Like many developers, I’ve been working with XML for many years now. My first XML-based program dates back to within 6 months of the publishing of the XML 1.0 Recommendation by W3C. I’ve already gone through the phases of: XML looks promising, XML is cool, everything in XML, and XML is just another tool XML… Read More »
Higher Order Perl Mark Jason Dominus Morgan Kaufmann, 2005 The simplest thing you can say about MJD’s Higher Order Perl, is that it is not your ordinary, everyday programming book. It is not even your everyday Perl programming book. MJD introduces an approach to programming that will be new to most programmers. Even those who… Read More »
One of the things Java programmers seem to really like to hate in C++ is the concept of operator overloading. I have heard this from many Java programmers and seen it written by others. According to many, operator overloading makes C++ impossible to understand because you can’t tell what a piece of code is doing… Read More »
Perl Hacks chromatic , Damian Conway, Curtis “Ovid” Poe O’Reilly, 2006 When I first saw the title Perl Hacks, I was a little unclear what the book would cover. After all, the Perl Cookbook has recipes that span the spectrum from basic to advanced. What would Perl Hacks supply that wouldn’t be found elsewhere? The… Read More »
Several of the past few essays have focused on the notation aspects of programming languages. The major benefit of a notation is making what you want to say concise without losing it’s power in the process. To use an example from an earlier essay, supporting the use of normal algebraic notation for working with matrices… Read More »
Recently, I’ve been taken with the idea of programming languages as notation. When most people look at a programming language, they see syntax and possibly an underlying paradigm. I see the same, I just find the idea that each language also provides a unique notation for expressing ideas quite appealing. Lately, I’ve been thinking about… Read More »
I recently finished reading Eric Sink on the Business of Software. I had read many of the essays before and, in general, I like what Sink has to say. I’ll freely admit that he knows a lot more about the business of software than I probably ever will, and I’ll normally take his opinion over… Read More »
Many years ago, I was working on application software that we configured and shipped to nearly a hundred clients. Although we did the first installation on a machine that we provided, the customer had to install updates a few times a year. (This was before most people knew about the Internet.) A few of us… Read More »
Eric Sink on the Business of Software Eric Sink Apress, 2006 Eric Sink has been writing on the Business of Software for quite some time. This book shows that not only does he know something about the business side of things, but he’s also familiar with the technical side. These essays do a pretty good… Read More »
The Career Programmer, Second Edition Christopher Duncan Apress, 2006 If you are thinking of The Career Programmer as an insight into the best techniques and technologies for becoming an ultimate Alpha Geek, you will be sorely disappointed. However, if you’ve spent some time dealing with the realities of software development in real companies, much of… Read More »