81–90 of 92 posts
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...
It was not written with software in mind, but the core respect for the user translates enormously well. If you can't tell whether you should push or pull a door to open it, it's the fault of the door designer, not the door opener. This translates very deeply into interface (user or technical) design.
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You didn't buy it, but the book is full of bullshit? Did you at least read it?
It was a gift for participating in a local Google event, sorry if it wasn't clear enough. By not 'buying it' I wanted to highlight that my opinion on the comment would be inherently negative, as I am not in the target audience of the book (as in, if in a store, I would not buy it). Yes, I have read it. It is not a terrible book, heck, it might be good for what it is meant to be (guidance for disoriented developers),…
I can only speak for myself, but I am tired of these "soft" software development books and the various "movements". They seem to be attempts to transform our technical field from solving real world problems via math and deep understanding into something like politics or religion. I think recent success of these soft topics may be based on people's feeling of self improvement and enlightenment. I can understand that i…
The problem with that perspective, as I see it, is that all cooperative human endeavors are inherently political. You can't "technology" your way out of those dynamics, and you can't simplify your worldview to ignore them because they frequently-enough have real impacts on the work.
So what I see a lot of these movements doing is recognizing and reacting to those dynamics, rather than trying to build solutions based on a model of the world without them.
Brand says the three enemies of a building are time, money, and water. What are the three enemies of a program?
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It was a gift for participating in a local Google event, sorry if it wasn't clear enough. By not 'buying it' I wanted to highlight that my opinion on the comment would be inherently negative, as I am not in the target audience of the book (as in, if in a store, I would not buy it). Yes, I have read it. It is not a terrible book, heck, it might be good for what it is meant to be (guidance for disoriented developers),…
FWIW, you're faulting him for a claim he isn't making. He says it's the best development book he's read, not the best development book in general. There's a big difference.
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It is possible with the help of flowcharts and pseudo-code; the issue I've run into many times is depending on the class, you'll lose student interest over not actually doing anything. If it is a matter of limited resources, ala no computers, then go for it, but looking back, I'd feel a little short-changed if I couldn't walk out of the class without a functional program, no matter how insignificant. This is where I…
I do agree that there is really nothing to show that you've done: program wise. On the other hand, the students did learn a lot about critical thinking which, I feel, is a great start to programming. This was also for a BIS degree (not a CS degree) which focused on the "business" side of information science: so most students weren't interested in coding (though I felt this was not to their advantage). Really, it was…
If you don't mind me asking, what textbook did you use (or atleast company)? We use Cengage currently and I'm just appalled at some of the stuff I have to cover. I've been searching for a replacement.
Non-code books for programmers? I always recommend How Buildings Learn , by Stewart Brand. It's a well-written and elegant study of the lifecycle of buildings, and holds many lessons for anyone who realizes their software continues to exist and change. http://amzn.com/B00AFZ3PI4 Brand says the three enemies of a building are time, money, and water. What are the three enemies of a program?
I am sorry, but for me that book was a no. It just felt like a self help book, but for programmers, which is kind of ok if you are feeling any sort of personal trouble in the field. Not that this is not already told on the back cover, but no, I would not call this book the best development book. I did not buy it, instead, it was the result of participating in a local dev Google something, but it really surprised me h…
Have you (or anyone else) read Code Complete? If so, how do you feel about it? I started reading it because everyone recommended it, but I stopped at page 100 or so, because I felt it was getting no where.