software development
A little over a month ago, I announced that I was quitting my job. But there was also something else I didn't fully announce. But I refuse to become a full-time blogger. I think that's a cop-out. If I look at the people I respect most
.net
Way back in June of last year, I promised to donate a portion of my advertising revenue back to the community: I will be donating a significant percentage of my ad revenue back to the programming community. The programming community is the reason I started this blog in the first
unicode
These are available as bumper stickers and t-shirts: Here's my rhetorical question to you: why is this funny? * The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!) * There Ain't No Such Thing as Plain Text * On the Goodness
software development
This classic Eric Lippert post [http://blogs.msdn.com/ericlippert/archive/2003/10/28/53298.aspx] describes, in excruciating, painful detail, exactly how much work it takes to add a single ChangeLightBulbWindowHandleEx function to a codebase at Microsoft: > One dev to spend five minutes implementing ChangeLightBulbWindowHandleEx.One program manager
internationalization
Software internationalization is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it always amazed me how often one particular country came up in discussions of internationalization problems: Turkey. For example, this Rick Strahl post from mid-2005 is one of many examples I've encountered: I've been tracking a
software development
Ted Dennison left this astute comment in response to Do Not Listen to Your Users: Generally when I go talk to users, it is to educate myself enough to become a user like them. Then I can see what needs doing, what needs streamlining, reorganizing, rearranging, etc. This brought to
interview process
The job market for software developers is hot. This is great news for programmers, but it makes the interview process challenging for potential employers. A reader recently wrote me expressing some concern about the interview process: You mention Vertigo requiring a code sample, then a phone screening, then a hands-on
software development
Bruce Eckel deftly identifies the root cause of all software development problems: We are in a young business. Primitive, really -- we don't know much about what works, and we keep thinking we've found the silver bullet that solves all problems. As a result, we go
software development
I've often thought that software developers were akin to Magpies, birds notorious for stealing shiny items to decorate their complex nests. Like Magpies, software developers are unusually smart and curious creatures, almost by definition. But we are too easily distracted by shiny new toys and playthings. I no
programming languages
Steve Yegge's latest, Code's Worst Enemy, is like all of his posts: rich, rewarding, and ridiculously freaking long. Steve doesn't write often, but when he does, it's a doozy. As I mentioned a year ago, I've started a cottage industry
security
Software is digital through and through, and yet there's one unavoidable aspect of software installation that remains thoroughly analog: entering the registration key. The aggravation is intentional. Unique registration keys exist only to prevent piracy. Like all piracy solutions-- short of completely server hosted applications and games, where
guitar hero
I'm a huge fan of the Guitar Hero series. After reading the first reviews in November 2005, I rushed out to get one of the few available copies at my local Best Buy. It was an obscure title at the time-- I had no idea it was even