Application Generation - To Ponder

If it isn't worth testing, it isn't worth coding . . .

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:28:00 -0400

One of the common arguments against Test Driven Development is that a lot of the code we write (simple getters and setters, dumb parameterized calls against a proven API, etc.) has behavior that is too simple to bother testing. I won't necessarily disagree that there is some code that is too simple to be worthy of writing tests for. However, I will argue that you should almost never be writing such code . . . [More]

The REAL Future of Computing

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:49:00 -0400

While luddites such as myself continue to work on old fashioned technologies like application generation and software product lines that will be mainstream within the next few years (:->), I think this points to the real future of computing. By 2008, if you are still trying to figure out how to tell a computer what to do (whether imperatively or declaratively), you’re probably not on the cutting edge of programming any more. I think that code generation and meta-programming may well be the high water mark of the old school command and control approach to what is really just a branch of machine learning (What is our job? Teaching computers to do what we want!). Check out an old article by Reg Braithwaite for an insightful peak at what might be to come (see the second half of his posting). Oh well, at least it means that once I’ve finished my application generator I’ll still have stuff to learn. Always wanted to learn more about statistics :->

On Intelligence

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:01:00 -0400

I think this is a pretty good description of the smartest people I know (to pick but three). According to the article (to paraphrase), if you're not opinionated, you're not adding anything to the argument and if you've got a strong attachment to your current beliefs, you're too attached to your views to hear why you're wrong (and we're always wrong in the long run). Nice - and concise!

An Amendment to the Immgration Bill (We WANT Entrepreneurs)

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:39:00 -0400

If I were a US legislator and serious about increasing the wealth and competitiveness of the US economy, I might just propose an amendment to any immigration bill with the following broad structure . . . [More]

Focusing on the Wrong Stuff?

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:04:00 -0400

Reg Braithwaite posted an interesting article earlier this week looking back at the Lightweight Languages conference in 2002 and how it foreshadowed the changes in the programming landscape over the last few years - particularly the growth of interest in dynamically typed scripting languages . . . [More]

Three Cool Questions . . .

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:51:00 -0400

From an amazing talk given by Richard Hamming in 1986. I came across this a few months ago, but only sat down to read it today. VERY cool. [More]