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Gripes about modern programming

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:41:00 +0800

My biggest gripe with modern programming is the sheer volume of arbitrary stuff I need to know. My current project has so far required me to know about Python, Django, Google App Engine and it’s datastore, XHTML, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, JSON, and a clutch of XML schema, APIs and the like.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for all of it, but it just doesn’t seem like what I was promised when I followed SICP for the first time. It just feels like I spend most of my time scouring through documentation and trying to remember umpteen different sets of syntax and class names rather than actually thinking in code.

Back in ye olden days, most programming tasks I performed felt quite natural and painless, just a quiet little chat between me and the compiler. Sometimes longwinded, sometimes repetitive, but I just sat and though and typed and software happened. The work I do these days feels more like being a dogsbody at the tower of babel. I just don’t seem to feel fluent in anything much any more.

We talk about ‘flow’ quite a lot in software and I just have to wonder what’s happening to us all in that respect. Just like a conversation becomes stilted if the speakers keep having to refer to their phrasebooks and dictionaries, I wonder how much longer it will be possible to retain any sort of flowful state when writing software. Might the idea of mastery disappear forever under a constant torrent of new tools and technologies?

This was a comment by jdietrich over at Hacker News. And here is the post that started the discussion. Be sure to read the follow on post as well. The comment I quoted captures my sentiments as well. In our aim to write libraries, frameworks and APIs, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get into any sort of ‘flow’ when writing code. The analogy of speakers having to keep referring to their phrasebooks is a very apt one. The last fun programming project I did was a university project. And part of the reason why it was that fun was perhaps because I didn’t have to spend hours poring over documentation to learn class names. I wrote a module in C to read and decode a text message. The reading I had to do was about the SMS standard. Importantly I was still thinking in code the entire time.

Is modern programming geared more for assemblers than creators? Where do you stand? What is your preferred language/framework for development?

What do you get every 2-3 years? A new Overkill album! This one...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:13:00 +0800

What do you get every 2-3 years? A new Overkill album! This one is called Ironbound (very nice cover there), and it’s killer stuff. If you haven’t been very pleased with their last couple of albums, this should set your mind at ease. Blitz hasn’t sounded this good in awhile, and the rest of the band is as energetic as ever.

"As with all things with a concrete target, this design is both huge and small! We don’t claim to..."

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:15:10 +0800

“

As with all things with a concrete target, this design is both huge and small! We don’t claim to have changed the direction of computing forever…. but we hope that this desktop will feel more transparent, more effortless, you’ll stay focused better, yet still understand what’s going on better. And what else do you expect of the core functions of your desktop?

This may amount to a bigger improvement in deep interactions with the UI than any desktop OS in the last decade can boast.

”

- Seth Nickell, on Gnome 3. This and this (among many other reasons) is why I truly believe it’s such an exciting time to be a Linux user today.

The World's Most Admired Companies (2010)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:47:00 +0800

The World's Most Admired Companies (2010):

Apple tops the list for the 3rd year in a row.

Staying on topic of my last post, this is the why piracy works...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:49:14 +0800

Staying on topic of my last post, this is the why piracy works edition.

The Brads – a comic about web design » Why DRM Doesn’t Work

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:42:33 +0800

The Brads – a comic about web design » Why DRM Doesn’t Work

Takedowns!

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:12:00 +0800

Just got Burnout Legends for my PSP during the half-price sale. I haven’t had this much fun smashing other vehicles in quite awhile.

"After 25 years together, at this stage in our career, there’s honestly only three bands Dream..."

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:03:00 +0800

“After 25 years together, at this stage in our career, there’s honestly only three bands Dream Theater would consider opening for and Maiden is one of them. It is an absolute honor.”

- Mike Portnoy, on touring with Iron Maiden. These shows are going to kick ass. I’m honestly considering a trip just to see one of these shows.

Sergey Brin’s Online Resume

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:53:09 +0800

Sergey Brin’s Online Resume

Ubuntu dumps the brown, introduces new theme and branding

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:39:50 +0800

Ubuntu dumps the brown, introduces new theme and branding:

Very nice.

Fold a T-Shirt in Two Seconds

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:02:52 +0800

Fold a T-Shirt in Two Seconds:

I’m trying this next time.

The Fatal Flaw With Google Buzz’s Edit Button [Gizmodo]

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:54:34 +0800

The Fatal Flaw With Google Buzz’s Edit Button [Gizmodo]

Swedish Binary (via fuckyeahcomputerscience)

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:43:00 +0800

Swedish Binary (via fuckyeahcomputerscience)

Text to receive the symptoms!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:07:33 +0800

Text to receive the symptoms!

Photo

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:19:27 +0800

fuckyeahcomputerscience: chachaholic: i like coding in...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:43:16 +0800

fuckyeahcomputerscience:

chachaholic:

i like coding in notepad++ too. but when im feeling geeky, i use vi =p

A lesser-known genre of metal? Seen in a record store in Camden...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:15:54 +0800

A lesser-known genre of metal? Seen in a record store in Camden Town today.

10 Questions to Ask Your Mother Now

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:25:25 +0800

10 Questions to Ask Your Mother Now:

What’s the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?
Why did you choose to be with my father?
In what ways do you think I’m like you? And not like you?
Which one of us kids did you like the best?
Is there anything you have always wanted to tell me but never have?
Do you think it’s easier or harder to be a mother now than when you were raising our family?
Is there anything you regret not having asked your parents?
What’s the best thing I can do for you right now?
Is there anything that you wish had been different between us―or that you would still like to change?
When did you realize you were no longer a child?

"I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of..."

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:55:30 +0800

“I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. That’s fine in itself; that’s how business works. I just think you’re misinterpreting both why people are excited about the iPad (even if they don’t realise it), and what exactly you need to copy. I think you might be on a dead-end track without even realising it.”

- Matt Gemmell, on how to compete with iPad

A conversation I have every month or so

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:31:44 +0800

timoni:

dwineman:

Me: (tries to visit a local restaurant’s website via iPhone)
Restaurant website: I require Flash. Fuck off.
Me: I just want to know how late you’re open.
Website: Nope.
Me: But I’m on my phone. Don’t you have a little “HTML Version” link up in the corner or something?
Website: I’m ignoring you.
Me: What if I’m on my phone because I’m out, looking for a place to eat? Didn’t that ever occur to you?
Website: Fuck entirely off.
Me: (gives up, switches to computer)
Website: Oh! Hi! What can I help you with today?
Me: What are your —
Website: Hang on, I’m loading the music.
Me: Really.
Website: You’ll love it. It’s “Girl from Ipanema” arranged for steel drum and keytar.
Me: No, you don’t have to —
Website: Loading…
Me: All I want is —
Website: I SAID DOT DOT DOT.
Me: (drums fingers on desk)
Website: There we go. Isn’t that nice? It’s… what’s the word. Ethnicky.
Me: What are your hours?
Website: Take a look at our menu! It’s a PDF of a screenshot of a scan of a Word document printed on a dishtowel. With fonts!
Me: I don’t care. What are your hours?
Website: Don’t worry, the menu loads in a new window so the music won’t stop. Can I show you some broken images?
Me: What. Are. Your. Hou. Rs.
Website: I… I don’t know.
Me: (goes to Denny’s)

Goodness this is so true.

So very true.