Knowing .NET

Code by Perry Lee. Useful.

7:28:16 PM    comment []   trackback []

This is a little odd thing for people who don't want to touch toilet seats. via [Boing Boing]

7:24:44 PM    comment []   trackback []

"Design the data structures first" is a practice that has dramatically faded over the past decade. Today, when structural design is done at all, it is done in an object-oriented manner, which has different goals than traditional data-structure design. In C++ code, you'll still see complex data structures, but most modern code over-relies on standard collection classes. This despite the fact that data structures are the often the key to achieving break-through performance advantages.
11:15:10 AM    comment []   trackback []

Dan Bricklin posts about the "Programmers at Work Reunion" that happened at SD. "Programmers at Work" is a classic book from the mid-80s that interviewed several of the most influential PC programmers of the time, from Bill Gates to Gary Kildall. Many of the profilees were on a panel the other night at SD. What do great programmers of the 80s say is important? Stuff like "design the data structures first" and The really great programs I've written have all been ones that I have thought about for a huge amount of time before I ever wrote them" and here's the money quote:

"You've got to be willing to read other people's code, and then write your own, then have other people review your code. You've got to want to be in this incredible feedback loop where you get the world-class people to tell you what you're doing wrong..."

11:04:14 AM    comment []   trackback []

Of course, it's big news that Tim Bray has taken a job with a major software company. But it's bigger news because he chose to join Sun and not Microsoft (I'm not saying Bray chose between competing offers, just that Microsoft has hired a lot of luminaries recently). I wonder to what extent the "Java Rocks" portion of his explanation is hyperbole: his first two arguments (.NET never attempted to hit an "80/20" point and Microsoft has a history of focusing on the desktop) are very weak and only his third (Microsoft has an agenda) is inarguable.

Anyway, in "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt. 1" the Borg said "Resistance is irrelevant," not "Resistance is futile." "Resistance is irrelevant," is vastly better and I trace the decline of the Star Trek franchise to the adoption of the blustery, cliched "resistance is futile," line. I've been wanting to get that off my chest for awhile.

10:03:47 AM    comment []   trackback []