usability
Jakob Nielsen's new book, Prioritizing Web Usability, is a worthy companion to the previous two. Now it's a trilogy: 1. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity (2000) 2. Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed (2002) 3. Prioritizing Web Usability (2006) You can tell Jakob and his
programming languages
If you accept the premise that software development is a cooperative game, then you might wonder: what kind of game is it? Alistair Cockburn believes the closest analog to a software project is the cooperative game of rock climbing: * Technical. The novice can only approach simple climbs. With practice, the
programming languages
I occasionally get emails from people asking how to prepare for a career in software development. Some are students wondering what classes they should take; others have been bitten by the programming bug and are considering their next steps. I always answer with the same advice. There's no
blog
Alex Papadimoulis originally invited me to be a guest editor at The Daily WTF nearly six months ago. I was honored and accepted immediately. Since then, The Daily WTF has been rechristened Worse Than Failure. I'm a big fan of Alex and WTF; his blog is fantastic, and
programming languages
Presented, in no particular order, for your reading pleasure: my top 6 list of programming top 10 lists. To keep this entry concise, I've only quoted a brief summary of each item. If any of these sound interesting to you, I encourage you to click through and read
programming languages
MIT's Technology Review recently interviewed Bjarne Stroustrup in a two-part article (part one, part two). You may know Bjarne as the inventor of the C++ programming language. Indeed, he even maintains a comprehensive C++ FAQ that answers every imaginable C++ question. Here are a few select quotes from
programming languages
Eric Lippert is one of my favorite Microsoft bloggers. He's one of those people who reminds you that Microsoft, despite all its problems, still employs a lot of incredibly thoughtful, near-genius programmers. Take a look at his greatest hits: * How many Microsoft employees does it take to change
programming languages
In an earlier post on the philosophy of code comments [https://blog.codinghorror.com/when-good-comments-go-bad/], I noted that the best kind of comments are the ones you don't need. Allow me to clarify that point. You should first strive to make your code as simple as possible to
programming concepts
In Does Writing Code Matter?, I proposed that developers spend less time on the technical stuff, which they're already quite good at, and more time cultivating other non-technical skills that developers tend to lack. One commenter took issue with this approach: I don't agree with the
programming languages
Ian Landsman's 10 tips for moving from programmer to entrepreneur [https://web.archive.org/web/20070306071950/http://www.userscape.com/blog/index.php/site/comments/10_tips_for_moving_from_programmer_to_entrepreneur/] is excellent advice. Even if you have no intention of becoming an entrepreneur. > One
programming languages
When you're starting out as a technical blogger, you'll inevitably stumble across Joel on Software [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/]. He's been blogging since the year 2000, when computers were hand-carved of wood and the internet transmitted data via carrier pigeon. He has his own
programming languages
Brad Abrams was a founding member of the .NET common language runtime team way back in 1998. He's also the co-author of many essential books on .NET, including both volumes of the .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference. I was at a presentation Brad gave to the Triangle