spreadsheets.
>
>Given the price of other solutions, I owe you an apology for buying
Easy
>Data Transform at the SummerFest pricing. Really crass of me, but, see
>above, my wife's spreadsheets are a force.

Deliyannis wrote:

What follows can be considered a brief ode to artisanal software, so in
topic :)

I think I bought Easy Data Transform briefly after it came out. I used
it for one particular thing which would have taken me hours to do
otherwise, so it paid for itself straight away.

Since then I have used it no more than a few times, but each time it is
the same: I need some data manipulation, I think that perhaps EDT will
do it, and then find that it does.

(I remember years ago Steve Z. writing something similar about Zoot.)

On one occasion it didn't (concatenate rows) so I thought of writing to
Andy to consider adding it. By the time I got round to this particular
to-do, version 1.18 was out and, of course, it had that function too:
https://www.easydatatransform.com/easydatatransform_v180.html

This ethic of constant improvement is characteristic of what I can only
call a craftmanship attitude, going far beyond corporate kaizen.

I am certain that Mark Bernstein has chosen well other participants to
this sale. It's one of the few times that I wish I had a Mac.

Alexander

Thanks for the kind words!

I just want to create software that I can feel proud of and other people find useful. I have no desire to be the next Google. I wrote a bit about that here:
https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programming/

The following video on the value of craft may be of interest to others
who think alike:
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/02/new-documentary-the-future-is-handmade-reflects-on-the-values-of-craftsmanship

I will watch that when I get chance.

Andy Brice

Bought Nisus Writer Pro and may also buy Booksend soon.

Hope next year there is a larger selection of software.
Missing for example "The Brain" and "FoxTrot"

Does already having 14 licenses for the 20 candidates on offer make me an artisan then?

Or an OACRIMPER (overachieving CRIMPER)?

Prion

Andy Brice wrote:

If we can have 'artisanal' bread and beer, I don't see why we can't have
'artisanal' software!

And there is a sale of artisanal software over at:
https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/

My own Hyper Plan and Easy Data Transform software are on sale at 25%
off. Other CRIMPing favourites such as Tinderbox, Scrivener and
Devonthink are also on sale.

Note that some of the software is Mac only.

They should offer one free app for every 4 one purchases ;)

Prion wrote:

Does already having 14 licenses for the 20 candidates on offer make me
an artisan then?

You've got me beat. I only have 8 licenses!


Prion wrote:

Does already having 14 licenses for the 20 candidates on offer make me
an artisan then?

Or an OACRIMPER (overachieving CRIMPER)?

Prion

Andy Brice wrote:
If we can have 'artisanal' bread and beer, I don't see why we can't have
>'artisanal' software!
>
>And there is a sale of artisanal software over at:
>https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/
>
>My own Hyper Plan and Easy Data Transform software are on sale at 25%
>off. Other CRIMPing favourites such as Tinderbox, Scrivener and
>Devonthink are also on sale.
>
>Note that some of the software is Mac only.

Nine. (Though two are older versions I never updated because of disuse.) But I only use one daily, and maybe 1-2 more monthly. Good group of apps though.

Prion wrote:

Does already having 14 licenses for the 20 candidates on offer make me
an artisan then?

That is committed crimping!

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

They should offer one free app for every 4 one purchases ;)

As long as it isn't one of mine! ;0)