Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

You are as backward as you think.

God! I hate sleep. Sleep must be from from Satan. I look at my rolex and the time is right. It is 2011 in Kenya. 1981 in Uganda and 2013 in the US. Yes, biatch! We are catching up in a year or 2.

Who in their right mind would want to sleep, while there is so much to do. So much to code. So much to learn everyday. So much to invent. So many solutions to create for human problems. So many peers to impress with your coding prowess. So many haters to prove wrong. So many doubters to show off to with your new Kompressor. Fully paid for. In Cash.

In some disciplines like Medicine, Law, Agriculture or Martial Arts, you will always be at a disadvantage if you were studying in Africa. The best doctors, lawyers etc rarely come from Africa. Lazima uende majuu ndio ukuwe mnoma. This is because these disciplines depend on structures, infrastructure, the people and finances to get the best equipment etc. One more than the other.

The same sad and colonial thinking and bench-marking used to be applied to IT until 2010. But as we get bigger and more wise, all this goes out of the window. A Kenyan Techie/Coder has THE SAME platform to leverage their knowledge like the best coders from US/K and China and Russia. This is the beauty of the Internet. Such is the beauty of being a techie. Java ni Java. MB ni MB.

Chep, A friend of a close friend of mine, just went back to the US a few weeks ago. It took her 11 days to get connected to the Internet. It takes Zuku 35 Minutes to hook up a new subscriber to SuperFast home Internet. It takes Safaricom 56 seconds to get you on Mobile Internet. Like Marie asks, “Who is in the 3rd World now?”.

An Internet connection that used to cost KSHS 56, 200 2 years ago, and was only available for Corporates now costs KSHS 2, 000 per month and is available in my bedroom. True 4mBps Internet.

We have no excuse not to be as good as if not better than our coding counter-parts out there. Even in Mars.  In the US, they develop products to serve a need for people with full stomachs. In Africa, we have REAL needs that can be solved using technology. Life or death systems. Hence we have more appeal. More opportunities to express and impress. It is no wonder tech-events gets flooded by all these people from US and Europe coming to ‘listen to’ our ideas. We have the BEST ideas.

And so the challengeth cometh in:

Kenya right now is in exactly the same position South Africa was in 2002. Mobile data and Internet matured then, in SA. Finally, we have it all. Samsung bringing in phones that make the Ideos look like a Probox. Internet connections in Kenya Faster and Better than Even South Africa. What more would you ask for?

As a tech community, we have all we have ever wanted now. It is time we rose up to the challenge.

This is the model that I am sharing with anyone who cares to ask me what the next step should be:

1. Understand the Key Concepts of Programming. Understand Software Design. Don’t learn any language yet.
2. Decide to learn a real mature CORE language. [Java, C++, Python or Erlang].
3. Decide on a space. Mobile Apps? Web Apps? Desktop (cringe!!)
4. Understand the language to the bone. Not just to finish a project. In fact don’t have a project in mind. Just Know the language.
5. Understand Optimization, Concurrency, Data Structures.
6. Then now pick a project.
7. Identify like-minded people and delegate tasks.
8. Make a difference.

Let us make sure the NEXT BIG THING comes from Kenya. Apart from Mpesa and Ushahidi, there is really nothing KENYAN to talk about. Infact, there are some claims that Mpesa is Voda and Ushahidi is Harvard. So the ball is in our court.

Back to code…

Wazi.

THINK for us, please

I have just finished the sad story of Spotify and it nearly made me spitify on my keyboard.

In the US, a lazy bum can just register a patent and sit there for years waiting for someone to ACTUALLY invent something related to the patent and the SUE them and live happily and rich ever-after.

Just a few weeks after Spotify entered the US Market, it hit 700, 000 users in the US and KUJA HAPA, they got sued for Copyright Infringement.

Pathetic. Sad. Really.

And so, you want to know, “What is this brain drain that you speak of, Salim?”. Well, read on. I will not leave you hanging.

Absence of Patent/Copyright

To my own knowledge (and I will graciously accept correction) IP law in Kenya is as nonfunctional as VB code on a Mac. Wine or no wine. Let us say I invent a way to make coders understand what all the fuss is about Justin Bieberre (See, I can’t even spell it.), It will take me 100 times longer, 100 times more hustle to get a patent for that in Kenya than in the US.

The bonus is that if I were (God forbid) a US Citizen, then it would be smooth sailing. I can come to Africa, Listen to an Idea and go patent it in the US. Then wait for these bloody Africans to go big and enter the US market with ‘My product’… and… Kaching!!

Tech-Challenges

We all know African Tech Solutions. Ushahidi, Mpesa come to mind. Apps made by Africans for Africa. Because African solutions are made on an empty stomach, they address a REAL need. A real problem. Not AngryBirds. HungryCoders. No one will give you USD 1M to start an experiment and ‘see how the market responds’ in Africa. So, Tech-challenges leave a lot of coders flat-nosed.

Tech-Challenges present another problem. We see them every now and then and I am big Fan of them, because of the investment opportunity they give local developers. But what about Idea Protection. Are we in a position to protect out ideas.

I am not going to be all nasty and disrespect IPO48, Pivo25, AppCircus or any of the local developer challenge initiatives. These challenges offer a NOBLE and REAL opportunity for Devs to get their app to the next level. But what happens after the events? What happens to the 17 who miss out after the top 3 slots have been taken.

What stops vultures from taking their ideas, shipping them to China or India and using the resources the developers don’t have (time and money) and killing another Kenyan Dream?

So, what now?

Are we fucked? It all depends. You need to decide what you want as a developer. Obviously, there is NEVER room for HelloWorld Apps in developer contests. But what about the Mutindas, the Wesongas, the HildaSams and the Mwais of the local space. How do we protect these people. How do we make sure that not winning in App contests does not spell the end?

What models can we adopt to make sure the Investor’s money is just a by-the-way. The only person I know who believes and invests actively in Local Techies financially is JM. The rest are just happy to invest old-money on old-models. 100 bob making 120 bob, instead of 100 bob making 600 bob.

I don’t yet think Mbetsa is a Millionaire as he should be. He invented a Kenya’s-First and possibly Africa’s-First. But what next after the invention?

Someone once suggested that we start a Kenyan SharkTank. But who will be the hosts?

What do you think can be done to salvage the sitiuation? Tell me. Discuss [20 Mks]

Back to code…

Wazi.

They all come in different shapes, sizes and color. Anything really. Cars, pens, niniis and kereas.

The PHP frameworks cannot be left behind. I have tried all with some various degrees of success.

I nearly gave up searching and learning and decided to design my own Framework doing all the common things I do in a pre-packaged manner. That is what a framework should do. Then cameth the enlightenment.

Kohana, YII (former PRADO), DOOPHP, Zend, CakePHP, Symphony all aim to address the purpose of a framework. To ease software development. But if I have to spend a month or 2 studying a framework, a new templating dialect, I am better off doing Erlang or Lua with my time. Seriously. By the time you start to master version 1.1, version 1.2 is released. With a completely NEW model.

Rasmus Lerdof suggests that NO ONE should use a framework. He suggests we all write a set of functions to do our common tasks and make our own ‘NoFramework’. I totally agree with this. Also, an analysis of all frameworks and models is here. CI wins.

The common failings are:

• Bloat-ware : Most systems come with alot of bloat. To just say HelloWorld, you need to load 100KB of files. Whatever happened to a simplicity?
• Tight-Coupling : Each library depends on 7 others to perform its basic tasks. One missing file, despite being totally unneeded, will render your app unusable.
• Cryptic OO – Most Framework developers are there to show off and even the most mundane PHP code is OO. Java-like classes to do simple things like DB disconnects, all for showoff. Programming/Coding is hard enough. Why add another layer of complication?
• Code that Makes coffee – Most development tasks are routine and if specialized code is needed, then plugable libraries are easier to develop/plug-in that trying to understand bundled one-solution-fits-all ‘FrameWorks’

So, Why Code-Igniter?

CodeIgniter is everything a PHP coder tired of doing the same code over and over would wish for to Santa.

I won’t type/copy-paste everything here and pretend to have come up with it so as to get traffic or an iPad, so here goes: Click and learn why.

I will start posting sites I will have done using CI here, soon.

Watch this space.

Back to code…

Wazi.

Winners. Ruthless. Focused.

Sad. Really. The harsh realities of life. But we can never run away from them.

I am one of the most Anti-Man-Urinals person you will ever meet. I hate the gay players they have (Scholes and Neville etc), the fact that they never play African Players (last played was Fortune and Djemba*2 in 2003).

Manucho and Diouf should not fool you. They will never play at OT.

But there are a few things we cannot ignore.

Realistic Arsenal Fans will tell you one thing. Arsenal will never win anything in the next 4 years. Not unless Wenger takes the finger out of his ass and signs a striker to COMPLEMENT Van Persie. Signs a real DM and a CB or 2. We also need Denilson, Almunia, Bendtner, Eboue, Chamakh and Diaby sold. Or they just resign or die. Arsenal changed from Arsenal FC to Arsenal PLC. Focused on profit. Not trophies.

Man Urinals has Chicharito + Berbatov + Rooney. All Cold-blooded motherfucking goal machines. The rest of the team are semi-skilled fighters and no-nonsense whackers. Player for player, Man U cannot match Arsenal or Chelsea. But as a team, they are a force to reckorn with. No mercy. No prisoners.

Arsene is still experimenting with Van-Persie the Master and the 3 musketeer clowns masquerading as strikers. A vanPersie who plays only 1/3 of a season. 11 quality players who do not know the meaning of TEAMWORK. Always trying the same old side-ways passing-opponents-to-death and score-the-perfect-goal approach. Year-in, year-out, still ‘building and developing’. Losing easy games to pussy teams. Meanwhile, Man Urinals rack trophy after trophy, sometimes winning games they MUST win or WERE losing.

The one and only James Allen will tell you one thing to your face. “Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him to himself.”. How you come out from a conondrum, reveals you to yourself. It does not make you stronger or weaker. It REVEALS , to you, whether you are strong or weak. There is NOTHING like luck. Champions make their own luck.

And this is something you will see in entreprenuers in Kenya.

There is the Arsenal-Type. Always with the right ideas, right knowledge. But they lack to the ball to take the bulls by the horns. Always believing that there is enough for everyone. That the world is fair. Playing to participate, not necessarily to win. If one opportunity passes, another one will surely give. If it does not, we wait for the next. And keep waiting. Loop until false.

There is, then, the Man-Urinals-Type. Always hungry and focused. Playing every game like a final. Playing to WIN all the time. Knowing that they are all mediocre players individually, but UNSTOPPABLE as a team. Complimenting each other’s frailties. Always connected. Referees, The government, the weather always seems to favor them. But after all is said, all is done, when the sun sets, they take home the hottest chic. And fuck her brains out. All night.

Tafakari hayo…

Back to TV kiasi…

Wazi..