Today's Question:  What does your personal desk look like?        GIVE A SHOUT

 ALL


  Why I Will Never Feel Threatened by Programmers in India

I got a call from a friend of a friend the other night. It was a fellow with whom I’d talked 11 months ago about a project he and his partner were looking to start. We established then that I wasn’t the guy for him, that I was likely too expensive for their big-dreams, small-means budget.Fast forward to present day: their project is still not launched, it’s still not right. They’ve paid for something between 600-700 hours of development with a firm in India, and they should have launched 6 weeks ago.Sure they’re only being charged $14/hour for that work, but ...

1,898 0       OUTSOURCING INDIAN PROGRAMMER POOR QUALITY LOW COST


  Why I Will Never Feel Threatened by Programmers in India

I got a call from a friend of a friend the other night. It was a fellow with whom I’d talked 11 months ago about a project he and his partner were looking to start. We established then that I wasn’t the guy for him, that I was likely too expensive for their big-dreams, small-means budget.Fast forward to present day: their project is still not launched, it’s still not right. They’ve paid for something between 600-700 hours of development with a firm in India, and they should have launched 6 weeks ago.Sure they’re only being charged $14/hour for that work, but ...

2,047 0       INDIAN PROGRAMMER OUTSOURCING POOR QUALITY LOW COST


  Why I Will Never Feel Threatened by Programmers in India

I got a call from a friend of a friend the other night. It was a fellow with whom I’d talked 11 months ago about a project he and his partner were looking to start. We established then that I wasn’t the guy for him, that I was likely too expensive for their big-dreams, small-means budget.Fast forward to present day: their project is still not launched, it’s still not right. They’ve paid for something between 600-700 hours of development with a firm in India, and they should have launched 6 weeks ago.Sure they’re only being charged $14/hour for that work, but ...

2,178 0       OUTSOURCING INDIAN PROGRAMMER POOR QUALITY LOW COST


  How Integers Should Work (In Systems Programming Languages)

My last post outlined some of the possibilities for integer semantics in programming languages, and asked which option was correct. This post contains my answers. Just to be clear: I want practical solutions, but I’m not very interested by historical issues or backwards compatibility with any existing language, and particularly not with C and C++.We’ll start with:Premise 1: Operations on default integer types return the mathematically correct result or else trap.This is the same premise that as-if infinitely ranged begins with, but we’ll perhaps end up with some different ...

2,094 0       ALGORITHM NUMBER SYSTEM EMBEDDED SYSTEM


  What's on your Learning List?

How do you track and decide what topics you want to spend time learning?For a while, I didn’t have a real good solution. Something would trigger me to remember “Oh yeah! I really wanted to learn more about that”. I would spend the evening doing busy learning - it seemed like I was learning but I really wasn’t.Instead of trying to do Deliberate Practice, I’d fool myself into thinking I was investing my time wisely by reading blog posts and examples but not actually doing much of anything.Soon, the enthusiasm would pass and my progress would stale. Rinse and repe...

2,603 0       PROGRAMMING STUDY LEARNING LIST CONSCIOUS


  The Golden Age of Design in Startups

I just returned from Dave McClure’s excellent Warm Gun Conference, and I haven’t been this excited to be a designer in a while. The entire event was about design, metrics, and products, and even more importantly the people at the conference were many of the who’s who in Bay Area design. From what I saw and experienced there I daresay there are signs we’re entering a golden age of Design. The evidence: 1. The startups being invested in are designer-led. Take the new Designer Fund that funds startups with designer-founders and helps mentor them. Consider the companies...

3,207 0       DESIGNER GOLDEN AGE STARTUP TALENT FOUNDER


  In praise of impractical programming

Although it’s become a cultural mainstay now, I still remember when I first saw that thick book — the one with the wizard on the cover — about a school for magic where wonders are easily conjured by those who know the proper spells. Of course, I’m talking about the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. There was that other book with the spells, but the “Wizard Book” sincerely claimed to teach magic.For the past few years, I’ve been working as a software developer in the newsroom, where perceptions of my kind have changed from novelty ...

2,710 0       IMPRACTICAL PROGRAMMING STRUCTURE SCHEME PRACTICAL


  Inspiration vs. Imitation

Every now and then I get a really lovely email from an aspiring letterer that is about to publish a passion project of his or her own. They tell me my work was an inspiration and that they can’t wait to share their creation with the world. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside for a moment…until I click on their link and realize that much of what they intend to publish is nearly a direct tracing of my work.A lot of established illustrators and designers deal with the same thing—students or young professionals that rip them off without realizing it. Addressing these young d...

1,658 0       HISTORY DESIGNER JUDGEMENT COPY DIVISIFY CLASSIFICATION