The Geek Talk

Who is Ben Alman?

I’m a thirty-something web developer living and working in the Boston area. I work at Bocoup as Director of Training and Pluginization, where I am responsible for the development of beginner and advanced JavaScript, jQuery and HTML5 training curricula. In addition to my training and client work at Bocoup, I write articles and give presentations advocating JavaScript and jQuery code organization techniques and best practices.

Where and when did you start programming?

I’ve been “programming” for a long time. Somewhere around the third grade, I got a hold of some Micro Adventure books and Family Computing magazines, which had me typing in BASIC programs by hand on both Commodore 64 and TI-99/4A computers. At the time, I generally understood the logic, but had no idea what all the DATA statements did. And there were a lot of DATA statements in those programs.

(many years pass)

After a few years of computer science at WPI, I got tired of programming, sold my computer, and went to UMass to study music. Of course, just a few years later, I decided to just get out of school completely and get a job. And before too long, the computer I had then bought for multi-track recording ended up becoming a gaming / web dev machine. With my acquisition of a high-speed cable modem, I started playing online multiplayer FPS games, mainly Starsiege: Tribes. And, unsurprisingly, as a precursor to the “modern-day cowboy” I wrote a handful of very popular Tribes scripts (mHUD, CmdHUD, SwimsuitHUD, etc) as well a the SuperIP gaming script for mIRC, among other things.

At the same time, I was doing some Flash and HTML work for friends’ bands, and once I had built up a decent (mostly Flash) portfolio, I ended up getting a job with an agency, Cosmic Blender, that I kept for eight years. I worked with a good team over there, and did a lot of fancy, high-profile projects for big clients, which was a lot of fun.

Why JavaScript?

After doing a lot (A LOT) of Flash work, I had a choice: I could finally learn ActionScript 3.0, or I could get more into JavaScript. At the time, I was actually looking for a new job doing more Flash work, but things kept falling through. I finally found a role at Pangea Media which required substantial Flash dev up-front, creating the Quibblo.com flash quiz widget, but which then transitioned into a more straightforward HTML / JS / CSS role.

This got me looking at JavaScript and open source more seriously. I never really considered myself an “open source” guy, but it just seemed to work out that way. I share my ideas, those ideas help people, they help me, it’s all good. I’m sure that my obsessing over code quality, documentation and unit tests factors into that, somewhere, too. But if you were to ask me what my first open source jQuery or JavaScript plugin was… well, I have no idea. It was just one of those things. Started small, got bigger, etc.

You favorite IDE. JS Framework?

I initially started using jQuery in 2007. Actually, not too long ago, I looked back at the first project I used jQuery on, and while I used $(document).ready(fn), I was also still using all my custom-written DOM event / AJAX helper functions. Apparently, at the time, I had no idea what jQuery could really do. Of course, over the next few years, I was able to throw out all that redundant stuff, making my projects smaller and simpler.. and much easier to maintain. At some point, I decided to start releasing the little projects that I had been working on at work, or on my own time, as open source jQuery plugins, and the rest is pretty much history. I think i have 35 plugins on my site now, with a few dozen more (at least) in gists on GitHub.

So, obviously I like jQuery. I contribute to the jQuery and jQuery Mobile projects, I teach people how to use jQuery and JavaScript better in my job as Director of Training at Bocoup. While I’ve looked at other frameworks and libraries, I haven’t spent too much time with them because jQuery does what I need a lib to do (and enables my plugin-creation habit).

In terms of IDE, I’m currently using TextMate, but am seriously looking at MacVim.

What does your typical day look like?

It really depends. On days that I’m training, my day is spent sitting or standing in front of a projector, explaining to a group of developers how best to use jQuery and JavaScript to help them do their job better. Usually those days are part lecture, part workshop, with lots of Q&A thrown in. On days that I’m not training, I’m either preparing new training materials or using some of my Bocoup open-source time to work on something JavaScript-related. Other days, I’m traveling, speaking at (or just attending) a conference, or doing client consulting work or code audits.

What do you do in your free time?

It’s hard to draw a line between my work time and my free time, because it all seems to go into the same place, namely “open source” or “learning” but I’m an avid photographer and I play bass in a few funk bands in the Boston area. I’m also working on an album, but it’s going to take a while, because there’s so much stuff to do! I’m also married, we have two awesome cats, and life is good.

Current favorite apps?

My current favorite app is Google Chrome. It’s a great browser with really excellent dev tools. I also really like LaunchBar. It’s like QuickSilver, but not free (and IMO better). Also, Linkinus for IRC (with the Simplified theme, of course), Echofon for Twitter, and Adium for everything else. DropBox is pretty indispensable, and I’ve come to love Git Tower lately. Oh, and Reaper is an incredible DAW if you’re into recording audio.

What OS do you prefer?

I really like OS X these days. I spent a long time on Windows, and once 10.3 came out, I pretty much never looked back. At this point, with my current Macbook Pro, I can run Win7 in a VM all day long and have no problems, so I can do pretty much anything I need to. I used Linux back when Slackware came on 40 floppies, and have recently considered Ubuntu, but since I use Aperture and Photoshop for my photo workflow it rules Linux out (for now, at least).

Small picture for your Workplace?

I generally like things neat and tidy, but my workspace is always a mess of papers, toys, etc. Combine this with all the JSConf schwag I brought home, and my workspace is a total disaster right now. But you asked!

If you want a far less messy (and somewhat more exciting) workspace photo, check out my music-making setup. It’s evolved a little since this photo, but is still pretty much the same:

Name something that has inspired you recently?

I just came back from JSConf, which was an amazing conference. It was so easy to be inspired by all the incredibly talented people in attendance. I saw some excellent presentations, met and talked to some very smart people, and drank a lot of REALLY awesome beer. It was a great time.

What do you prefer (and why)? Freelance work or full time employment?

Working at Bocoup is awesome. I work full time, but get to work on the things I find interesting, which is mainly JavaScript-based training and open source work. As a result, I usually route all freelance work requests through to Boaz (also at Bocoup) so I don’t have to deal with the distraction. I definitely prefer full time work, both for the overall security and benefits, but also because I get to work with people who can handle some of the logistical stuff I typically don’t want to get involved with.

What are your personal projects and goals for 2011?

My top priority at the moment is finishing up the small Ruby Git ORM project, Gaucho, that I’ve started. It’s one of those things where if I could’ve used something off-the-shelf, I would have, but nothing that already existed met my needs. So, I’ve been learning Ruby (which I love, BTW) and am working my way through understanding best practices and such. When I’m done, I’ll have a gem, a sample site, and of course, the impetus for all of this: redoing benalman.com so that all the content is in Git and easily forked / tweaked / etc.

Other 2011 goals include revamping jQuery BBQ, JavaScript Debug, and promoting as many of the only-in-gist jQuery plugins and JavaScript code to full projects on GitHub and on my site as I can. All that, plus more work on my songs and album, photography, and life in general. It’s going to be a pretty busy year.