programming languages

programming languages

So You Don't Want to be a Programmer After All

I get a surprising number of emails from career programmers who have spent some time in the profession and eventually decided it just isn't for them. Most recently this: I finished a computer science degree last year, worked about a year in the Java EE stack. I liked

By Jeff Atwood ·
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.net

Why Ruby?

I've been a Microsoft developer for decades now. I weaned myself on various flavors of home computer Microsoft Basic, and I got my first paid programming gigs in Microsoft FoxPro, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Visual Basic. I have seen the future of programming, my friends, and it is

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

The Future of Markdown

Markdown is a simple little humane markup language based on time-tested plain text conventions from the last 40 years of computing. Meaning, if you enter this… …you get this! Lightweight Markup Languages ============================ According to **Wikipedia**: > A [lightweight markup language](http://is.gd/gns) is a markup language with a

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

Judging Websites

I was invited to judge the Rails Rumble last year, but was too busy to participate. When they extended the offer again this year, I happily accepted. The Rails Rumble is a distributed programming competition where teams of one to four people, from all over the world, have 48 hours

By Jeff Atwood ·
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security

I Was a Teenage Hacker

Twenty-four years ago today, I had a very bad day. On August 8, 1988, I was a senior in high school. I was working my after school and weekend job at Safeway as a cashier, when the store manager suddenly walked over and said I better stop ringing up customers

By Jeff Atwood ·
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software development concepts

Today is Goof Off at Work Day

When you're hired at Google, you only have to do the job you were hired for 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, you can work on whatever you like – provided it advances Google in some way. At least, that's the theory. Google&

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

New Programming Jargon

Stack Overflow – like most online communities I've studied – naturally trends toward increased strictness over time. It's primarily a defense mechanism, an immune system of the sort a child develops after first entering school or daycare and being exposed to the wide, wide world of everyday sneezes

By Jeff Atwood ·
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php

The PHP Singularity

Look at this incredible thing Ian Baker created. Look at it! What you're seeing is not Photoshopped. This is an actual photo of a real world, honest to God double-clawed hammer. Such a thing exists. Isn't that amazing? And also, perhaps, a little disturbing? That wondrous

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

The Eternal Lorem Ipsum

If you've studied design at all, you've probably encountered Lorem Ipsum placeholder text at some point. Anywhere there is text, but the meaning of that text isn't particularly important, you might see Lorem Ipsum. Most people recognize it as Latin. And it is. But

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

Please Don't Learn to Code

The whole "everyone should learn programming" meme has gotten so out of control that the mayor of New York City actually vowed to learn to code in 2012. A noble gesture to garner the NYC tech community vote, for sure, but if the mayor of New York City

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

This Is All Your App Is: a Collection of Tiny Details

Fair warning: this is a blog post about automated cat feeders. Sort of. But bear with me, because I'm also trying to make a point about software. If you have a sudden urge to click the back button on your browser now, I don't blame you.

By Jeff Atwood ·
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programming languages

Learn to Read the Source, Luke

In the calculus of communication, writing coherent paragraphs that your fellow human beings can comprehend and understand is far more difficult than tapping out a few lines of software code that the interpreter or compiler won't barf on. That's why, when it comes to code, all

By Jeff Atwood ·
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