Archive for the ‘Desktop Development’ Category

Will the really real programmers please stand up?

August 12th, 2010 – Desktop Development, Web Development (, ) 74 Comments »
Get Real

How do you define a real programmer? There are many facets that you can use to judge someone’s skill as a programmer: ability, experience, enthusiasm, dedication, etc. But I recently read an article by RethinkDB blogger Slava, and he boils all of these points down to one item, memorization. Some people agree with this idea, but I do not, at all.

I have heard several companies bragging about having interview scripts like this, saying that this kind of testing is the most effective way to filter out unqualified applicants. However I think that the post by Slava perfectly demonstrates just how flawed this concept is. If there is one thing you should have learned in school, it’s that standardized tests are a terrible metric for gauging skill or intelligence.

But more to the point, I think that this is the wrong way to define a real programmer. Allow me to present you with my definition of a real programmer.

Read more…

The 5 types of programmers

July 18th, 2010 – Desktop Development, Web Development () 291 Comments »
Awesome Code

In my code journeys and programming adventures I’ve encountered many strange foes, and even stranger allies. I’ve identified at least five different kinds of code warriors, some make for wonderful comrades in arms, while others seem to foil my every plan.

However they all have their place in the pantheon of software development. Without a healthy mix of these different programming styles you’ll probably find your projects either take too long to complete, are not stable enough or are too perfect for humans to look upon.

Read more…

Optional parameters and named parameters in C# 4.0

February 24th, 2010 – Desktop Development, Web Development (, , ) 1 Comment »

One little quirk of C#, which has pretty much become a defining characteristic of the language, is the default parameters system, or lack thereof.

If you want to have a default set of arguments for a function or constructor then you have to create several overloaded versions of the function for each possible set of parameter that you want to be able to accept.

This will no longer be the case in C# 4.0 with the addition of optional parameters and named parameters features. This is one little change I am really looking forward to in a big way.

Read more…

Poor man’s code repository and versioning with Dropbox

February 7th, 2010 – Desktop Development, Web Development (, , , ) 9 Comments »
Dropbox Logo

By now just about everyone knows about Dropbox, the simple file syncing/sharing and online backup solution. The software is available for several operating systems and is very fast and intuitive. It even has a good online interface so you can access your dropbox from anywhere.

But did you think about using it as a poor man’s CVS? It’s actually a really good solution for personal projects, or for a small group of people working on a project. I have fallen in love with the service for several reasons.

Read more…

Reporting of unhandled exceptions in your distributable .NET desktop application

January 23rd, 2010 – Desktop Development (, , , ) 3 Comments »

If you’re writing a .NET desktop application that you intend to distribute then you may find it very helpful to build a system for reporting any exceptions that end-users experience back to you. Being able to gather raw exception reports from an app somewhere in the wild will make it much easier to find problems that never appeared on your development and testing environments.

This can save you a lot of headaches when dealing with users complaining about problems that you simply cannot reproduce. An error reporting system has the added benefit of improving end-user morale. It makes people feel much better when they know the developer has received a real report about the problem they encountered.

My method for handling exceptions and reporting them is very simple. However, it does require a little extra work to setup. I’ll walk you through my particular method and give you the basic C# code that I use.

Read more…