How to Become a Professional Programmer
How to become a real programmer 1. Go back to school to learn the languages that nobody is using right…
IT Career Myths Debunked
1. Writing unmaintainable code gives you job security This kind of security is short lived. When the boss can’t find…
Parsing EDI with LINQ
Reading EDI files is simpler than it first looks. For a start, the file is broken up by two kinds…
Choosing Mechanisms
1. When in doubt, make it a Console application If you’ve reached the stage where you’ve identified a need, but…
Development Environment Tips
1. Just Say No to “Developmestuction” You need three environments: Devel, QA, and Production. Never mix them. Have separate hardware,…
Hiring Programmers for Dummies
This tutorial is for entrepreneurs who aren’t programmers but are faced with the need to hire one. I’m a programmer…
Land of Confusion
Opening a book like Robert Sedgewick’s Algorithms makes me hurt for programming before there were mouse-driven operating systems and frameworks, the time…
Why So Unproductive?
The bricklayer metaphor is used as a contrast to talk about the big, orders-of-magnitude differences between good programmers and average…
How to Design ID Numbers
When you first poke your head out of the warm comfort of your DBM’s Identity type, weary of its sameness…
Security Tips
Voodoo security Further reading: Snake Oil Cryptography by Bruce Schneier.
How to Design Big Systems
Having multiple perspectives is everything. The more ways you can see it, the more likely you’ll know what to build.…
