It has been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t writing. In fact, I was very busy with my second book. I managed to send in the draft manuscript to John Wiley & Sons a couple of weeks ago, but only after the associated sleep deprivation had become a more or less habitual insomnia. I also finished everything I wanted to do on the plugin front. Now, I am ready to blog again.
The habitualization of insomnia is probably not in vain. John Wiley and Co will get back to me with their comments and suggestions, which will keep me busy for a couple of months again working on the book. The book, Principles of Quantitative Development, is an attempt to find the niche at the intersection of computer science, mathematical finance, and the business of trading and making money. I felt that this niche was being neglected, and the void thus created may have been the proverbial straw on the camel’s back that precipitated the current financial meltdown. In setting its sight at such a large problem from its lofty soapbox, the book indeed starts with an ambitious goal, but perhaps a timely one.
On the plugin development front, my latest contribution is a translator for other plugins. It will be of interest to fellow plugin authors and their international users. It is a fairly nifty piece of software, if I may say so myself. If you want to take a quick look, here it is. Easy Translator and my other gem, Theme Tweaker, may not become as popular as my other plugins (which help bloggers make money through AdSense), but they showcase ideas and programming wizardry that few other plugins do. As you can tell, I’m rather proud of them.
Back to blogging now, coming up in the next few days will be an analysis of the philosophy of money (an idea for my next book), the reasons behind quantitative professionals’ failings, and a comparison of the work-culture in a corporate machine and the idyllic (but poorly compensated) academic life. Ah, how I miss those days. There is an old Chinese saying: Be careful what you wish for; you may get it!