object-oriented programming
I'm not a fan of object orientation for the sake of object orientation. Often the proper OO way of doing things ends up being a productivity tax. Sure, objects are the backbone of any modern programming language, but sometimes I can't help feeling that slavish adherence
programming concepts
In Outliving the Great Variable Shortage, Tim Ottinger invokes Curly's Law: A variable should mean one thing, and one thing only. It should not mean one thing in one circumstance, and carry a different value from a different domain some other time. It should not mean two things
windows vista
Now that Windows Vista has been available for almost a month, the comparative performance benchmarks are in. * Windows XP vs. Vista: The Benchmark Rundown (Tom's Hardware) * Windows Vista Performance Guide (Anandtech) It's about what I expected; rough parity with the performance of Windows XP. Vista'
programming languages
Evidently writing about the FizzBuzz problem [https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/] on a programming blog results in a nigh-irresistible urge to code up a solution. The comments here [http://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/fizzbuzz-solution-dumping-ground/1752], on Digg [http://www.digg.com/programming/Why_Can_t_Programmers_Program], and on Reddit
programming languages
I was incredulous when I read this observation from Reginald Braithwaite: Like me, the author is having trouble with the fact that 199 out of 200 applicants for every programming job can’t write code at all. I repeat: they can’t write any code whatsoever. The author he’s
hardware
I don't go out of my way to recommend building your own computer. I do it, but I'm an OCD-addled, pain-loving masochist. You're usually better off buying whatever cut-rate OEM box Dell is hawking at the moment, particularly now that Intel has finally abandoned
compression
In my previous post, I extolled the virtues of WinRAR and the RAR archive format. I disregarded 7-ZIP because it didn't do well in that particular compression study, and because my previous experiences with it had shown it to be efficient, but brutally slow. But that's
compression
When I wrote Today is "Support Your Favorite Small Software Vendor Day", I made a commitment to spend at least $20 per month supporting my fellow independent software developers. WinRAR has become increasingly essential to my toolkit over the last year, so this month, I'm buying
programming practices
As a software developer, you may be familiar with the DRY principle: don't repeat yourself. It's absolute bedrock in software engineering, and it's covered beautifully in The Pragmatic Programmer, and even more succinctly in this brief IEEE software article (pdf). If you haven'
mac
The release of Windows Vista has caused an unfortunate resurgence in that eternal flame of computer religious wars, Mac vs. PC. Everywhere I go, somebody's explaining in impassioned tones why their pet platform is better than yours. It's all so tedious. Personally, I had my fill
distributed systems
The traditional method of distributing large files is to put them on a central server. Each client then downloads the file directly from the server. It's a gratifyingly simple approach, but it doesn't scale. For every download, the server consumes bandwidth equal to the size of
image compression
It's surprising that the venerable JPEG image compression standard, which dates back to 1986, is still the best we can do for photographic image compression. I can't remember when I encountered my first JPEG image, but JPEG didn't appear to enter practical use until