In the past month or so, I’ve had a great experience learning about the limits of loading data into my relational databases for The Geno.me. I started with rake tasks using ActiveRecord inserts. Slow. Then I tried SQL inserts. Slow. Then I tried bulk SQL inserts. Better. Then I realized that loading from large flat files wouldn’t be super realistic in deployment (the way I was set up). Sqlite3 in development and PG in production on Heroku just...
I’m in the process of coding out a demo app for browsing curated human genome data. As such, I’ve decided to establish a canonical backbone for each chromosome and standardize not only the genes, but their structures, mutations, primers, SNPs, etc., and all data I can get my hands on to this one backbone. As such, I’ve set upon loading all 3 billion+ bases of the human genome into my rails db. After loading the first 4 chromosomes,...
Just this July, I decided it was time to graduate from PHP to Ruby. I had to see what all the hype was about. Rails was everywhere. Getting started with the Ruby on Rails tutorial by Michael Hartl couldn’t be easier. Thirteen chapters later, and I’m working on my new startup’s website, http://thegeno.me. While I have my complaints about Ruby (this will definitely be a future post!), the Rails framework makes many things just work....
In the midst of coding a website (www.recombine.com), I realized that using my combination of jQuery DOM manipulations with AJAX for the content rendered me without the ability to send people permalinks. I googled a bit, but had trouble discovering solutions that didn’t look like this. FYI, I didn’t and don’t care about the back button. That seems to be way more browser specific. My solution is very quick: var...
I’m currently on the Academy Bus from Red Bank, NJ heading to the Port Authority in NYC for a night out with some friends. It is 4:51pm as I begin to write this. Although I usually listen to music for the duration of the trip, I’ve decided to have a little experiment with blogging (while still listening to music) to entertain myself. I’m writing this entire post on my iPhone on the bus! Mobile blogging is really an ideal, romanticized...
I am not superstitious...
I am a little stitious.
My name is Alex Bisignano. I’m the co-founder of Recombine, a genetic testing company. I also helped to develop IVF Reports, the U.S. News and World Reports for Fertility Clinics in the United States. Along with the companies that I work on, I’m also a freelance programmer, and I provide web development services when needed. You can also catch me blogging about genetics over at the Chromosome Chronicles. Follow me on twitter @alxbz or feel free to leave me a message at alex [at] alx [dot] bz.
If you would like to contact me about a custom web development, consulting, or software project you can fill out the contact form to provide details about your project. I will do my best to evaluate each project and determine the length, scope and resources required to bring your ideas to fruition.
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