This post marks the "true" beginning of this blog, and the datafaber.com web site. And, as any good article, it should provide the answer to the canonical five questions.

Who
My name is Sebastiano Pilla, born and living in Treviso (Italy). I'm 30 years old. I design and develop software for a living, my main area of expertise is web-based applications and I mainly develop in Java with Oracle and PostgreSQL databases. I just left (voluntarily) one job as software engineer in a fairly well-known Treviso-based company to join a new, much smaller company where I'll be (if everything goes well) the principal software architect and developer.

As for my personal life, I'm single, the girlfriend spot not likely to be filled anytime soon.

Why
It all started last November, when I came back to Italy from a job interview at a large UK vehicle manufacturer: I don't know exactly why, but I was bored beyond belief, I couldn't stand my work-home-work routine anymore, not finding anything interesting to do. I then decided to build my own place on the web, to have a place where I could express and share my opinions, and fulfill my need to write and to be heard. I need to improve my written English, because it's the language I use the most while working, so it'll be the language for the vast majority of posts and articles; there will be the occasional post in Italian, while for the moment I don't feel so confident in my French to expose it in public.

What
Mostly technical stuff, for example developing web applications with Oracle and Java. One topic I'll try to cover extensively in the near future is the (very disturbing IMHO) trend of using O/R mappers. Of course, the topics will be heavily influenced by my previous and current work experiences. Post about other things, such as everyday life, news, etc. will be the minority (unless something incredibly interesting happens all of a sudden and I cannot keep the juicy details to myself).

Another post will follow shortly, with a description of the blog implementation I'm using. It was all written by myself, it runs on the Tomcat servlet container with a PostgreSQL database holding all the data. I used the excellent WebWork and SiteMesh frameworks written by the fine folks at OpenSymphony. The site is hosted at JSP-Servlet.net, well worth checking out if you need JSP web site hosting: they have good prices and prompt and competent support.

When
I'll try to do my best, but I already know I'll neglect this blog from time to time. Unfortunately I won't have a fast Internet connection for a couple weeks still, and therefore blog updates and improvements will take some time.

Where
Does it matter? Not really...