Feb 5, 2010 0
I’ll take an array over a giant switch-case statement any day. The array definition will be more compact and easier to see all at once. Defining actions in an array enforces uniformity. You can put checks in the code to automatically verify that the array definition is complete. (I.e. verify it contains a definition for [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Jan 29, 2010 0
At some point your team is going to be gone. Not all at once (well, maybe, but in that case you won’t care), but over time turnover will completely replace your team. If you are the manager, and you outlast the team, you’re going to pay for low quality code when you try to bring [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Nov 16, 2009 0
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly (via slashdot). Amen! I get uncomfortable whenever I have to leave a long comment, but it’s usually to document some deficiency in a lower layer that the code is working around. Typically broken hardware. (So that someone coming behind me doesn’t say, “This is overly complicated, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Nov 12, 2009 2
In “Talent is Overrated”, Geoff Colvin at one point discusses how superstars in many fields use the memory technique of “chunking” to boost their short term memory. His simple example is the 13-letter word “lexicographer”. To you and I (assuming you speak English and have a decent vocabulary), it is easy to remember. We don’t [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Apr 13, 2009 0
This post was inspired by recent experience with some horrible build scripts from the open source world — but I’ve seen enough in-house badness over the years that I wanted to establish some basic parameters for build scripts. This is a really broad way to divide the world, but I see two important categories of [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Dec 31, 2008 1
I just read Scott Bellware’s Productivity: It Comes from Software Design Rather than Software Tools. These bullet points — the core of his argument — are excellent (quoted here): Design quality is the most important factor influencing productivity in software development The things that obstruct quality degrade productivity The reductions in productivity over time that [...]
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From The Peanut Gallery