Posts tagged “programming”
Good code does what you need it to do and is ready when you need it. Testability, elegance, extensibility matter, but they're secondary. Late code isn't good code. Code that never ships needs no maintenance. Everything else is nuance.
I mapped HTTP status codes to workplace conversation snippets. "404: I have no idea what you're talking about." "502: Bob is refusing to work with me on this." Now available as a poster. Note how the spec reveals programmers always blame the client.
Started programming at 11 at computer camp in Trinidad, building shapes in GWBASIC. My first real program got me my first job. Best advice: program badly for a long time, and document everything. I love web development the way other people love sunlight.
I tinker constantly, and my current project is a Java-based MSN bot that posts messages to my blog. Right now it logs on and crashes, but that's progress.
The term "I18n" (internationalization) was coined by programmers who replaced the 18 middle letters with the number 18, inspired by a DEC employee whose long surname got abbreviated to "S12n" for his email account. This "numeronym" convention spread because, honestly, geeks find that sort of thing funny.
Sometimes I step back and think: I'm literally making my brain run in a machine. Five terminals, 24 emacs buffers, four languages, and it all works. Coding is weird and wonderful and I love it. Am I alone in occasionally thinking "wow, this is so cool"?
My design process involves writing out my train of thought to compensate for poor short-term memory, otherwise I loop endlessly. The result reads like a schizophrenic arguing with himself. I used indentation to mark tangents, which proved genuinely useful.
Posting from Trinidad with a few links worth sharing: a C/C++ garbage collector, Get Your War On skewering war criminals in the Bush administration, 419 scammer baiters, a friend making notable Trinidadian lists, and reindeer spontaneously combusting before kindergartners. Holiday cheer!
Discovered Python (five lines for a working GUI app, sold), and fell back in love with EurekAlert, where science confirms the obvious: tobacco companies are shady, optimists outlive pessimists, female doctors are nicer, and crystal chips may replace barcodes. A good 24 hours of random internet wandering.
A link roundup: rediscovering Oasis Magazine, PHP going too far as a GUI language, C++ becoming a scripting language, UK computer parts retailers, the new Star Wars EP2 trailer, Jim Henson clips, Pop Idol's cuter contestant, Silicon Pines for tech support victims, and TightVNC for remote computing.
Stuck home on a Saturday struggling with Z, an evil language. Distracted myself with Technosphere (build creatures, set them loose) and The Sims, which is officially the most addictive game ever made.
Week 1 of term 2 done. Turned in my assignment on time and hit London for the January sales. Camden Market delivered, Oxford Street didn't. Also: Prolog scrambles your brain but writes tiny elegant programs, the new iMac is gorgeous, and Castle Transylvania is disappointingly now a tourist resort.
Discovered Extreme Programming, a team-based development methodology that's field-tested and well-regarded. Now wondering how my professors will feel about me proposing pair coding for my end-of-term project.
Interesting ZDNet piece featuring professional scam artists' diaries. They exploit AOL's screen name policy as a spamming springboard. Also, work picked up: converting Excel spreadsheets to Access databases with incompatible formats, which may mean learning VBA.
