Analogies are often used to introduce folks to new ideas, introducing them not directly, but through comparison and inference. This seems to work well in all areas, including technical. The risk in using them in technical matters, though, is that person will never move past the analogy and into the realm of accurately understanding the [...]
After using the OLPC XO heavily for the past three weeks for web browsing, pdf reading, and educational game playing (by my 5 year old nephew), I can’t help me get the feeling that the XO was made for its creators, and not for children.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the thing; but how [...]
This interview with Charles H. Moore is a great read.
I think it behooves new programmers to sample all the languages available. Forth is the only one that’s fun. The satisfaction of finding a neat representation cannot be equaled in Fortran, C or even Lisp.
Well clearly he hasn’t tried out Scheme :)
(via Dave)
Why Computer Science Doesn’t Matter is an essay about the lack of computer science in the educational curriculum today, and what can be done about it. They’ve come up with an interesting, and successful, approach.
[I want] to place computing where it belongs: in the hearts and minds of every single student.
Here here!
To paraphrase a quote attributed to Avinash Meetoo’s unnamed professor in the comments section in this wiki article:
A programmer should be studying that which prepares him for his last job; not just his next, or current one.
– Grant Rettke
If you were trapped on a desert island, clearly you would choose C as your only programming language!
From Wikipedia:
A meme consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
Whether or not you agree in the validity of memes as a science (I don’t); the term is often used in pop culture, generally representing some bit [...]
Don’t be afraid to pursue jobs in which you are really interested.
You can’t teach passion.
Hire good people, there are no workarounds.
Only hire people who get obsessed.
A pervasive attitude among programmers today is that their language is “good enough” and that whatever their language lacks in expressiveness they can make up for with brute force.
Be forewarned: pretty soon you will just end up realizing Greenspun’s Tenth Rule!