Category: Software Development

  • Better Software Through Syntax

    Take three trends and think about them: Extrapolate from this an idea: to write better software, first create better syntax.…

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  • Clever ideas that failed

    The cleverness of an idea is proportionate to its odds of failure. Brian Kernighan once said that “debugging is twice as hard as…

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  • How to write computer programs

    You only need to learn five things to write computer programs: Everything else in computer programming is built out of…

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  • How to avoid writing bugs

     All of the systematic techniques for writing high-quality code are controversial, because they require discipline plus a concession from the programmer…

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  • Habits I’m Glad I Have, Habits I Wish I Had

    Habits I’m Glad I Have Habits I Wish I Had Habits I Managed To Control

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  • Basic Literacy

     I think that basic programming skills will become as important to everyday people as reading and writing skills.  Not because…

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  • Naming Tips

     Choosing the right name is everything. The correct naming of things makes it easier to learn a system, resolves ambiguities, dissolves…

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  • How to Become a Better Programmer

     The history of this site goes back to a document I prepared at work called “Mind your Ps and Qs”,…

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  • Inline Documentation

    Or: Comments, what they are and how to use them  Inline documentation, or “comments”, is a habit of good programming…

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  • OOP Tips

    1. Model the verbs first, then the nouns Design classes that represent requests, transfers, responses and so-on. Don’t begin by creating classes…

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  • Database Tips

    Stop being conservative Hard drive space is ridiculously cheap, stop trying to save bytes and make columns 50% bigger than…

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  • Programming Tips

    1. Every line of code is a user interface If this wasn’t true, then there wouldn’t be a point to…

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