Larry Garfield
Senior Architect and Consultant
Larry is Palantir’s Senior Architect and Consultant. He is an active Drupal core contributor, member of the Drupal Association Board of Directors, the database system maintainer for Drupal 7, and a Drupal 8 Core Initiative leader. Larry is a Zend-certified PHP 5 developer with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from DePaul University.
What do you do outside of Palantir?
I spend far too much of my waking hours working on or thinking about Drupal, Palantir-related or otherwise. I got into Drupal originally for an online Star Trek RPG club that I have been in since high school, which is now running Drupal. (Check it out at http://www.star-fleet.com/.) We've just celebrated our 20th anniversary. The rest of my life is classified.
What three books would you recommend for anyone who does what you do?
No one should be allowed to manage a development project without reading "The Mythical Man Month". It's 30+ years old, and still absolutely true. That applies not only to developers but, perhaps more importantly, to project managers and management.
There are many good books on design patterns for developers. Read at least one of them. Please.
Hat tip to Jeff Eaton for recommending “97 Things Every Architect Should Know”. Even if you’re not an architect, this is what a good architect thinks about. Be nice to your architect and he’ll be nice to you.
If you had your own spaceship, where would you take it?
40 Eridani A, A.K.A. planet Vulcan.
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Remember that Star Trek RPG club I mentioned? I have been running a decade-plus-long Star Wars satire plotline based around the Ewoks joining the Federation. Yes, I am a geek.
Three things you’d want on a desert island
A satellite radio, a GPS, and a power generator.
What are your top three video games ever?
Starcraft, TIE Fighter, Doom (the original)
Google+, Facebook, MySpace, or Friendster?
I distrust Google the least of all of the above. I boycott Facebook as they have already shown an utter contempt for user privacy, but overall I think we as a society are not fully ready for social networking in the large. Most people don't understand what privacy means online, which means they give it up before they realize what they're doing.
iOS or Android?
Android is the least-unfree mobile operating system. It’s not perfect, but it’s the most viable for now. I don’t like Apple’s locked-down walled garden. My whole family is now Android users, aside from my dad who refuses to get one of them new-fangled mobile phone things.
