I had never heard of Make Magazine until you mentioned it here. I checked it out, and wow - what a cool magazine! I went ahead and subscribed today. Thanks!
Coding standards are certainly necessary, but they are really just the tip of the iceberg when you are talking about implementing (from scratch it sounds like) software processes. Just know ahead of time that you are going to piss some people off and it will probably be an uphill battle.
With that said, I would just pick a standard for each language that you use at your place of business. How are you going to enforce the standard? I assume that there will be peer reviews, right? Ok, good.
Oh, by pick a standard I mean a conventional programming style is all. I believe that Steve McConnell has some good ideas on this in Code Complete.
I agree with other posters in that we would really need to know more about the project before we could give the answer that is best for your particular set of problems. However, my first inclination is to say "no" to dynamic memory allocation in an embedded application.
Can you provide more details on the device?
I think that the parent was implying that you need a document trail for anything that you are trying to accomplish in the workplace... talk is cheap, so they say.
I find a nice way to approach a situation like that is to sit down and have a talk with the person, get them to take a stance, and then send them a quick follow-up e-mail saying, in effect:
The problem, Rhee said, is the inherent limitations of regular TCP. "TCP was originally designed in the 1980s when Internet speeds were much slower and bandwidths much smaller," he said.
I can totally relate to the comment about realizing that I've been tensed up for hours... often times I will notice an aching back or neck or leg or whatever and realize... oh yeah, it was probably from being hunched over the monitor yesterday.
I have found that getting to work 1 - 1.5 hours earlier than the group of people that take up most of my time increases productivity a great deal... that is, if you are/can be a morning person. My mind is sharpest in the morning, and I find that I can accomplish the complex tasks of the day more efficiently then. Or, if I don't have any terribly taxing tasks, I can organize my email, clean my desk, etc... many things to make the rest of the day less stressful
My google interface is on my locally stored homepage, and is displayed as a simple white text box with the word Google beside it. The form itself then links to http://www.google.com/search, so I don't even have any idea what Google's homepage looks like. Plus I have quick links to all my regular webpages/portals/groups etc...
So if you want a new google interface, design one and access it on your local drive.
Anyone with more knowledge want to chime in on what sort of options Boeing/Sikorsky have at this point?
Can they continue to develop a modified Comanche program and pitch it to the UK or some other ally? or does that all have to happen via some government contract hullabaloo?
The alert was sparked by the discovery that a raft of Microsoft programs were vulnerable to a problem called "buffer overflow", which hackers can exploit to extract private information from a PC.
...
The new AMD chips prevent this. They separate memory into instruction-only and data-only sections. If hackers attempt to execute code from the data section of memory, they will fail. Windows will then detect the attempt and close the application.
So they are depending on Windows to detect the attempt and close the application? Bwahahaha! So now rather than offering Critical Updates to fix buffer overflow vulnerabilities, MS will now offer Critical Updates to fix buffer overflow exception handling vulnerabilities.
Ha!
Perhaps they decided to cut their losses at this point, and just go with upgrades and maintenance on the Apache helicopters, rather than bank on the Comanche program somehow turning itself around rather than committing itself to an unknown amount of additional time and money to get the Comanche program deployed.
Actually, since everyone on/. reads all the articles and all linked documents, the above post is redundant. We have already checked out PACER because we RTFA, right?
As a developer, you often don't have the luxury of making those decisions. The software engineer in me says that it's best to do it the proper way, but often it's just not feasible.
I'm on a contract now where we are documenting the design after the product has been coded and tested successfully, so it CAN be done after the fact. In fact, I would say that it NEEDS to be done... whether or not it is now or later is debatable. But in the interest of the complete lifecycle of the software, you've got to follow processes and procedures.
I'm assuming that you are not a CMMI certified outfit, because otherwise you wouldn't even be asking the question... the answer would already be decided: Do it the Right Way.
I guess what I'm saying is that if management wants it quick and dirty, then give it to them, but make sure you impress on them the fact that you need to budget time and money to document the software after your delivery.
It doesn't matter. The "for profit" businesses would make a much larger impact/dent into the MS monopoly by migrating to OSS than MS "giving away" its software to non-profit businesses.
For MS to make a difference, they would need to give away inital versions of MS Windows and then sell support, which they won't do, so... ummm yeah.
"Not only does the 128K Color Computer 3 offer twice the memory, twice the speed, and even better graphics than our popular Color Computer 2, it's also compatible with the Tandy hardware accessories and software designed for the popular Color Computer 2 -- you may never outgrow it!
Slashdot Mirror
I had never heard of Make Magazine until you mentioned it here. I checked it out, and wow - what a cool magazine! I went ahead and subscribed today. Thanks!
With that said, I would just pick a standard for each language that you use at your place of business. How are you going to enforce the standard? I assume that there will be peer reviews, right? Ok, good.
Oh, by pick a standard I mean a conventional programming style is all. I believe that Steve McConnell has some good ideas on this in Code Complete.
I agree with other posters in that we would really need to know more about the project before we could give the answer that is best for your particular set of problems. However, my first inclination is to say "no" to dynamic memory allocation in an embedded application. Can you provide more details on the device?
But what if it had said, "I love Lambda Lambda Lambda"?
They should have scribbled "First Post" in the surface of the moon.
Exactly. You can bet that if all of a sudden overall game sales dropped 11.9 percent, that 11.9 percent would suddenly seem VERY important.
I find a nice way to approach a situation like that is to sit down and have a talk with the person, get them to take a stance, and then send them a quick follow-up e-mail saying, in effect:
Per our discussion earlier...
Actually this is what they are running on those Earthlink commercials where downloads are N times faster than normal dialup!
The problem, Rhee said, is the inherent limitations of regular TCP. "TCP was originally designed in the 1980s when Internet speeds were much slower and bandwidths much smaller," he said.
Doesn't he mean the 1970s?
Is it April 1 already?
I can totally relate to the comment about realizing that I've been tensed up for hours... often times I will notice an aching back or neck or leg or whatever and realize... oh yeah, it was probably from being hunched over the monitor yesterday.
I have found that getting to work 1 - 1.5 hours earlier than the group of people that take up most of my time increases productivity a great deal... that is, if you are/can be a morning person. My mind is sharpest in the morning, and I find that I can accomplish the complex tasks of the day more efficiently then. Or, if I don't have any terribly taxing tasks, I can organize my email, clean my desk, etc... many things to make the rest of the day less stressful
Do you have an example of a source file documented in this way?
My google interface is on my locally stored homepage, and is displayed as a simple white text box with the word Google beside it. The form itself then links to http://www.google.com/search, so I don't even have any idea what Google's homepage looks like. Plus I have quick links to all my regular webpages/portals/groups etc...
So if you want a new google interface, design one and access it on your local drive.
Can they continue to develop a modified Comanche program and pitch it to the UK or some other ally? or does that all have to happen via some government contract hullabaloo?
The alert was sparked by the discovery that a raft of Microsoft programs were vulnerable to a problem called "buffer overflow", which hackers can exploit to extract private information from a PC.
...
The new AMD chips prevent this. They separate memory into instruction-only and data-only sections. If hackers attempt to execute code from the data section of memory, they will fail. Windows will then detect the attempt and close the application.
So they are depending on Windows to detect the attempt and close the application? Bwahahaha! So now rather than offering Critical Updates to fix buffer overflow vulnerabilities, MS will now offer Critical Updates to fix buffer overflow exception handling vulnerabilities. Ha!
Perhaps they decided to cut their losses at this point, and just go with upgrades and maintenance on the Apache helicopters, rather than bank on the Comanche program somehow turning itself around rather than committing itself to an unknown amount of additional time and money to get the Comanche program deployed.
... you are a very bad person. You are hereby sentenced to seven years in a federal pound me in the ass prison.
Can't we mod Dan's shirt up?
:)
Yes, I'm talking about you, munkeyspanker21@Kazaa
I'm on a contract now where we are documenting the design after the product has been coded and tested successfully, so it CAN be done after the fact. In fact, I would say that it NEEDS to be done... whether or not it is now or later is debatable. But in the interest of the complete lifecycle of the software, you've got to follow processes and procedures.
I'm assuming that you are not a CMMI certified outfit, because otherwise you wouldn't even be asking the question... the answer would already be decided: Do it the Right Way.
I guess what I'm saying is that if management wants it quick and dirty, then give it to them, but make sure you impress on them the fact that you need to budget time and money to document the software after your delivery.
Duck Tape Creative Uses
For MS to make a difference, they would need to give away inital versions of MS Windows and then sell support, which they won't do, so ... ummm yeah.
What would be worse, a gray goo scenario gone bad in the laboratory, or a home-made black hole gone bad?
I choose the black hole.
"Not only does the 128K Color Computer 3 offer twice the memory, twice the speed, and even better graphics than our popular Color Computer 2, it's also compatible with the Tandy hardware accessories and software designed for the popular Color Computer 2 -- you may never outgrow it!
Heheheh