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Chiron Codex: helping software engineers become centaurs. APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
Yes, you may delete tests
A frequently-presented objection to the concept of writing automated tests is that it ossifies the implementation of the system under test. “If I’ve got all the tests you’re proposing,” I hear, “then I won’t be able to make any changes … Continue reading
Posted in TDD
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The laser physics of software
I’ve worked in a few different places where there have been high-powered lasers, the sort that would make short work of slicing through Sean Connery in a Bond movie. With high-powered lasers comes mandatory laser safety training. At least, it … Continue reading
Posted in whatevs
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Full-stack
That moment where you’re looking back through your notes to see that you’ve: modelled charge carrier behaviour in semiconductors built a processor from discrete logic components patched kernels patched operating system tools written filesystems written device drivers contributed to a … Continue reading
Posted in whatevs
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More Excel-lent Adventures
I previously wrote about Excel as the most successful IDE: Now what makes a spreadsheet better as a development environment is difficult to say; I’m unaware of anyone having researched it. That research is indeed extant, and the story is … Continue reading
Posted in code-level, tool-support
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What it takes to “win” a discussion
You may have been to some kind of debate club at school, or at least had a debate in a class. If so, the debate you had was probably a competitive debate, and went something along these lines (causality is … Continue reading
Posted in learning
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APPosite Concerns
I’ve started another book project: APPosite Concerns is in the same series as, and is somehow a sequel to, APPropriate Behaviour. So now I just have one question to ask. What is going to be in the book? This question … Continue reading
Posted in books
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Apple’s Watch and Jony’s Compelling Beginning
There are a whole lot of constraints that go into designing something. Here are the few I could think of in a couple of minutes: what people already understand about their interactions with things what people will discover about their … Continue reading
Posted in UI
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Sitting on the Sidelines
Thank you, James Hague, for your article You Can’t Sit on the Sidelines and Become a Philosopher. I got a lot out of reading it, because I identified myself in it. Specifically in this paragraph: There’s another option, too: you … Continue reading
Why is programming so hard?
I have been reflecting recently on what it was like to learn to program. The problem is, I don’t clearly remember: I do remember that there was a time when I was no good at it. When I could type … Continue reading
Posted in edjercashun
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Programming, maths and the other things
Sarah Mei argues that programming is not math, arguing instead that programming is language. I don’t think it’s hard to see the truth in the first part, though due to geopolitical influences on my personality I’d make the incrementally longer … Continue reading
Posted in philosophy after a fashion
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