http://robmarianski.com Reflections on Software Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:56:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We can see software development as a duality with beauty on one side, and practicality on the other. Beauty is coming up with a masterpiece of a solution. Practicality is solving our problems with methods that are known to work. These don't have to be mutually exclusive, but they usually ... http://robmarianski.com/beauty-vs-practicality/ Currently, php is the most popular language on the web, popular here meaning sheer numbers. There are number of reasons for this, some of them obvious in retrospect. But then again, a lot of things are obvious in retrospect. Php is easy to get started with. I think this one most ... http://robmarianski.com/php-language-of-the-web/ Most programmers follow a progression as their skills improve. Initially, we have a just make it work mentality. In this phase, there is no structure or attempt at creating any abstractions. If functionality needs to be duplicated in a slightly different fashion, the lines of code get duplicated. We happily trudge ... http://robmarianski.com/the-cost-of-abstraction/ Always two there are, a master and an apprentice When learning a trade, the master/apprentice relationship can be tremendously useful. It is a slow path, but an effective one. It's a great way to pass on the lessons from the past. And not only is the knowledge of skills passed on to ... http://robmarianski.com/the-master-and-the-apprentice/ It's interesting to hear so many different opinions on the command line. Many see it as archaic. Others are scared of it. And then there's a few who prefer it to all other interfaces. But regardless of how you feel about it, there's no denying that it's here to stay, ... http://robmarianski.com/command-line/ Programming is really just another form of communication. We type in some code, tell the computer that we've got some stuff for it to read, and then it gives us back a response when we run it. The write, compile, run feedback loop is like having a conversation with the ... http://robmarianski.com/programming-is-communication/ When discussing whether quality is more important than quantity in programming circles, quality will often be cited as the clear winner. The argument is that focusing on quantity only ends up hurting us in the long run. Sacrificing quality usually means taking so called "shortcuts", which can lead to headaches ... http://robmarianski.com/quantity-vs-quality/ You come to nature with all her theories, and she knocks them all flat. -Renoir Computer science is a misnomer. There is no series of steps to follow that will lead to a great application. There is no methodology that guarantees success. The science that we do have is what I ... http://robmarianski.com/programming-is-more-art-than-science/ We've all had our frustrating moments with computers. We bang our heads against the walls for quite some time, and no matter what we try, the computer responds with a clever "I thought you might try that, here's your error." And then, we try talking to someone else about it, ... http://robmarianski.com/game-of-insight/ We all go through programming disasters. It's hard, if not impossible, to always make the right decisions. And after we've steered the ship back on course and we're out of the storm, we try to review if there was any way we could have prevented the storm in the first ... http://robmarianski.com/laws-of-the-land/