General Development

Recent Postings of Interest - 10 January 2011

Dustin Marx — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:32:00 -0500

I have read numerous blog posts recently that I wanted to make note of because I have found them interesting and because I'd like to keep a reference to them. Because one of my blog's purposes is as a glorified bookmark, this post points to these useful posts and adds a little detailed description. Topics covered by the referenced posts include HTML5, Java, Perl, perception of what's cool in software development.

Top Ten Rising Web Technologies in 2010

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Software Engineering is the #1 Job in the United States in 2011

Dustin Marx — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:43:00 -0500

The software engineering / software development / programming profession often receives high rankings in various career surveys. Although I do think there are some differences in these various job titles, they're used interchangeably enough that I intentionally mix them here.

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My Ten Most Popular 2010 Blog Posts

Dustin Marx — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:02:00 -0500

One of my annual traditions with this blog is to post a summary of my top ten blog posts of the year in terms of "hits" on the blog post. A post with more hits isn't necessarily better than a post with fewer hits, but the former certainly gets more attention. Some of the top posts in 2010 were not actually written in 2010). For example, the tenth most popular post of 2010 listed here was actually the 16th most accessed post on my blog in 2010. Seven posts from other years had more hits than it! I don't count these in the 2010 Top Ten and don't count them against that 2010 list either.

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Significant Software Development Developments of 2010

Dustin Marx — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 12:30:00 -0500

With the end of 2010 rapidly approaching, it is time to summarize what I believe are the ten most significant developments in 2010 in the software development community. As I have disclaimed before, this is entirely biased toward my interests. It is difficult to gauge the importance of events in spaces one is not familiar with, so I tend to favor areas that I do know and am able to make some educated (albeit anecdotal) conclusions about their significance.

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The Best Decisions are Those We Must Live With

Dustin Marx — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:54:00 -0500

We have all been the victims of others' poor decisions. This is especially painful when we, and not those making the decisions, are the victims. I have seen many times in my career when a particularly bad idea was implemented because the person making the decision had no relevant experience to understand the consequences of his or her decision. These same people often don't have to implement the poor decision and therefore don't learn from their mistakes. In this post, I look at ways to reduce or avoid this effect.

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$15 Off Today Only at Manning

Dustin Marx — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:44:00 -0500

Manning is offering $15 off any "pbook" (printed book), "ebook" (electronic book), or MEAP (Manning Early Access Program) for today only (27 December 2010). Use the code dotd1227 at the Manning site to get this discount.

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An Important Software Developer Characteristic: Handling Criticism

Dustin Marx — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:12:00 -0400

It is important in many careers to be able to deal constructively with various forms of criticism.

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$9.99 O'Reilly Cookbooks (EBooks) Today Only

Dustin Marx — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:50:00 -0400

Today's (what's left of it) O'Reilly Choose Your Own Cookbook "Ebook Deal of the Day" offers any electronic format of O'Reilly Cookbook for $9.99 each. The page advertises: "O'Reilly ebooks are DRM-free.

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Log Level Inflation

Dustin Marx — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:19:00 -0400

There are many types of inflation. The best known inflation, economic inflation, represents a "rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time" (Wikipedia article). The rise in prices makes the money people have worth less (can purchase less with the same money).

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Most Valuable Type of Conference Session

Dustin Marx — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:10:00 -0400

The Java.net poll question this past week has been, "What type of technical conference sessions are most valuable?" The options that can be selected for this poll question are Keynote Addresses, Panel Sessions, Technical Sessions, Birds of a Feather (BOF) Sessions, Other, and "I Don't Know." As of this writing, there have been just over one hundred responses with 60% favoring Technical Sessions followed

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Center of the Universe Syndrome

Dustin Marx — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:06:00 -0400

It seems to be human nature to want to be "the center of the universe." It's no wonder astronomers thought for hundreds of years that the Earth is the center of the universe. From their perspective on seemingly solid, seemingly unmoving ground, everything else (planets, the sun, other stars) were the things doing the moving.

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Software Debugging and Troubleshooting: Get the Facts First

Dustin Marx — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:05:00 -0400

I have written two previous blog posts on movie quotations applied in software development: Classic Movie Quotes Applied to Software Development (referenced in a CNN entertainment article) and More Movie Quotes Applied to Software Development.

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Blog Posts I Wish I Had Written

Dustin Marx — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:55:00 -0400

I started this blog in October 2007 and have written hundreds of posts with a few that I'm particularly proud of and/or that have been particularly well received. Besides my own blog posts, I read many blog posts each week (particularly if highlighted on JavaWorld, Java.net, or DZone).

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Grab Bag: Android, JavaFX, and the Allure of Software Engineering

Dustin Marx — Mon, 17 May 2010 10:51:00 -0400

There have been a few recent online articles and posts that I think deserve mention here. These are related to Android being good for Java, praise for the field of software engineering, and a sense of what Java developers think of JavaFX.

Software Engineering: High Pay, Low Stress?

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Reasons for Incompetent Software Developers Anywhere: Human Nature

Dustin Marx — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:16:00 -0400

The May 12 whyjava blog post Reasons for Incompetent Software Developers in India caught my attention.

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Viral Bad Code: Why and What to Do About It

Dustin Marx — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:44:00 -0400

In the Code Anthem blog post Bad Code is Viral, Amber Shah describes why "writing bad code is viral." This is a great post that reminds me of a pattern I have seen repeatedly: bad code does seem to have a viral nature. Even when the original bad code is rooted out, it is often removed too late and the infection has spread into other pieces of the code.

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Online Resources: Android Development, Future of Java, Careers in Software Development

Dustin Marx — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:00:00 -0400

This was another week in which I ran across several blog posts and articles that I thought was particularly interesting and relevant. In this post, I reference these and quickly add my own thoughts on the various subjects. The topics covered by these posts I am referencing are quite diverse, but some common themes do underlie most of them. The individual topics covered include Android development, more on the future of Java, some "current Java" posts, and some insightful posts of software development career development.

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Poorly Finished Basements in Software Development

Dustin Marx — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:11:00 -0400

Several years ago when I was looking for a house to purchase, I saw several otherwise attractive homes that I decided against purchasing after seeing the badly finished basements. These finished basements were turn-offs for a variety of reasons such as 1970s paneling and/or carpet, cheap materials, bad and/or strange layouts, and so forth. An alluring aspect of purchasing a new house can be the chance to have the basement finished exactly as one would want it. When the basement is already finished, it may be less like what one would want.

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Turn Signals and Coding Conventions

Dustin Marx — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:06:00 -0400

In How Turn Signals Work, Karim Nice writes "Turn signals may be the most underutilized device on a car." I sometimes feel that when I witness drivers who cannot be bothered with indicating their intentions through use of a turn signal.

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On the Negative Impact of Selfish Software Development

Dustin Marx — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:39:00 -0400

There seems to be many things in life that can be good and beneficial, but can be made less good or even negative when selfishness is introduced. Software development is no exception. In this post, I look at how selfishness can turn normally positive behaviors into dysfunctional behaviors.

Creative Solutions ⇒ Not Invented Here Syndrome

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Ten Best Chapters of Software Development Books

Dustin Marx — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:52:00 -0400

I have always had a fondness for books, both technical and non-technical. However, it seems to get increasingly difficult to read complete books. I have found that instead of reading entire books on software development, I tend to read specific chapters and portions that seem most relevant, useful, and interesting to me. In this blog post, I look at the ten chapters of software development books that I have found to be most influential or most impressive in my career so far as a software developer.

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Sqlphobia: The Irrational Fear of SQL

Dustin Marx — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:47:00 -0400

The Phobia List provides an exhaustive list of phobias. Although it is difficult for many of us to understand or relate with many of these phobias, some are all too easy or me to understand. For example, I fear that I suffer at least mild cases of demophobia (fear of crowds) and homilophobia (fear of sermons).

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Correlation Between Typing Speed and Programming Competence

Dustin Marx — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:50:00 -0500

A colleague recently asked me, "Have you noticed that the better developers we've worked with are also fast typists?" I acknowledged that I had noticed relatively quick typing speed to be a common trait of most of the best developers that I know.

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My Personal Blog Policies

Dustin Marx — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:10:00 -0500

The recent posting of the The Oracle Social Media Participation Policy on Justin Kestelyn's (Oracle Technology Network Editor in Chief) blog has caused me to reevaluate my own personal and previously unwritten policies that affect how and what I write in this blog.

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Software Engineering One of 2010's Best Jobs

Dustin Marx — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:01:00 -0500

I have recently had several colleagues and friends with the Systems Engineer job title brag (trying to convince themselves, no doubt) about Money magazine ranking Systems Engineer their #1 job in Best Jobs in America 2009.

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