Bio: Alfred Blaho

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Bio: Alfred Blaho
07-Aug-2003 -- Susan Pichotta
 
This week's Icetips Bio takes us to Eastern Europe, home of a well-known Clarionite - and our first bio from the Czech Republic. An artist-programmer with a passion for film that matches his passion for Clarion, he's also a proud father and husband. Packed full of wonderful pictures (including a castle or two;) his bio highlights his work and his views on life.
 
Who do you work for?
After several years spent in various IT companies in different positions, I have finally found a chance (a contract) to work again fully with Clarion. This has enabled me to get back to the job of free-lance programmer and establish my own one-man company (maybe, some of our friends here already visited my site - ArtOfProgramming.NET). I have a fully equipped home office for telecommuting and am able to work remotely for customers from all over the world. At the present our last project was successfully finished and I'm just looking for a new interesting project.
 
What do you like best about what you do now?
I like the independence and the chance to work straight away without being tied up by some internal rules regarding the dress code or working hours. I am glad that I managed to leave such a still job in a world-wide company, that I had been working for and fling myself to the independent programmer's work.
 
What has been one of your biggest challenges in using Clarion?

Prague Castle

The most interesting thing is the possibility to work with Clarion - really the best development tool for database applications in the world. But all readers know what I am talking about, don't they? I love the freedom to work whenever and wherever I want to and I am able to devote to this freedom my comfort and work night and day with full engagement and effort.
 
I am a creative personality but in the course of my experience I proved the necessity to stick to the rules of programming so that the team work is effective and the code is well readable also after a couple of years. And this is what I like most - the possibility of creative freedom in the framework of the rules.
 
What has been one of your biggest challenges in business?

The Charles Bridge is the oldest bridge in Prague that crosses the Vltava River, in the center of Prague. It was founded by King Charles IV in 1357 and completed at the beginning of the 15th century.

Every project in which I could use Clarion was a big success, because I could show to all around that Clarion enables you to create quickly a useful prototype and then diversify the basic functionality. I have created several very successful applications in the DOS version of Clarion. Do you remember - virtual screens, text/picture mixing on one window or DOS DLL technology? However the biggest success in the Windows environment that I had was two Client/Server applications for the widespread Short Message (SMS) center and GSM Prepaid system in the world using the Oracle databases, Informix and MySQL.
 
Do you use any computer languages besides Clarion?

Castle Karlstein, Prague

In the course of my programmer's life I have learned several programming languages - have learned and forgotten again <g>. I have experienced purge-cards on the IBM 360 computer and my first program was in Cobol. Since that time I have learned to create programs in ADA, PL1, Fortran, Culprit, Clipper, FoxPro, Pascal, C/C++, Java....
 
I have checked up that all the languages are essentially the same and to cope with a new language fast means "only" to understand the philosophy and logic of the proposal in the given environment (syntax and conventions are odds and ends). I have checked my proficiency to learn any programming language very quickly. For that I thank my first programming teacher (Thanks, Anthony!).
 

Small houses built into a gothic fortification, the 16th century homes of castle riflemen and craftsmen. From 1916-1917 Franz Kafka used to work in No. 22.

Thanks to the chance to work in an international company I could learn to work with "big" databases - Oracle, Informix, DB2 in a heterogeneous environment, and I have obtained a great deal of experience in the Unix environment. I like the possibility of not being bound by only the Windows environment and to understand the Unix technologies as well. A man gets through that a better understanding for customers' needs while processing a great amount of data records in databases. And you know, the best enterprise database solution is to use one of the top SQL databases on a Unix system with a Clarion client on Windows.
 
Nowadays, other than Clarion, I am using the SQL language (T-SQL, PL-SQL) and use intensively MS SQL, mySQL and Oracle databases, so my second specialization are SQL Triggers and Stored Procedures.
 
When did you start using Clarion?
In 1989 during a visit at my friends, I had the chance to meet the DOS version of Clarion and since that time I have become addicted to its magic, philosophy and logic. At that time it was the only development

Castle Kutna Hora, Prague

tool for dB applications (there was not even the FoxPro on the market, only dBase and Clipper had been available). What an excellent work it was to create the screens in Clarion! What an excellent technology in Clarion Database Developer! Although I had had to work with other languages and in other environments I always got back to Clarion and every company I had been working for I persuaded to buy this wonderful tool. Yeah, a Clarion missionary <g>.
 
What's the coolest project(s) you've worked on using Clarion?
The coolest project was perhaps the development of the application for the National Movie Institution - creation of the database of movies, actors and all movie makers using the archiving of pictures and video demos of the movies into the databases. I could put together the job with my hobby - my love for movies with my love of programming.
 

Luisa and Alfred

Have you done anything for a living other than software development?
After graduation I started as programmer but later on I was chopping and changing jobs. I used to be a photographer, cameraman, creative writer, manager of an advertisement agency, teacher of IT, head of IT department ... but besides all these professions I was always a programmer because every activity is always in a certain way connected with computers.
 
I think a man should try more professions during the life in order to prove what direction is the right one for him, which area brings him the best success and what makes him fully satisfied.
 
What are your hobbies/what do you like to do when you're not using Clarion?
I like to take photos, make video movies (before the video had appeared I used the 8-mm and 16-mm cameras). In the past I showed my works as an active photographer on art photograph exhibitions (mainly Black/White photos) and in the future I would like to give a show of large-surface photographs. I like to watch movies, travel, read and listen to good music. But my best hobby is my family and most of my leisure time I like to spend with my family and play with my daughter.
 
Married, children, grandchildren, other close family you want to mention?
I am married for 12 years and I appreciate my wife Romy that she has been able to overcome the rough and restless years. She works as a free-lance translator and interpreter in Czech, English and German. We have an 8 year old charming daughter, Luisa. Her enthusiasm, self-sacrifice and sense for fairness is a great source of joy for us. She loves animals and we all together take care of our little West Highland terrier, Bob. Luisa's big wish is to have a group of golden retrievers and a horse and she wants to become a vet or a teacher.
 
Where were you born?
I was born in Olomouc - it is a small historical town not far from Prague, Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia). The town has a very nice historical center where houses from the 15th century can be found. It used to be the seat of Czech kings after Prague.

Street in Olomouc

And a lot of legends are connected with Olomouc. The university that belongs to the oldest schools in Europe has several faculties and some of them are seated in the real old buildings from 18th century. From every place of the town you can feel the touch of the history. I would say that concerning the historical beauty Olomouc is comparable with Prague but it is smaller and more compact than Prague.

 
Where do you live now?
I live with my family in the Heart of Europe - Prague, Czech Republic. Perhaps the best-known Czech items are beer and hockey. (A lot of Czech hockey players are members of American and Canadian hockey teams.) Maybe, you know our last president Vaclav Havel, a statesman, philosopher, playwright and a freedom fighter.
 
What's interesting about where you live?
Prague has several names - The Heart of Europe, City of hundred spires, The Mother of Towns, etc. What I like most about Prague is the magic spirit of the historical town - The Old Town, The Lesser Town, The Prague Castle area and many other places.

Church of Our Lady before Tyn (Tynsky chram) is the most remarkable Gothic church with a baroque interior in Prague. It contains the tomb of Tycho de Brahe, the famous astronomer.

Especially autumn and early spring gives the town special atmosphere that makes you feel the steps of the past times. The father of the country King Charles IV founded in 1348 one of the oldest universities in Europe - the Charles University, joined the Old and New Towns by the Charles Bridge. Prague used to be the center of various cultures, nationalities and religions during the past.
 
I love to take long walks in the town and feel the spirit of the historical places. I like to visit art galleries and studios then have rest in old pubs with live music and a view on the river Vltava (although the flood that went through our country last year scared us a bit). The only thing that I am really missing is the sea. But on the other hand thanks to the central position of Prague it is not faraway to London, Paris, Venice, Rome - it doesn't take more than 2 hours to get there.
 
Have you lived any other interesting places?
One of the advantages that gave me the job in the international company was the possibility to visit other countries like USA, Netherlands, UK, Germany or Ireland.

Castle Hluboka, Prague

I worked and lived with my family in Dublin for nearly one year - we all enjoyed it very much, just wonderful. We liked the countryside and the fantastic views on the ocean, which is so rare to us. In the future we would like to spend there a couple of days, weeks or months again. Ireland and Czech Republic have something in common, it may be the touch of the history - there have occurred some new proves of the Celts living in our country in the far past.
 
Which person, from past or present, do you most admire and why?
It is not easy to choose only one person. I admire several personalities from various areas of the human activity (politicians, philosophers, artist but a polite bus driver or a woman at the counter with a smile on her faces although it is Monday morning as well) and I think of what do they have in common. It may be their enthusiasm for life and their approach to the things their are doing for living.
 
I admire people who have fun of the life with positive approach no matter whether good or bad things come to them in the course of life. In the same time they don't forget to help other people and they are just "living"- I mean enjoying the life,

Romy and Luisa

not only surviving somehow. I admire everybody who has caught the sense of life and who keeps doing his best not only for himself but for the others as well.
 
What is your favorite food/drink?
I love good food and drink but the most important is the company sitting around the table. With family or friends every food and drink is the best one.
 
What is your favorite type of music?
I think that music gives us something that can't be touched but accompanies us through the whole life. But the strongest music I know is the first cry of a newborn baby! I like the Irish music - U2, Enya, The Corrs, Sinead O'Connor and the marvelous Bjork from Iceland; Jazz, Blues and Swing - Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Peggy Lee; and Rock in all shapes - Pink Floyd, Queen, Rolling Stones, Madonna,… It always depends on the mood.
 
What is your favorite book? Movie?
I like all movies of the 60's directed by the Italian director Federico Fellini (e.g. La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, La Strada) and the Spanish Luis Bunuel. I like the sense of humor that produces Monty Python. Like American Musicals - Singin' in the Rain,

Prague during last year's flood

An American in Paris, West Side Story, and old Hollywood movies of 40's - 60's (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Sunset Blvd., Rebel Without a Cause, Some Like It Hot), wonderful Woody Allen, some independent American movies and many many others. There could be a very long list. See an example: The Godfather, my favorite Czech director Milos Forman's One Flew the Over Cuckoo's Nest, Rain Man, Philadelphia, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Matrix, Star Wars (and the old Star Trek), Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings.
 
And my favorite books? I will let it for a next talk. The similar long list. :)
 
If Clarion never existed, what do you think you would be doing

Castle Prague

at this time?
I would certainly be doing something creative. I would either be programming in some other language or I would take to my second professional love - photography or movie - which is most likely.
 
Anything else you want to mention?
Every time I think about Clarion one fact comes to my mind: it is a pity that such a great development tool is known by a small community only.
 
I would like to thank you, Susan, for your great idea to publish interviews with friends from our small community. Without such enthusiastic people like you, Arnor and many other brilliant programmers helping us in the News Groups the position of Clarion would be worse.
 
And the last word in the complicated world of this millenium:
We are with you America! -
Alfred Blaho, "an American" in Prague.
 

Bridges in Prague

 

Prague Castle

 
The Czech Republic is a castle lovers dream. Over 2000 castles, chateaux, keeps and castle ruins have been preserved and can be found in the Czech Republic. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Czech Republic has the most castles per square mile of any country in the world (Liechtenstein has more per square mile, but it's only a few square miles - 61 sq. km., while the Czech Republic has 78,863 sq. km), including the largest castle complex in the world, the Prague Castle.