Software As She’s Developed

There’s an abundance of open-source code out there. Thanks to the internet and the flourishing of open-source, it’s possible to explore the programs that power some of the world’s most popular applications. A big problem with software education is that people spend most of their time looking at toy solutions to toy problems. Idealised teller machines […]

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File dialogs: you use them to open and save files all the time and you don’t think about them much. But if you did think about them, you’d have to conclude they are dinosaurs of the 80s roaming around in the 21st century. Here’s what the File Dialog with the mostest would have: * Searchable - Based […]

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Source code as structure rather than text … bring it on! Jon Udell blogs about The Deep Structure of Code. Instead of treating source code as a boring old text file, treat it as a data structure. Then, you can render it however you like it. I was captivated by this idea when I read this […]

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The Amazon API has its uses (plaudits Smart Mobs). As web legend Philip Greenspun taught me, great sites can be made by pulling in content from other sites. So the idea of web services holds a lot of promise. Google and Amazon APIs have been out a couple of years already, and there isn’t much […]

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In the spirit of pragmatism, it’s important to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of many different approaches. So this podcast looks at the flaws and challenges for agile software development.

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HP might be about to drop its rebranded IPod

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Perhaps the first popular unfiction game was Blair Witch project, where a site was created to be deliberately ambiguous about the line between fiction and reality.

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If the shuffle was to hold several playlists, it would be a much more attractive device.

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Apple’s going for all the superlatives: bestseller, most coveted, and now … most questionable of them all, the IPod Shuffle. There are clearly some design concerns here - like who forgot the screen? And a microphone, though slightly niche, would bring it up to par with IRiver and other competitors. But, after all, it’s a shiny white […]

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Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby (polite applause Bruce Eckel) Looking forward to reading this online book. A little bit because Ruby is such a nice language, but mostly because the book looks so damn bizarre and contains abundant cartoons, all the while being really well presented. Is it possible not to appreciate a textbook that eases […]

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