Bad Software Advice : Three Interesting Links
And an unsolicited book recommendation
(I’m trying out a post with links in it rather than an essay, let me know if you hate it)
Three Interesting Links
The Eight Fallacies of Distributed Computing
As is likely obvious, I like inversion. I find it more useful for reasons I can’t really explain - I think because there are more things on that side than on the good side. Saying “You should exercise and eat less” is not useful advice, but listing ten ways that people screw up their diets while trying to do this is, for me, more actionable.
Mastering Programming (alternate link)
Kent Beck’s accomplishments are impressive, and there is great wisdom here.
Spend 80% of your time on low-risk/reasonable-payoff work. Spend 15% of your time on related high-risk/high-payoff work. Spend 5% of your time on things that tickle you, regardless of payoff. Teach the next generation to do your 80% job. By the time someone is ready to take over, one of your 15% experiments (or, less frequently, one of your 5% experiments) will have paid off and will become your new 80%. Repeat.
at the senior levels, we are expected to identify problems that match business opportunities with something that technology can solve.
An unsolicited book recommendation
Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman
I fear for the world the Internet is creating. Before the advent of the web, if you wanted to sustain a belief in far-fetched ideas, you had to go out into the desert, or live on a compound in the mountains, or move from one badly furnished room to another in a series of safe houses. Physical reality—the discomfort and difficulty of abandoning one’s normal life—put a natural break on the formation of cults, separatist colonies, underground groups, apocalyptic churches, and extreme political parties.
But now, without leaving home, from the comfort of your easy chair, you can divorce yourself from the consensus on what constitutes “truth.” Each person can live in a private thought bubble, reading only those websites that reinforce his or her desired beliefs, joining only those online groups that give sustenance when the believer’s courage flags.
(This book was published in 2017)
I could keep quoting this book all day and her other excellent books - The Bug being my favorite. I would not recommend reading this alone after ending your day unable to fix the final bug of your team’s bug blitz. You will not be able to sleep.