hardware
With the release of Intel’s Core Duo and Core Duo 2 chips, it’s finally happened – mainstream video card GPUs are about to overtake CPUs as the largest consumers of power inside your PC. Witness this chart, derived from XBit labs’ latest roundup, of video card power consumption in
javascript
The 1996 JavaWorld article Is JavaScript here to stay? is almost amusing in retrospect. John Lam recently observed that JavaScript is the world’s most ubiquitous computing runtime. I think the answer is an emphatic yes. JavaScript is currently undergoing a renaissance through AJAX. Sure, the AJAX-ified clones of Word
open source
Here’s Scott Hanselman on the death of nDoc: We are blessed. This Open Source stuff is free. But it’s free like a puppy. It takes years of care and feeding. You don’t get to criticize a free puppy that you bring in to your home. Free like
programming languages
Stiff recently asked a few programmers a series of open-ended questions: * How did you learn programming? Were schools of any use? * What’s the most important skill every programmer should have? * Are math and physics important skills for a programmer? * What will be the next big thing in computer programming?
unit testing
J. Timothy King has a nice piece on the twelve benefits of writing unit tests first. Unfortunately, he seriously undermines his message by ending with this: However, if you are one of the [coders who won’t give up code-first], one of those curmudgeon coders who would rather be right
programming languages
Scott Hanselman was kind enough to sing the praises of my blog a few months ago, completely unprompted. I finally met Scott in person at TechEd this year, and I can assure you that if you suck, Scott will be the first person to tell you that you suck.* That’
programming languages
Jonathan Edwards’ Manifesto of the Programmer Liberation Front is an inspiring call to arms for programmers who are fed up with the status quo of Java and C#. Maybe it is time to open your window, stick your head out and yell, “I’m as mad as hell and I&
laptop
I was desperately trying to avoid the expense of buying a new laptop, but my work-provided Thinkpad T43 just isn’t cutting it for me. The problem with Thinkpads, even the very nice new T60 models, is deeper than the hardware and the classic black box design. Thinkpads are uninspiring.
technology trends
A little over a year ago, I documented what was on my keychain. Here’s what I have today: If you’re troubled by what appears to be profanity on the Leatherman Squirt, I’ll refer you to my previous post – it’s a Pulp Fiction joke. This amazing little
programming languages
Brendan Kidwell noted something interesting about the comments on Trackpoint versus Touchpad: You know, I just realized that there is a lot of LOVE and HATE going on, and it doesn’t seem to be very unified. Software development is basically a religion. It’s not surprising that software developers
software development
From the IEEE article Why Software Fails: Last October, for instance, the giant British food retailer J Sainsbury had to write off its US $526 million investment in an automated supply-chain management system. Merchandise was stuck in the company’s depots and warehouses and was not getting through to many
software development
Jon Raynor added this comment to my previous post about keeping up with the pace of change in software development: The IT field is basically a quagmire. It’s better to accept that fact right away or move on to a different field. I guess someday I wish for Utopia