the ideal programmer

Bruce Eckel has tackled an elusive subject: The Ideal Programmer

"I think that a large part of the problem is that the concept of programming is diametrically opposed to the patience and effort necessary to produce good code. The concept is that we wave our magic paintbrush and the perfect picture paints itself in no time at all. Admittedly, we're a lot further along that path than we used to be, and I spend a fair portion of my own time pursuing tools to increase productivity. But regardless of how far along the path we get, one glaring fact remains:

Programming is about communication between humans.

I think most of us fall into the easy trap of thinking that all we have to do is successfully communicate with the machine – learn the necessary rules, no matter how arcane (and I know there is a group for whom "the more arcane, the better") – follow them, and get the end result, which is the working program (the code is only a step on the way to this)."

ruby and python compared

A common topic of discussion at work is the comparison and contrast of Ruby and Python. Python is more popular, but Ruby use is growing and it seems to be favored by the OO and patterns crowd.

Ruby and Python Compared is a nice informal analysis comparing the differences between these two popular languages.

the magic below decks

Joel Spolsky has put up yet another splendid article on the business of software: The Development Abstraction Layer

"Management's primary responsibility to create the illusion that a software company can be run by writing code, because that's what programmers do. And while it would be great to have programmers who are also great at sales, graphic design, system administration, and cooking, it's unrealistic. Like teaching a pig to sing, it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."