I have just posted a "steady as she goes" message, welcoming the new decade but reassuring our customers that we're carrying on offering very much the same high quality courses, and the same high quality hotel rooms. But things can't stand totally still - they would stagnate, courses would get out of date, and hotel facilities would become dated. So there's also a sub-text of moving gently forward too. I'll give you some examples ...

* The future of MySQL is being called into question - here's a link to Monty Widenius's blog which describes the current situation with Oracle's purchase of Sun and how MySQL and its future (and monopoly considerations) are going to be causing us some interesting times. (I don't normally appreciate circular emails but in this case - THANK YOU, Monty, for emailing me as part of your list!). I will be following up with technical posts on this topic, and emphasising "keep yourself database independent" on all of our courses

* In the last couple of months of last year, we seriously upgraded our internet connection at Well House Manor; delegates and guests can now use our "50 meg" connection - more than twice the previous speed.

* Our "learning to program in xxx" courses, started as very much an occasional serice on the start of our regular courses, have become a permanent fixure in the new schedule; some of them remain on Sundays, but we're also offering them during the working week too in some cases now. See [here] for all the course descriptions, links to dates, etc.

* PHP 6, Perl 6, Python 3 ... all are at various stages along the route from being a twinkle in someone's eye to the main versions of the languages, and we're in the stages of engineering movement of our training too.

(written 2010-01-01)

 Y300 - Python 3 - What is new, what's changed and why
  [753] Python 3000 - the next generation - (2006-06-09)
  [1788] Python 2 to Python 3 / Python 3000 / Py3k - (2008-09-07)
  [1791] The road ahead - Python 3 - (2008-09-10)
  [2277] Python classes / courses - what version do we train on? - (2009-07-10)
  [2285] Great new diagrams for our notes ... Python releases - (2009-07-13)
  [2778] Learning to program in Python 2 ... and / or in Python 3 - (2010-05-24)
  [2871] Moving from Python 2.6 to Python 3 - (2010-07-14)
  [4469] Sorting in Python 3 - and how it differs from Python 2 sorting - (2015-04-20)
  [4470] Testing in Python 3 - unittest, doctest and __name__ == __main__ too. - (2015-04-21)
  [4590] Progress on moving from Python 2 to Python 3 - training for both versions - (2015-12-01)
  [4649] Object and Static methods - what is the difference; example in Python 3 - (2016-02-17)
  [4650] Why populate object with values as you construct them? - (2016-02-18)
  [4711] Convering from Python 2 to Python 3 - an update, and the 2to3 utility - (2016-10-30)
  [4712] A reminder of the key issues to consider in moving from Python 2 to Python 3 - (2016-10-30)

S050 - MySQL - General
  [2053] What a difference a MySQL Index made - (2009-02-25)
  [2085] MySQL - licensing issues, even with using the name - (2009-03-16)
  [2134] Oracle take over Sun who had taken over MySQL - (2009-04-21)
  [2240] How do I query a database (MySQL)? - (2009-06-15)
  [2426] Which version of MySQL am I running? - (2009-09-26)
  [2561] The future of MySQL - (2010-01-03)
  [2567] Extra MySQL course dates (2 day course, UK) - (2010-01-08)
  [2861] MySQL and Java - connectivity past, present, and future thoughts - (2010-07-09)
  [3361] Blowing our own trumpet - MySQL resources - (2011-07-18)

P256 - Perl 6 Look Ahead
  [89] When will Perl 6 be available - (2004-10-15)
  [113] A Parallel for Perl 6 - (2004-11-09)
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [582] DWIM and AWWO - (2006-01-30)
  [995] Ruby's case - no break - (2006-12-17)
  [1215] An update on Perl - where is it going? - (2007-06-03)
  [1417] What software version do we teach? - (2007-10-31)
  [1721] Perl 6 - When will we have a production release? - (2008-07-26)
  [2815] switch and case, or given and when in Perl - (2010-06-17)
  [2816] Intelligent Matching in Perl - (2010-06-18)
  [2817] Setting a safety net or fallback value in Perl - (2010-06-19)
  [2967] Multiway branches in Perl - the given and when syntax - (2010-09-22)
  [3077] Perl 6 - significantly nearer, and Rakudo looks very good - (2010-12-02)

M152 - Well House Manor - Hotel Facilities
  [1328] Oliver says .... - (2007-09-01)
  [2076] A New Advert for Well House Manor - (2009-03-11)
  [2216] Past Delegate Offer - Summer Holiday / Weekend Break - (2009-06-03)
  [2303] Turning potential customers away - (2009-07-24)
  [2424] A Winter Weekend Special at Well House Manor - (2009-09-26)
  [2490] Friendly Hotel in Melksham, near Bath - (2009-11-02)
  [2847] Local information for Melksham Hotel Guests - (2010-07-02)
  [3212] Well House Manor - a home from home for the business and leisure guest in Melksham - (2011-03-26)
  [3296] Dog, hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire? - (2011-05-21)
  [3308] Behind the scenes - setting up a cafe - (2011-05-29)
  [3373] Another busy Week at Well House Manor ... pictures from the midweek - (2011-07-29)
  [3437] Light bulbs - (2011-09-13)
  [3549] Well House Manor - perhaps the best hotel rooms in Melksham - (2011-12-10)
  [3552] Melksham Training Centre and Hotel internet speed - how does it compare? - (2011-12-14)
  [3831] Our Melksham Hotel is not quiet - but we are waiting to give you a quiet welcome. Big difference! - (2012-08-09)
  [3863] Five new fans at Well House Manor - (2012-09-17)
  [3865] What makes Well House Manor different? - (2012-09-18)
  [3924] The bedrooms at Well House Manor - (2012-11-16)
  [4019] Coffee Shop in Melksham - (2013-02-24)
  [4026] The coffee of the Stars comes to Melksham - (2013-03-04)
  [4521] Should we get an AA or Visit Wiltshire hotel assessment? - (2015-10-09)
  [4582] A near-empty plate of pastries - sign of a breakfast enjoyed - (2015-11-22)
  [4614] PC Plod - alive and scaremongering in Wiltshire? - (2016-01-04)
  [4644] In your room at Well House Manor, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2016-02-08)

H050 - PHP - General
  [116] The next generation of programmer - (2004-11-13)
  [235] Preparation for a day's work - (2005-03-04)
  [1722] PHP examples - source code and try it out too - (2008-07-26)
  [2097] PHP Course - for hobby / club / charity users. - (2009-03-22)
  [2222] A (biased?) comparison of PHP courses in the UK - (2009-06-07)
  [2227] Learning PHP, Ruby, Lua and Python - upcoming courses - (2009-06-11)
  [2400] Are you wanting to learn PHP? - (2009-09-08)
  [2430] Not just a PHP program - a good web application - (2009-09-29)
  [2504] Learning to program in ... - (2009-11-15)
  [2589] Your PHP code does not work? Here is where to start looking. - (2010-01-18)
  [2663] Improve your PHP on a weekend away - (2010-03-05)
  [3025] Learning to Program ... in PHP. Course examples. - (2010-11-01)
  [3530] A typical weekend?? - (2011-11-28)
  [3952] PHP revision ... by example. - (2012-12-15)
  [3966] Our examples work with any recent version of PHP - (2013-01-01)
  [4314] PHP training - refreshed modern course, backed up by years of practical experience - (2014-11-16)

Back to Happy new decade - and course and hotel prices for 2010

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Training comparison to QA Training, Learning Tree, GB Direct.

Efficient debugging of regular expressions
Tuning the web site for sailing on through this year
Training comparison to QA Training, Learning Tree, GB Direct.
Moving the product forward - ours, and MySQL, Perl, PHP and Python too
Happy new decade - and course and hotel prices for 2010
Rail Campaign - response to core consultation
Railway Station Survey - please complete today or tomorrow
Bookkeeping
Adding retrospective ALT attributes to IMG