Software Engineer

01 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Opinion

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I don’t like the term Software Engineer. Real engineers have licenses and certifications and prescribed educations. No such exists (currently) for software makers. It is still a new craft in our society (it goes back only to the 1950s or so), and we haven’t caught up to how complex and demanding it really is. Anyone can use the term Software Engineer, so it doesn’t have the meaning it could.

Continue reading →

Software Development

28 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in Opinion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Software development can be hard to describe or compare because it depends so much on the use of abstraction. One can visualize a continuum of professions based on how much abstraction they tend to require from their workers. Software tends to be on the far end of that spectrum. Not only do programmers deal almost entirely with abstraction, but often with multiple layers of abstraction!

Continue reading →

Four Primary Principles for Programmers

27 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in CS101

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Over the years I’ve come to believe in four basic principles computer programmers should adhere to. They reflect four paths of continuing education programmers walk throughout their career. The bottom line, really, is that you’re going to be doing these things a lot; it will serve you well to learn to do them well and with intention.

Continue reading →

New Blog!

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Blog

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

I have a lot of computer programming stuff I’d like to write about, but it’s way too specific for my regular blog (which has a hard enough time attracting readers), and it’s too general to be appropriate for my Book of BOOL blog.

So here I go with blog number three. (Technically, blog number four; my very first blog was my now-long-abandoned baseball blog.) This blog is exclusively for writing about computer programming topics. Expect a mix of “stuff I’ve done that was fun” plus “stuff I’ve thought about and want to document” plus “good advice for coders.”

I’ve written some of those last kind on my regular blog. To get things going, and to put them in a more sensible place, I’ll re-post them here.

Soon. But for now, “Hello, World!” It’s a whole new blog!