Playing a Game of Twenty Questions

December 22, 2006

I ran across yet another list of interview questions today, and while it’s not a bad list by any means (and the author’s disclaimer that it’s more food for thought than an ironclad litmus test is also excellent), it does make me wonder if there isn’t a better system than this.

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On Technology “Churn”

December 20, 2006

A fact of life that bullet-point-mongers in marketing seem to keep forgetting: no matter how great a given new technology is, the marketplace can only absorb it so fast.

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English: The “other” programming language

December 18, 2006

Your (in)ability to communicate clearly in writing has a big influence on your effectiveness as a developer.

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Finding Meaning In Doomed Projects

December 17, 2006

The sad fact of our craft is that most of our best work will be largely invisible to the world, even when the finsihed product is widely and successfully used.

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Windows Vista: Wait for SP1 (at least)

December 17, 2006

One would expect, particularly for a product so stunningly late and much reduced from its original ambitious goals, that a second release candidate would be reasonably stable.

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Your Brain on EverNote

December 16, 2006

I’ve tried Microsoft OneNote, and have looked at some open source options, but for me at least EverNote strikes the sweet spot.

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Ad Hoc Version Control

December 15, 2006

If you are dealing with a small number of people who are reasonably computer-literate and somewhat disciplined in their approach to work, here’s a simple ad-hoc system I’ve worked out that has been successful for me.

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On Methodologies

December 14, 2006

If you are a newly-minted developer, you’re looking around you for guidance, best practices, and reassurance that you are more or less pointed in the right direction. That’s one of the things that creates the demand for methodologies — canned and packaged approaches to software design and development that promise efficiency, accuracy, timeliness, and reproducible […]

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Who the heck is Bob Grommes and what does he have to say?

December 14, 2006

I’m not going to insult your intelligence by suggesting that I have anything to say that hasn’t been said, by somone, someplace. However, I have been quietly making a successful living designing and building software for clients for almost a quarter century. I’m not your typical God-on-a-pedestal globe-trotting dynamic public speaker. I am a published […]

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