APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
Today I learned that I don’t even know how to Unix. I discovered that it’s possible for a POSIX system to leave PATH_MAX and similar variables undefined if it truly has no restrictions on their length.
About 10 years ago, we decided that the performance gains in single-core processors that come “for free” with advancing semiconductor processes were slowing down. Many chip makers switched to scaling the number of cores on a die, and promoted parallel … Continue reading
Like Java, only functional
An idea that clarified itself to me in discussion today is that Swift is to Functional Programming as Java is to Object-Oriented Programming: it is the thing that lets you write C and pretend you’ve adopted some posh-sounding “paradigmatic” non-imperative … Continue reading
Posted in code-level, Java
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Learning phases
I’ve been trying to learn things this week (specifically Haskell). So far I’ve been through a lot of different moods, and I thought it’d be handy to write them down so that next time I’m the teacher I can remember … Continue reading
Posted in advancement of the self, edjercashun
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I’ve realised that when I read that a tool or framework is “opinionated”, I interpret that as meaning that I’m going to have to spend time on working out how to express my solution in its terms. I have enough … Continue reading
The Tankard Brigade
I have a guideline that seems to apply to many pursuits and hobbies: any activity can be fun until there’s too high a density of men with beards and tankards. Of course, they aren’t all men (though many are) and … Continue reading
Posted in whatevs
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Some people like to refer to OS X as UNIX-like when it’s actually a UNIX. There was a time when it was UNIX-like and some people liked to refer to it as a UNIX, but it’s not now.
The other pink dollar
How did (a very broad and collective) we go from selling NeXT at $440M to selling Tumblr at $1.1B, in under two decades? Why was Sun Microsystems, one of the most technologically advanced companies in the valley, only worth two … Continue reading
Posted in Business, economics
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…and in the end there will be the command line.
You’re pretty happy with the car that the dealer is showing you. It looks comfortable, stylish, and has all of the features you want. There’s a lot of space in the trunk for your luggage. The independent reviews that you’ve … Continue reading
Posted in architecture of sorts
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But where to go?
I agree with John Gruber here: it’s not like Apple’s stuff has become worse than a competitor’s, it’s just that it’s not as good as I remember or expect. It could be, as Daniel Jalkut suggests, rose-tinted glasses[*]. I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in GNU, Responsibility, UNIX
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