However, I have to be mentally engaged.
I'm an aspie, and I can go on "coding runs" that are ENORMOUSLY productive.
However, they also take a lot out of me. I can't do it on a regular.
Since my "day job" is as a manager, and I do precisely zero coding there, that means that my 12-16 hour coding runs tend to happen on weekends.
That means that I'm often getting some recovery during my "day job," which is a hell of a lot less demanding than my "joy job."
I regularly put in 9-10 hours a day at my "day job," and that proves to be sufficient. I am mostly there to make sure that my employees can do their jobs. Whenever I try to actually do work, I am rebuffed.
I'm known for taking outstanding realtime notes (which can be a bit stenographic, in nature, but I'm not a stenographer).
I recently got an iPad (I'm an iOS developer). There are a number of apps I got for it. I also have the Zagg case (built-in keyboard). We'll see what shakes out. I've never recorded and transcribed notes. I rely on paying attention and mnemonic recall. I then usually summarize in an email and/or wiki page.
I use a 3TB (4TB -1) OWC Mercury RAID 5 array that is backed up constantly via Apple Time Machine. Time Machine rocks. By the time it starts bucketing data, it will be at the 3-year mark. I keep my eye on the disk health, and am prepared to swap out as necessary.
I keep an external drive rsynced to my main drive, so I have an immediate backup, if necessary. I have used it, on occasion (sucks when I do -my primary drive is an SSD).
That's my personal data. I have a Mini that uses a Drobo to store my Web site stuff.
I don't keep any data from my "day job" on my personal systems. My system at work is backed up very well indeed.
BTW: I use git for my personal source control, and Perforce for my day job source control.
However, I have the basic philosophy that negative feedback is what improves a product. Kudos feel good, but criticism is what I need to make whatever it is I do, better.
Feels worse, but the results are what I'm after.
Takes a lot of humility, and the ability to look past invective and puerile garbage, to unearth the truth.
Put your stuff out there. There's nothing that geeks like to do more than throw feces at each others' work. Some of that stuff will have merit. Be careful about what you dismiss. Also, be grateful for strokes and positive reinforcement, but also measure that against your own developing sense of aesthetics and style.
You will rapidly learn that there are dozens of ways to do things right. There's a ton of sacred cows and third rails in the IT world (A sacred cow is a concept that is so "holy," that it cannot be attacked, and a third rail is a concept that is so toxic that it should never be touched).
Most of these "hard and fast" rules come from singular events, or as a result of abuse by folks that don't know how to use the tools properly.
Take, for example, C++. There are folks that believe the language is The Manifestation Of All That Is Evil, but I make my living running a C++ shop. I get to hear all the ranting and raving about how I'm contributing to the downfall of civilization, yadda, yadda..
However, it is a very dangerous tool, in the hands of an idiot. Because lots of idiots have blown their legs off with C++, they declare that it is evil.
In some ways, they have a point. If you don't know what you're doing, you can make a fearsome mess with C++. If you decide to become a C++ programmer, then, PLEASE listen to all the negative feedback, and keep it in mind. Be careful in the use of things like multiple inheritance. The Design phase is critical. Far more so, for C++ than for languages like Objective-C.
Know your tools, and put your code out there. Do open source work. Make something that other folks would use. This will result in de facto code review.
...such as alcohol addicts, it could have a great deal of effect on the study.
Addicts, are, by nature, totally dishonest about their use. I have known many folks that took sleeping pills, and drank (even one beer is enough) on them.
...as in "documentation and manuals," I can say that it's a royal pain to write, test and deploy. Not to mention edit.
In the type of stuff I write, it's very useful to have linked content. However, I can see nothing compelling in casual reading that cries for linked content.
Not to mention the near-certainty that the medium would rapidly become taken over by advertisers, like the current blogosphere. I want to spit nails whenever I accidentally brush over an ad-linked word, a #@!!@@!!! popup appears.
I'll repeat: The NSA does not come to my office and arbitrarily ask me to send bugs out In the US (where I live), that would cause problems.
Apples != oranges.
I think what you are doing is #3 and #9.
And thanks, I am pretty upstanding. I'm not alone. There's a hell of a lot of us out here.
What @andydread said.
In THIS country (not sure which one you live in), a wholesale takeover of industry by intelligence agencies would cause...issues. Americans are funny that way.
Again, speaking from my experience as a technical manager for a long time, and as someone who used to work for a defense contractor, I have never seen anything even remotely like some of the tinfoil fantasies out there.
Makes for some pretty good fiction, though.
Yep this is a point on which it is fair to say that America is no better.
I'm not sure I'd agree with that.
This is a case of them planting trojans on your equipment in China, then exercising that, when you get back to the US.
In the US, this can be (and I'm sure, is) done by folk like the CIA and NSA. However, folks like me don't do it. Foreigners can come to my office, exchange files and information, use my network, and even use my USB fobs with no worries that I'll plant spyware on their machines (I am quite capable of doing so, as, I'm sure, are a significant number of/. readers).
To have it so prevalent in a nation is a serious, serious indictment. The NSA does not come to my office and demand that I arbitrarily plant trojans on our partners' and customers' machines. If they did, I would fight them fang, tooth and claw.
What is happening in China is very dangerous. Not just for us, but also for the Chinese. They may think they have this tiger by the tail, but they will really be shocked when it turns around and bites them.
The displayed alert (you need to run the code) shows what a "function pointer" is in JS.
It is the entire text of the function. There ain't no such thing as a "function pointer" in JS.
If you understand this, it explains a lot of stuff about scope and whatnot in JS.
As a compiled language guy for ages, and used to looking at stack frames and stuff, my jaw dropped the first time I saw this.
As a long-time C/OC/C++ guy, I regularly get horrified by JS.
However, JS works for the limited context of a Web browser. I'm not thrilled with the way it handles OOP, and I think it's awkward, but I've gotten pretty good at messing with it.
Here's a bit of code that I love to show C++ folks. It demonstrates exactly how primitive JS is, compared to C++:
<script type="text/javascript">
function HiDare() { alert ('Hi Dare!' ); };
function DisplayHiDare () { alert ( HiDare ) };
DisplayHiDare();
</script>
Coders will understand instantly, and ROTFL.
About what? The career? Being an Apple programmer since 1987? The lovely hate? The unpopularity of Macs with many programmers and IT folks? The popularity of Macs and Apple products with end users?
Did I say something to hurd your widdle feewings? Did you program Macs, and end up regretting the career choice?
Did I write something that reduced your eloquence to that of a potted cactus?
...I'm used to this. They have a very heavy hand, and can be extremely constricting. Ver frustrating, at times.
It does not make Macs popular with programmers or IT people.
However, it does make Macs popular with users.
It has never been a bad idea to be an Apple developer. It has garnered me all kinds of hate over the years, but a lucrative career, as well.
You say "Tom-AY-toe," I say "Tom-AH-toe"...
That the "copied" image was applied to a branded item, and that the original image WAS the brand? This is one of those brands that sells the image, on many different things (cups, keychains, greeting cards, etc.).
This was a case of brand infringement. However, they used copyright law to bring the suit. Not exactly sure why. I would think a trademark suit would have worked.
I'm looking at the signature count climbing every second.
I suspect it will hit 25K today.
We'll see if anything happens after that. The government is not exactly eager to enact self-examination and accountability.
Look what happened to the Conyers and Waxman panels when the Dems took over. The congressmen got cushy posts, far away from any kind of oversight committee.
Oversight and accountability were all the rage when the Dems were the underdog, but bad for business when they were on top. Now that they are underdogs again, it's too bad they deliberately de-fanged their pit bulls.
I work in the digital imaging industry, and have long interacted with Kodak engineers and digital imaging people.
Many years ago, at a FlashPix conference (anyone remember that chestnut?), I remember talking to a digital imaging manager, who told me that his efforts to promote digital imaging were being deliberately sabotaged by higher-ups, who had thrown their lot in with film, and were seeing none of "this new-fangled digital imaging" stuff.
At that point, I knew that Kodak was screwed.
This is really sad. Kodak should have ruled the industry.
It is an object lesson in that phrase Stuart Brand coined: "Once a new technology rolls over you, you are either part of the road, or part of the steamroller."
Slashdot Mirror
However, I have to be mentally engaged.
I'm an aspie, and I can go on "coding runs" that are ENORMOUSLY productive.
However, they also take a lot out of me. I can't do it on a regular.
Since my "day job" is as a manager, and I do precisely zero coding there, that means that my 12-16 hour coding runs tend to happen on weekends.
That means that I'm often getting some recovery during my "day job," which is a hell of a lot less demanding than my "joy job."
I regularly put in 9-10 hours a day at my "day job," and that proves to be sufficient. I am mostly there to make sure that my employees can do their jobs. Whenever I try to actually do work, I am rebuffed.
Any language that has more parens than keywords is all right by my book!
I'm known for taking outstanding realtime notes (which can be a bit stenographic, in nature, but I'm not a stenographer).
I recently got an iPad (I'm an iOS developer). There are a number of apps I got for it. I also have the Zagg case (built-in keyboard). We'll see what shakes out. I've never recorded and transcribed notes. I rely on paying attention and mnemonic recall. I then usually summarize in an email and/or wiki page.
I program in PHP (and XSLT, JS, HTML, Python, etc.) on the server, and C++ and Objective-C on the client.
The combo does me good. It's good to be king (of both ends of a client/server relationship).
I'll leave some of the fancier and less mainstream stuff to others (except Java, which is way too mainstream).
I have also taken many classes in UX, usability, software development project management, etc.
WFM.
I write a project that addresses the needs of a very small population (I won't link to it, because I don't want to slashdot my server).
I only have a few dozen users, and we all agree that it is a rousing success.
If it meets the needs of its intended audience, in its intended scope, then it is a success.
I use a 3TB (4TB -1) OWC Mercury RAID 5 array that is backed up constantly via Apple Time Machine.
Time Machine rocks. By the time it starts bucketing data, it will be at the 3-year mark. I keep my eye on the disk health, and am prepared to swap out as necessary.
I keep an external drive rsynced to my main drive, so I have an immediate backup, if necessary. I have used it, on occasion (sucks when I do -my primary drive is an SSD).
That's my personal data. I have a Mini that uses a Drobo to store my Web site stuff.
I don't keep any data from my "day job" on my personal systems. My system at work is backed up very well indeed.
BTW: I use git for my personal source control, and Perforce for my day job source control.
I can (and will) speak only for myself
However, I have the basic philosophy that negative feedback is what improves a product. Kudos feel good, but criticism is what I need to make whatever it is I do, better.
Feels worse, but the results are what I'm after.
Takes a lot of humility, and the ability to look past invective and puerile garbage, to unearth the truth.
Put your stuff out there. There's nothing that geeks like to do more than throw feces at each others' work. Some of that stuff will have merit. Be careful about what you dismiss. Also, be grateful for strokes and positive reinforcement, but also measure that against your own developing sense of aesthetics and style.
You will rapidly learn that there are dozens of ways to do things right. There's a ton of sacred cows and third rails in the IT world (A sacred cow is a concept that is so "holy," that it cannot be attacked, and a third rail is a concept that is so toxic that it should never be touched).
Most of these "hard and fast" rules come from singular events, or as a result of abuse by folks that don't know how to use the tools properly.
Take, for example, C++. There are folks that believe the language is The Manifestation Of All That Is Evil, but I make my living running a C++ shop. I get to hear all the ranting and raving about how I'm contributing to the downfall of civilization, yadda, yadda..
However, it is a very dangerous tool, in the hands of an idiot. Because lots of idiots have blown their legs off with C++, they declare that it is evil.
In some ways, they have a point. If you don't know what you're doing, you can make a fearsome mess with C++. If you decide to become a C++ programmer, then, PLEASE listen to all the negative feedback, and keep it in mind. Be careful in the use of things like multiple inheritance. The Design phase is critical. Far more so, for C++ than for languages like Objective-C.
Know your tools, and put your code out there. Do open source work. Make something that other folks would use. This will result in de facto code review.
...such as alcohol addicts, it could have a great deal of effect on the study.
Addicts, are, by nature, totally dishonest about their use. I have known many folks that took sleeping pills, and drank (even one beer is enough) on them.
Very, very dangerous.
Those of a "certain age" may remember this unfortunate young lady.
...as in "documentation and manuals," I can say that it's a royal pain to write, test and deploy. Not to mention edit.
In the type of stuff I write, it's very useful to have linked content. However, I can see nothing compelling in casual reading that cries for linked content.
Not to mention the near-certainty that the medium would rapidly become taken over by advertisers, like the current blogosphere. I want to spit nails whenever I accidentally brush over an ad-linked word, a #@!!@@!!! popup appears.
Just Sayin'...
ad nazium...
I'll repeat: The NSA does not come to my office and arbitrarily ask me to send bugs out
In the US (where I live), that would cause problems.
Apples != oranges.
I think what you are doing is #3 and #9.
And thanks, I am pretty upstanding. I'm not alone. There's a hell of a lot of us out here.
What @andydread said. In THIS country (not sure which one you live in), a wholesale takeover of industry by intelligence agencies would cause...issues. Americans are funny that way. Again, speaking from my experience as a technical manager for a long time, and as someone who used to work for a defense contractor, I have never seen anything even remotely like some of the tinfoil fantasies out there. Makes for some pretty good fiction, though.
Yep this is a point on which it is fair to say that America is no better.
I'm not sure I'd agree with that. /. readers).
This is a case of them planting trojans on your equipment in China, then exercising that, when you get back to the US.
In the US, this can be (and I'm sure, is) done by folk like the CIA and NSA. However, folks like me don't do it. Foreigners can come to my office, exchange files and information, use my network, and even use my USB fobs with no worries that I'll plant spyware on their machines (I am quite capable of doing so, as, I'm sure, are a significant number of
To have it so prevalent in a nation is a serious, serious indictment. The NSA does not come to my office and demand that I arbitrarily plant trojans on our partners' and customers' machines. If they did, I would fight them fang, tooth and claw.
What is happening in China is very dangerous. Not just for us, but also for the Chinese. They may think they have this tiger by the tail, but they will really be shocked when it turns around and bites them.
The displayed alert (you need to run the code) shows what a "function pointer" is in JS.
It is the entire text of the function. There ain't no such thing as a "function pointer" in JS.
If you understand this, it explains a lot of stuff about scope and whatnot in JS.
As a compiled language guy for ages, and used to looking at stack frames and stuff, my jaw dropped the first time I saw this.
As a long-time C/OC/C++ guy, I regularly get horrified by JS.
However, JS works for the limited context of a Web browser. I'm not thrilled with the way it handles OOP, and I think it's awkward, but I've gotten pretty good at messing with it.
Here's a bit of code that I love to show C++ folks. It demonstrates exactly how primitive JS is, compared to C++:
<script type="text/javascript">
function HiDare() { alert ('Hi Dare!' ); };
function DisplayHiDare () { alert ( HiDare ) };
DisplayHiDare();
</script>
Coders will understand instantly, and ROTFL.
About what? The career? Being an Apple programmer since 1987? The lovely hate? The unpopularity of Macs with many programmers and IT folks? The popularity of Macs and Apple products with end users?
Did I say something to hurd your widdle feewings? Did you program Macs, and end up regretting the career choice?
Did I write something that reduced your eloquence to that of a potted cactus?
Was that why you went AC?
Have a nice day.
...I'm used to this. They have a very heavy hand, and can be extremely constricting. Ver frustrating, at times. It does not make Macs popular with programmers or IT people. However, it does make Macs popular with users. It has never been a bad idea to be an Apple developer. It has garnered me all kinds of hate over the years, but a lucrative career, as well. You say "Tom-AY-toe," I say "Tom-AH-toe"...
That the "copied" image was applied to a branded item, and that the original image WAS the brand? This is one of those brands that sells the image, on many different things (cups, keychains, greeting cards, etc.).
This was a case of brand infringement. However, they used copyright law to bring the suit. Not exactly sure why. I would think a trademark suit would have worked.
There will be an immediate and HUGE problem of folks modding their cars to allow manual override.
That should be fun.
The first folks that will learn to take control of autonomous vehicles will be crooks. New breed of highwayman...
Yep. Thanks for the correction.
Keep on signing that puppy. I think they need to realize that there's a few more than "just" 25K people interested.
Here's another poll that folks might like to John Henry.
It's been climbing at about one signup per second. We're less than 500 away from the threshold, and it keeps climbing.
I got a kick out of this video. I guess it was made before his faux pas.
I'm looking at the signature count climbing every second. I suspect it will hit 25K today. We'll see if anything happens after that. The government is not exactly eager to enact self-examination and accountability. Look what happened to the Conyers and Waxman panels when the Dems took over. The congressmen got cushy posts, far away from any kind of oversight committee. Oversight and accountability were all the rage when the Dems were the underdog, but bad for business when they were on top. Now that they are underdogs again, it's too bad they deliberately de-fanged their pit bulls.
I work in the digital imaging industry, and have long interacted with Kodak engineers and digital imaging people.
Many years ago, at a FlashPix conference (anyone remember that chestnut?), I remember talking to a digital imaging manager, who told me that his efforts to promote digital imaging were being deliberately sabotaged by higher-ups, who had thrown their lot in with film, and were seeing none of "this new-fangled digital imaging" stuff.
At that point, I knew that Kodak was screwed.
This is really sad. Kodak should have ruled the industry.
It is an object lesson in that phrase Stuart Brand coined: "Once a new technology rolls over you, you are either part of the road, or part of the steamroller."