Becoming a programmer can be a daunting task. After reading Your First Year in Code, you might wonder what awaits you long term. My book, What is Programming covers more of the […]
Your 30th Year in Code
Why switch is better than if-else
In Ben’s post, he questions whether switch statements are cleaner than if-else chains. I contend they are, because they better express the semantics of the code, allow less room for errors, reduce […]
Fluid layout animation: Invalidation and caching
Dynamic changes in layout properties, either because of user actions, or animations, requires a recalculation of the layout. Maintaining a stable frame rate during recalculation is challenging, as the layout process is […]
Creating a custom author box on WordPress
How to use custom short-codes to create an author-box in a template.
A Failed Experiment with Python Type Annotations
I like Python, but wish it had static typing. The added safety would go a long way to improving quality and reducing development time. So today I tried to make use of […]
A Parade of Web Tech
Perhaps I wrote that I don’t know how to create a website, but glancing back, I certainlyhave built a lot. And oh boy, there’s quite the variety of technology involved. I thought […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
