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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
A pint of Black Rat, and a lazy barman

The first young lady asked for a pint of Black Rat (the local Melksham cider), and the barman asked her for proof of age. But the second young lady, who asked the for a pint of coke, was served without question.

Typical lazy barman? No - typical efficient barman!

With joined up thinking, so much can be achieved. Cutting out the unnecessary steps, avoiding duplication of effort where the results won't change in any case, and combining duties / tasks / roles / appointments so that a whole series of goals can be achieve in one step ... and thinking through what you are doing, and why you are doing it in the wider context, can make so much difference.

I'm writing this in the week that we've had a budget where government spending is to be slashed. And that's going to effect all of us, and in different ways. How much are those cuts going to hurt? Or how much could they be made by a realistic saving of resources by employing some of the joined up thinking that I'm talking about above?

Let me show you a couple of examples - both from my daughter in law's blog: [example one] and [example two]. These will open in a new tab or window .. have a look at them before you read on, please.

I content that the National Health Service could have saved a significant proportion of their costs, as well as reducing the most enormous stress on Delene and Chris (not to mention the cost to them) with a bit of wider, joined up logic. I content that the housing people, by liaising a bit more and thinking things through could have come up with something that was far better - and wouldn't be leaving the need for more expenditure by other people (including state organisations). In fact, I would go so far as to contend that between them, these two groups could have provided something that's significantly more useful, at a significant financial, stress and disruption saving.

So what will the effect of those government cuts be? If they can get things right along the lines I'm suggesting above, then the effect might be much more positive than many fear. The more thoughtful use of resources, rather than the reduction of final results. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert at planning and government - so I'm not in a position to say that this is how it should be done ... but I can see with the evidence of my own eyes that there are so many areas where less can give more.

The "barman" example comes from the way I teach the Perl Programming course. In Perl, the and operator combines two logical results - but it's lazy. In other words, Perl evaluates the first result but only goes on to evaluate the second result if the first is true. After all, if the first is false, the whole thing combined is bound to be false anyway, so what would be the point of evaluating the second?

(written 2010-06-25)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z300 - Politics and Religion
  [216] Cheap purchase - votes paid for with selfish promises - (2005-02-15)
  [257] Politics gets nasty. Must be an election coming up. - (2005-03-25)
  [280] Spotted - the local MP - (2005-04-15)
  [289] MP for Devizes, Wiltshire - (2005-04-23)
  [301] General Election day, UK - (2005-05-05)
  [313] Making bona fide international marriages more difficult - (2005-05-16)
  [326] UK Tax payment totals and where the money is spent - (2005-05-27)
  [335] Sad priorities - (2005-06-03)
  [377] A Strengthened City - (2005-07-14)
  [384] Managing conflict and disappointment - (2005-07-20)
  [415] Campaign Drift and efficiency. - (2005-08-15)
  [469] Yesterday was Kiss and Ride - (2005-10-19)
  [505] Would you steal ... petrol? ... a training course? - (2005-11-26)
  [539] rich and famous - (2005-12-23)
  [602] MP face to face - (2006-02-12)
  [607] On being British - (2006-02-14)
  [671] Both ends of the animal - (2006-04-05)
  [674] Wiltshire to get an extra MP - (2006-04-07)
  [682] Iran has enriched uranium ... - (2006-04-12)
  [696] Is than an uphill or downhill task? - (2006-04-23)
  [750] Almost everyone loses - (2006-06-07)
  [780] Separation and Integration - (2006-06-27)
  [875] Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones - (2006-09-22)
  [967] Realistic on line shoot'em up - (2006-12-05)
  [1003] Room at the Inn, Guy at the station - (2006-12-21)
  [1060] What a relief from the tax office. - (2007-02-01)
  [1109] False imprisonment - a contrast from the news - (2007-03-15)
  [1135] Government pressure on me to shut up after I make the papers - (2007-04-05)
  [1175] Local elections - choosing who to vote for - (2007-05-03)
  [1247] An afternoon at a public enquiry - (2007-06-27)
  [1260] An inspirational business talk from one of our prospective MPs - (2007-07-06)
  [1350] FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) Western Region - (2007-09-13)
  [1386] New software product for warmblooded programmers - (2007-10-10)
  [1428] Travel Across Wiltshire - the game - (2007-11-11)
  [1526] Carers at work - court case changes - (2008-02-01)
  [1573] Budget tax increases hit vehicle market - (2008-03-14)
  [1579] Rome, and the faith of Rome - (2008-03-17)
  [1729] Back from the future - (2008-07-30)
  [1769] July child ponders on August children - (2008-08-23)
  [1872] Barack Obama wins US Predidency - (2008-11-05)
  [1881] Wiltshire Council says - part 1 - (2008-11-13)
  [1882] Wiltshire Council says - part 2 - (2008-11-14)
  [1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
  [2012] The Wiltshire Police - (2009-01-29)
  [2028] Things people say on the phone - (2009-02-06)
  [2075] Supporting Parkinsons and Trains - (2009-03-11)
  [2178] Melksham Candidates for Wiltshire Unitary Election - (2009-05-12)
  [2206] Spot the odd one out - (2009-05-29)
  [2257] Ramblings on church and state linkage in Melksham - (2009-06-25)
  [2270] Wiltshire - a chance to improve life for everybody - (2009-07-05)
  [2279] Understanding the new local government structure in Wiltshire - (2009-07-11)
  [2288] Wiltshire Community Area Partnerships - (2009-07-15)
  [2353] All change - Wiltshire Parliamentary - (2009-08-13)
  [2640] How is your tax pound spent? - (2010-02-18)
  [2689] Can my dog eat potatoes? Doggie Dietary Research, and political sleaze! - (2010-03-23)
  [2712] A more informed decision than ever before - (2010-04-08)
  [2740] Melksham Hustings at George Ward School - (2010-04-26)
  [2752] Voting day - UK General Election - (2010-05-06)
  [2757] Bodicea, Lincoln, and our new MP - (2010-05-09)
  [2792] Should Government compete with private industry? - (2010-06-03)
  [2856] Two sides of the coin - (2010-07-06)
  [2864] Changing with weather and seasons - (2010-07-10)
  [2870] Old prices - what would the equivalent price have been in 1966? - (2010-07-14)
  [2948] Melksham shamefully makes the national headlines - (2010-09-07)
  [2971] Should the public sector compete with businesses? and other deep questions - (2010-09-26)
  [3051] Positively reforming the system - could it be done? - (2010-11-14)
  [3264] Alternative Vote (AV) - explaining and an example - (2011-04-25)
  [3313] What does our MP do on a Bank Holiday? - (2011-05-30)
  [3323] Is Melksham town centre dying? - (2011-06-11)
  [3325] The Olympic Torch, and Melksham House - (2011-06-14)
  [3438] Melksham to become a part of Trowbridge? - (2011-09-13)
  [3592] Are we one man, one vote? No, and we never have been. - (2012-01-26)
  [3676] Rising prices, changing habits and society - (2012-03-31)
  [3806] 2011 Census results - initial figures for Wiltshire. - (2012-07-17)
  [3845] Good cause giving - getting the charity beggars off the street - (2012-08-21)
  [3905] How should we choose our Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner? - (2012-10-27)
  [3921] On rememberance, on war, and on preventing the war cycle - (2012-11-11)
  [4079] Melksham Area - Unitary Council results, May 2013 - (2013-05-04)
  [4223] Democracy - alive and well with the beauty pagent starting up again - (2013-12-16)
  [4275] Eurpoean Elections, and other elections ahead. Some thoughts on campaigns and policies - (2014-05-08)
  [4286] Reaction in Radstock to new First bus prices - (2014-07-12)
  [4343] Politics and the railway the connects Wiltshire - (2014-12-06)
  [4354] Wiltshire Police - assuming someone is guilty just on the say-so of a member of the public? - (2014-12-16)
  [4476] Upcoming election - Chippenham Constituency - the major candidates compared - (2015-04-29)
  [4485] Misusing statistics? - the seedy side of election campaigning - (2015-05-04)
  [4489] Election results - what if we had a party list system? - (2015-05-08)
  [4548] Melksham - two small townships, or one big one? - (2015-10-22)
  [4597] Not standing as your local councillor - (2015-12-18)
  [4614] PC Plod - alive and scaremongering in Wiltshire? - (2016-01-04)
  [4625] Where does Wiltshire bus subsidy money come from? - (2016-01-19)
  [4720] Celebrating our diversity rather than discriminating for it - (2016-11-02)
  [4725] Writing Python 2 such that Python 3 is easy - (2016-11-06)
  [4729] The oldest part of Los Angeles - (2016-11-23)
  [4734] Thoughts on the new Blackmore Ward of Melksham Without Parish - (2017-02-22)
  [4735] Revisiting - should I stand for Melksham Without Parish Council in May? - (2017-02-24)

P206 - Perl - More Loops and Conditionals
  [138] Perl - redo and last without a loop - (2004-12-02)
  [299] What - no switch or case statement? - (2005-05-03)
  [657] The ternary operator in Python - (2006-03-25)
  [962] Breaking a loop - Ruby and other languages - (2006-12-03)
  [1191] Smart English Output - via PHP and Perl ? : operator - (2007-05-18)
  [1220] for loop - how it works (Perl, PHP, Java, C, etc) - (2007-06-06)
  [1582] Ruby, C, Java and more - getting out of loops - (2008-03-19)
  [1696] Saying NOT in Perl, PHP, Python, Lua ... - (2008-07-04)
  [1825] Question Mark - Colon operator (Perl and PHP) - (2008-10-08)
  [2711] For loop - checked once, or evety time? Ruby v Perl comparison and contrast - (2010-04-07)
  [2815] switch and case, or given and when in Perl - (2010-06-17)
  [2817] Setting a safety net or fallback value in Perl - (2010-06-19)
  [2832] Are you learning Perl? Some more examples for you! - (2010-06-27)
  [2892] Alternative loops and conditionals in Ruby and Perl - (2010-07-28)
  [2967] Multiway branches in Perl - the given and when syntax - (2010-09-22)
  [2972] Some more advanced Perl examples from a recent course - (2010-09-27)
  [3200] How a for loop works Java, Perl and other languages - (2011-03-12)
  [3398] Perl - making best use of the flexibility, but also using good coding standards - (2011-08-19)
  [3619] Ruby v Perl - a comparison example - (2012-02-21)
  [3914] While, for, foreach or something else to loop. - (2012-11-06)


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Perl course - is it tailored to Linux, or Microsoft Windows?
Some other Articles
Sharing our programs - easy. Sharing our data - harder.
Melksham - a gem in Wiltshire
Ruby - training for automated testing users
Perl course - is it tailored to Linux, or Microsoft Windows?
A pint of Black Rat, and a lazy barman
Where have all the bloggers gone?
Python training courses for use with ESRI ArcMap software
Chancellor George Osborne inspires Perl Program
Netiquette for forum newcomers
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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