Maybe you don’t have the time or will to read those damn 6 books every year. And maybe that’s fine (for you). I will give you a list of 6 blogs that you can add to your RSS reader. If you care a little about software engineering, new technology trends, and enjoy reading well-written, usually lengthy articles (as I do), IMHO you should be checking these.
No, mine isn’t in the list :) You can proceed without fear now. Continue reading
One of the best learning tools I have found in my career is to take someone else’s code, and to modify it slightly to see what happens, to play with it, and eventually to release that code in this blog, or send it to the original author, fixing it somehow or adding some feature:
It always start with a white space, like this blog post.
It could happen on a sheet of paper, or lately an empty <textarea>, but the feeling is the same. You get the first flow of ideas, rushing through your head. That’s why I always have a small Moleskine notebook in my pocket; you never know when these things will happen, how long they will last, and when you’ll have another one. Paper has an obvious advantage on computers: you do not need electricity.
I do not “have” an idea; the idea has me. It comes, and then it goes. My task is to write it down, or let it go. I choose.
Jadis you would have started writing in the old-fashioned way; pen, pencil, paper, but the keyboard has got our attention. It’s a different feeling; before, just one hand was to held responsible for my stuff; now it’s every one of my fingers. Simultaneously. It has an advantage, which is to make things go faster. I can write faster, almost as fast as I think. But I need electricity, though.
I can create not only texts but also code. I can later make that code run on the computer, on mine or even on yours. I can talk to those computer, to make them do what I want. We’re new wizards, in a world that would turn crazy any 16th century man. We talk to the machine, and it answers us.
Then I go back, I erase, I reorder paragraphs, I re-read, I spellcheck, I smile, sometimes I tear off the page and start from scratch (the equivalent of selecting “Edition / Select All” & hitting the delete key).
Sometimes I publish, sometimes you read me. There is a nice randomness in all of this, and I clearly enjoy it. Thanks for being there.
I love Twitterlex. It’s a Mac OS X Dashboard widget, and the main interface I use to send tweets. However, I didn’t like the fact that it did not highlight links in the tweet list! So I created a modified version (without authorization from the author, mind you) that does just that!
For those interested, I modified the twitterlex.js file inside the widget, adding new functions beginning on line 146. You can download it from here! I repeat: I am not the original author of the code, just a shameless coder who likes to see how things work. Have fun!
I have several mantras in my life. One of them is to learn a new programming language every year. Another one is to read at least 6 technology-related books every year.
I’ve already talked about Erlang (and boy that was the most read article ever in the whole life of this blog! More than 1600 visits just for it!) so now it’s time to discuss the greatest books I’ve read in 2007 (ordered by preference, from more to less):
Reg describes 99% of all available programming jobs with incredible sincerity:
You do a clerk’s job, you settle for a clerk’s working conditions and wages, but you take solace in the thought that you are somehow more than a clerk, because you have a university degree and the dental technician who cleans your teeth doesn’t. Only everyone knows it’s a sham, especially the hiring manager who puts “University degree required” in the job advertisement. He wants to hire a clerk, someone who will work long hours doing as they’re told in a top-down, hierarchal command structure. Does that job sound like there is any Science involved? Of course not, everyone knows that, it’s why the industry is trying to weed all of the Science out of a Computer Science degree.
I do not have a university degree. Heck, I started university 4 times and finished none (Physics, Economics, Marketing and even Computer Science! :) I have been refused jobs because of this (particularly at the beginning), but I have been given jobs because of this too (particularly lately). Having some experience in your CV pays off; the hard thing is to start without that “paper”.
As a matter of fact, I’m doing an online Master’s degree right now, which I will finish this year, and I’m actually quite happy to have started. I’ve been able, in the past two years, to read books and papers that I had not heard about; I could understand some underlying issues in Software Engineering, both from technical and social points of view; I can understand more, I can learn more.
But, the truth be told, I’m also doing it to have that “paper” hanging on the wall. I know it’s silly, but I want to take that step too, and that’s why I’ve changed careers so many times. However, that is a secondary thing for me: what I am looking is something else altogether; a bit of guidance in my own learning path. I have followed an unusual way in my career, and looking backwards I’m happy to have done that (mind you, it was not at all consciously!). That’s why the 6 books and the new programming language every year. It’s all part of the same pattern.
Of course, this has worked out for me, and your mileage may vary. I know excellent developers both with and without degrees, and also horrible professionals with and without them. Some people need a physical teacher in front of them, while I prefer to learn alone.
A degree, like any decision that you take in life, should mean something to us, and in that sense, I find Reg’s arguments enlightening.
Here’s Kristofer Strom’s website.
Just a few links to work with color; you might know them all, or not, but if you have more, don’t hesitate to post them in the comments!
Finally, a classic – even if it has nothing to do with color: typography.com.
Enjoy!
Update, 2008-01-28: You can add Mondrianum to this list :)
