The Programmer's Paradox

Programming Structure

2009-11-06T16:24:00.004-05:00

I've been a little sluggish with my writing, lately. Probably because I've been very busy rewriting a big piece of code at work and I'm not much of multi-tasker (if it involves thinking).Still, I need to get back to my exploring proposed laws, starting with the first set:Fundamental Laws of Programming Structure:1. All programming code is hard to write and has bugs.2. The lower the code is in an

Fundamental Laws

2009-10-17T13:36:00.004-04:00

OK, technically I'm under the influence. No, not drugs or alcohol, but rather Number Theory. In the last few weeks I've been consuming as much Number Theory as I can get my hands on. Sure, it's having some perverse effect on the way I see other issues, but occasionally one has to forgive the rigor, and just see it as a necessary impediment towards progress.In thinking about it, I realized that

The Value of Code

2009-10-14T23:13:00.001-04:00

I've got a couple of interesting posts in the works, but for each one I'm having trouble with some of the essentials. It seems as if I've burnt out the left-hand side of my brain for a while. I've become mathematically challenged.In the meantime, I figured I could get away with another short set of observations.Recently I was installing a copy of Ubuntu Linux on my home machine.I grew up using

Not Interested

2009-09-30T22:09:00.001-04:00

I'm not exactly sure about how many of the various pieces of software I use frequently that excessively nag me about upgrading to their latest version. It's a lot. Way too many.I guess many programmers find it really neat that they can call home in their code, check the version number and then automatically inform me that my version is no longer up-to-date. It is a neat trick, the only thing is,

bXML

2009-09-13T17:13:00.001-04:00

Lately, I've been feeling undecided. There are so many great things I want to write about, but I fear that there are fewer and fewer people who want to read them. I'm split between not caring and just doing my own thing, or trying harder to pick more accessible topics to gain acceptance.We're drifting farther and farther away from wanting to know -- really know -- about stuff, and getting more

Tightly Bound

2009-08-27T23:24:00.002-04:00

I'd like to start this post off with a simple home-grown definition. Sometimes a bit of terminology can encapsulate a collection of ideas and make a conversation a little easier.A computer software system is 'loosely bound' if for any specific functionality implemented within the program, most of the code involved for that functionality is specific to it and is not used for any other

Halting a Problem

2009-08-09T11:42:00.001-04:00

I can remember quite vividly, well over twenty years ago, when I first came across a really good description of the halting problem. It was in an early Computer Science course. It had a huge impact, mostly because I was quite skeptical about accepting it as being real.In its nature, it is similar to those many strange loops that Douglas Hofstadter explains so well in "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An

Dynamic Ramblings

2009-08-01T23:12:00.002-04:00

A while ago I was discussing some software architectural options with a fellow developer and we ran into a little hitch with our conversation. Put quite simply, the word 'dynamic' has a couple of possible meanings. He was using it one way, and I was off on a complete different definition.For me I've always taken 'dynamic' to literally mean the opposite of 'static', and for 'static' -- in the

Bugs and Misfortune

2009-07-20T23:23:00.004-04:00

I was on the hunt again. We were in the middle of testing a web application, a medium sized one, when a couple of simple events occurred.We had received token errors, as if we had backed up in history and then resubmitted the same form over again. The system protects against this by sending a token to the browser and storing another one in the session. On the submit request, the two tokens are

In Our Dependence

2009-07-05T22:58:00.000-04:00

Consider a line of code. Any line really, it doesn't make a difference. From a far off, hazy perspective they are all similar. Just another instruction for the computer to process, in a long sequence of instructions.At some point, probably many times during it's operational life, the line of code will get executed, performing some simple operation like changing a variable, checking a condition or

Programming Knowledge

2009-06-29T23:25:00.005-04:00

"The jury is in. The controversy is over. The debate has ended, and the conclusion is: TDD works. Sorry." -- Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob)A quote from the upcoming work "97 Things Every Programmer Should Know":http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/Professionalism_and_Test-Driven_DevelopmentHonestly, I think that this quote by

Programming is Simple!

2009-06-11T23:08:00.003-04:00

Writing software to program computers is a simple process. You start by deciding which new data you want to be supported by the system. All systems revolve around their underlying data.From there, you decide which functionality is necessary. Most of it is fairly trivial, just the usual adding, deleting and modifications. That accounts for at least 80% of most systems.The other 20% can be complex

Chinese Plumbers

2009-06-04T17:30:00.002-04:00

I tend to be a low-budget traveler, easily choosing quantity over quality for my accommodations. So, not surprisingly -- in some Chinese city, which will remain nameless -- I found myself checking into a rather inexpensive double room, with private bathroom, in a youth hostel.All and all, it was a nice place. The youth hostels in China are badly categorized. Unlike their European inspirations

Architectural Ramblings

2009-05-31T13:18:00.001-04:00

While there is a huge range in opinions, I think most software architects would agree that their position is primarily about defining broad strokes for the development of computer systems. Laying down a master plan, or an overview of some type. The development then happens by one or more teams of programmers.The fastest way to pound out a big software system would be to lay out the instructions

Driven by Work

2009-05-22T17:36:00.001-04:00

Recently I returned from spending several weeks backpacking in China. I stomped on the Great Wall, gawked at the Terracotta warriors and even managed to plunge lightly into some of the mysteries of Tibet. All great locations in a land filled with a long and complex history.Traveling always renews my excitement for life and reawakens my sense of curiosity. I find that if I'm stuck too long without

The End of Coding as We Know It

2009-04-16T22:54:00.003-04:00

It's time for a bold prediction.I know that most software developers see computer language programming as the essential element of software creation. For most people it is inconceivable that we might one day automate large chunks of this effort.Automation, it is believed, can only come from tasks that are repetitive and require little thinking. Programming requires deep concentration, complex

My PC Crashed (Again)

2009-04-04T13:17:00.002-04:00

An ode to my PC:I hate my PC. I've had many computers over the years, and often they have found a soft place in my heart. My Apple ][+, bought used, served admirably for years. My XT lasted longer than I could have ever imagined. The super well-run BSD Unix boxes at the University of Waterloo were always a delight to use. Even my VMS workstation which could be a bit cranky, survived for five

About, Next and Garbage

2009-03-29T19:04:00.000-04:00

Trouble often starts trivially. It's those little subtle irrationalities that most people don't think worth investigating, that gradually percolate their way into bigger, more significant issues.Most professions accept these inconsistencies as the bias of their conventions. Software developers, however straddle the abstract mathematical world of computing machines, and the grittiness of the real

Faux Stylin'

2009-03-22T22:00:00.003-04:00

Our brains have two distinct hemispheres. Some people believe that we are almost two different people living in the same body with a minimal connection between. The left side of the brain is the rational intellectual one, while the right side is creative. This split is important to our world-view. I've badly paraphrased these ideas, which are described quite well in the classic reference:http://

In Framing Work

2009-03-14T13:01:00.002-04:00

"Wouldn't it have been better to allow the programmers to attach their own hash table directly into the form? " one of my fellow developers said gently."That way they can change the values in the hash table, and then update the form -- it's a more common approach to do it that way" he explained.I was in the middle of discussing my latest piece of code, a complex generic form handing mechanism

97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know

2009-02-27T11:08:00.004-05:00

It's been released! Richard Monson-Haefel’s project 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know was a community effort put together by a large collection of software aficionados. It started as a web site, and has now been published in printed form. I think it's a great bit of work, but I'm slightly biased as I managed to get a couple of my own contributions into the effort. Beyond its great

Building in Quality

2009-02-21T16:31:00.001-05:00

Today I'll try to be terse. Why? I don't really know.Computers have only two things: data and code. Whatever is one, is not the other.Code is more than just the primary programming language. It is any type of instruction, explicit or otherwise that instructs the computer to do something. Sometimes it's not obvious. Configuration files, for example, are an implicit programming language to load

Maneuverability and Sales

2009-02-12T15:50:00.002-05:00

Two quotes to start:"There's a sucker born every minute" P.T. Barnum (1810 - 1891)And more importantly:"Up until maybe a year ago, I had a pretty one-dimensional view of so-called "Agile" programming, namely that it's an idiotic fad-diet of a marketing scam making the rounds as yet another technological virus implanting itself in naive programmers who've never read "No Silver Bullet", the

In Expression

2009-02-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

The other day I was reading a recent issue of National Geographic. It was a story on Charles Darwin and the author, David Quammen was speculating about when and where Darwin finally came upon his famous theories. I found it interesting, since I could easily imagine that just prior to Darwin's 'aha' moment most of what was circulating around his head were vague notions of some hazy concept. Pieces

Good Thing Going

2009-01-17T18:09:00.000-05:00

There are an unusually large number of gifted programmers currently available or becoming available to work on software development projects, particularly here in Toronto. It is a product of the times, as many good people often prefer to stay in more stable positions, allowing them to achieve a better work/life balance. However, once the economy disrupts that for enough companies -- of any size -