Useless interfaces, factories, and other abstractions are everywhere. They are the result of trying to prematurely generalize code. In a recent article I wrote about how I removed one from Leaf. It […]
The false abstraction antipattern
Counterargument: Don’t put logic in tests
I consider test suites to be first class code. They need to be clean, adaptable, and frequently refactored just like the primary code. Thus I was quite bothered to see the article […]
Why more eyes are helpful: time wasted on a simple bug
I spent several hours trying to fix a defect that didn’t exist. I’m working on template methods in Leaf and one of my overloads wasn’t resolving. As it is a new feature […]
Why social media needs to manipulate you
Has Facebook really done something deviant with their emotional feed experiment? Sure, it is despicable and unethical, but it wasn’t truly different from what is done on social sites every day. The […]
A curious non-OOP virtual inheritance for a GPU
A new technology I’m trying has a curious domain-specific extension for OpenGL graphics. It introduces a block concept allowing for modular shader code. From a language standpoint I was uncertain what to […]
Removing code by adding features
The pinnacle of refactoring is the removing of code by introducing a new feature. It may seem like a ridiculous notion, but I’m often surprised myself at how often it is a […]
Another Spam Loser: WordPress and Akismet
It seems like WordPress may have lost the war on comment spam. Up until early this year the spam was quite well filtered, Akismet was doing a good job. Then slowly undetected […]
Wait-free queueing and ultra-low latency logging
To support a low-latency trading system I needed a logging call that had minimal impact on the calling thread. It was imperative to be responsive to market events at all times. My […]
The uninitialized variable anathema: non-deterministic C++
A variable with an undefined value is a terrible language failure. Especially when programs tend to work anyway. It’s a significant fault of C++ to allow this easy-to-create and hard-to-detect situation. I […]
Allowing unlimited access with CORS
Opening a REST service for browser use requires CORS. Browsers have a very strict cross-domain policy that will either block the request, or just block access to the returned content. If you […]
Stop signing crappy contracts
Just because you’re given a bad contract doesn’t mean you have to sign it. I was recently offered a programming position that came with a ridiculous contract. It started off with a […]
The Infernal Loop Iterator
Collection iteration is perhaps the most insidious language construct. Simple to create and easy to understand. Yet lurking within lies the ability to create random non-local defects. Monstrous bugs that you’ll spend […]
Strings and Text are not the same
Thinking of text and strings as the same type is wrong. It leads to all kinds of errors and results in confusing or incomplete APIs. I wrote before that the string type […]
Too big too care: How Twitter inadvertently revoked my developer access
If a company has enough users they don’t have to care about any of them. Plus or minus one developer account, even with thousands of users, will make no difference. It may […]
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