Rob Janssen

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6502 Home Computer

This is a description of my attempt to build a simple microcomputer system with an 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU that was used in many popular home computers of the 1970s and 1980s like the Commodore 64 or the Apple II. This project was started in September 2014 and finished in January 2015.

What I Wish I Knew When Starting Out as a Software Developer: Slow the Fuck Down

The other day I read What I Wish I Knew When I Started My Career as a Software Developer, an article in Lifehacker adapted from a Quora answer by Michael O. Church. I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

We Are Gonna Need It

There was a time (not so long ago) when we designed everything before we wrote any code. We gathered the requirements of our application and wrote the requirement specification. We took these requirements and designed an architecture that helped us to fulfill them.

CPU cache, should you care?

This semester, I took a very interesting course at my university. They taught us how to optimize programs, not by reducing complexity or rewriting the algorithm, but by transforming the source code to better utilize CPU.

Whitespace, you're doing it wrong.

Received wisdom tells us that choice of formatting styles is a purely subjective choice. The same as choosing a coffee blend, or finding the best way to paint your bikeshed.

Why I write horrible code. (And so can you!)

The Boy Scout Rule

The Boy Scouts have a rule: "Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it." If you find a mess on the ground, you clean it up regardless of who might have made the mess. You intentionally improve the environment for the next group of campers.

Single Responsibility Principle: Why Does it Matter?

One of my favorite tips for writing software comes from one of my favorite software role models, Sandi Metz.

Awesome Grid Crud Demo

Architecture of a Database System

Architecture of a Database System – Hellerstein, Stonebraker & Hamilton, 2007. This is a longer read (and hence a slightly longer write-up too) coming in at 119 pages, but it’s written in a very easy style so the pages fly by.

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.