Functional Cohesion (inspired by P.J. Plauger)

When you can describe a module of code in a simple sentence, then you probably have a re-usable piece of code that will be around for awhile.

Routines with descriptions like "TOTAL.AND.PRINT" indicate that the routine does not do one thing and do it well. A more useful and maintainable implementation of this code would separate the TOTAL & PRINT logic into two different routines.

Changes to the new routines TOTAL & PRINT should be improvements that benefit all users of the new routines.

Example of Health Care Application

http://www.surgilink.com/ web site looks like it was created in PowerPoint. The application costs about $10,000.00.

The Essence Of Programming

Controlling complexity is the essence of complexity. Rough paraphrase from P.J. Plauger.

Ipods Transmit FM Radio

You can now dj for your cab driver using your Ipod

with a built-in FM transmitter.

I Don't Understand

A recent story on CNN raved about the nation's first free wireless internet network owned and run by a major city. The headline: New Orleans launches free wireless Internet.

The network is currently running at 512 kbps while the city is under a state of emergency. Once the state of emergency is over, the network will be slowed to 128 kbps. The article states the 128 kbps is the fastest a government owned internet service can be. Why?

Read all about it: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/11/29/wireless.neworleans.ap/index.html

Why Grunt Work Is Necessary by Joel Spolsky

Joel's account: here's how I learned to run the night shift at the Oranim bakery when I was a teenager...

Read the rest: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBA.html

Home Office

The lamp, whiteboard & chair arrived.

The computers and displays have been setup.

Very Cool Sites of the Day

NASA's World Wind: http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there.

The Daily WTF: http://thedailywtf.com/ curious perversions in information technology.

Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/ Make profit-generating improvements to your advertising and website.

The DOD (Dilemma of the Day, not the Department of Defense)

Employers are at this time willing to hire and employ un-skilled and un-disciplined programmers. Why? Maybe employers don't understand how to differentiate between proficient and in-efficient programmers. Both types of programmers produce results and talk the same language.

Programming On Purpose - Notes

Carpenters use many specialized tools even for simple projects. Shouldn't programmers be as resourceful with tools and methodologies?

HIPO: Hierarchy with Input, Process & Output.

The more dogmatic you are about a design method, the fewer real life problems you'll solve.

Glenford Myers on Rushing Thru the Software Design Process

We try to solve the problem by rushing through the design process so that enough time is left at the end to uncover the errors that were made because we rushed through the design process.

More notes from Code Complete by Steve McConnell

A working routine isn't enough. If you don't know why it works, study it, discuss it and experiment with alternative designs until you do.

PPP: Pseudocode Programming Process is a useful tool for detailed design and makes coding easy. Pseudocode translates directly to comments that are useful and accurate.

Persistence defined: the life span of a piece of data.

Notes from Code Complete

Studies show that an upper bound of 200 lines for a routines length is optimal.

To ease routine/function/procedure use, limit the number of parameters to 7. Research shows that humans have trouble keeping track of more than 7 things at once.

Good programmers don't live by GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. They live by GINO: garbage in, nothing out.

Parameters Defined

Parameters, are the pieces of information necessary to get work done. - John Sharpe