sruffell

I was going to suggest this book when I see I'm late to the party, so I'll just have to add my voice to the chorus.

"Linux Programming Interface" is one of the best technical books I've ever read.

I feel like someone isn't fully groking the beauty of decentralized / distributed version control systems...

I switched to http://typematrix.com keyboard about 5 years ago when my wrists started hurting. I've been happy with that decision. The unmarked one I purchased at first really made me focus in my touch typing.

One downside: When I go to a co-worker's computer with a normal keyboard I feel like I can not type.

Even as a seasoned developer I think the book has value when trying to make the case to less-seasoned colleagues that they might want to think more critically about how they are structuring their code.

I wish I could vote this up more than one point. I don't believe I have any insight I can add in a short comment that would do anything but distract from the authors point.

Also increasing the cost of any ongoing maintenance and support (and the need to charge for that support and maintenance) are the "unhedged option calls" [1] made when the idea was first expressed in code.

[1] http://www.m3p.co.uk/blog/2010/07/23/bad-code-isnt-technical...

I'm also reminded of the joke: "How did God manage to create the world in only six days? He didn't have any installed base he had to worry about backwards compatibility with."

When I think about how self-conscious amateur writers can be I always think of the "Professional vs Amateur" section in http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writebetter/.

I'm an amateur writer.

The first thought that popped into my mind from reading this was when is there going to be a bachelor's equivalency exam? Perhaps a new potential market for the ETS?

I agree that the public / private option makes sense to me.

However, regarding that the public option "...gives you a way to show publicly how friendly and responsive you are...", it also sometimes forces you to deal with people (competitors?) who want to use your forum to argue why your product may be lacking. There is also the occasional person who is upset that you or someone else hasn't taken up their issue that they mailed to the public list.

All kidding aside--and I was just kidding with my previous comment--while I think there is vast room for improvement in how people are moved through the education system I wouldn't go so far as to say I don't have any level of respect for it or community colleges in particular.

I graduated from high school two years early and started attending the local community college before moving to a 4-year university. My experiences were that yes, the day classes were like an unfortunate extension of high school, but the night classes were generally filled with people who were working during the day and serious about their time in class at night. Compared to the 4-year university, the feel was more collaborative and less competitive. In fact, one of my instructors during those community college days (Don Heidt, I'm thinking of you) was among the best I had. I still think about things that he said in class on a regular basis, and that was ~19 years ago.

So even though "a poorly trained ape could graduate from any community college in this country", I believe community colleges DO provide opportunities for students to better themselves. The problem is that community colleges, since they aren't selective, don't make great differentiators of applicants if you're not interested in trying to determine for yourself how capable someone is.

Not only that, but he graduated. I fear it may already be too late for him:

http://www.satirewire.com/news/0006/satire-ellison.shtml

I know your comment is basically part of the central premises of "Getting Things Done" but your words "This way when I let go of work for the day.." resonated with me.

Perhaps today is when I start using those last 5 minutes to take at least one note a day.

It also appears from the abstract [1] that the participants were all from a single company.

[1] http://www.springerlink.com/content/h2287x387r248223/

I feel dirty up voting this one.

Reminds me of Action Item Man for those who have not seen it: http://professionalsuperhero.com/

"biggest mistake is still having a tech ladder"?

What specifically is this referring to? A separate career progression for techs vs managers? I thought that was desirable so you don't need to move your best engineers out of engineering positions to promote them. I fear I'm missing something.

Like FlemishBeeCycle said, perhaps different people have different interests.

I believe the number of men and women who want equal treatment under the law is more even than the numbers of men and women who are attracted to (or tolerant of) the realities of working in tech. Therefore I do not think it is fair to compare this disparity to the civil rights or suffrage movements.

Perhaps evolutionary biology has something to say about why there aren't more women techies, entrepreneurs, prisoners, or homeless. If you missed it a few days ago, here is the link again: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~baumeistertice/goodaboutmen.htm Even if you don't agree with it, I think it is safe to say it is an idea worth considering and seems pertinent to this debate.

Or "Abstruse Goose: How to Teach Yourself Programming" http://abstrusegoose.com/249

When I'm having trouble getting started I like to reread Joel Spolsky's "Fire and Motion" post with this quote: "Maybe this is the key to productivity: Just getting started"

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html

If you know and like python, Faces (http://faces.homeip.net/) may be worth a look. I've enjoyed using it in the past. I was already familiar with Python and appreciated that I did not need to spend time learning a software package that I wasn't going to use on a regular basis. Ymmv.

I can't resist. What was management's reasoning for not allowing source code control?

I spend most of my time writing C code, but like to work with Python when I get the chance. There isn't anything like pylint for Ruby? A dynamic runtime doesn't necessarily mean you have to give up static analysis.

I don't have anything new to say about the larger societal issues raised in this article, but as a father of a young daughter, this article certainly made me feel sad for all the daughters who aren't given a chance.

Even better: http://idlerpg.net

I first came across an argument very similar to this in "Pro Excel Financial Modeling: Building Models for Technology Startups"[1]. There the author makes an argument for why you should address the qualities needed in leaders of different size organizations in your models.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Excel-Financial-Modeling-Technolog...

Although what about the people who, misguided though they may be, haven't done anything outside of work because their passion is their work?

I probably should have posted this URL instead of the one I did: http://nms.csail.mit.edu/projects/horde/download.html

At first glance, this sounds similar to Horde: http://www.usenix.org/events/mobisys05/tech/full_papers/qure...