What is it about programmers that cause them to latch onto one approach and try to apply it to every problem? Maybe it’s a characteristic of people in general. Each new paradigm, methodology, or even language seems to grab hold of many programmers and make them forget anything they ever knew. They seem to develop… Read More »
Like any natural language, most programming languages support idioms. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, an idiom is A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on. A… Read More »
One of the fundamental laws of the universe could be called the Law of Unintended Consequences. This law is as universal as Murphy’s Law, but not as well recognized. To me, the gut-level understanding of this law is one of the things that shows the difference between a really good programmer and someone who just… Read More »
In a natural language, an idiom is a phrase that conveys more information than the individual words combined. In order to understand an idiom, you must have knowledge of the culture of the person using the idiom, as well as a good grasp of the language. Programming idioms are similar. They involve uses of particular… Read More »