stored procedures
It’s intended as sarcasm, but I believe this Daily WTF entry on Stored Procedures should be taken at face value: I’m sure we’ve all heard, over and over, that inline SQL is generally a bad practice, and that we should use Stored Procedures when possible. But let&
software development concepts
Today’s dose of YAGNI comes from a recent Anders Hejlsberg interview: If you ask beginning programmers to write a calendar control, they often think to themselves, “Oh, I’m going to write the world’s best calendar control! It’s going to be polymorphic with respect to the kind
oop
Microsoft performance guy, Rico, touches on a topic near and dear to my heart: I hardly think that one can make any conclusions about which vendor has the edge in performance from my article on Performance Tidbits. If I was to summarize my advice in that blog in a few
productivity
Derek Sivers relates an interesting Steve Jobs anecdote: In June of 2003, Steve Jobs gave a small private presentation about the iTunes Music Store to some independent record label people. My favorite line of the day was when people kept raising their hand saying, “Does it do (x)?”, “Do you
software development concepts
Building up a portfolio (a collection of your work) is essential. Many employers will require it before they consider you for a job. Take the time you need to produce something that will impress them – it’ll really pay off. That’s part of the job description for a graphic
programming languages
I modified the recommended reading list to include, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master. If you haven’t read the book, it includes a handy reference card that will give you a great idea of the gems covered inside. And if you have, well, it never hurts to review
security
This Slate article highlights an interesting statistic: A few years ago, Microsoft set up the Windows Error Reporting Service to help find out where crashes come from. After a Windows application – or your whole PC – shuts down, a box pops up asking you to send a confidential error report. Using
software development concepts
The benefits of a daily build are well understood by now. McConnell even cites the book Showstopper! as an extreme example circa 1993: Who can benefit from this process? Some developers protest that it is impractical to build every day because their projects are too large. But what was perhaps
programming languages
I had no idea this was happening, but it is fantastic news: according to this GamePC article, the latest 2005 version of Windows XP Media Center Edition will be released as a retail product within a few weeks: Windows XP Media Center Edition was originally launched roughly two years ago,
programming languages
I was reading an interesting entry in Rocky Lhotka’s blog when something in the URL caught my eye: http://www.lhotka.net/WeBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=b28971dc-ac4b-4494-8a21-7a5105a39b07 I guess it’s a DasBlog thing, but good lord: a globally unique ID in a blog hyperlink? Has it really come
programming languages
OK, the title is just, Why Your Code Sucks, but you know you were thinking it. The article may not be as grammatically (sp) correct as I would like, but it’s got some solid advice. My favorite is rejection of dogma: Your code sucks if it dogmatically conforms to
software development concepts
Of all the professional hubris I’ve observed in software developers, perhaps the greatest sin of all is that we consider ourselves typical users. We use the computer obsessively, we know a lot about how it works, we even give advice to friends and relatives. We are experts. Who could