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  Obviously Correct

What do automatic memory management, static types and purity have in common? They are methods which take advantage of the fact that we can make programs obviously correct (for some partial definition of correctness) upon visual inspection. Code using automatic memory management is obviously correct for a class of memory bugs. Code using static types is obviously correct for a class of type bugs. Code using purity (no mutable references or side effects) isobviously c...

   Memory management,Code,Static,Purity     2011-11-07 08:13:05

  Today on history : Twitter cofounder Evan Williams was born

Evan Williams, born March 31, 1972. American entrepreneurs, has created a number of Internet companies, including Pyra Labs, (operational blog, Blogger) and Twitter. He was Twitter, CEO from October 2008 to October 2010. Twitter former CEO Evan WilliamsEvan Williams grew up on a farm in Nebraska Clark Village. At the University of Nebraska, he studied a year and a half, then he started to work. He did different technologies work in some tech start-ups in Key West, Dallas, Austin, Texas. In 1996...

   Twitter,Cofounder,Evan Williams,Introduction     2012-03-31 08:49:18

  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 th...

   Number,Algorithm,System,Embedded system     2011-12-05 12:48:41

  Put Your HTML in a Box

In the first article in this series, I walked through the basics of cascading style sheets (CSS) and showed how CSS can make your code easier to maintain. CSS allows you to keep your presentation rules separate from your content, and I showed you some of the benefits this separation provides. In this article, I’ll move forward with CSS and describe how to position elements on a page.The first step in understanding how to position elements is to understand the fundamental model of CSSâ€...

   HTML,Box,Div,Container,Format     2011-08-19 08:22:58

  How Computers Boot Up

The previous post described motherboards and the memory map in Intel computers to set the scene for the initial phases of boot. Booting is an involved, hacky, multi-stage affair – fun stuff. Here’s an outline of the process: An outline of the boot sequence Things start rolling when you press the power button on the computer (no! do tell!). Once the motherboard is powered up it initializes its own firmware – the chipset and other tidbits – and tries to ...

   Computer,Boot-up,Rationale     2012-04-11 13:43:02

  Prototypes and Object Orientation

David Chisnall takes a look at the two dominant paradigms in object-oriented languages (classes and prototypes) and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each.Two terms are quite often confused when describing programming languages:class-based and object-oriented:Simula was the first class-based language. It provided classes (actually implemented using closures) as a means of encapsulating abstract data types.Smalltalk was the first object-oriented language. It provided a...

   Prototype,OOP,Differential,Comparison,Mo     2011-09-02 11:51:26

  Coding tricks of game developers

If you've got any real world programming experience then no doubt at some point you've had to resort to some quick and dirty fix to get a problem solved or a feature implemented while a deadline loomed large. Game developers often experience a horrific "crunch" (also known as a "death march"), which happens in the last few months of a project leading up to the game's release date. Failing to meet the deadline can often mean the project gets cancelled or even worse, you lose your job. So w...

   Tricks,Advice,Gamedesign,Plan     2012-02-12 04:50:30

  Cross Browser HTML5 Drag and Drop

HTML5 Drag and Drop has been talked about a lot lately, but it’s hard to find really useful information about implementing it across multiple browsers.Mozilla, Apple and Microsoft all have pages describing how to use it, but their examples seem to work only in their particular browser (Apple’s example doesn’t even work in their own! Updated, Jan. 11, 2009: Although I have not been able to get this example working on Safari 2.0.4 and 3....

   HTML5,Drag and drop, Demo,Source code,Cr     2011-09-20 13:42:45

  10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” But, becoming a great leader isn’t easy. Successfully maneuvering a team through the ups and downs of starting a new business can be one of the greatest challenges a small-business owner faces.Leadership is one of the areas that many entrepreneurs tend to overlook, according leadership coach John C. Maxwell, whose books...

   Leader,Skill,Calm,Trust,Involvement     2011-11-03 03:36:56

  Signs that you're a bad programmer

1. Inability to reason about codeReasoning about code means being able to follow the execution path ("running the program in your head") while knowing what the goal of the code is.SymptomsThe presence of "voodoo code", or code that has no effect on the goal of the program but is diligently maintained anyway (such as initializing variables that are never used, calling functions that are irrelevant to the goal, producing output that is not used, etc.)Executing idempotent functions multiple times (...

   Sign,Programmer,Characteristics,Knowledge,Skill     2011-10-20 08:56:16

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