Well, maybe not. But this article by Charles Petzold is a clearly-articulated discussion of some of the dangerous trends that most programmers aren’t even cognizant of. His discussion is centered around Microsoft, Visual Studio, and dotNET, being that that is his area of expertise. And while there are certain similar problems that also affect other environments, I think that because of Microsoft’s goals and the goals of their tools, I think that much of this discussion is truly mostly-relevant to those deeply entrenched in Microsoft’s OS and tool stack.

So I don’t think IntelliSense is helping us become better programmers. The real objective is for us to become faster programmers, which also means that it’s cheapening our labor.

I agree. And I completely share his sentiment at the end of his dissertation, which is exactly how I feel whenever I get a chance to work with some good, old-fashioned C++/KDE code:

It’s just me and the code, and for awhile, I feel like a real programmer again.

As I was going through the junk around our home, getting ready for the big move, I found some REALLY old 3.5″ floppy disks from 1996 and 1997. See, kids, back in the not-so-good old days, we elderly people used to take “pictures” with 35-millimeter cameras which had “film” in them. Then, we’d take that “film” out very carefully and take it to get “developed.” Optionally, in the year 1996, we used to be able to pay some extra amount of money and have a “floppy disk” returned with the “developed” pictures with a slide-show of these pictures.

I should have taken a picture of the disk itself. It was made to run in Windows 3.1, and was done by Konica. I’m shocked that it still was recognizable (i.e. not completely destroyed by the ravages of time) by our computer.

REALLY low-res, grainy, crappy, etc., but look how cute the kids are!!

I am absolutely blown away by how quickly my beautiful little kiddos have grown up.

Points to take from this:

- 1996 seems like an eternity ago.
- 2005 will seem like an eternity ago real soon now.
- Cherish EVERY second you have with your kids!
- Take lots of pictures!
- Have lots of fun with your family.
- And don’t throw anything away! Ever!! =:)


(psst! Posing for the camera was uploadd by: vanRijn).

I was listening to Dish Network’s “EuroStyle” channel the other day as I was working from my living room and I heard a new song by New Order, called Krafty. I was a bit surprised, as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a new New Order release. So I had to investigate. Investigate I did, and what I’ve found from their new Waiting for the Sirens’ Call CD is really, really good stuff.

I’ve always loved New Order, and as they’ve been around for the entirety of my music-listening life, I’ve liked them for a good long while. But the last album of theirs that I bought was Republic, which, as I see now, was 12 years ago. WOW! Dang I’m getting old! =:(

This new CD, though, is very good. I believe my favorites are:

• I Told You So — love the beginning, the bass, the driving beat, the smart lyrics, the old Gibson guitar reminiscent of older New Order songs.
• Morning Night and Day — sweet bass and guitar!! =:)
• Krafty — I love the lyrics for this song, and the music itself is quite good. Reminds me a bit of Regret from Republic.
• Guilt Is A Useless Emotion — very nice blending of Electronic, acoustic guitar, good vocal harmonics too.

All in all, I am very happy with the music. The band has never sounded better. In fact, I think this is definitely my favorite New Order release ever. I’m sure you’ll read all kinds of Joy Division nuts who insist that the best is far long gone, but I for one disagree.

If you like or have ever liked New Order, you definitely owe it to yourself to give this release a listen and purchase. Excellent job, guys.

A wise man once said, “Never take a knife to a gunfight.” I have made that mistake. You can here see my attempt to challenge my friend’s chat client manliness. I thought this funny enough to share. =:)

On the left, you can see the challenger, kopete, with its iChat style. And on the right, you can see Mike, using the real iChat, on a real Mac, laughing at me.

Dangit I want a Powerbook!


(psst! iChat Superiority was uploadd by: vanRijn).

It’s funny, but I completely missed this when watching the movie, Elektra before. My good friend Mike pointed it out to me and I had to comment on it. Apparently, Rite Aid managed to get some subliminal advertising into the Elektra movie!

Hey, cool!! =:)


(psst! elektra-riteaid-1 was uploadd by: vanRijn).

I came across this really nicely-explained list of things to keep in mind when designing user interfaces. I’ll copy the short list here, but you owe it to yourself to check it out in full….

Ten Usability Heuristics

by Jakob Nielsen

These are ten general principles for user interface design. They are called “heuristics” because they are more in the nature of rules of thumb than specific usability guidelines.

Visibility of system status

The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

Match between system and the real world

The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

User control and freedom

Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.

Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

Error prevention

Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

Recognition rather than recall

Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Help and documentation

Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

My favorite is “Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.” I came across this just the other day, in real life (i.e. not in front of a computer display). I was exiting a parking garage and instead of using the familiar “Exit” word, this particular parking garage used the word “Out”. Does it mean the same? Yeah, probably. But users of parking garages are looking for the familiar word “Exit”, not “Out”. Just something to keep in mind…. =:)

Also, this very nice page on color theory deserves review, especially by those whose job it is to maintain corporate websites. =;) *wink*

How, exactly, did I manage to miss this amazing-looking series from the recent past?

And how did I manage to be completely oblivious about this equally-amazing-looking movie?

Egads.

Now downloading the newly-released OpenSuSE 10.0 GoldMaster discs. Gonna do a clean install and see if I still have any problems. *fingers crossed*

Tomorrow, I have a most-of-the-day Bible Quiz event with the whole family (my two daughters will be quizzing and my wife and son will be helping officiate and I’ll be coaching my eldest).

If I have time tomorrow eve, I need to clean up the crappy cinderblock mess in my basement, hang new drywall over it, put the corner piece up, mud over that, wet-sand, mud, etc.

And then there’s the whole #12 thing. Hopefully going to finish that up on Monday, though it’s definitely not something that anyone should think about rushing through.

Right, and once I make it through those hurdles (well honestly, while I’m going through those hurdles), there’s still the ever-pressing other issues of life.

*sigh*

Stress level: 12 out of 10.

Oooh–almost forgot…. I went with K and Sarah and Amanda last night to a VERY cool concert at LCBC (Until My Heart Caves In Tour) where we enjoyed 3+ hours of Superchic[k], Sanctus Real, Audio Adrenaline, Kids in the Way, and Pillar. My hearing is still trying to come back to me. =:)

Also, my bro just had a new board come out!! Congrats Josh!! =:)

Oh–and I’m sick. =:/

Who needs to spend $20 to replace one’s messed-up cd/mp3-player -> tape adapter! Why, for just $3.99, you can get a new jack end in either solderless or solder varieties. Simple math tells you $3.99 is better than $20, now, doesn’t it?

BUT, what they don’t tell you is that you will spend 2 hours every other month, at least, re-soldering the wee beastie whenever your children decide that you don’t have enough to do in your life and manage to make it unfunctional.

But this time, I’ve outsmarted them!! Muahahahah. Oh yes, I have. This time, I’ve taken the wee beastie apart, re-soldered it (again), and now I’ve used some of my flourescent zip-ties to reinforce the cord to the body of the jack.

We shall see, little children. Oh yes, we shall see….


(psst! How flourescent zip-ties once again save the world was uploadd by: vanRijn).

I know, it’s old news, but this eWeek article was a refreshing read that I ran across today.

And let say it one more time: OpenDocument is an “open” format. Anyone, including Microsoft, can write to it.

Of course, Microsoft doesn’t want to. The Redmond, Wash., giant makes its billions from locking users into its way of doing things. OpenDocument frees users. If everyone started using OpenOffice for their office documents they could decide, for instance, that StarOffice 8 for, say, $50 is a better deal than Microsoft Office at $500.

I know, I know–it all sounds heretical and conspiracy-theory-ist to suggest that Microsoft might not be the best thing in the world, but come on and smell the 21st century!!