I lost count somewhere around 700 but that was just the paperbacks, and doesn't count the hardbacks. Fortunately for my book budget I am also a frequent visitor to my local library, and every so often I do cull the herd... which is how I keep some of the collections under control. (I also have 400+ cookbooks. And I review a lot on Amazon.)
Oh how delightful! Since I don't remember any developer being dick-ish, your memory may be faulty. (Well, one guy briefly was dickish, but I don't think that was you, since he was rather an old fart.) I wish I remembered the name of the guy who gave me his copy of Steven Brust's Yendi, because I've had fond thoughts of that dude for a long time; it led to a lot of enjoyable reading time.
In any case, feel free to connect with me (and Bill!) on LinkedIn or whatnot. We can share gossip about the people we knew! (What a nice Friday-afternoon connection! You plastered a big smile on my face.)
Oh how wonderful! I did contract work at Prime circa 1990 (designing a test suite management system for the 15 compilers they supported), so I got a major hoot out of this. I have to wonder: Where did they show these ads? To whom?
Every so often, I feel as though I have to respond to a troll. Not because I imagine I will change his mind but to demonstrate to lurkers that the community rejects such opinions.
Either Sarah is ignorant of this or...
Or I did an inadequate job of summarizing her talk, which was very good indeed. Because the point was not so much "People should talk" (well duh) but "Hack the bad code to see where and how the communication is failing to happen." I am quite sure that Sarah (who is a very smart person) is more than a little aware of the value of communication (in Agile and otherwise). But we both know that bad code still happens, yes? And that people often fail to communicate as well as they intend to? Anything that helps us find those "oopsie!" moments is a good thing.
And::a little modest cough here:: I've been covering Agile since before it was called Agile. I worked on compiler programming teams in the 80s that instantiated most of what later earned the Agile label. We just called it, "Making sure we generated quality code" and "Helping other people to come up to speed."
How eloquent of you.
We can safely assume that your code quality reflects your ability to communicate and connect with other people. Including your unwillingness to do so under your own identity. (How pitiful.)
I had a similar thought at the time. But I wasn't going to pick a fight with the guy over it. He had the bright light of fervor in his eye, and it was clear that I wouldn't change his mind.
I've no idea what happened to the dude. And I stopped being friends with the sort-of-weird friend 20 years ago, so now we'll never find out.
Cool. I never heard of that.
I knew someone in the early 80s -- a weird friend of a weird friend -- who instead turned himself into a Church, since religious organizations didn't have to pay taxes (or as much of them). I suppose it came from the same intent.
I agree. The moment I saw this, I thought immediately of The Unincorporated Man. The tale-telling isn't perfect, but the world-building is scary-believable. Especially since we now have an example of someone actually doing this!
Reasons of time-and-space continuum. The author contacted a lot of universities (as I think is obvious from the number of people quoted), and had to put a limit on her time somehow.
You're remembering OS/2 1.0. With OS/2 2.x the price dropped. (I went into some detail about this in the post to which Harry links, regarding my history with OS/2.)
If you (or a lurker) is one of them, I can point you to the mailing list of the Phoenix OS/2 Society. It's much less active than it was a decade ago, but yes, it's still an active support community.
Your resume is a document that shows what you have done, and backs up your assertion that you're qualified to do the stuff you've applied for. What you're paid -- or whether you are paid -- is not relevant. Accomplishments are.
I think "it depends" is the answer here... to almost every point you raised. Not the least of which is what communication method we prefer, both individually and culturally. Some prefer e-mail, others IM, etc. God knows I still have people who call me to ask, "Did you get my e-mail?" -- always on something ignorable.
But for an organization to work -- especially with telecommuters -- there has to be deliberate discussion about what communication tools work, whether it's IM, IRC (or Campfire, which I used successfully in one team), e-mail, etc. And what people really expect in regard to response time.
On the other hand, if you call me on the phone when I am lost in a warm creative fog, there will be hell to pay. If you interrupt me, dammit, have a reason!
I understand what you're saying, but do you realize that you're contributing to someone else's need to get away from distractions? By showing up in someone's office to ask just one question, you're interrupting her -- which she might not appreciate. Peopleware made the point a generation ago that it takes 20 minutes to get back into a warm creative fog after you've had your elbow joggled.
Instead, as a full-time telecommuter (who does like to see colleagues in-person once every three months or so) I live on IM. A message can pop up on my screen, and I can ignore it until I finish my thought (whether that's a paragraph of prose, code, or brilliant repartee). I can see who it is, and immediately triage my response: Client=answer-right-now; friendly acquaintance= The world won't end if I respond in 5 minutes, etc.
Dealing with isolation is another issue, and so is "out of sight, out of mind." That's why a telecommuter does have to work to ensure that communication stays healthy.
But in my opinion, it's a heck of a lot better than working in an office. For one thing, I can't imagine how anyone gets work done without a cat on one's lap.
Don Lancaster has released a free PDF of his classic RTL Cookbook. No catch, you can just download it. (I learned about it from Jeff Duntemann, editor of PC Tech Journal, which you probably read too (and at whose feet I learned my craft); Jeff still blogs.)
I'm not sure what happened to David Ahl, but it's likely that some of my friends are in touch. Wayne Rash might know.
It's nice that you want to know. I tend to imagine that nobody cares about us old fart journalists.
Slashdot Mirror
I lost count somewhere around 700 but that was just the paperbacks, and doesn't count the hardbacks. Fortunately for my book budget I am also a frequent visitor to my local library, and every so often I do cull the herd... which is how I keep some of the collections under control. (I also have 400+ cookbooks. And I review a lot on Amazon.)
The cats let me think I'm in charge. It's part of their charm.
I'll let you look at all the submissions that were turned down. See weren't they all worthy? Huh?!
Yes, she's hot. She has more science fiction books than you do.
Oh how delightful! Since I don't remember any developer being dick-ish, your memory may be faulty. (Well, one guy briefly was dickish, but I don't think that was you, since he was rather an old fart.) I wish I remembered the name of the guy who gave me his copy of Steven Brust's Yendi, because I've had fond thoughts of that dude for a long time; it led to a lot of enjoyable reading time.
In any case, feel free to connect with me (and Bill!) on LinkedIn or whatnot. We can share gossip about the people we knew! (What a nice Friday-afternoon connection! You plastered a big smile on my face.)
On general TV?
I have to wonder about the demographics of the marketing campaign. Still, that's better than most computer ads of the time.
Oh how wonderful! I did contract work at Prime circa 1990 (designing a test suite management system for the 15 compilers they supported), so I got a major hoot out of this. I have to wonder: Where did they show these ads? To whom?
Depends on whether the site was ever public, as opposed to being an in-house app (e.g. on an intranet). But I do like this idea.
Every so often, I feel as though I have to respond to a troll. Not because I imagine I will change his mind but to demonstrate to lurkers that the community rejects such opinions.
Either Sarah is ignorant of this or...
Or I did an inadequate job of summarizing her talk, which was very good indeed. Because the point was not so much "People should talk" (well duh) but "Hack the bad code to see where and how the communication is failing to happen." I am quite sure that Sarah (who is a very smart person) is more than a little aware of the value of communication (in Agile and otherwise). But we both know that bad code still happens, yes? And that people often fail to communicate as well as they intend to? Anything that helps us find those "oopsie!" moments is a good thing.
And ::a little modest cough here:: I've been covering Agile since before it was called Agile. I worked on compiler programming teams in the 80s that instantiated most of what later earned the Agile label. We just called it, "Making sure we generated quality code" and "Helping other people to come up to speed."
How eloquent of you. We can safely assume that your code quality reflects your ability to communicate and connect with other people. Including your unwillingness to do so under your own identity. (How pitiful.)
I married a coder I hugged too. But then we got married before either of us started coding.
I hate to think that other developers have to work with you.
And in his Ask me anything he is coming across as both someone who knows and cares about the book, and as a pretty cool guy.
I've no idea what happened to the dude. And I stopped being friends with the sort-of-weird friend 20 years ago, so now we'll never find out.
Cool. I never heard of that. I knew someone in the early 80s -- a weird friend of a weird friend -- who instead turned himself into a Church, since religious organizations didn't have to pay taxes (or as much of them). I suppose it came from the same intent.
I agree. The moment I saw this, I thought immediately of The Unincorporated Man. The tale-telling isn't perfect, but the world-building is scary-believable. Especially since we now have an example of someone actually doing this!
There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." --Dean Inge
Presumably you have read Bester's The Stars My Destination? Jaunting (personal teleportation) is somewhat like that.
Reasons of time-and-space continuum. The author contacted a lot of universities (as I think is obvious from the number of people quoted), and had to put a limit on her time somehow.
You're remembering OS/2 1.0. With OS/2 2.x the price dropped. (I went into some detail about this in the post to which Harry links, regarding my history with OS/2.)
I know several people still running it.
If you (or a lurker) is one of them, I can point you to the mailing list of the Phoenix OS/2 Society. It's much less active than it was a decade ago, but yes, it's still an active support community.
Your resume is a document that shows what you have done, and backs up your assertion that you're qualified to do the stuff you've applied for. What you're paid -- or whether you are paid -- is not relevant. Accomplishments are.
I think "it depends" is the answer here... to almost every point you raised. Not the least of which is what communication method we prefer, both individually and culturally. Some prefer e-mail, others IM, etc. God knows I still have people who call me to ask, "Did you get my e-mail?" -- always on something ignorable.
But for an organization to work -- especially with telecommuters -- there has to be deliberate discussion about what communication tools work, whether it's IM, IRC (or Campfire, which I used successfully in one team), e-mail, etc. And what people really expect in regard to response time.
On the other hand, if you call me on the phone when I am lost in a warm creative fog, there will be hell to pay. If you interrupt me, dammit, have a reason!
I understand what you're saying, but do you realize that you're contributing to someone else's need to get away from distractions? By showing up in someone's office to ask just one question, you're interrupting her -- which she might not appreciate. Peopleware made the point a generation ago that it takes 20 minutes to get back into a warm creative fog after you've had your elbow joggled.
Instead, as a full-time telecommuter (who does like to see colleagues in-person once every three months or so) I live on IM. A message can pop up on my screen, and I can ignore it until I finish my thought (whether that's a paragraph of prose, code, or brilliant repartee). I can see who it is, and immediately triage my response: Client=answer-right-now; friendly acquaintance= The world won't end if I respond in 5 minutes, etc.
Dealing with isolation is another issue, and so is "out of sight, out of mind." That's why a telecommuter does have to work to ensure that communication stays healthy.
But in my opinion, it's a heck of a lot better than working in an office. For one thing, I can't imagine how anyone gets work done without a cat on one's lap.
How big a sample size was this?
Don Lancaster has released a free PDF of his classic RTL Cookbook. No catch, you can just download it. (I learned about it from Jeff Duntemann, editor of PC Tech Journal, which you probably read too (and at whose feet I learned my craft); Jeff still blogs.)
I'm not sure what happened to David Ahl, but it's likely that some of my friends are in touch. Wayne Rash might know.
It's nice that you want to know. I tend to imagine that nobody cares about us old fart journalists.