APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
The Wealth of Applications
Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations opens by discussing the division of labour. How people are able to get more done when they each pick a small part of the work to be … Continue reading
Posted in economics, futurology
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One decade in
The first working week of August 2014 comes ten years after the first working week of August 2004. You knew that. The first working week of August 2004 was the first week since completing my degree that I worked for … Continue reading
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PADDs, not the iPad
Alan Kay says that Xerox PARC bought its way into the future by paying lots of money for each computer. Today, you can (almost) buy your way into the future of mobile computers by paying small amounts of money for … Continue reading
Posted in futurology, UI
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The reasonable effectiveness of developer tools
In goals upon goals upon goals, I suggested that a fixation on developer tools is misplaced. This is not to say that developer tools are unhelpful, nor that they can’t have a significant impact on our work. Consider the following, … Continue reading
Posted in software-engineering, tool-support
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Goals upon goals upon goals
As I read Ed Finkler’s piece on losing excitement in technology, I found myself recognising pieces of my own story. The prospect of a new language or framework no longer seems like a new toy, an excuse to stay up … Continue reading
Posted in futurology, philosophy after a fashion
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Intra-curricular activities
I’m apparently fascinated by the idea of defining curricula for learning programming. I’ve written about how we need to be careful what we try to pay forward from the way we learned in the past, and I’ve talked about how … Continue reading
Posted in academia, advancement of the self, books, edjercashun, learning
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Planet of the Apps
Scene: in front of a green screen somewhere in the present day. Our protagonist, freshly burned out from a session of writing dynamically-typed web backend code in vim, looks up from the monitor. In the distance, some way along the … Continue reading
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Things I believe
The task of producing software is one of choosing and creating constraints, rules and abstractions inside a system which provides very few a priori. Typically we select a large collection of pre-existing constraints, rules and abstractions upon which to base … Continue reading
Wristwatches in the Future
[Int: Moscone West convention center third floor ballroom. A presentation is taking place.] So that was an update on our existing products, which I’m proud to say have never been stronger. Now I’d like to talk to you about our … Continue reading
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Reflections on “Is TDD Dead”
The first thing I noticed that I needed to change as a result of watching the Is TDD Dead? series is that I started out with a defensive mindset. If I believe in the dogma of a rule, then presumably … Continue reading
Posted in TDD
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