Comments for VoxBlog http://voxblog.voxland.net Thoughts on Software Development Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:11:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on “Clean Code”: The Gift that Keeps on Giving by Nathan Voxland http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/12/clean-code-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/comment-page-1/#comment-216 Nathan Voxland Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:11:46 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=66#comment-216 Good catch. I've never been the best with names... Good catch. I’ve never been the best with names…

]]> Comment on “Clean Code”: The Gift that Keeps on Giving by ErikFK http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/12/clean-code-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/comment-page-1/#comment-211 ErikFK Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:37:08 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=66#comment-211 Clean Code was written by Robert Martin (and a few co-authors), not by Martin Fowler... Clean Code was written by Robert Martin (and a few co-authors), not by Martin Fowler…

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by Jcwaters http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Jcwaters Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:31:33 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-14 If John Titor could do it, I think that you would be able to as well. A lot of the stuff that makes programming a pain (concurrency, networking, graphics, interactive interfaces) simply were not around in the main stream. You also didn't have to be stuck with IBMs and punched cards, LISP was around, PDP's of various kinds were around, CDC was around (but the archived documentation makes it seem awfully complicated. Depending on when in the 70's you are talking about you might be able to get your hands on some UNIX goodness, granted UNIX back then was considerably different (better) than it is today. Get yourself a copy of simh and start fooling around with these old systems, its actually pretty fun and you might learn a thing or two. If John Titor could do it, I think that you would be able to as well.
A lot of the stuff that makes programming a pain (concurrency, networking, graphics, interactive interfaces) simply were not around in the main stream. You also didn’t have to be stuck with IBMs and punched cards, LISP was around, PDP’s of various kinds were around, CDC was around (but the archived documentation makes it seem awfully complicated. Depending on when in the 70’s you are talking about you might be able to get your hands on some UNIX goodness, granted UNIX back then was considerably different (better) than it is today.

Get yourself a copy of simh and start fooling around with these old systems, its actually pretty fun and you might learn a thing or two.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by Kragen Javier Sitaker http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Kragen Javier Sitaker Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:07:17 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-13 I have a lot of the previous 30 years of software development already in my head; if this was before 1978 or so, I could throw together a version of VisiCalc in six months or so in 6502 assembly, and use the resulting flood of money to bring things like OCaml, Scheme, Python, TCP/IP, and even HTML to fruition decades early. What would Smalltalk look like today if we had a Smalltalk-80 JIT with a polymorphic inline cache and profiler-guided optimization implemented by 1985? Maybe I'd also have some knowledge of which local politicians were the up-and-comers, and what scandals to use to bring down the old ones. What would be *really* handy is if I had a few years of Moore's Law in my head --- semiconductor fabrication techniques and the like. But I don't. I have a lot of the previous 30 years of software development already in my head; if this was before 1978 or so, I could throw together a version of VisiCalc in six months or so in 6502 assembly, and use the resulting flood of money to bring things like OCaml, Scheme, Python, TCP/IP, and even HTML to fruition decades early. What would Smalltalk look like today if we had a Smalltalk-80 JIT with a polymorphic inline cache and profiler-guided optimization implemented by 1985?

Maybe I’d also have some knowledge of which local politicians were the up-and-comers, and what scandals to use to bring down the old ones.

What would be *really* handy is if I had a few years of Moore’s Law in my head — semiconductor fabrication techniques and the like. But I don’t.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by Garrett http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Garrett Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:11:35 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-12 It wasn't that bad - but it required careful thought, and an understanding of computers. You didn't just throw code at the compiler and system and see if it might work. The people I work with now I consider "application developers", not "computer programmers". They don't know anything about actual computers, but they can assemble much more user-friendly systems than we could have imagined back then. It wasn’t that bad – but it required careful thought, and an understanding of computers. You didn’t just throw code at the compiler and system and see if it might work. The people I work with now I consider “application developers”, not “computer programmers”. They don’t know anything about actual computers, but they can assemble much more user-friendly systems than we could have imagined back then.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by John http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-11 John Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:51:04 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-11 I'd absolutely love it, the most modern language I program is Redcode! I’d absolutely love it, the most modern language I program is Redcode!

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by Nathan Voxland http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Nathan Voxland Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:17:26 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-10 My theory, though, is that as a coder and not a marketer or a executive I would not have the skills to bring an idea that I would "know" would go over well like Google or Amazon. I've seen enough instances of great ideas that are implemented well fail because they are being run by an engineer rather than someone that really understands business. Just because you would know that PageRank will work well and can write up an implementation before Google starts doesn't mean you will end up where Google is now. I think the best response would be to latch on to the companies you know will work well and do as much as you can to stay out o the way. My theory, though, is that as a coder and not a marketer or a executive I would not have the skills to bring an idea that I would “know” would go over well like Google or Amazon.

I’ve seen enough instances of great ideas that are implemented well fail because they are being run by an engineer rather than someone that really understands business.

Just because you would know that PageRank will work well and can write up an implementation before Google starts doesn’t mean you will end up where Google is now.

I think the best response would be to latch on to the companies you know will work well and do as much as you can to stay out o the way.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by dr hongkongski http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-9 dr hongkongski Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:12:37 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-9 You could hit it big in advertising, because you've seen all the cool ideas already. You could hit it big in advertising, because you’ve seen all the
cool ideas already.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by bshock http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-8 bshock Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:06:56 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-8 Introduce "agile" and "Scrum" early and change the course of history? I don't think you'd enjoy the sort of new history you'd create. If that flash-in-the-pan garbage managed to take hold in the early days, we might be stuck with even more of it now. Better to locate the inventors and/or major proponents of these ideas and try to steer them in a different direction before it was too late. Introduce “agile” and “Scrum” early and change the course of history? I don’t think you’d enjoy the sort of new history you’d create. If that flash-in-the-pan garbage managed to take hold in the early days, we might be stuck with even more of it now.

Better to locate the inventors and/or major proponents of these ideas and try to steer them in a different direction before it was too late.

]]> Comment on The Time Traveling Coder by Ross http://voxblog.voxland.net/2008/11/the-time-traveling-coder/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Ross Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:38:20 +0000 http://voxblog.voxland.net/?p=54#comment-7 You said there would be "no Google" which is fair enough. But that in itself is a sneaky oppurtunity to grab on. Sure, you'll have to wait a bit for ARPANET to really kick off into the consumer-based market but that leavs you lots of space to develop MSN, Yahoo! and Amazon while you're at it ;) You said there would be “no Google” which is fair enough. But that in itself is a sneaky oppurtunity to grab on.

Sure, you’ll have to wait a bit for ARPANET to really kick off into the consumer-based market but that leavs you lots of space to develop MSN, Yahoo! and Amazon while you’re at it ;)

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