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  30-Minute Exercise to Become a Better Programmer

I believe that motivation is really important. That’s why from time to time I read books about time management (as they motivate me to be focused and continue evolve my TM-system) and books about software craftsmanship. The other day I finished one of this kind of books - “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman”. This book motivated me to think carefully what I want to invest my time in. Also, it coincided with my 25th birthday and, of co...

   Programmer,Exercise,Skill,Requirements     2012-01-28 07:21:13

  How to Find User Participants To Test Your Project

Image Source: Unsplash Recruiting the right participants is important to test your projects properly, but it's essential that your research participants are able to represent your target group, or the results won't translate into something you can use. Since recruiting for specific criteria can be time-consuming, follow these considerations that should make getting these types of user participants easier.  Sharply Define Recruitment Topic Criteria There needs to be a required criteria befo...

   USER RESEARCH,USER REQUIREMENT,TESTING     2020-08-26 07:53:28

  Do We Really Need Wi-Fi in Schools?

Why do I think Wi-Fi is needed in schools? Times have changed.  We need to adapt to the changes. I believe the internet is probably the most important tool available today. The world- wide web contains information about anything you could possibly want or need to know.  It allows an even playing field for people who don’t have the information and knowledge to be able to get it. Students today are the future.  They need to be able to access as much knowledge as possible to be...

   SCHOOL,WIFI,EDUCATION,COMPUTERS     2018-11-13 18:13:27

  Programming is a Super Power

In a society where technology and the Internet have become incredibly prominent elements of our daily lives, being able to program is akin to having a super power. In fact, a programmer is able to not only easily interact with cutting edge technology, but also to take advantage of said technology to transform pure thoughts into something as tangible and useful as software.I would argue that there has never been a more exciting time for being able to program. While being a part of our industry ba...

   Programming,Programmer,Super power     2011-04-01 00:12:13

  #46 – Why software sucks

No one makes bad software on purpose. No benevolent programmer has ever sat down, planning out weeks of work, with the intention of frustrating people and making them cry. Bad software, or bad anything, happens because making things is hard, making good things doubly so. The three things that make it difficult are: Possessing the diverse skills needed not to suck.Understanding who you’re making the thing for.Orchestrating the interplay of skills, egos and constraints over the course of...

   Software design,Sucks,Software industry     2012-03-19 13:10:37

  On Employers, Portfolios, Commitment, and Cake

You might know from experience that planning for a wedding is no simple feat. In the months leading up to our wedding, my then fiancé and I spent countless hours planning and making sure that no detail was overlooked. Among our top priorities was finding a skilled baker to create a delicious and beautiful cake. On the recommendation of a friend, we considered a baker named Jennifer. We read her "culinary resume." We were impressed by her references and experience, and our initial conve...

   Career,Employer,Cake,Commitment     2012-02-17 07:48:19

  Stuff Everyone Should Do (part 2): Coding Standards

Another thing that we did at Google that I thought was surprisingly effective and useful was strict coding standards. Before my time at Google, I was sure that coding standards were pointless. I had absolutely no doubt that they were the kind of thing that petty bureaucrats waste time writing and then use to hassle people who are actually productive. I was seriously wrong. At Google, I could look at any piece of code, anywhere in Google's codebase, and I could read it. The fact that I wa...

   Programming,Code standards,Rules,Stringe     2011-08-15 07:33:02

  C++ 11 Memory Management

Enterprise development and networking specialist Stephen B. Morris illustrates how to handle a classic C/C++ problem by using the new features in C++ 11 in conjunction with more established techniques.Memory management has always been one of the most error-prone areas of C++. The same is true of C. One of the strengths of managed languages, such as Java and C#, is their support for automatic garbage collection. Garbage collection still isn't a feature of C++ 11, so we must still be caref...

   C++ 11,Memory management,GC,Memory leak     2012-01-10 01:14:59

  "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

  It Should Only Take You a Few Hours...

It sure seems easy to make a table. Anyone can do it, right? Get 1 large flat rectangular piece of wood, 4 equally tall wooden poles, 4 nails and a hammer. Nail the 4 poles to each corner of the flat rectangular bit, and you have a table. Ta daaa! Now ask a carpenter to craft you a table. First they will spend time discussing the purpose and function of the table - indoor or outdoor, kitchen or dining room, for show or heavy use, what load does it need to bear. Then they will determine th...

   Programming,software,Craft     2012-03-01 05:09:10