-
Chiron Codex: helping software engineers become centaurs. APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
FSF
Author Archives: Graham
Withholding the Four Freedoms
Having downsized my rather over-enthusiastic computer collection (thanks, eBay!), I was down to one computer. Unfortunately, as a rather long in the tooth MacBook Air, it’s no longer suited to my needs and neither is it upgradeable. I got all … Continue reading
Posted in freesoftware, GNU, UI
Leave a comment
I didn’t study computer science at school or university, and still manage to work as a programmer. That is not to say that I don’t need to know some things that are taught on computer science courses. Just this week … Continue reading
Something old, something new
Sometimes, what you want out of a software system is something unexciting. Something proven to work, that’s well-understood, and has had all of the kinks smoothed out over years (or even decades) of refinement. Of course, what you get when … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Dogmatic paradigmatism
First, you put all of your faith in structured programming, and you got burned. You found it hard to associate the operations in your software with the data upon which they act, and to make sure that the expectations made … Continue reading
Apple’s Best Programming Language
My talk at App Builders 2016 was on Apple’s best programming language. Spoiler alert: it’s Dylan. Or is it? I chose a few properties one might wish to find in programming languages, then demonstrated how these were all present in … Continue reading
Posted in code-level, Uncategorized
1 Comment
On immutable data structures…?
If you write a scholarly publication and cite another one, what you say about it depends on its mutability. An article or a book can be cited by saying “this publication I’m identifying here says this”. Maybe you have to … Continue reading
Posted in academia, architecture of sorts
Leave a comment
In which I interview so you don’t have to
Describing job interviews for technical roles in the software industry to people who have left or have always been outside the software industry requires two things: patience on the part of the one doing the describing, and the ability for … Continue reading
Posted in advancement of the self, Business
1 Comment
Turn it off and back on again
I’m now six months into what I expected to be about a year out of working in technology, and I’m starting to think about what comes next and trying to make it happen. The difficulty I have is that it’s … Continue reading
Posted in advancement of the self, whatevs
2 Comments
New book: APPosite Concerns
Back when I published APPropriate Behaviour, I expected it to be the first in a trilogy. Today, the second part, APPosite Concerns, is available. APPosite Concerns is a compendium of posts from this blog, going back over the current decade. … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Clown Trousers
An indirect side effect of stopping programming is that none of my trousers fit any more. People who like to explain things before they have all the facts (or “programmers” as we sometimes call them) will justify this observation by … Continue reading
Posted in advancement of the self, whatevs
3 Comments
