Feb
15
2008
This Week’s Geek Links (Feb. 15th, 2008)
This is the fourth post for "This Week’s Geek Links"…aka my fourth-year-wedding-anniversary-week too!
Like last time, I’ll start this post by recommending some exceptional and inspiring videos that will challenge you as a professional, but more importantly as a human being. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Highly recommended to watch this week
- "Life Without Limbs - Nick Vujicic"
A powerful testimony of what life is all about. More information about Nick Vujicic can be found at www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.
Blog Posts
- "The Programmer Dress Code" (also checkout part two)
I had a blast looking at the pictures of various famous programmers and seeing a pattern unfold before my eyes. One of my new favourite bloggers, Justin Etheredge, shows a list of various pioneers in the software development world in a very funny way: from Dijkstra to Booch, these guys seem to belong in the same club where the rule is that you must have a beard, look sloppy or have very long hair. And I thought we were just dealing with 1’s and 0’s… By the way, don’t forget part two where the list continues. After all, it’s not a bad way to learn a bit more about the history of computer science. Great stuff! - "The programmer who programs least, programs best"
A simple post with an effective message. This time around, Justin Etheredge writes about a very natural technique to avoid spreading bugs into our code: write less code! Today, programming languages and compilers offer higher level constructs that we can use in less code, but for some reason (maybe due to the lack of knowledge for a given platform) I still see developers reinventing the wheel and adding much more code to do the same job instead of using what’s already in their toolbox. Writing less code to do the same job is one factor that differentiates good programmers from professional programmers. Less code to write means less impact on maintenance, more isolated unit testing and higher test coverage, better readability and less refactoring to do. Highly recommended reading material for this week! - "Becoming a Better Developer"
In this 11-part post, Rob Walling writes about what he thinks it takes to become better in your job as a software professional. He doesn’t go into specific details such as knowing this programming language or that new platform. Instead, he brings the basics up front, such as being good and doing good to your co-workers, realizing that there is more to life than code, not being afraid to try new job roles (just to see if you’re missing out on something in your career), etc. Each of the 11 parts aren’t too long to read and the main ideas are easy to grasp. Here are the parts, as listed on his website:
- Part 1: Making Fans
- Part 2: Know Your Core Competencies
- Part 3: Enjoy the Panorama
- Part 4: Know What You’re Building
- Part 5: Don’t Use a Dull Knife
- Part 6: Become a Manager
- Part 7: The Jigsaw Puzzle
- Part 8: Know Your Archetype
- Part 9: How to Criticize a Software Developer Without Getting Punched
- Part 10: What Do Your Colleagues Think of You?
- Part 11: Get a Massage (and Get Your Boss to Pay For It)
Similar posts you might be interested in reading:
