Pronouncable passwords?
Modules or software solutions for generating English pronounceable passwords? Are there similar modules for other languages? ...
human-factors
Work Breaks & Eye condition
I've found this tips great. But some years ago, I had some programs that popped up an alert every hour or so (Tea Break or something like that was the name of the program). Does anybone know a good, non-intrusive program that indicates me when it's time to have a break? When I'm deep coding, I loose the notion of time, so some kind of n...
How do you deal with Brain Buffer Overflow?
This is probably an old topic, but I just ran into it again, and it sounds like a good area to look for other ideas. The library I am working on has a bug that I am having difficulty isolating. In fact one of the things that happened in the last day or two, was the size got too big. The amount of detail is so large, I can't keep the w...
Human factors design (meeting psychological needs in UI design)
Reading about the G.729 codec, I found this interesting tidbit about "Comfort Noise": A comfort noise generator (CNG) is also set up because in a communication channel, if transmission is stopped, and the link goes quiet because of no speech, then the receiving side may assume that the link has been cut. By inserting comf...
Do you use your mouse as a "placeholder" while you're reading code/documentation?
I'm going through some research tapes of developers who are editing code and reading documentation (either online or via the hover in the IDE) and I'm trying to figure out all the techniques they use for remaining oriented. I'd like to correlate what I see with the experiences of others. So, let's say you're reading a long piece of code...
What should be considered when deciding between explicit vs implicit paging in a UI?
When a list becomes very large, presenting it in a UI raises a design issue. Should the user get pages of items or should the user get a list control that pages items implicitly as it is scrolled? In google search, paging of results is explicit. You get a set of results and hit a link to get the next set. On the iPhone the applicatio...
OS user interface guidelines: when to ignore?
A line in this answer, "Get used to using the Mac on its own terms", took me aback a little bit, and made me start to think about something I pondered ages ago and still haven't come up with a good answer to. Each OS has its own guidelines for how to develop an application's interface so it fits with the OS, and consequently the mindset...
What Healthy Tricks Do You Use to Stimulate Your Brain and Increase Code Output?
There have been a few posts around the place as to what is the best music for coding, etc. While music can certainly make coding more enjoyable, I don't believe it actually makes me more productive and in fact probably distracts me more as I want to mess around with iTunes playlists, ratings and find good music to listen to. I find that...
Is it possible to teach humility to a smart but inexperienced programmer?
I used to work with a guy who was fresh out of college and acted like he was the God of Java the best possible programming language that could ever be invented (and no other language, with the possible exception of XML). He was pretty good at Java, condescending if asked for advice on a topic, and thought it would be a great idea to rew...
Do programmers usually possess the "wake up late, go to bed late" personality type?
Inspired by this question: Are people with certain Myers Briggs personality types drawn to careers in programming/development? I certainly belong with this group. By the way, anyone knows the English (psycho-)terms for this personality type and its opposite - "wake up early, go to bed early"? Edit: Thanks to DrJokepu, we figured out t...
Do you consider performance reviews useful and why?
Hello, all, It looks like performance reviews are used in virtually any organization. You know, those lists of objectives, values, estimates (achieved, partially achieved, exceeded etc.) And then you'll get bonus and (or) promotion by results. Or won't get. But there are certain objections against these reviews. E.g. from Joel Spolsky...
Constructing regex
Hi, I use regex buddy which takes in a regex and then gives out the meaning of it from which one gets what it could be doing? On similar lines is it possible to have some engine which takes natural language input describing about the pattern one needs to match/replace and gives out the correct(almost correct) regex for that description?...
How does UI design differ when designing a software appliance console from traditional web applications?
Are there any open source frameworks that are for this purpose? How does UI design differ when designing a software appliance console from traditional web applications? Any examples of particularly well-design user interfaces for software appliances? ...
Using spaced repetition to retain programming knowledge
Has anybody successfully used spaced repetition concepts embodied in programs like supermemo in the context of programming ? The motivation for this question: I'm increasingly having to look up things I knew. Reading this Wired piece "Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm" has me wondering if this...
Captcha algorithm
I've notised that Stack Overflow only presents me with a captcha occasionally. Does anyone know if it has a good algorithm for sensing if I might be a robot or, instead if it's just random. Reducing reliance on captchas is obviously a good thing. ...
What skills should a tech leader have?
Should they have a degree? A few things I can see, they: should know the platform they are working on should know to listen should know how to drive problems should know how to mediate between co-workers many others.... ...
How to get the most out of a 3 month intern?
We've got a software engineering intern coming in who's fairly competent and shows promise. There's one catch: we have him for 3 months full time and can't count on anything past that. He still has a year of school left, which is why we can't say for sure that we have him past 3 months. We have a specific project we're putting him on. ...
How can I describe a bug as a feature?
I often hear of situations where a bug in a program is passed off as a feature. This seems like a useful skill to have. Please describe a technique for doing this - preferably with specific examples. ...
Did you ever get into trouble because of using or creating odd-named software?
I've noticed that some software names occasionally raise an eyebrow. I'm thinking of: libpr0n (semi-official synonym of libimg2) mutt (Mail client) BullZip (Freudian slip waiting) GSpot (codec identification software) Did you ever get into trouble for using software or creating software with an odd name like these? ...
How much code can a programmer be intimately familar with?
Are there any statistics for this? I realize it must vary from person to person, but it seems like there should be a general average. The reason I ask is that the company I contract for has multiple software products, totaling ~75,000 lines of code - and they seemed disappointed and shocked when they ask me a question about a specific p...