A programmer’s introduction to user portraits
As programmers, it’s vitally important for us to understand what our code should be doing. This knowledge starts with knowing the people using our product. While we’re deep in the code, […]
The amortized cost of vector insert is 3
C++ requires many algorithms to be implemented in amortized constant time. I was curious about what this meant for vector insertion. To get started I first wrote an article about amortized time […]
Lessons learned from recording my first class
I published my first video class, How to Write a Great User Story, something all programmers should know how to do. Even though the class only went live recently, there’s already a […]
The Internet Lottery™ for content creators
Your cursor hovers over the post button. This will be the one. You researched it, you checked it, you got the graphics, and you have the audience. Today you’ll have that successful […]
Invented here syndrome
Are you afraid to write code? Does the thought linger in your brain that somewhere out there somebody has already done this? Do you find yourself trapped in an analysis cycle where […]
Essential code for lists and vectors in an interview
Lists are perhaps the fundamental data structure in code. There’s virtually no program that doesn’t use lists. Interviewers love asking questions that involve lists, either intentionally, or just because almost everything uses […]
Stop waving the wand of magic numbers
37. You have no idea what that number is, do you? A number without context nor a label is a random value. It doesn’t tell us anything. Imagine walking by a billboard, […]
How does a mutex work? What does it cost?
Concurrent programming requires synchronization. We can’t have more than one thread accessing data at the same time; otherwise, we end up with a data race. The most common solution is to wrap […]
How to fail a programming interview
I’ve conducted many interviews. There are many reasons why I reject people, but there are recurring themes. I want to give a list of the most common problems. A few of these […]
Of course HTML is a programming language
Is HTML a programming language? I could express a bit of shock, even dismay, at the question, but instead, I’ll try a more polished approach. In some sense, it may be a […]
The User
Thinking that programming is about programmers is the worst mistake you can make. The single most important aspect of programming is the user. Keep this in mind through all the discussions we […]
Would you program a human?
With tales of Crispr babies in the news, I’ve been pondering the implications of programming human beings. This may or may not have been spurred by a crime novel I recently read, […]
We don’t need a ternary operator
A staple of compact code, the ternary operator ?: feels like it’s earned a place any programming language. I use it often; you should use it often. However, I don’t like the […]
ELI5: The filter, map, zip, and reduce operations
You’ve baked a fresh batch of gingerbread cookies. A bunch of little men, snowmen, stars, and bells are cooling on some trays. You clean up the table and lay out the colours […]
