|
When you release your Web API, it’s carved into stone. It’s a scary commitment to never make an incompatible change. If you fail, you’ll have irate customers yelling in your inbox, followed by your boss, and then your boss’s boss. You have to support this API. Forever. Unless you version it, right? ... Before you struggle with how to version your API, I want you to know how to design your API to avoid future incompatibilities. It is possible to design your API in a manner that reduces its fragility and increases its resilience to change. The key is to design your API around its intent. The intent-driven design has advantages over the programmer-driven design.
|
|
|
|
|
About a month ago, I passed my one year mark at GitHub. Here's ten things I've learned... We gotta play it one day at a time.
|
|
|
|
|
When I joined Microsoft in early 1994 I discovered what I then considered a somewhat odd way of driving product development. I would sit in Bill’s reviews of product plans and many would have as a key goal of the release “Win Reviews”.... Recall that we are talking (effectively) pre-Internet. The dominant force in communicating information about computer hardware and software were a handful of print magazines. As the PC era reached its pre-Internet peak these publications had grown to the size of small (and sometimes not so small) phone books. And they were filled with reviews of new products and comparisons of competing products. Trying to decide between Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and Lotus Ami Pro? Or Windows vs. OS/2?Articles in these magazines were going to weigh heavily in your decision process. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.
|
|
|
|
|
They don’t prepare you for this in college or admit it in job interviews. The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a living, and earn a six-figure salary, you’re headed for the unemployment lines. Your market value declines as you age and it becomes harder and harder to get a job. I know this post will provoke anger, outrage, and denial. But, sadly, this is the way things are in the tech world. It’s an “up or out” profession. Youth and enthusiasm is cheaper than age and experience. In the short run.
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft's Office team has run like clockwork for at least the past decade. The 5,000 or so Office engineers delivered a new version of Office every 2.5 to 3 years without fail. But these days, two or three years between new product releases is considered an eternity. While it's all well and good for the trains to run on time, the trains need to run a lot faster. In addition, these days, the different Office client, server and services trains don't all need to be on the same schedule. Office 365 is more than a name, it's a schedule.
|
|
|
|
|
I personally do not agree with the myth that hackers are always a step ahead. I think that the IT industry is way behind from where it should be. I am using the results of hundreds of web application security scans performed with Netsparker web application security scanner as an example to show that the IT industry can do much better in terms of security. Only you can prevent hacking of your site.
|
|
|
|
|
One of the most controversial changes Microsoft made to Windows in its latest iteration - Windows 8 - is the removal of the Start button and menu. According to The Verge, the company wants to bring it back with Windows 8.1, which is also known as Windows Blue. While the button will make its comeback, the Start menu itself will still be absent.
According to Windows Insider Paul Thurrott[^], the Management of Microsoft made this decision above the Windows Blue teams' head. Good or bad idea?
Original article by The Verge[^].
|
|
|
|
|
|
Close but no cigar.
We're gettin there.
They a-scareeed
Keep bitchin until we get the traditional start menu back.
|
|
|
|
|
In Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 (VS 2012.1) Microsoft delivered a feature for the Ultimate edition called Code Map with the goal of visualising relationships in code. In Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (VS 2012.2) they’ve extended the Code Map experience to include debugging support and the ability to generate code maps on the fly as a debugging session is conducted. If you saw the announcement then you may have had one of the following reactions. Reaction 1 would be something like “Oh. It’s in Ultimate. I don’t have it. I’ll ignore it”. The second might be similar to mine: “Is this really going to be that useful?”. After ignoring it for a bit I decided to answer that question for myself. You are here. Your code is doing lots of work over there. Let me show you where...
|
|
|
|
|
It seems to be fashionable at the moment to be negative about Windows 8. People like to whine about how the Modern UI gets in the way and how the rest of it is just Windows 7 with some of the furniture rearranged. Some analysts are even blaming Windows 8 for poor PC sales. Well, I’m sorry Windows 8 deniers, you’re wrong. I’ve used every major version of Windows since 3.1, I’ve been using Windows 8 since the Developer Preview versions and I think it’s Microsoft’s best effort yet. Why do you love Windows 8?
|
|
|
|
|
Windows 8 is quick n' fast ' smart.
I run a pc shop and can't tell you how many new windows 8 machines come in for us to "please get my login and stuff off this pc 'cause I'm sending it back" - Which means factory restore.
The reason? The Modern UI.
If MS wasn't so stupid as to shoot with a windows 8 shotgun, the whole business world with that play school kids stuff interface than it would be a run away hit.
As it is it's killing and will everything.
I read somewhere recently that those on mahogany row at MS arent resposible for the blunder but left it up to "designers" in an attempt to emulate Apple. Do you suppose those are the "kids" dancing around outside on the comercials?
Windows 9 better be windows 8 without the modern interface or MS is dead meat.
Because users say no with their pocket books.
That said:
Windows 8 with a 3rd party boot to desktop, start menu app rocks.
|
|
|
|
|
Been using Win8 daily myself on a laptop and dual monitors for 8 months. I'm loving it.
I understand that it's a shock and people don't know what to do with it. It's just a matter of giving it a chance. Once you realize that the "Start Screen" is really just the "Start button" spread out, and adapt your thinking... things get better.
One does wonder why all the user experience studies, if any were done, didn't tell them people would have a hard time adjusting... WTF were they thinking??!!!??
But I agree that it should have been a choice.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
|
|
|
|
|
simple; the people who volunteer for UX studies are much more willing to play around with something to learn how it works. Joe SixPackXP wants it to Just Work The Way It Always Has(tm).
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
|
|
|
|
|
I love this in one of the comments:
Quote: I understand that Apple products cure bad breath and impotence, surrounding owners with an aura that invites friends and enemies alike to worship at their feet. What I don't get is what that state of inspired, beloved awesomeness has to do with an article about Windows 8. LMFAO!
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
|
|
|
|
|
Btw:
Those who are sending their laptops with 8 on it back are keeping their xp and having us rehab it back to speed.
|
|
|
|
|
I still don't understand how Microsoft expects us to design and use real applications (Photoshop, Office, etc) in the so-called "Modern UI".
|
|
|
|
|
I'm fine with Windows 8 as I was with Windows 3.1, 95, NT, Win 7 etc. Around the time I set up Win 8 on my dev machine, I also had a Samsung S3 Android phone supplied to me.
It took a little while to get used to Win 8. A couple of days tops.
I have found I'm still discovering new ways of doing things (or trying to) on my Android Phone. An OS obviously developed by a committee.
So if millions can learn and even love Android then Win 8 should be a walk in the park.
Peter Hayward
Ngarkat Technologies
South Australia,
|
|
|
|
|
Windows 8 is sleek and fast.
The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second is listening, the third memory, the forth, practice and the fifth is teaching others!
|
|
|
|
|
* Lightning Fast
* Built-in Multi-Monitor Taskbar
* Live Tiles
* Blazing Fast
* Works
* Awesomely Fast
* Built-In Hyper-V Client
* Did I mention it is fast?
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
|
|
|
|
|
A button is simply a device you can press to connect two pieces of metal together, allowing a current to pass. It’s extremely handy for all sorts of applications. This tutorial is for those who want to learn more about how electronics (like buttons) work. You’ll use an open-source micro-controller called the Arduino to make a LED light turn on and off. Click here to learn how to make a gadget that lets you click there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tony Hoare, the inventor of null, has gone on record calling it his ‘billion-dollar mistake’. So what should replace it? Maybe, at its core, is a construct that allows programmers to move null checks into the type system, so they can be enforced at compile-time. Instead of forgetting to deal with a null check and finding out with an exception at run-time, you forget to deal with a null check and find out at compile-time, before anyone else even sees it! And that’s not just some null checks, that’s all of them, guaranteed! Schrodinger's Type: Maybe it's there. Maybe it's not.
|
|
|
|
|
I disagree. Maybe is not better than NULL its more complex and will lead to more mistakes.
Worse than that this is yet another example of trying to 'fix it by changing the language'. Hasn't 15 years of failure from Microsoft made it clear enough THAT DOESN'T WORK.
You have to fix the problem, which is essentially the inability of most code to operate safely when given one or more empty parameters, not the language so as to hide empty parameters inside unions. As for the idea that this change means checks can be done at compile time, bilge, most NULLs arise from the lack of existence of user input, files, communication or some other artifact or item of data at runtime. Trying to ban these situations at compile time will simply lead to unhandled real world situations, commonly known as unhandled exceptions.
The one part of this that is correct is that the answer is to use the type system to create checked types that can throw when they evaluate to NULL. This can be done, I know because I've done it and definitely doesn't require any language level changes.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
|
|
|
|
|
Matthew Faithfull wrote: Maybe is not better than NULL its more complex and will lead to more mistakes.
Just try a language that has no nulls and you'll change your mind quickly.
|
|
|
|