user experience
People keep rediscovering the article Don Norman posted a few months ago criticizing what he thinks of as Google’s faux simplicity: “Oh,” people rush to object, “the Google search page is so spare, clean, elegant, not crowded with other stuff.” True, but that’s because you can only do
security
Microsoft has finally activated the most aggressive part of their Windows Genuine Advantage program – active notifications. After downloading the latest Windows updates, if your Windows cd-key doesn’t validate against Microsoft’s online database of cd-keys, you may be greeted with this unpleasant five-second mandatory delay dialog at the login
apple
When I wrote that the Mac Mini was an underpowered, expensive box at the beginning of 2005, I had no idea that Apple would do something wonderful to fix this: switch to Intel x86 CPUs. I guess Apple has conveniently forgotten that whole “supercomputer on a chip” marketing campaign for
programming languages
The last post about programmers and chefs reminded me of a point raised in the classic Pragmatic Progammers’ presentation Herding Racehorses, Racing Sheep: vs Instructions that are appropriate for a novice may be totally inappropriate for an expert. This is something I touched on a while back in Level 5
programming practices
From an audio interview with Ron Jeffries: The reason the kitchen is a mess is not because the kitchen is poorly designed, it’s because we didn’t do the dishes after every meal. Michael Feathers recently wrote an eerily similar entry about the professional chef’s concept of working
refactoring
I’m often asked why the book Refactoring isn’t included in my recommended developer reading list. Although I own the book, and I’ve read it twice, I felt it was too prescriptive – if you see (x), then you must do (y). Any programmer worth his or her salt
interview questions
Here’s a not-so-gentle reminder from David Pickett that some programming interview questions – in this case, “how would you write a routine to copy a file?” – are, well, stupid:* Q. What about the attributes? A. Make the attributes the same. Q. Should I modify the attributes of the source file?
networking
I’ve had great success using ethernet sniffers (such as Etherdetect, or Ethereal) to troubleshoot communication problems. Installing a sniffer, even after installing the required WinPcap packet capture library, doesn’t require a reboot. I frequently use sniffers to troubleshoot servers and desktops alike. Ethernet sniffers should be a standard
software development
From the IEEE article Why Software Fails: Last October, for instance, the giant British food retailer J Sainsbury had to write off its US $526 million investment in an automated supply-chain management system. Merchandise was stuck in the company’s depots and warehouses and was not getting through to many
software development concepts
The concept of egoless programming, as described by Johanna Rothman: Twenty-five years ago, Jerry Weinberg published The Psychology of Computer Programming. I discovered the book in 1977, and decided I wanted to work as an egoless software engineer, not as a radio disk jockey. Egoless programming occurs when a technical
user experience
I recently happened upon Tom Raftery’s blog. I’m sure Tom’s a great guy, but what’s up with all the visual noise on his blog? I count 24 pieces of flair in the bookmark section alone. STAN I need to talk about your flair. JOANNA Really? I
copywriting
I often struggle when writing new blog entries. What should I write about? What’s the first sentence? What should the title be? When do I end, and what do I end with? Copyblogger’s Copywriting 101 has some excellent writing advice masquerading as marketing advice: Copywriting skills are an