A subject that comes up regularly is whether or not a formal Computer Science education makes better developers. I’ve worked with people with various levels of education/training Overall, I have seen no strong correlation between programming ability and level of formal CS education. Honestly, I haven’t seen a strong correlation between any of the different… Read More »
Complete Rewrite Many times, when (one or more) developer(s) encounter code for the first time, the immediate thought is to rewrite it. This is also a not-unusual reaction from a new manager/director/etc. who becomes responsible for a new system. A complete, from-the-ground rewrite of a system is a horrible idea. A running software system is… Read More »
If you aren’t learning, you are falling behind The field is constantly moving. New languages, new tools, new processes. You don’t need to learn all of them, but keeping up with what changes is useful. Work on code in your free time The best programmers I know have spent a lot of free time working… Read More »
In order to be really good at any craft, including software development, you need to be good with your tools. For a software developer, your tools are not physical, but you need to know them well all the same. Any time you need to stop and look up information on your language or libraries, you… Read More »
Efficient Linux at the Command Line Daniel J. Barrett O’Reilly, 2022 I’ve worked in Linux for over 2 decades, read dozens of articles and several books on using Linux, and this book still taught me of things I didn’t know (or remember). Unlike many N cool things you can do with Linux or X things… Read More »
Long ago, I posted a short note On Proficiency where I noted four things I believed were needed to become proficient at an activity: aptitude, interest, knowledge, and skills. My experience learning software development took a different route than many developers today. I started development in very small teams (1-2 developers). I had actually been… Read More »
I began this series on Least Common Denominator Code (LCDC) with The Myth of Code Anyone Can Read. In the posts that followed I attempted to show how this kind of code is not actually possible in a real development shop. I’ve shown how different code should be written for different audiences, and how real… Read More »
In the last few posts, beginning with The Myth of Code Anyone Can Read, I’ve focused on what you can expect from your programmers in general. Of course, generalizing is what got us into this discussion in the first place, so let’s spend a little time not generalizing. When teaching new programmers, I always tell… Read More »
In The Myth of Code Anyone Can Read, I introduced the idea that least common denominator code (LCDC) is not a goal anyone should aim for. Despite my assertion, I’ve seen a number of places where this is a requirement. Even if you don’t believe any of the other reasons for code to not cater… Read More »
In The Myth of Code Anyone Can Read, I introduced the idea that least common denominator code (LCDC) is not a good approach to writing software. Among other things, this approach ignores programmer specialization that happens in any team of more than two developers. Mental Caching As a project becomes larger than one person can… Read More »