In 2011 John D. Cook wrote the following blog post: My friend Clift Norris has identified a fundamental constant that I call Norris’ number, the average amount of code an untrained programmer can write before he or she hits a wall. Clift estimates this as 1,500 lines.
Figure out when long-running jobs finish, without stopping themYou kick off a long running job - maybe a data migration script that operates on a large data set, or you're copying a large file from one disk to another, or from the Internet to your local computer.
The Great White Space Debate“Creeping Jesus, you fool! Are you out of your mind!? I have the Style guide right here prepared for an occasion such as this. It would be a mistake to debate this now. It would be truly dreadful for your ego.” I shushed him with all of my might. No point in debating, yet.
Apollo Guidance ComputerThe Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed onboard each Apollo Command Module (CM) and Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft.
First-Class FailureAs a developer, nothing makes me more nervous than third-party dependencies and things that can fail in unpredictable ways1.
StackOverflow Update: 560M Pageviews a Month, 25 Servers, and It's All About PerformanceThe folks at Stack Overflow remain incredibly open about what they are doing and why. So it’s time for another update. What has Stack Overflow been up to?
The web request is a scary placeSometime in the middle of 2013 I was working on a project that began having server cpu spiking issues. After several failed attempts to decipher what was going on I began pulling my hair out, its been falling out every since.
Count to ten when a plane goes down...Count to ten when a plane goes down… Just a little under 31 years ago, I played a key role in a conspiracy theory that grew up around a passenger plane downed by a Russian missile. Trust me, I did not mean to be involved.
Your Interface is what MattersProgramming is a deeply humbling activity. What else could you say of an activity and profession where it's common knowledge that you'll never write bug-free code? That regardless of how hard one tries, it's not enough.
Writing Better Bug ReportsA good bug report is one that describes the problem well enough that someone familiar with the project can understand and act on that bug report without talking to the person who wrote it. When it comes to setting the bar, that’s it. Anything less is simply not good enough.
This Read-It-Later-list is just that, bookmarks of stuff I intend to read or have read. I do not necessarily agree with opinions or statements in the bookmarked articles.
This list is compiled from my Pocket list.