APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
Or maybe, because we want to
How (and Why) Developers Use the Dynamic Features of Programming Languages: The Case of Smalltalk is an interesting analysis of the reality of dynamic programming in Smalltalk (Squeak and Pharo, really). Taking the 1,000 largest projects on SqueakSource, the authors … Continue reading
On version 12
Reflecting on another WWDC keynote reminded me of this bit in Tron:Legacy, which I’ve undoubtedly not remembered with 100% accuracy: We’re charging children and schools so much for this, what’s so great about the new version? Well, there’s a 12 … Continue reading
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Warsaw Welcomes Dumbass Commentary
As I’m going to MCE tomorrow, tonight I’m going to my first WWDC keynote event since 2015. I doubt it’ll quite meet the high note of “dissecting” software design issues in the sports lounge at Moscone with Daniel Steinberg and … Continue reading
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The hardest thing
I now have the make the hardest decision in programming. It has nothing to do with naming things or invalidating caches: rather it is which *nix to install on a computer. NextBSD and MidnightBSD both have goals that are relevant … Continue reading
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Swift
Speaking of Swift, what idiot called it swift-evolution and not “A Modest Proposal”?
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Eating the bubble
How far back do you want to go to find people telling you that JavaScript is eating the world? Last year? Two years ago? Three? Five? It’s a slow digestion process, if that’s what is happening. Five years ago, there … Continue reading
Netscape won
Back when AOL was a standalone company and Sun Microsystems existed at all, Netscape said that they wanted Windows to be a buggy collection of device drivers that people used to access the web, which would be the real platform. … Continue reading
On twitter [or otherwise]
As occasionally happens, I’ve been reevaluating my relationships with social media. The last time I did this I received emails asking whether I was dead, so let me assure you that such rumours are greatly exaggerated. Long time readers will … Continue reading
On null
I’ve had an interesting conversation on the topic of null over the last few days, spurred by the logical disaster of null. I disagreed with the statement in the post that: Logically-speaking, there is no such thing as Null This … Continue reading
“Brand”: you win some, you lose some
The 20th anniversary of the iMac reminded me that while many people capitalises the word “iMac” as Apple would like, including John “I never capitalise trademarks the way companies like” Gruber, nobody uses the article-less form that Apple does: So … Continue reading
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