Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Jeremy Allison's Advice to Young Programmers

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the take-heart dept.

Hyram Graff writes "Jeremy Allison has written a wonderful piece with advice to young programmers. As someone who's been out of college for just over a year, I find it to be a very insightful piece. Please allow me to say, thanks Mr. Allison!"

5 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A hard reality... by drsmithy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I agree completely since it is a fact that has been established over the years, [...]

    I have to argue there are still a lot of computing applications where the network is of only tangential interest. Word processing, desktop publishing, video editing, [single player] games, etc. There's no shortage of work where the network is really just a a process for getting an initial set of data onto the machine to be manipulated (if it even does that - eg: photo editing with photos coming straight off the camera).

    Mr Allison's advice (and commentary) seems to be very much centred around writing high-performance server applications. Which is hardly surprising, given his background, but may not be equally applicable to all forms of coding (eg: writing GUI apps for GNOME or KDE today is probably quite different to writing X apps twenty+ years ago, and an intimate knowledge of the underlying hardware/OS is only really necessary if your code is performance-sensitive).

    [...] i still wonder if iTunes(one of the best examples i could remember) would have been so widely used today if not for the music sharing feature!

    Of course it would. The iPod is the main reason iTunes is popular (( don't think I've _ever_ used iTunes music sharing features - or the iTunes Store, for that matter).

  2. Re:A hard reality... by ranga_the_don · · Score: 1, Informative

    I have to argue there are still a lot of computing applications where the network is of only tangential interest. Word processing, desktop publishing
    Office automation is moving out of the standard Desktop application paradigm to online browser based rich clients with the rapid growth and advancements of Web 2.0 a.k.a AJAX, XHTML and allies. The paradigm shift to virtual offices has already begun!

    There's no shortage of work where the network is really just a a process for getting an initial set of data onto the machine to be manipulated (if it even does that - eg: photo editing with photos coming straight off the camera). I wonder why Major Camera manufacturers have started building cameras with wi-fi support then...

    The iPod is the main reason iTunes is popular (( don't think I've _ever_ used iTunes music sharing features - or the iTunes Store, for that matter).
    I don't agree here, initially people might have started using iTunes only since the time they got acquainted with an iPod, but that's not the case anymore... It is a must that you need iTunes if you have an iPod, but the reverse is not at all true. Podcasting is a runaway hit with web savvy population, and i don't think you would need an iPod to listen to podcasts And your code is definitely performance sensitive if you are not giving it out for free and selling it as a Product or a Service...
    --
    - Yes, but does it run Lunix?
  3. Re:Impressive, young Skywalker by JNighthawk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Parent is a troll, as is GP. GP is a link to troll images.

    --
    Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
  4. Re:And of course, by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those a little too young to get that, here's the original. And yes, it's definitely worth reading. :-)

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  5. Re:It's not what you know ... by qwijibo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Who you know still has a significant impact. Given two people who look on paper like they have equivalent experience, will you choose the one you've worked well with in the past, or try the unknown guy and see how it goes? Direct experience or internal references go a long ways in getting jobs. It's not a replacement for being able to do the job, but something that sets you apart among dozens or hundreds of people with comparable skills going after the same job.