software development concepts
I noticed something strange in a Windows ME screenshot embedded in a Joel Spolsky article I linked yesterday: Notice the Qantas icons? Those are shortcuts to a now-defunct unix machine at Joel’s company, Fog Creek Software. You can find evidence of it at the bottom of this forum post
software development concepts
Navigating a new codebase can feel like like landing on an alien planet. That’s where static code analysis tools come in handy; they’re akin to software tricorders. They provide a general snapshot of unfamiliar code: Is it normal? Is it unusual? Is it dangerous?* There’s an element
programming languages
If you’ve ever viewed UNIX documentation, you’ve probably encountered variables foo and bar at some point. Here’s a Ruby example I found in the newsgroups: foo = 0 bar = 0 1.times do foo = 1 foo := 2 bar = foo+1 end puts foo, bar O’Reilly’s FooCamp
user experience
Shawn Burke’s post Shippin’ Ain’t Easy (but somebody gotta do it) explains why you have to resist change at the end of a project, no matter how justifiable and rational the reasons may be. Even the smallest change has a real risk of introducing additional bugs. The first
c++
If you were about to throw out your C++ compilers because of my post on the productivity benefits of managed code and scripting languages, hold your horses. Although managed code is pretty darn fast, sometimes performance still comes first. As Ole Eichorn points out in the comments: [You said] “given
programming languages
There’s a chart in Code Complete that compares the productivity of working in different languages: Programmers working with high-level languages achieve better productivity and quality than those working with lower-level languages. Languages such as C++, Java, Smalltalk, and Visual Basic have been credited with improving productivity, reliability, and comprehensibility
programming languages
I’m sure most of you are familiar with this famous Microsoft group photo from December 1978: Groovy. In case you were wondering, the photo is authentic. It’s even featured on the official Microsoft Bill Gates biography page. Of course we recognize Bill Gates in that famous photo, but
programming languages
In the spirit of iPod modem hacking, Michael Steil documents how hackers compromised the Xbox security system. Mostly thanks to 512 bytes of rather buggy security code embedded in the Xbox boot ROM: The Xbox is an IBM PC, i.e. it has an x86 CPU. When the machine is
vb.net
I just noticed that Option Explicit is on by default for new VB solutions in Visual Studio .NET 2005: It’s about damn time. There’s nothing more vicious than making an innocent typo when referencing a variable and not knowing about it because the compiler silently declares a new
software development concepts
Joel has a lengthy entry in which he asks, does having the “best programmers” really matter? This is something I’ve talked about before: extreme skill disparity is unique to the profession of software development. The odds of working with a genius or a jackass on any given job are
programming languages
A colleague recently pointed me to a Steve Ballmer video I hadn’t seen before; the one where he pitches Windows 1.0. All three of the Ballmer videos are essential viewing for any Windows developer: * Windows 1.0 sales pitch * Dance Monkeyboy * Developers, Developers, Developers I love the fact
programming languages
I’m currently working on a project where almost every function has its own region. At first I found this convention onerous, but as I used it, I saw why it was necessary. The default Visual Studio .NET outlining support leaves a lot to be desired. Take your typical commented