About
I am a freelance J2EE/Web/Ruby programmer and can build and host web sites.
I’ve been doing C, C++, SQL, Java, Unix and Ruby on Rails for twenty two years for a wide range of clients. I try not to get dogmatic about particular technologies and prefer to choose the best one for each specific job.
Most of all I enjoy joining software together to make something that’s more than the sum of the parts.
Until recently my bread and butter was J2EE based web applications, but I got a bit fed up with components that complicate life without the corresponding pay off (like Java Server Faces, SOAP, EJBs, CORBA) and started to play with Ruby on Rails (RoR).
I’ve written quite a few RoR sites but they tend to become obsolescent too quickly as Ruby and Rails evolves at such a break neck speed. Through RoR I discovered RESTful programming and have enjoyed joining stuff together using simple HTTP calls. I love the idea that you can write components in your favourite language and have them talk to each other in a simple way.
I also love to incorporate maps into anything. I heard recently that the Ordnance Survey in the UK are going to make all of their data free to use (At last). This is bound to boost the number of mash ups using data and geography, especially for government data.
I prefer to use shareware or free ware or whatever it says on the tin.
I live in Nottingham and because we’ve got a young family prefer to work close to home. I used to vow that I would never work in Grantham, but now I’m older, more tolerant and aware that there is a recession on.
Guy Roberts MSc MBA
+44 115 7149922
