software development
I sometimes get asked by regular people in the actual real world what it is that I do for a living, and here's my 15 second answer: > We built a sort of Wikipedia website for computer programmers to post questions and answers. It's called Stack
security
We've read so many sad stories about communities that were fatally compromised or destroyed due to security exploits. We took that lesson to heart when we founded the Discourse [https://discourse.org] project; we endeavor to build open source software that is secure and safe for communities by
pinball
I've had something of an obsession with digital pinball for years now. That recently culminated in me buying a Virtuapin Mini. OK, yes, it's an extravagance. There's no question. But in my defense, it is a minor extravagance relative to a real pinball machine.
open source
Eric Raymond, in The Cathedral and the Bazaar [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar], famously wrote > Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. The idea is that open source software, by virtue of allowing anyone and everyone to view the source code, is inherently less
markdown
Let me open with an apology to John Gruber for my previous blog post [https://blog.codinghorror.com/standard-flavored-markdown/]. We've been working on the Standard Markdown project for about two years now. We invited John Gruber, the original creator of Markdown, to join the project via email in
markdown
In 2009 I lamented the state of Markdown [https://blog.codinghorror.com/responsible-open-source-code-parenting/]: > Right now we have the worst of both worlds. Lack of leadership from the top, and a bunch of fragmented, poorly coordinated community efforts to advance Markdown, none of which are officially canon. This isn'
gender diversity
(The title references Shanley Kane's post by the same name [https://medium.com/tech-culture-briefs/a1e93d985af0]. This post represents my views on what men can do.) It's no secret that programming is an incredibly male dominated field [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_computing#The_Gender_
blogging
In 2007, I was offered $120,000 to buy this blog outright. I was sorely tempted, because that's a lot of money. I had to think about it for a week. Ultimately I decided that my blog was an integral part of who I was, and who I
virtual reality
A month after I wrote about John Carmack, he left id Software to become the CTO of Oculus. This was big news for two reasons: 1. Carmack founded id in the early 90s. An id Software without Carmack is like an Apple without Woz and Jobs. You wouldn't
.net
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
software development
Occasionally, startups will ask me for advice. That's a shame, because I am a terrible person to ask for advice. The conversation usually goes something like this: We'd love to get your expert advice on our thing. I probably don't use your thing. Even
history
In the go-go world of software development, we're so consumed with learning new things, so fascinated with the procession of shiny new objects that I think we sometimes lose sight of our history. I don't mean the big era-defining successes. Everyone knows those stories. I'