command-line
Windows XP isn't known for its powerful command line interface. Still, one of the first things I do on any fresh Windows install is set up the "Open Command Window Here" right click menu. And hoary old cmd.exe does have a few tricks up its
programming languages
Paul Graham's essay Revenge of the Nerds is a nearly pornographic love letter to Lisp [http://www.paulgraham.com/icad.html]. If you can manage to read all the way to the end, there's an interesting footnote buried at the bottom: > Peter Norvig [http://norvig.
programming
In Extreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck notes that optimism is an occupational hazard of programming. Excess optimism, in the guise of enthusiasm, is a serious pitfall for game developers in particular: Rein in enthusiasm? Now why would we ever want to do that? Isn’t keeping the team motivated one
software development concepts
If anyone reading this is local to Raleigh-Durham and signed up for the 2005 Raleigh Code Camp at NC State, fair warning: I’ll be presenting there. The speaker schedule is packed with interesting sessions. Mine is on User Friendly Exception Handling Strategies at 10:15am. I haven’t had
prototyping
Tim Weaver, channeling Robert Glass, on the five laws of prototypes: 1. The answer to any prototype / feasibility question is always yes 2. Whatever poor coding practices you use to build your prototype will be replicated in the final production version 3. No matter how poor the performance of the
software development concepts
Although you eventually outgrow them, any developer worth his or her salt bears the scars of a thousand tiny religious wars. It’s an occupational hazard, as Steve McConnell notes in Thou Shalt Rend Software and Religon Asunder: Religion appears in software development in numerous incarnations– as dogmatic adherence to
.net
You always notice the names that appear frequently in your code related Google searches. For me, one of those names is Peter Bromberg, PhD, the driving force behind Egghead Cafe. There are some great articles there, but the pick of the litter are the ones by Peter’s alter ego,
programming languages
How do you recognize talented software developers in a 30 minute interview? There’s a roundtable article on this topic at Artima Developer with some good ideas from a group of well known developers: * Explore an area of expertise * Have them critique something * Ask them to solve a problem (but
programming languages
It’s easy to get caught up in the “newer is better” mindset of software development and forget that ideas are more important than code. Not everything we do is obsolete in four years. The Evolution of Forth, which outlines Charles Moore’s guiding principles in creating and implementing the
software development concepts
How can you tell experienced programmers from beginners? New programmers think if they work hard, they might succeed. Experienced programmers know that if they work really hard, they might not fail. Allow me to elaborate with an excerpt from an interview with Steve McConnell: SM: One of the points I
programming languages
It’s always reassuring to be reminded that people much more talented than myself make mistakes, too. And I especially appreciate it when they share those mistakes in the form of advice: On avoiding IT mistakes: Rick Cattell’s, Things I Wish I Learned in Engineering School: • Good technology is
software development concepts
Brad Wilson pointed out a new, interesting blog yesterday: Spurious Pundit. On managing developers: It’s like you’re asking them to hang a picture for you, but they’ve never done it before. You understand what you need done - the trick is getting them to do it. In