The BogoSort

John Vlissides

2005-12-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

If you're serious about software engineering, you've probably read (or at least heard of) Design Patterns. John Vlissides, one of (or in his words "#4 of") the "Gang of Four" who wrote the extremely influential book, passed away on Thanksgiving Day after a long battle with a brain tumor. Simply by looking at his work in Design Patterns and his other books, it is obvious that the software community has suffered a great loss. Spending a few moments reading the memories from those lucky enough to have known him personally shows the loss to be more than just that of "a respected author in the field" but also a caring and generous person who was a bright and positive influence to all around him.

From Ralph Johnson's blog entry about John: "John led by serving. He did the parts that other people didn't want to do, and kept us in line by his attention to detail. He was always upbeat and expected to find a solution to any problem. Any group that included him was the better for it."

While I didn't know him personally, I know my projects are better for the things I learned from his books. Thanks and farewell to a teacher I never met.

Read more:
Ralph Johnson's entry about John
WikiWikiWeb entry about John containing many memories from those who knew him

ID Theft Incident and Resources

2005-03-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is partly to share what I think is a fascinating story along with some very useful information. Mostly though, this entry is to preserve the following links for my own later reference.

The story of Publius Ovidius and how he was alerted to someone using his identity and then personally tracked them down and led the police to them.
     - Part One
     - Part Two (naughty word alert)
     - Possible further updates at his main site.

A very informative website from the FTC - Consumer.gov's ID Theft Info

This particular story hit home with me because at the end of part two we find out the method used by the bad guys to get the information and it happens to be one of our biggest pet peeves that credit card companies do. (Contrary to online promises, these checks are often sent to card-holders without being requested; sometimes despite explicit requests not to send them.)

Update: A few more related links that just provide further proof that the weakest link in personal security is usually the person.
BBC News: Passwords revealed by sweet deal [April 2004]
SearchSecurity.com: Security no match for theater lovers [March 2005]
Washington Post: DNA Key to Decoding Human Factor [March 2005]

Why Employee Blogging Is Can Be A Good Thing

2005-03-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Sun's Tim Bray posts an excellent entry on why blogging in the workplace is good. In it, he lists 10 reasons why blogging is good for your career.

I would add one more reason.

11. Blogging is good for your team, even the non-bloggers. If you blog, and fit the description in Number 5 in Tim's list ("Bloggers are better-informed than non-bloggers."), you share your knowledge with your team via your blog and your daily (non-cyber) interactions with them. Unless, of course, you are the "silent sponge" type who soaks up knowledge but then never shares it with anyone else... ...or the "annoying know-it-all" type who shares TOO MUCH knowledge with the rest of the team and has since been tuned-out.

Balance is everything.

Get Java Logo (aka, "Another Shameless Play for Free Stuff")

2005-02-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

Check out the new Java logo that I just added to the blog. Oh sure, I use Java every day to build high-quality software that our users love. But is that why I added the logo? ...Not really. I just automatically do whatever MaryMary asks me to do. ;)

If you click the link, (Go on... You know you wanna... Everybody's doin' it.) you'll go to java.com where you can learn about and download the latest and greatest Java has to offer.

Long Time No Blog

2005-02-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Wow. I just realized that it had been over 3 months since I've posted anything here. (And NO, that's not how long it took me to type that last post, Smarty-Pants!) I've been finding things periodically that I thought were worth mentioning but, between work and family, I just never found the time to actually post any of them. Busy, busy, busy.

Hopefully, what this blog lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity. ...Or is that the other way around? Whatever.

Come on, admit it. You missed me. You know you did.

(All together now: "You were gone?")

Unrelated side note: Isn't it rather ironic that Blogger's built-in spell-checker doesn't recognize the word "blog?" I just had to click "Learn" so it won't complain about it any more. ...and now that I just ran it again, it also doesn't recognize "Blogger." Hmmm...

JDJ: Why Use Extreme Programming?

2005-02-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

The February 2005 issue of Java Developer’s Journal has an excellent article on Extreme Programming that is well worth taking the time to read.

(Sorry, the article requires a subscription and password. Hint: A good place to start would be here to see if you qualify for a free subscription. …It’s really not that difficult to qualify; if you didn’t fall asleep during my first sentence and actually have some interest in reading the article at all, you probably qualify.)

The article starts off with a high-level overview explaining exactly what Extreme Programming is. If you haven’t used Extreme Programming before, this is an excellent introduction to it. Following that is the section that gives the article its title: Why Use Extreme Programming? The article explains some of the benefits of using XP rather than other methodologies and then even provides recommendations for how to implement XP in an existing team. This is an excellent guide for a team that is new to XP and really takes the mystery out of the methodology.

One of the big things I like about Extreme Programming is the focus on delivering what the customer actually expects in the software. In my experience, this tends to be one of the first things to get lost along the way: What does the customer want and need from the software? During the implementation of the nuts and bolts of the code, it is easy to focus too intently on the design from a purely programming perspective.

While decisions regarding the scalability or performance of one design option versus another are critical to developing high-quality software, focusing on these concepts without balancing them against the user’s requirements can lead to a project that is extremely fast and super flexible, but doesn’t deliver critical features the user needed. If your software doesn’t provide what the user needs, then no matter how whiz-bang-cool it may seem to you, to them it’s garbage and the portion of their budget allocated to paying you for your efforts suddenly becomes much harder to justify.

In the "intro to XP" portion of the article, the author makes the following statement:

"One of the problems people have with XP is pair programming. This is because it is different."

I agree. …And I disagree. (Gee, Dave. Could you be a little more wishy-washy here?) Obviously, pair programming is a relatively new concept in software development. I’m sure there were isolated uses of it through the years, but I don’t recall any methodology formally advocating it before XP came along. However, I don’t think that the reason people have problems with it is because pair programming is different, but rather because the people are different.

Programming teams have their own personalities. Programmers themselves, obviously, have personalities (just how much can be debated) and a collection of programmers naturally has its own collective personality. Once put in those terms, it becomes quite reasonable to assume that a team can have its own likes and dislikes, completely independent of the preferences of the individuals making up the group. Two individuals can both like the idea of pair programming (or any other aspect of XP, for that matter) and yet, due to seemingly minor differences in the way they each approach it, be unable to participate in pair programming together in any kind of pleasant or effective way. The individuals like it but the team (of two, in this example) collectively does not.

For myself, I tend to favor "pair design" (more on that in a moment) rather than pair programming. Whenever I’ve attempted pair programming in the past, it always seems to go as follows:

Me: <type> <type> <type> <type>
Perry: You missed a semi-colon there.
Me: *sigh* <click> <type> <click> <type> <type> <type>
Perry: You misspelled "main" there.
Me: ARRRGH!!! <POUND> <POUND> <POUND>
Perry: (ow)

On my current development team, we don’t use pair programming for all coding. We tend to use pair design and pair debugging and only use pair programming for special or critical parts of the project.

For us, the pair design approach works much better because it is during the design of the objects and their interactions that the most significant errors or omissions are likely to occur. Once the design is worked out, test-driven development will make sure the individual methods are coded properly. (Also, like many programmers I’ve seen, I tend to suffer from "typist’s stage fright." If someone is watching me type, my typos increase exponentially with time.)

The other common use of pairs on our team is when debugging a particularly tricky defect. If a bug is found and the cause isn’t readily apparent, we’re not shy about asking for a second set of eyes to look at the problem. Sometimes the other person will look at the issue and immediately target the cause. More often, though, somewhere in the discussion of the problem a side question will be asked that opens up a new line of thought or even just the effort of explaining the problem clarifies matters for the original programmer. (It is often said that the best way to learn something is to teach – or prepare to teach – it to someone else. Apparently, explaining a defect qualifies.)

One of the big benefits claimed by supporters of pair programming is the fact that it prevents the programmer from investing their ego into their code and therefore getting their feelings hurt when problems are found and/or changes are suggested. This is based on the assumption that ego investment is a bad thing and I don’t think it necessarily has to be bad.

It's good to have a certain amount of ego invested in your code. Caring about the project and taking pride in your contributions to it seems to improve the overall quality of the efforts. Also, how can the customer have any degree of confidence in a project that the developers themselves don't seem to care about?

The problems that many warn about seem to occur when ego investment leads to defensiveness and stubbornness. Having too much ego invested in your code can make it difficult to deal with the inevitable changes that occur during the development process. When a tester reports a defect, the bug can be taken personally as an insult to one's technical abilities rather than as an opportunity to improve the product before the customer sees (and complains about) it.

Also, having too much ego invested in code can lead to a reluctance to refactor. If a developer has a favorite algorithm or implementation in the project and then finds (or is shown) a better way to do it, they may be hesitant to make the changes. The code could be left in a non-optimal state for sentimental, rather than technical, reasons.

The trick, then, is to invest some - but not too much - ego into your code and this can be accomplished simply through internal discipline on the part of the developer. For many, it may not be necessary to artificially enforce this control externally through the methodology.

Obviously, I’m not that fond of pair programming but I do believe in the rest of Extreme Programming and our team implements it well with positive results. (Despite adamant claims of "All of XP or none of XP – there is no partial XP.") If you look into it for your team – and the article cited at the start of all this is a good source of information on it – you’ll probably find that your projects can benefit from the approach.

Just be sure you don’t take it too far. ;)

[Update: I originally left out a few paragraphs from this ~~rant~~ post talking about ego investment. They've been put back in now. ...As if it needed MORE words.]

Spam Storage Upgrade

2004-11-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I just logged into my Hotmail account and found that my account storage limit had been bumped up to 250 Meg! (Actually, at first I had a heart attack when I saw the capacity green bar thingy had dropped from around 60 percent to 1 percent and thought that all my mail had been deleted.)

Now I can receive EVEN MORE offers to reduce some parts of my anatomy and enlarge others. (What? These people have never heard of Photoshop??) Oh bliss.

MS Birthday 49.0

2004-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today is the 49th birthday of Bill Gates: Co-founder and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, founder (along with his wife, Melinda) of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, namesake of a Costa Rican insect, and supplier of many fascinating quotations (a few of which he actually said), such as...

"There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed." - Focus Magazine, October 23, 1995

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning." - Time Magazine, January 13, 1997

"Bunny casualties are heavy in town this week!" - ...oh wait... ...wrong Bill Gates. Sorry.

I WON! I WON!

2004-10-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

A while back, I blogged about my ~~endless babbling~~ eloquent storytelling for MaryMary's blog request for "how Sun's Java certification helped me." At stake was a very cool Java jacket that would be the pride of any geek's wardrobe. As you can probably guess from this post's title... I WON!!

If I'm lucky I may even have it in time for Halloween to wear while taking the kids trick-or-treating. If that happens, I'm sure this exchange will happen at least once during the evening:
     [Kiddos]: Trick or Treat!
     [Neighbor]: Hey, Dave! Where's your costume?
     [Me, in all my Java Splendor*]: I'm a computer nerd!
     [Neighbor]: I already know that! But where's your costume??

So, now my Java certification has provided a roof over my head and clothing for me to wear! All that's left is for my certification to score me a free meal somewhere and I'll complete the Freeloader Trifecta, possibly even allowing Sun to claim me as a dependent. :)

* - "Java Splendor" also includes a Java t-shirt, Java pins (the few I haven't given away yet to the unconverted like some sort of Gosling's Witness) and Java temporary tattoos; all courtesy of MaryMary as well. If I'm really lucky, the same package will include a Duke for President bumper sticker that I can plaster across my, um, "tailgate."

Patent Followup

2004-10-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz has posted an excellent article explaining why Sun settled with Kodak. It was "not to validate Kodak, not to validate those patents, but to let our customers and employees and stockholders focus on market opportunity, not litigation." Facing an already deeply flawed software patent "system" (quotes mine) and an aggressive opponent on their home turf, Sun opted to protect those who depend on them by settling with Kodak and paying for a license to the (I would say "questionably") patented technology.

I must admit that I still have mixed feelings about the settlement itself. I dislike the fact that it creates the impression of validating Kodak's claims but, at the same time, I am grateful to Sun for taking the punch for the sake of the Java community (among others). Jonathan's post really clarifies the reasons for the decision and Sun's future direction in such matters.

Looking to the future, and thinking about how to prevent such nonsense from happening again (and again and again...), Sun's Technology Directory, Tim Bray, has an interesting proposal regarding software patents - require the project to be released as a working Open-Source implementation before a patent can be issued. This puts everything out on the table from the start and facilitates the improvement of the technology by others.

Can You Picture That?

2004-10-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've ~~whined~~ blogged about software patents before, but now I feel the need to start in again.

Kodak has won an initial ruling against Sun Microsystems for a questionable patent that it didn't even file and may not even be using in any of it's products. (Background: The patent was filed by Wang Laboratories Inc years before it was purchased by Kodak in 1997. I haven't heard of any specific Kodak product that is affected by this patent.) ...sigh... Where to start? Where to start?

Let's start with the patent itself, which reportedly covers a way in which one program can communicate data with another program when requesting help in performing tasks. Peter Coffee writes that the patent, filed in 1991, sounds very much like the cut-and-paste features of the Macintosh clipboard dating back to 1984. On a higher level, this sounds to me like the object-oriented concept of late binding which had been around for decades before the Macintosh example. ...Can you say "prior art?"

Apparently the jury didn't see it that way and ruled for Kodak. (By the way, was this a jury of technical professionals or random people-off-the-street? I haven't seen anyone publish the juror demographics yet.) Even with that verdict, though, Kodak is far from cashing a billion-dollar check from Sun.

First, the survival rate for software patent verdicts is right around 50 percent. It's still even money that Sun will win out in the end. (Random thought: If the success rate for software patent enforcement is so low, wouldn't that tend to indicate a more general problem with the system itself?)

Second, the USPTO could revoke the patent on its own. It recently did so in the Eolas-Microsoft plugin patent case. This case sounds like a pretty similar scenario.

Third, Kodak will have to prove that the Sun "infringement" actually caused that much damage to Kodak sales. That "$1.06 billion" figure seems to be based on Sun's total sales revenues. How much of that can be shown to be dependent upon the technology that is in dispute? Further, how much of that represents reasonably-assured sales that Kodak would have had but did not get because of Sun's use of the technology? My I'm-not-a-lawyer opinion is that a more likely award amount would be whatever licensing fees Sun would have paid to Kodak from the start. Microsoft already dodged that bullet by paying the licensing fee to Kodak.

This case sounds like more evidence that the biggest benefactor in software patent law is the lawyers. Rather than protecting the original innovator and empowering future innovators, the patent process is being used again as another potential source of revenue to be exploited. (With Kodak's sales being hurt by the digital photography trend, an extra billion dollars - or whatever is left after the lawyers get their cut - certainly wouldn't hurt.)

Unfortunately, regardless of the outcome, this case will have two main impacts on software development. First, it will throw fuel on the fire for other companies to aggressively pursue obtaining and enforcing software patents. If they can slip one through that a competitor already relies on, the potential windfall is too good to pass up. Second, it will throw water on the fire for the creation of new and innovative software. Why would a little guy like me want to run the risk of resource-draining litigation by tossing a new software idea into a box full of legal mouse traps waiting to snap down on it.

All of this just serves to reinforce my opinion that software and patents don't mix well at all and that the USPTO is ill-equipped both technically and procedurally to properly administer software patents.

[Update: 10/07/2004 5:05pm - Sun apparently settled out of court and paid $92 million to license the technologies affected by the patent. "'Business as usual' in Javaland" ...Who knew I was acting as a consultant for Sun? ...Certainly not ME! ;) ]

Certification To the Rescue

2004-09-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've pointed to MaryMary's excellent (and downright fun) blog before, but I wanted to share here a true story I just told MaryMary about. She recently posted a request for stories about how a Sun Java Certification has helped people in some way. As an incentive (as if people need extra encouragement to join the fun of her blog), she even offered a way cool leather Java jacket for her pick of best response.

Here's my contribution to the campfire session...

My Sun Java Certification saved my house! ...Seriously, it did!

In April of 2002, I joined the ranks of the (far too) many computing professionals who suddenly found themselves out of a job when their employer realized the bubble they were riding on had popped. Being the sole income for the family, I was "a bit" stressed, however, I was still pretty upbeat because I had (what I thought were) marketable skills, an excellent work ethic, and well... dang it, I'm just cute.

As you can probably guess, cute don't cut it in the real world. I spent five and a half months looking for a job and watching my bank account get smaller and smaller. Eventually, we got to the point that we decided to sell the house, move back to Nebraska and have my wife and kids live with my parents in the country while I sleep on my brother's couch in the city and look for work. My wife and I decided that on Friday we would talk to a realtor and put the house on the market. And then...

Flashback: 2 months earlier.

With my ego effectively reduced to the size of a tadpole, I started trying to figure out what "they" were looking for that I wasn't providing. I knew I interviewed well, but the problem was that I simply wasn't getting past the resume screening to even have a chance at the interview. I had heard that having a certification on your resume would NOT get you a job but it might get you an interview. Sounded like exactly what I needed.

I immediately began studying for the Java Programmer certification and quickly found out that there was much more Java than I had yet run into. It still wasn't helping me in my job search but I felt like I was at least DOING something to make progress. Plus, I was actually learning... ...A LOT! Finally, after many I-haven't-studied-this-hard-since-college weeks, I felt I had filled in the critical gaps in my knowledge and took the leap to schedule the exam.

The day of the exam came, and my days of NOT being Sun-certified went. I passed the exam and prepared myself to wade through the job offers that were due to start pouring in. When I walked out the front door, I found... ...no line of prospective employers waiting to swoop down on me and my certification. "Man, this economy is messed up. I guess I'll just have to..."

Flashback: 2 weeks before Exam Day

I had an interview for a contract Java position and really did well. During the interview, certification was mentioned in passing and I dropped in that I was scheduled to take the exam soon. After the interview, I was told that it was down to me and one other person and could expect to hear back soon. I checked back periodically (frequent enough to appear enthusiastic but not so frequent that I would appear deranged) but still got the same answer: it's a tie, nobody wins yet. Fine. I had studying to do anyway.

Flash-forward: Newly-certified

I called the company I had interviewed with and left a polite professional message wherein I calmly informed the hiring manager of my recent certification and carefully avoided using the word "Yippee!"

Flash-forward: Wednesday (2 days before meeting with the realtor)

The phone rang and I got offered the job! It was only a six-month contract, but it was enough to let us keep the house! Furthermore, on my first day working, my boss told me that the Java certification (and the fact that I called to let him know about it) was what pushed me into the lead and into the job.

Since then, that six-month contract got extended to last 18 months and eventually became a permanent position with the company.

So... My Sun certification helped me get a job that saved me from having to sell my house.

But, even more important than all that, it made my daughter think I was really smart. :)

Everybody Spams Raymond

2004-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Raymond Chen's weblog, The Old New Thing, has a fascinating, scary, and somewhat depressing chart representing the spam he's received over the past several years and plotted by date and size. He calls it "A visual history of spam (and virus) email". I call it proof that there is at least one person on the planet who is a bigger geek than I am.

Blog On

2004-09-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged here for quite a while. Not because I haven't found anything worthy of blogging; things have just been very busy at work. (Note to Boss: That's not a complaint.)

Great for job security. Bad for blogging.

Java Technology Concept Map

2004-08-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's always good to know your place in the world. ...It can be rather depressing sometimes, but good nonetheless.

Sun has apparently realized this and provided us Java nerds with a handy dandy map to guide the way. Sun's new Java Technology Concept Map presents the concepts and technologies (and many other nouns) in the Java world and shows how they relate to one another.

This is actually pretty cool. If you're proficient in one area, you can easily see other opportunities to learn concepts that will complement your current skills. If you have a specific area you want to learn, you'll see what technologies you would benefit from learning before getting into your desired topic. If you don't know much about Java at all, you'll see that there's much more to it than that little applet that makes your images look like they're reflecting off the surface of water. (Not that it's not a cool applet.) Finally, to make it even more useful, key portions of the map are actually hyperlinks to the relevant pages on Sun's site (in the Flash version).

The map is available in two formats: a PDF file and a Macromedia Flash page. The downside of the PDF is that it doesn't have the hyperlinks of the interactive Flash version but the zooming and panning are easier in Acrobat. Also, I can't seem to find that 42" by 31" paper tray for my printer. The Flash version is really good because it has the hyperlinks mentioned above but I found the navigation a bit clunky. A toolbar is provided to zoom and pan but I found the actual usage of these to be somewhat awkward. I would've preferred a dragging pan like in Acrobat and perhaps a mousewheel-based zoom. ...But that's just me.

Whichever format you choose, you'll find TONS of information presented in a way that manages to avoid giving the feeling of information overload.

[Update 9/16/2004 - I just got a full size copy in the mail today, complete with autograph from MaryMary herself (herself). Seeing it in all its glory inspires awe and wonder. Seeing that no wall of my cubicle is big enough to pin it up inspires angst and sorrow.]

You Mean "password" Wasn't A Good Choice?

2004-07-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

CNET News.com has an article about security issues which says that often the biggest problem in security isn't hardware or software. It's people.

There are a lot of interesting bits and pieces in the story, but I think the most useful portion is the sidebar that presents basic "Security for Newbies"-type information. Actually, it's called "Security Counsel" but it lists several excellent pieces of security-related advice that any new computer user should know, but few probably do.

If you're anything like me (and you know you want to be), you are often asked for technical advice by your non-techie friends and relatives. I'd imagine it's probably the way a doctor or lawyer must feel at dinner parties (ok, the doctor anyway -- the lawyer wouldn't get invited to parties except those thrown by other lawyers) constantly fielding questions about various growths and pains and other disgusting symptoms. The suggestions in this sidebar will make it easier to field some of the security-related questions. After all, we wouldn't want to have to actually THINK about the answers we're giving, now would we?

Of course, when they ask where the "any" key is, you're on your own.

Social Responsibility on the Internet

2004-07-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ed Foster, author of the "GripeLine" column in InfoWorld, posted an excellent GripeLog column on how larger web sites handled the recent security breaches that put their visitors at risk. He makes several points about why we, the average Internet user, should be upset about the silent treatment from the affected sites.

Key quote:
"If an outbreak of food poisoning is traced to a particular store or restaurant, for example, public health officials post notices on the establishment's door and make announcements through the news media. Yes, it's bad for business, but the public health has to come first.

"The security health of the Internet should come first, too. If a website faces liability for inadvertently exposing visitors to a Trojan, shouldn't it face even more liability for keeping quiet when a warning might save some previous visitors from having their bank accounts drained?"

Children of the Knight

2004-07-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

If you've ever used the World Wide Web (and I kind of suspect you have), take a moment today to say a little "thank you" to the man who invented the thing: Tim Berners-Lee. Today the British Empire expressed its own gratitude to him by knighting him in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

I think it's very cool that he is being recognized by people other than techies for his accomplishments. Also very cool is the fact that he is still extremely humble regarding his accomplishments. Despite the fact that he could probably charge everyone using the web even a tiny licensing fee and get instantly richer than snot (actual financial term, by the way), he instead seems perfectly content with letting everyone benefit from his invention and not pay him homage every hour.

Well, since my current source of income wouldn't be possible without his invention, I'll go ahead and say it for the record... "Thank you, Sir Tim Berners-Lee!"

What's Wrong with This Picture?

2004-07-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

I just saw an entry on Boing Boing - A Directory of Wonderful Things that talks about "a prototype wallplate with three sockets, a USB port and a hard-drive". I'll admit this sounds like a cool idea. The only problem is that the picture they show won't work with most computing equipment (assuming I'm understanding the intent). The wallplate has what looks like three electrical sockets to plug your devices into but none of the sockets has the space for a grounding plug. All my computing equipment (and almost everything else of any significance that I plug in) has a three-pronged plug that simply won't work with this outlet.

Perhaps the picture too is a prototype and the finished product will actually be usable. Or perhaps my brain is a prototype that's incapable of understanding complex technical subjects such as the purpose of those three sockets. (The jury's still out on that one.)

Software Flaw-sophy Articles

2004-07-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

Two thought-provoking, though somewhat curmudgeonly, articles on software and the flawed philosophy ("flaw-sophy"?) behind much of it.

First, Thomas Sowell laments the annoying tendency of software to not have a reasonable set of default options preconfigured on install. Typically, whenever new software is installed one has to navigate several configuration screens and set options for things that matter to only a small percentage of users before being able to perform even the most common tasks the software was designed for. (via Slashdot)

I would tend to agree with his points here. Many software producers fail to seek user feedback and (gasp) listen to it before shipping the product. Putting the program though it's paces with real users (not developers or QA "pretending" to be users - they are already too intimate with the workings to be proper user representatives) can have a profound effect upon the quality of software and yet it seems so rare that this step is actually incorporated into the pre-release development process. ...and not just having the users use the software, but also having them perform the installation and initial usage since that's when the programs either need excessive babysitting or are found to be hideously misconfigured.

Second, Dan Bricklin (yes, The Dan Bricklin who co-created VisiCalc) has posted an essay titled "Software That Lasts 200 Years" on his website and it is definitely worth the time to read. He points out that, while many of the important things in the world are manufactured with the idea of lasting (and being of a usable quality) for as long as possible, software seems to be created with the idea that it is only temporary. This philosophy tends to be directly reflected in the quality of that software. (via Scripting News)

One quote that jumped out at me was this: "In accounting, common depreciation terms for software are 3 to 5 years; 10 at most. Contrast this to residential rental property which is depreciated over 27.5 years and water mains and brick walls which are depreciated over 60 years or more."

Not content to just gripe about the problems, he offers some excellent suggestions for how to improve the state of things and how software engineering can learn from other (more durable) forms of engineering.

Every once in a while, it's good to step back and think about what we're doing and why we're doing it rather than always focusing on how to make this algorithm faster or that process use less memory. These articles are good reminders of some important ideas.

Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts

2004-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

I need a bumper sticker that says "I [heart] Keyboard Shortcuts." Of course, to prove that the claim is true I'd have to write a macro for my favorite editor that types that phrase out and then just have the bumper sticker say something like "Ctrl-F9." Unfortunately, then I'd be the only person on the planet that gets it but that's my usual Humor Batting Average anyway.

Something useful that YOU can get, though, are these PDF files listing Eclipse Keyboard Shortcuts from the Eclipse-Tools Project. There are versions for 2.1 and 3.0 available.

Most of these shortcuts are listed in the menu alongside the item name, but there are some that are not. I looked and immediately found 2 that I've used "the hard way" before that have undocumented shortcuts.

Pimp My Browser

2004-07-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wired.com has a couple of stories about extensions for Mozilla Firefox web browser. They initially ran a story last week that listed some recommendations for extensions and apparently got so much feedback that they now have a second story listing even more.

I went through both stories and found over a dozen extensions worthy of my consideration that I had not yet heard about. I had already switched my default browser to Firefox and these extras just serve to make the choice even sweeter.

Pain By Numbers

2004-07-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

It's official: I'm confused. (Not that it takes much to do that.)

For quite some time, Sun has been promoting the next version of Java, the upgrade from the current J2SE 1.4, as being version 1.5. Makes sense, right? Well now they've apparently decided that "version 1.5" doesn't adequately represent the scale of the improvements so they've change the version number. To "5.0"!

Huh?

Now the way I understand it, when a software company decides that the new version is a "major" update, usually they increment the "major" version number (to the left of the decimal) by one and reset the "minor" version to 0. This practice would lead one to assume that the next major J2SE version change would be "2.0", right? At least that way the version number would finally match the name of the platform ("Java 2").

Nope. "5.0" *sigh*

So far I can't find any official explanation for why the number would jump so blasted far. I could kind of understand it if they decided to jump to "3.0" to avoid confusion with the platform name, but to skip all the way to "5.0" seems unjustified. Or did they decide that Java will always be a "version 1.x" and they decided to drop the "1." part of "1.5" to get "5.0"? The only other semi-plausible theory I've heard suggested was that the coming release of .Net 2.0 made Sun's marketing department nervous so they inflated the version number to look good in the ~~propaganda~~ advertising. Even if that's the case, what was wrong with 3.0 and 4.0?

Oh well. Must be that pesky New Math making a comeback.

ASCII Inventor Gone

2004-06-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Bob Bemer, the man who proposed the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) which is vital to inter-system communication died this week. Bemer also introduced the escape key and was among the first to warn of the Y2K bug.

Also of note, Windows 98 was ~~inflicted upon~~ introduced to the world on this date in 1998.

I wonder which achievement will have a longer lasting legacy in technology.

Potpourri: "Go, Cory!" & History

2004-06-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

A few links that are somewhat related but mostly just due to the fact that I could make a subject line that (sort of) rhymes out of them.

Go, Cory!
Cory Doctorow recently gave a killer speech at Microsoft about Digital Rights ~~Mongering~~ Management (DRM) and why it is bad all around. It's an awesome, amusing, and educational read and I cannot come up with any arguments against it. If you can, let me know. (via The Laporte Report)

History

The FCC has a very nice collection of pages presenting a short history of the internet. Very informative and (good for me) lots of pictures. (via Scripting News)

Éric Lévénez's site has TONS of information about the history of Unix, Windows, and Computer Languages. The charts tracing their respective histories are jaw-droppingly cool. I found out that my current programming language is actually (at least partially) derived from a few languages I'd never heard of. So much to learn. (indirectly via Slashdot's link to O'Reilly's cool poster)

Java Performance Revisit

2004-06-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Apparently there has been some response to an article I pointed to in a previous entry. The article reported that Java actually compared favorably to C++. JDJ got quite a bit of feedback (how totally unexpected) and has posted a story with many of the comments: Reader Feedback Special: Java vs C++ Benchmark Brouhaha (SYS-CON)

Speaking of Java performance, there is another interesting article that compares performance between Java and C++. The author even goes so far as to suggest that perhaps Java should be faster than C++. Vedy interestink. (via Slashdot)

Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer

2004-06-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

I'm not an anti-Microsoft zealot but, at the same time, I don't hesitate to ~~whine like a chastised schoolboy~~ make critical observations whenever Microsoft does something blazingly stupid. Lately, it seems like a lot of the blazing stupidity (a.k.a., "B.S.") has been focused on Internet Explorer.

A recent LockerGnome article, "Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer", offers some level-headed, even-handed, pick-your-own-hyphenated-synonym-for-"reasonable" arguments for changing from The Default Browser. It raised a few points I hadn't thought much about and is, I think, a worthwhile read even for a non-techie.

I've been using Firefox for a while now but hadn't gotten around to making it my systems' default browser. ...Can you guess what I'll be doing today?

Tips for Surviving Large Software Projects

2004-06-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Java Pro has a nice article online that lists some tips for surviving large software projects. There's some good advice in there that applies to projects in any language/environment/platform and can be useful even in medium or small projects.

My only complaint is that the main Java Pro page titles the link to the story as "7 Ways To Survive Large Projects" but the 7 tips are reserved until the final few paragraphs. The bulk of the article is spent detailing the problems with large projects but, if you're already on a large project (and looking for survival tips), odds are you already know the problems with large projects. It would have been nice for the author to provide some examples or anecdotes about the application of the tips.

Still, the tips themselves are good and worthwhile reading. Just don't breeze through them as quickly as the bullet-point format tempts you (okay, "me") to do. Take some time to think about the application of the tips and how each can contribute toward survival.

Geek Quote

2004-06-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 6/9/2004]

A co-worker just shared with me what has just become my new favorite geek quote.

"There are 10 kinds of people. Those who understand binary and those who don't."

This, of course, reminds me of one of my other favorite quotes.

"There are 3 kinds of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't."

Patently Offensive

2004-06-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 6/4/2004]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has done it again. Microsoft has apparently managed to patent the double-click. The argument in favor of the patent is that Microsoft only patented a double-click on "limited resource computing devices." Unfortunately there is no accompanying definition of what a "limited resource computing device" actually is. If I'm in my den and I need to do something on the kids' computer, a machine with a processer 1/6 as fast as my computer's and half the RAM as on mine, I consider those pretty limited resources. (Warning: Rant approaching. Impact in five seconds)

As a generic human being, I can roll my eyes at the silliness of such a patent and sigh at the brilliant application of government resources and tax dollars in the process that led to the granting of that patent. However, as a professional software developer, I can also see this as a serious "endangering my ability to earn a paycheck" type of trend. Patents are supposed to protect and foster innovation by encouraging the documentation and sharing of new ideas so that future new ideas can be built upon them. Instead we see patents for obvious ideas that are already in common use being granted to entities that actually did not invent them but simply want to use the litigation of that patent as a new revenue stream. Of course, there's no guarantee that Microsoft will actually enforce this particular patent but I must say that it would be fairly consistent with past behavior.

So how does this affect me? Let's say that I'm writing a brilliant piece of software that I think a lot of people will find useful. A nifty-cool feature of the application is the ability to play audio files and I want to give my users the ability to easily control the volume of that file through the use of a round control that can be rotated clockwise (louder) or counter-clockwise (quieter). This feature is very intuitive to the user because it simulates controls already present on radios and televisions worldwide making the user experience of my application very pleasing and contributing to the success of my work. I plan on selling the program for a very reasonable $10 each until I get a letter from the legal department of a company I never heard of stating that my application violated their patent on circular volume controls and I owe them their usual and customary $20,000 licensing fee. The only way I can hope to sell this now is to raise the price to $50 which is far more than the functionality justifies or the market will pay or change the user interface to use a type of control that is not as good, detracts from the user experience and will probably lead to dissatisfied users and reduced sales. Nice choice.

OK, so enough whining about the problem. What can we do to fix it? I think this idea for a Library of Congress type of categorization system sounds like a good start. Not only would it ease a bit of the burden on the people at the USPTO but it would also make it easier for future innovators to use patent records as a research base to benefit from the work of others and properly credit the ideas theirs is based upon.

It might even let us get back to standing on the shoulders of giants instead of scrambling to avoid becoming smudges on their soles.

"Cool" Pictures

2004-06-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 5/28/2004]

Just when you thought pictures found on the internet aren't suitable for any age, take a look at these pictures. The only word to describe them is "cool." :)

The rest of the site has some gorgeous photos also.

You Like Me. You Really, Really Like Me (...to work)

2004-06-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 4/8/2004]

Today, I am a number.

Today is my first day as a "real" employee here. I'm no longer "Dave, the Expert Java Contractor we brought in specifically to help on this project" and I am now "employee number 1138." (Well, that's not really my number; I find out my number later.) After 18 months of a 6 month contract, I finally got converted to being a permanent employee. It's still the same job, the same co-workers, the same cube, but now I have (or in some cases, will have after a waiting period) holidays, vacation & sick time, and benefits.

The really good thing about the switch is that we'll finally be able to get Lisa covered under insurance. Everybody denied her coverage before because of her back so just going to the doctor for something like a sinus infection amounted to a bill comparable to another mortgage payment. No more packing her in ice in the bath tub to bring that fever down; now we can go to a REAL doctor.

At this point though, it doesn't really FEEL much different than when I was a contractor. (Only once had I actually been treated like a contractor/outsider and that was on orders from levels so high up I've never met them.) I sat through the orientation and have a sore hand from filling out my name/address/birthdate/dna-sequence over and over again on all the forms, but other than that it's same as always. I think the first time it will actually feel different will be when the office closes early or takes a holiday (Memorial Day is next) and I can actually go/stay home like everyone else and not worry about a reduced paycheck.

Wait a minute! That's it!! I think I just identified the primary difference between contracting and regular employment; slacking off and getting paid. ...Now THAT I like!

Detroit Mock City

2004-06-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 2/10/2004]

As a software developer who places a great deal of importance on testing, I'm quite comfortable with the concept of mocking up objects to get the behavior you need. However, even I am impressed with the mock created by Detroit tourism officials in their marketing campaign for Super Bowl XL in 2006: an entire neighborhood.

Will the real Detroit skyline please stand up?
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/super10_20040210.htm

Comparing the views of downtown Detroit as seen by marketers to the view as seen by pretty much the rest of the world shows a few minor differences. Just little things like increasing the lighting on the street by about 500%, putting cozy lights in non-existent windows of empty buildings, and adding a roof (or two) to burned out shells of abandoned buildings.

Piaramis, 1st Marketeer: "Do you think anyone will notice?"
Apathos, 2nd Marketeer: "As long as they've already spent their money, who cares?"

Ctrl-Alt-Retire

2004-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

[Transfer from Family Blog: Original post date 1/29/2004]

David Bradley, the creator of (among other things) the key combination Ctrl-Alt-Delete that computer users love so much, is retiring from IBM. The article has a classic quote from Dr. Bradley when he was on a tech panel with Microsoft founder Bill Gates marking the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC.

"I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous."

Reportedly, Mr. Gates didn't see the humor. ...I liked it, though.

Extremist Programming

2004-06-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

A conversation with a co-worker recently reminded me of a time when our manager lamented the fact that test-driven development, a practice in Extreme Programming (XP), was being touted by a "mainstream" Java periodical. His comment was that if the mainstream commentators were talking about it, then it wasn't so "extreme" after all.

Since that came up, I thought I'd share my recommendations for those who want to keep the "extreme" in "extreme programming." The following was emailed to my (somewhat perplexed) teammates after our manager's comments.

Apparently Extreme Programming is no longer extreme enough. If an organization truly wants to represent extreme coding practices, it is time to shift to "Extremist Programming."

The following explanation outlines some of the key differences between Extreme Programming and Extremist Programming. (With apologies to Kent Beck. ...and, also, to anyone with even the slightest sense of decency.)

Comparison: Extreme Programming vs. Extremist Programming

Planning:
Extreme Programming - User stories are written.
Extremist Programming - User stories are written in blood.

Extreme Programming - Make frequent small releases.
Extremist Programming - Make a new release each time a line of code is written. (For Java: Typing a semi-colon launches a new build.)

Extreme Programming - Move people around. (No part of the code is known by only one developer.)
Extremist Programming - All developers shall memorize every line of code with recitations on demand.

Extreme Programming - Stand-up meetings.
Extremist Programming - STAND UP! All chairs shall be removed from the office immediately.

Designing:
Extreme Programming - Create spike solutions with which to explore possible resolutions to design issues.
Extremist Programming - Build spikes upon which to impale developers who cannot resolve design issues immediately.

Extreme Programming - No "future functionality" is added.
Extremist Programming - No future functionality is needed. "Version One" shall be the ultimate and final version of the product; no user will ever request additional features (and live).

Coding:
Extreme Programming - The customer is always available.
Extremist Programming - The customer is held in a small closet in the corner of the office to ensure immediate responsiveness.

Extreme Programming - Development of all code is test-driven.
Extremist Programming - Development of all code is intimidation-driven.

Extreme Programming - All production code is pair programmed.
Extremist Programming - Developers shall be surgically joined together for the duration of the project.

Extreme Programming - No overtime.
Extremist Programming - No one leaves.

Testing:
Extreme Programming - All code must have and pass unit tests.
Extremist Programming - All code failures result in the pummeling of the developers until transfusions are medically necessary; hence the new name "Unit (of blood) Testing."

Extreme Programming - When a bug is found, tests are created.
Extremist Programming - When a bug is found, scapegoats are designated and witnesses are eliminated.

Opening Arguments for the Defense

2004-06-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of interesting articles that may give anti-Java people something to think about.

Java vs C++ "Shootout" Revisited (SYS-CON)
Exposing J2EE Urban Myths

What the....

2004-06-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Allow me to go into Admiral Stockdale Mode for a moment and address the burning questions: Who am I? and What am I doing here?

Who Am I?
Hi. My name's Dave and I'm a professional software developer. (All: Hi, Dave.) I currently do Java/J2EE programming for "a multinational hotel franchising company" although I've worked in other languages and industries in the past. I enjoy Java but at the same time I don't think that Microsoft is the epitome of evil. Each language/environment has its own benefits and drawbacks and the decision of which is best can only be made within the context of a particular project.

What Am I Doing Here?

This is just a place for me to post my thoughts and links on computer-related topics. I had (still have, actually) a family-oriented blog that I use to post the latest Kid News for the benefit of family members foolish enough to not follow me across the country. To keep from muddying the waters in that blog with techno-babble that puts Mom to sleep, I started this blog. And, let's face it, you really don't care what my kids are up to, do you?

As soon as I can, I'll migrate over the techie posts from that blog to here. That way you won't miss out on anything. ...I can hear the sigh of relief from here.

Oh Yeah... And, What The <expletive> Is A "BogoSort?!"

Here's a nice, official-looking definition: NIST: bogosort

Basically, it's the world's worst sorting algorithm. The main gist of it is to mix your dataset randomly and then check the results. A good, non-computer analogy is to throw a deck of cards into the air, pick them up, see if they're in order, and repeat until properly sorted.

Pretty much the model of efficiency for which I strive in all my code.