Friday Linkage
This weeks interesting links:
- How Digg is built.
An tour of Digg’s shiny new architecture. - Ten lessons from Git Hub’s first year.
A delayed but interesting reflection on Git Hub’s first year. - Nine Women Can’t Make a Baby in a Month.
A discussion on the dangers of taking on VC funding too early in a startups life. - If You’re Not Gonna Use It, Why Are You Building It?
This point cannot be made often enough, if you don’t need it then don’t build it. - Where meritocracy fails.
A thoughtful post on why code changes should be judged on technical quality and not on ego. - Downloadable Content in a Nutshell (Comic).
An amusing take on the common flaws of downloadable content.
Friday Linkage
This week’s interesting links:
- 20 percent time spent coding in the clouds.
An interesting post by a Google engineering director about how he recently used his twenty percent time developing his first App Engine application on a long haul flight to Japan. - Do or do not.
The author has an interesting take on not using asserts in favour of using unit tests instead. Reflecting on this I find asserts and unit tests essential for C++ projects however for projects in Python I tend to just use unit testing. - How not to get things done.
This ironic post makes a case against those engineers with a knack for ‘getting things done’ usually at any price (e.g. gratuitous hacking) can be dangerous to the project. All engineers require leadership on code quality, testing and maintenance not just those who get things done. - A Hundred Machines for Only Ten Dollars an Hour.
An interesting presentation on just how the Amazon cloud makes massive parallel data processing using Hadoop very cheap: $100 in this case. There is also a warning as the author ends up spending $3000 in legal fees convincing FaceBook that he didn’t do anything wrong with his $100 of data processing! - How to polish a turd.
A post about the process of developing and evolving a game concept from conception to shipping. I have had the opposite experience from the author with publishers being the main source of change requests. - Are gas prices really that high?
As a European living in Canada it is easy to appreciate just how much cheap fuel is here. This graph maps out petrol prices for the whole world relative to the US prices which are even lower than Canada’s prices. - Time Management (Comic).
An amusing take on time management blog posts.
Friday Linkage
This week interesting links:
- Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss.
Google’s attempt to use a data-driven approach to management using data gathered from inside Google, it sounds like a pretty promising program. Usually re-inventing the wheel is a negative pattern but it seems to not be the case for Google on a regular basis. - Japanese Earthquake: Before and after.
Some haunting images of the destruction done by the tsunami that was triggered by the earthquake off the coast of Japan. The use of the slider to compare the overlapped before and after images is very effective. - Infographic of the Day: A Mind-Blowing History of Sci-Fi.
An amazing hand drawn infographic on the history of science fiction. - The Future of Analytics Products.
A very useful round up of the current Analytics offering and the up and coming new products. - Built here? No, thanks.
On why building your own internal game engine may not be a good idea. - Think Stats: Probability and Statistics for Programmers.
A free eBook about learning probability and statistics for Python programmers. - Scared Straight. (Comic)
An amusing look at possible ways to make trouble making kids behave.
Friday Linkage
This weeks interesting links:
- If iPads are “post-pc devices” why must I sync with iTunes before I can use one?
A very good point given Apple’s recent claims at the iPad 2.0 launch. I’d love to see iTunes either dramatically improved or removed. - If you’re not failing you’re not trying.
A pep talk on failing more, its good for you really
- Why Traffic Jams Happen.
Admit it you’ve always wondered why, it turns out the reason is very mundane. - Three Superpowers.
Rands in Repose talking about three different manager personalities with their own unique superpower! - Linkedin InMaps.
Visualise your Linkedin network geographically. - The need for participation, compassion, & community in the classroom.
An excellent post about the importance and impact that compassion can have in the classroom and the wider world. - Do what you say you’re going to do.
Another inspirational post, I wish I managed this more.
Friday Linkage
- Internet Explorer 6 Countdown.
It seems even Microsoft is keen to see the end of IE 6. - Making Meetings not Suck.
Some good ideas for reducing meeting suckage. - I’ve got an idea: I’ll give you25%….
I’ve not had this happen to me but I can sympathize with this developer. - Stack Exchange’s Architecture in Bullet Points.
Architectural information about one of the biggest sites I know running a mostly Microsoft server stack. - Global Android activations mapped and animated.
Very cool, I can see now why Apple are worried. - Meetings suck.
Why do most meetings suck? - Architectural Best Practices (Comic).
The truth behind layering! - Surviving C++.
Some interesting comments on C++.
Friday Linkage
This weeks interesting pages:
How to broadcast your Google Reader ’starred items’ to an RSS feed or widget on your blog
This post explains how to share your Favorite (starred) items in Google Reader via either an RSS feed or as a widget on your blog. This is something I am interested in, as these weekly linkage posts are essential a summary of my starred items in Google Reader for that week. Although not all my Friday Linkage links come form Google Reader but it would cover most of the interesting blog posts.
Playing in Traffic
David’s well titled post on generating traffic on your website in a classy manner e.g. not through buzz word bingo is well worth a read. Especially if you are interested in increasing your traffic while retaining your credibility. His portfolio of photographs is also well worth a browse.
Unit Testing: One Test, One Assertion – Why It Works
This post makes the case for one assertion per unit test. As relative beginner to unit testing and as someone who tends to have multiple assertions per test I find this an interesting idea which I think I will need to try out.
The Psychology of Passive Barriers: Why Your Friends Don’t Save Money, Eat Healthier, or Clean Their Garages
Ever wondered why people don’t do things that are clearly beneficial for themselves? This post discusses some of the Psychology of this phenomenon. Although this is not specifically about software engineering, it is talking about an important aspect of user interaction: motivating/compelling the user to do something.
Actively Avoid Insights: 4 Useful KPI Measurement Techniques
This article on Web Analytics discusses four commonly used measurement techniques: averages, percentages, ratios and compound metrics and how they can actually hinder your understanding of your progress against your goals unless they are applied with some thought.
