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  STOP WRITING GOOD CODE; START WRITING GOOD SOFTWARE

Good software trumps elaborate code. And unfortunately, you can’t usually have both. The real world has deadlines and ship dates. It’s a game of pick two:Ship on timeShip with elaborate codeShip with a fantastic productAlmost always, you should pick the first and the last when you’re building software applications for users (if you’re building API’s or open source libraries for other developers, then it’s a different story). Too often I have seen de...

   Good software,Standard,Good code,Deadline,Tradeoff     2011-11-20 06:56:06

  Multitasking vs multiprogramming

As all these processing are the part of computer functions. You should not be confused between these processes.In computing, multitasking is a method by which multiple tasks are performed by the user also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. CPU is actively executing more than one task at a time. Multitasking solves the problem by scheduling the tasks instructions. Which task may be the one running at any...

   multitasking,multiprogramming,os,differe     2011-09-22 13:46:30

  Programming: the benefits of taking a break

This post lists several benefits of taking a break during programming.You work smarter, not harder. Once, I worked really hard on a feature. For two weeks, 12 hours a day, I put in a lot of effort. After those two weeks, I took a break and came up with several ideas that made much of the work unnecessary.You think more clearly. Being tired has a similar effect as being drunk. At the end of a day, I often kid myself that I’ll just get this one thing finished quickly to have a fre...

   Programming,Break,Rest,Refresh,New idea     2011-11-08 08:50:45

  Android Tutorial: Creating and Using an SD Card in the Emulator

In a previous post, I mentioned how user-friendly Android is for developers. There’s extensive documentation and information on the architecture, the different components and best practices. However, the documentation has a few blind spots. Many of the tools have little documentation and no usage examples. The information is there, it’s just hidden behind a few layers of Android theory.So I’m going to try and document a few of the basic things that you’ll probabl...

   Android,Emulator,SDCard,Load,Create     2011-04-13 12:08:41

  Hackers vs. Coders

Photo Credit: Pranav MistryBeing a good hacker is an invaluable skill. But is being a coder the same as being a hacker? Is it possible that coders are at a creative disadvantage to hackers who don’t know how to code?Here’s a story that helped me see the difference.I was recently invited to mentor at Startup Weekend. On Friday night, we gathered to eat pizza, pitch ideas, create teams and discuss launch plans. At the end of the day, everyone was feeling great about what theyâ...

   Hacker,Coder,Comparison,Innovation     2011-05-11 02:11:09

  PHP advisory file lock : flock

When we process a file in PHP, we may often need to acquire a lock so that other scripts cannot edit the same file at the same time. There is a flock() function in PHP which can help us lock the file we want to process. But there is one issue we should take care. Recently, ffb encountered one issue while he was trying to lock a file handle. The codes are below: $filename = "/tmp/lock.txt";      $fp = fopen($filename, "r+");   if (!$fp...

   flock(),advisory locking,PHP     2013-04-23 11:42:48

  A Programmer’s Greatest Enemy

A programmer’s greatest enemy is getting stuck. A crucial skill in programming—and one that many of my beginning game programming students lack—is the ability to recognize when they’re stuck, to get out of being stuck, and to avoid getting stuck in the first place.Indeed, it’s a skill I’m still learning myself, although the contexts in which I still get stuck are shrinking with time, study, and experience.This morning, as I downloaded crash reports ...

   Programming,Enemy,Stuck,Game design,Crash     2011-10-15 15:06:46

  The basics of Client/Server socket programming

  While Client/Server communication model is ubiquitous nowadays, most of them involve socket programming knowledge. In this post, I will introduce some rudimentary aspects of it: (1) Short/Long-lived TCP connection.Short-lived TCP connection refers to following pattern: Client creates a connection to server; send message, then close the connection. If Client wants to transmit information again, repeat the above steps. Because establishing and destroying TCP s...

       2017-09-26 19:43:10

  The tips of learning Linux kernel

  As the Linux kernel has become one of the most gigantic and complex software project in the world, its complication scare many novices away. In this post, I will give some personal experience on how to learn Linux kernel, and hope these tips can offer some help to newcomers. (1) Download vanilla kernel and install it. Yes, I suggest you can find a physical machine, or if you really don’t have one at hand, virtual machine is also OK. Download the newest vanilla k...

       2017-07-28 22:53:11

  Small team? Fix your life with a non-virtual assistant

Like many others, I tried “outsourcing my life” using a digital assistant. A year and a thousand bucks later, I’ve received one department store recommendation and an admittedly adequate spreadsheet of competitive research.I have since cancelled. Why didn’t it work for me?I think I just didn’t trust it/them/him/her (that I even have this ambiguity is indicative of the issues).Most of my mindless time-sinks involve at least a credit card number and are often a con...

   Work,Assistant,Team,Small,Individual,Get an assistant     2011-10-28 10:26:36

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