Learning to code is one of the most powerful and satisfying things you can ever do. If you’re a designer, learning to code can help you understand what you’re creating for, and if you’re looking to build a startup from scratch, being a technical founder can make things exponentially easier for you.No matter why you want learn, the only thing you really need is curiosity. But if you’re just starting out as a novice and don’t know where to begin, here’s a list of 7 ways to start learning how to code right now for free:1. ProcessingProcessing is...

The ecosystem for open source Python projects is both rich and diverse. This enables you to stand on the shoulders of giants in the production of your next open source project. In addition, it means that there's a set of community norms and best practices. By adhering to these conventions and applying the practices in your project, you may gain wider adoption for your software. This article covers practices that have worked well for building large and small projects that have gained wide user c...

Of course I am only repeating what others are preaching about the recent rise of JavaScript.But I think the movement is significant and can't be overstated. And recent developments are really even making it more and more interesting.Nobody can deny hat JavaScript is the de facto programming language of Html5. Every other language trying to bolt itself onto Html5 looks like pure friction so far. And Html5 is looking upon a prospering future.Today we are used to some established JavaScript frameworks that make working with JavaScript more fun and productive. jQuery seems to emerge as the clear l...

The last year has been a phenomenal one for the Android ecosystem. Device activations grew 250% year-on-year, and the total number of app downloads from Android Market topped 11 billion. As the platform continues to grow, we’re focused on bringing you the best new features and innovations - including in security.Adding a new layer to Android securityToday we’re revealing a service we’ve developed, codenamed Bouncer, which provides automated scanning of Android Market for potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring de...

Over the years, I've seen a bunch of coding anti-patterns.I figured maybe I'll share a few.Today, I'll introducewhat I'm calling the for-if anti-pattern,also known as"We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge."This is a special case of the for-case anti-pattern, whereall but one of the cases is null.for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) { if (i == 42) { do_something(i); }}This can naturally be simplified todo_something(42);The for-if anti-pattern arises in many forms.For example:foreach (string filename in Directory.GetFiles(".")){ if (filename.Equals("desktop.ini", StringCom...

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Obama proposed several measures to lower college tuition. University leaders responded cautiously, warning that cost-cutting reforms might also cut into instructional quality.But here's the big open secret in American higher education: Most institutions have no meaningful way to measure the quality of their instruction. And the president didn't ask us to develop one, either. ...

Amitwas curious whyit takes longer for Task Manager to appear when you start itfrom the Ctrl+Alt+Del dialogcompared to launching it from the taskbar.Well, you can see the reason right there on the screen:You're launching it the long way around.If you launch Task Manager from the taskbar,Explorer just launches taskmgr.exevia the usual Create­Process mechanism,and Task Manager launches under the same credentialson the same desktop.On the other hand, when you use the secure attention sequence,the winlogon program receives the notification,switches to the secure desktop,and displays the Ctrl+Al...

I just installed a new Express Card with Verizon Broadband wireless lastnight. Had tons of fun accessing the web from places I usually cannot, (we arein trucking) until I got to my favorite forum. It's a public place I have beento thousands of times, but instead of happily browsing all the daily newsevents and checking to see if the world blew up yet, I found myself blocked bya big white screen that said YOUR IP ADDRESS HAS BEEN BANNED.What can I do? I can't go to the forum owners to tell them it's just lil 'olme. Besides, I have picked them up on all other wireless connections at varioush...