Lets say you have a program that allows access to some sort of media. This media can be damaged. It is only possible for the users to know if the media is damaged after they use the service and receive the media. So to make your users happy, you want your program to give the users the ability to turn the media back in for a refund. Howev...
I'm developing several closed source applications for Mac OS X and Windows. I'm considering adding Linux to the list of supported platforms. These applications manage content on a web site and manage and monitor the servers that host the content. For each application, there is a web based XHTML front end as well as rich GUI front ends f...
Hi Gang, Up until this point in my career, I have usually modified my HOSTS file as the need to test a website before its DNS propagation or website launch occurred. This has worked well on in-house projects, but I'm finding the approach completely impractical when it comes to previewing my clients' websites to them before the sites go...
For a while there seemed to be an aggressive trend towards outsourcing development jobs to India, Ukraine, et al. However, recently I have been hearing anecdotal stories from friends in the biz that it is falling out of favor for a number of reasons. I am interested in what the experience of the SO community shows on the topic. So here...
I was watching something on TV the other day and sat in disbelief as someone said something to the effect of, "I wish we could round up all of the people who made mistakes and punish them." That statement floored me. Punishing malevolence is one thing (preferably by immediate dismissal), but punishing mistakes? How is one to learn? Doesn...
What is the dress code at your workplace, and does it make you feel less or more productive? How does it affect your mindset? Do you wish that you could wear something else? I've only had a full-time position at one company, whose dress code is business casual (khakis, polo/button-up shirt) with casual Fridays (jeans). The business casu...
Typically I have added data validation, such as checking that an input is within a certain range, in the data models found in my Data Access Layer. Searching the web I've seen that there are two schools of thought on the matter: Adding the validation as part of the Data Access Layer (like I have been doing) Adding the validation as pa...
It has been said that the days of the independent developer are over, as modern applications require more professionalism in user interfaces, graphics, and so on. Nevertheless, I imagine that there are a number of people on StackOverflow who are their own boss, who produce their own software, and who might even be making significant h...
Attempt at objectivity: This is based mostly on my small amount of experience. I go through phases where I become dismayed and perceive that, ultimately, nobody really cares about writing good code. It becomes hard for me to care because I feel as if I'm the only one who does, and I see that as unnecessary concern. The problem seems lik...
I do some work as a freelance web developer, for which I do my own hosting. I have one client who is very behind on paying me. His domain is registered in my name not his. Is it ethical for me to threaten to let it expire unless he brings his account up to date? ...
Maybe it is not directly programming related question, but anyway. Is there a book you can recommend, covering some history of business software with kind of a big picture of how the field originated and went trough its evolution to become what it is today? I don't mean the history of software development, but the history of business so...
What is domain logic? The Wikipedia page for domain logic redirects to business logic. Are they the same thing, and, if not, how do they differ? ...
Can anyone suggest extensible (open source?) web software for generating sales quotes and managing inventory (and possibly other erp/crm functions) that would work well for an equipment rental business? For example, it would need a UI for scheduling the geographic movement of inventory over time. Integration with shipping would be a plus...
What are some examples of sites I could use to post programming contracts? If you had a project you needed done in programming language X, and wanted to pay someone else to do it for you, where would you start? Or on the other side of things, where do you go to look for programming contracts? ...
I'm in the early stages of a relatively new company that is already cash-flow positive (despite the gloomy economy!), and I soon hope to hire some software developers. I'm thinking about some kind of profit or revenue share as a way to align employee's interests with those of the company as I'd prefer not to complicate the company's own...
I am thinking of setting up my own freelance business but coming from a workplace that offers a particular service to huge clients, I do not know what are the current charges for websites are nowadays. I know that as technology just keeps changing and changing (most of the time, for the better...), the amount you charge for a single web...
I am a web developer/programmer/freelancer. Most of my work involves developing custom web software. Occasionally, I am approached by a potential client looking for something similar to one of the “classic” business applications: CRM, ERP, CMS etc. Most of their requirements seem typical, but inevitably there will be one or two that are ...
I believe that In the past the decision as to how to deploy your application was largely a technology / architecture problem. How must I implement my code to best solve the technical problem at hand? Now I believe it is much more of a market decision. How can I reach the biggest market? What type of software do people now pay for? T...
The effects of the current economic crisis is far reaching. Here in Australia we are seeing massive cut backs on spending and massive job cuts in big business - mining giant Rio Tinto has just announced 14,000 jobs being cut world wide (~2/3 contractors, 1/3 employees). My business specialises in short term innovative software developm...
I am thinking of opening my own start-up but my friends & family always advise me to do my freelance projects parallel for sometime and then leave my day job. My argument is: I am not able to give 100% to my freelance work becuase of my full-time day job, hence my freelancing work is affected and sometimes I feel that I don't have it in...