Category: professional

Wireshark Dissector

Today I wrote my first Wireshark Dissector. I believe it was also my first day using the Lua programming language.

It was a pretty good experience. Much easier than I anticipated.

One specific item that was pleasantly easy was tying a lookup array to a variable (e.g. message flag codes to the message flag variable).

Perhaps there is a way, but I didn’t find it so that I could “reload” changes from my Dissector into an already open Wireshark. As it was, I ended up restarting Wireshark a lot and then reopening opening my pcap file.

While it is easy, given the protocol I was working with it started to become monotonous. However, it did pay as I was able to identify a difference in a problematic case.

Excellent Research and Analysis

I am lucky to have a world class researcher and analyst in my personal network – Jim Scheibmeir.

Jim contributes to areas such as software testing for DevOps, continuous quality, and application test automation services.

Jim is also pursuing his PhD and has multiple works published. I found his work on testing augmented reality particularly insightful. I’m still working through his work on digital twins.

If you are looking to connect with him, I would suggest Jim Scheibmeir’s LinkedIn page.

WFH Tips

I’ve been working remotely for five years or so. With Covid-19, many folks are now finding themselves similarly working from home.

Making the transition from office to home is not as easy as it sounds. Well, it starts off easy but I think it eventually gets hard for most people.

Here are my ten tips for working from home:

  1. Use your work computer for work. Use your personal computer for personal stuff.
  2. During working hours, use only your work computer. During non-working hours, use only your personal computer.
  3. Do not make it easy to access personal stuff on your work computer (and vice-versa). Use a separate browser / profile / screen etc.
  4. Establish a routine with start/lunch/end times. Use the wfh flexibility sparingly.
  5. Take a short walk mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
  6. Don’t eat and work at same time.
  7. Minimize distractions and related temptations at your workplace. Avoid being near TV, high-traffic-areas, etc.
  8. Invest in ergonomics.
  9. Use video in webex.
  10. Use slack/teams to keep human connection elements alive. It’s ok to drop a picture into team chat or share a joke once in a while.