Is programmer really profession for youth only?

- dedicated to the new programmers just into the workplace.

One young Chinese friend asked me: is programmer meant only for less experienced youth? Should I consider transition once if I work on it until 30 years old?

   Programmer,Youth,Product,Project,Career,Analysis     2012-03-18 07:06:44

  What Makes A Great Programmer?

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the year 2000, Dr. Pargas was standing at the front of our data structures class talking about some data structure-y topic while an SSH session was projected on the wall in front of us. Someone asked a question, and he said something along the lines of "Well, if you want to be a real computer scientist you need to start using vi". I think he was smiling as he said it, and in hindsight his statement wasn't even slightly true, but being young and ...

   Programmer,Great programmer,Character     2012-02-15 06:14:04

  Pay Your Programmers $200/hour

If you are hiring programmers, you should pay them $200/hr. This breaks through otherwise impenetrable psychological barriers, helps solve the agency problem, and ensures you are only hiring programmers when you really need them. Expectations $200/hr is an open declaration of your expectations. It states that you are expecting to hire both a professional and an expert in the field. As a programmer, I treat contracts that pay me $200/hr differently from jobs/contracts that pay me $65/hr eq...

   Salary,Programmer,Responsibility,Urgency,Value     2011-12-31 15:34:57

  "Programmer" is an Overgeneralization

"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." - Donald Knuth Earlier today, I came across a post during a google-fu session that claimed that no one should use the C++ standard library function make_heap, because almost nobody uses it correctly. I immediately started mentally ranting about how utterly ridiculous this claim is, because anyone whose gone to a basic algorithm class would know how to properly use make_heap. Then I started thinking about all the ...

   Programmer,Overgeneration,Overload     2012-03-13 08:13:16

  Vim anti-patterns

The benefits of getting to grips with Vim are immense in terms of editing speed and maintaining your “flow” when you’re on a roll, whether writing code, poetry, or prose, but because the learning curve is so steep for a text editor, it’s very easy to retain habits from your time learning the editor that stick with you well into mastery. Because Vim makes you so fast and fluent, it’s especially hard to root these out because you might not even notice them...

   Vim,Anti-pattern,macro,syntax     2012-02-08 10:06:15

  Why Good Programmers Are Lazy and Dumb

I realized that, paradoxically enough, good programmers need to be both lazy and dumb. Lazy, because only lazy programmers will want to write the kind of tools that might replace them in the end. Lazy, because only a lazy programmer will avoid writing monotonous, repetitive code – thus avoiding redundancy, the enemy of software maintenance and flexible refactoring. Mostly, the tools and processes that come out of this endeavor fired by laziness will speed up the production. This ma...

   Good programmer,Lazy,Reason,Dumb     2012-04-18 07:15:23

  What Makes A Great Programmer?

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the year 2000, Dr. Pargas was standing at the front of our data structures class talking about some data structure-y topic while an SSH session was projected on the wall in front of us. Someone asked a question, and he said something along the lines of "Well, if you want to be a real computer scientist you need to start using vi". I think he was smiling as he said it, and in hindsight his statement wasn't even slightly true, but being young and ...

   Tips.Programmer,Great,Great programmer     2011-06-08 03:08:04

  JavaScript JVM runs Java

The world of software is made slightly crazy because of the huge flexibility within any computer language. Once you have absorbed the idea of a compiler written in the language it compiles what else is there left to gawp at? But... a Java Virtual Machine JVM written in JavaScript seems like another level of insanity.In fact it is a quite reasonable idea which is only made mad by the usual positions that Java, the top dog, and JavaScript the underling, usually occupy. Java is compiled not to mach...

   JavaScript,JVM,BicaVM,Cross platform,JavaScript written JVM     2011-11-22 02:51:38

  Why do business analysts and project managers get higher salaries than programmers?

People get paid less than their employers' "reservation price" (the most they would ever pay), and more than their "marginal product" (the least they would ever work for). Your actual pay on that spectrum is based on your bargaining power, relative to your employer.Say your services to your company are worth $1000 a day. Under the gun, he would pay you that if he had no other choice. Say you would work for $100 a day if you had no other options. That's your range.Say you're new and independent a...

   Programmer,Program manager,Salary,Difference,Bargain power,Economic     2011-11-21 03:06:30

  10 controversial programming opinions?

Every programmer has his/her own understanding about programming. His/her opinion may or may not be agreed by others since they may face different programming environment. Let's see ten controversial programming opinions. You may agree with these opinions or you may not agree with them or you have your own opinion. You can freely share with others by commenting below.1） The only “best practice” you should be using all the time is “Use Your Brain”.2） Programme...

   Programming,Opinion,Controversial     2012-05-12 11:02:18