bad code is always the first step to good code

“Yes, there are such things as best practices in software development, and they have legitimate value, but as a beginner you are not obligated to internalize all of them at once. Just stop worrying about it! Make something you’re proud of, then improve it little by little. Learn one thing at a time and make incremental progress.

Most of all, remember that bad code is always the first step to good code. Never let any experienced programmer tell you otherwise.”

SEE ALSO:
Don’t Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You
by Joel Spolsky

Sold!

Well, the almost passive-house/almost net-zero Stow house sold in a week to a smart buyer who got a great deal. And we’ve already moved (to the 1958 split level mentioned earlier).

I’m missing…
- the warm basement (my office)
- the quiet HVAC (the new house has a typical forced-hot-air system)
- the even temps (both room to room, and time of day)
- those huge window sills!
- the attic playroom
- the very quiet location (far from highways and other major roads)

There are some nice things about our new place too though (the main one being that we are 3 or 4 minutes to the kids school) so we save lots of time/money/CO2 each day on that.

Experiences of ADHD-Labeled Kids Who Switch from Conventional Schooling to Homeschooling or Unschooling

“My analysis of these stories suggests that (1) most ADHD-diagnosed kids do fine without drugs if they are not in a conventional school; (2) the ADHD characteristics don’t vanish when the kids leave conventional school, but the characteristics are no longer as big a problem as they were before; and (3) ADHD-diagnosed kids seem to do especially well when they are allowed to take charge of their own education.”

from:

Experiences of ADHD-Labeled Kids Who Switch from Conventional Schooling to Homeschooling or Unschooling
These kids and parents manage ADHD better without conventional schooling.
Published on September 9, 2010 by Peter Gray in Freedom to Learn

CFLs time has passed

I won’t be buying any more CFLs (compact fluorescent light-bulbs). Time for LEDs!

CFL problems:

1. CFLs apparently often leak UV!!! — 2013 NIH report: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/120-a387/
2. CFLs usually don’t last NEARLY as long as claimed (in my experience) especially in down-facing applications where they get especially hot
3. Cleanup of broken ones is a pain (worrying about mercury)

So that’s enough for me to jump ship to LEDs now that they are starting to be almost reasonably priced.

Excellent: Philips 409904 / 423343 Dimmable AmbientLED 12.5-Watt A19 Light Bulb (good Amazon availability)

Also excellent is a similar one from CREE. Not sure Amazon has a good stock of them, but I think HomeDepot has them.

ageism and creativity in programming

“I am 57 and I am a programmer, the same way Martin Scorcese is 70 and is a movie director. Or Ron Howard is 59, and Rob Reiner is 66. And that’s just film.”
– Dave Winer

GREAT POST!!!

Blogroll – Programmers on programming

Dave Winer – Scripting News
e.g. Why don’t programmers speak for programming?

http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/march/whyArentProgrammersSpeakingForProgramming

The soul of the new developer

http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/march/theSoulOfTheNewEngineer

Why you should learn to code

http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/february/whyYouShouldLearnToCode

Educating the journo-programmer

http://scripting.com/stories/2011/01/21/theJournoprogrammer.html

Joel Spolsky – Joel on Software
e.g. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchools.html

Dan Bricklin

http://www.bricklin.com/writings.htm

Paul Graham
e.g. http://www.paulgraham.com/knuth.html

Imran on Tech
e.g. Programming Knowledge versus Programming Ability

http://imranontech.com/2007/05/16/programming-knowledge-versus-programming-ability/

Patrick McKenzie -

http://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-hits/

James Hague – http://prog21.dadgum.com/
e.g. Expertise, the Death of Fun, and What to Do About It

http://prog21.dadgum.com/169.html

Rys McCusker – doesn’t write much anymore. old stuff not visible

http://www.ythorn.com/etc.html

==================================

See also…

http://techbyproducts.com/programming-is-not-a-glamorous-job/

http://dannorth.net/2011/01/11/programming-is-not-a-craft/

Jaron Lanier

Older
- Microserfs (a novel)
- Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents, 2001 Ellen Ullman
- Computer Power and Human Reason, 1984 Joseph Weizenbaum

Computer Power and Human Reason

Not a programmer, but…
Malcolm McCullough
Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, 1998

Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand

Facebook Home

Facebook was clever to do Facebook Home as they did. As Zuckerberg said in an interview, doing an entire phone would have meant they would have reached much much fewer people than they can with the Android approach.

Here are some related blog posts/articles related to Facebook Home (and the bigger picture battle between Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook)

Matt Drance

http://www.appleoutsider.com/2013/04/05/home-turf/

I Like It, but I Don’t Like It Like It
The Facebook phone is not as dumb as I thought it was going to be.
By Farhad Manjoo

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/04/facebook_home_the_facebook_phone_is_not_as_dumb_as_i_thought_it_was_going.html