What my site really needed
I found updating my site daunting until I started to see what it really needed and what it didn't.
Posts in coding
Developers do more than code
People who define the role of the developer as “someone who writes code” may be surprised to learn that developers do much more than write code. Those of us who have lived the role know otherwise. So ...
AI content, with a human face
A recent poll on LinkedIn from Alex Ewerlöf asked: “Would you read AI-generated posts and articles that are attached to a human name and picture?” The poll offered four choices: My first thought was: ...
Vibe coding made less terrifying, issue 18 of Beyond Writing Code
AI coding practices and reader poll questions about developer experiences with AI assistance.
Vibe coding made less terrifying
It's been a long time since I've felt I like I was hanging on every word of a book. I was so done reading about AI. Then I saw that IT Revolution was publishing a new book: Vibe Coding: Building Produ...
Developer's checklists
Posted just now about writer’s checklists – so let’s post about the developer’s checklists here too! As a developer, I maintained a checklist of troubleshooting tips. I would have conversations like t...
Interview with an AI
Another post about AI? I just made one earlier this afternooooon… But then Forrest Brazeal posted this, which got me thinking: If we treat AI like a junior developer, do we interview AI the way we int...
Exactly how much more productive?
I’ve seen a few posts on social media with questions like: Why are we still trying to figure out exactly how much more productive developers are with GitHub Copilot when it is so cheap? Who cares? Jus...
AI for developers
How AI changes what developers do, with emphasis on people and processes over technology.
Don't do this: my career path
Folks who are new to software development sometimes ask me about my career path. The first time I fielded this question, I told my story in a straightforward way. Hearing myself talk, though, I realiz...
Lessons from Uncle Sidney
Uncle Sidney was notorious. I think even he’d agree to that. He might indeed be someone’s uncle, but he isn’t my uncle or the uncle of anyone I know. He was the main instructor for one of the programm...
Projects one at a time
The discussion about developer productivity (see: here) led me to following Paulo André, who recently posted: The secret to productivity hiding in plain sight: The fastest way to complete two projects...
Bug hunting
I once had a colleague who (jokingly) left this comment on a code review, and not in reference to a specific line of code: “Missing semicolon.”
Don't tell me what API stands for
Let’s talk about what an API actually is. When I first learned about APIs, all I ever heard for a definition was what the letters stood for: Application Programming Interface. As if that told me anyth...
Cloud Resume Challenge
DevOps Enterprise Summit 2022 closed with a great talk from Forrest Brazeal. As a cloud architect, musician, writer, and cartoonist, he’s got an impressive resume of his own, but he also has a project...
Naming things, in spades
Naming things is hard. One of the hardest things in computer science, as the saying goes. I once spent a full day trying to find the perfect name. Does that seem excessive? Well, consider these factor...