Category: Technology | Tradesmanhelix Blog

Some Guiding Technology Principles

Two things hit me today as big lessons I’ve learned over the years. They apply to pretty much any technology-related activity be it programming, application architecture, etc. They are:

SQL Query

Any sufficiently advanced SQL query is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clark (?)

I just feel sorry for the poor sap who has to maintain this…oh wait, that’s me… 🙁

Voice Assistant Or High-Tech Game of Telephone?

You tell me…

Me: “Hey Siri! How much money is one million pennies?”

Siri: …

Siri: “Here’s what I found on the web for ‘How much money is one million pennies’”

Me: 😒

I mean yeah I probably should have been able to do this in my head…but so should Siri!

Can we just take a moment to talk about how awesome SSH is! I’m out in my garage where the wifi reception is horrible and coding on my dev server via SSH. Even at ~120kbps down and ~50kbps up, I’m still able to use vim and screen productively. This is incredible to me!

Having grown up with 28kbps dial-up internet at home, it’s just amazing to me when I see technology in 2020 that still works flawlessly under dial-up-like connection speeds.

“Top” Workplaces

XYZ Company Voted Top 100 Workplaces For ABC City In 2019!

Hmm…I worked there for 2+ years and it really wasn’t that great – what gives?!

Optimism And Software Development

Business and salespeople are optimists. Well, perhaps that’s painting with too broad a brush. Maybe it’s safer to say that, at the very least, their jobs require some degree of optimism regarding the raw probability of things like a sale closing or a business venture succeeding.

On the other hand, programming is an inherently realist (if not slightly pessimistic) endeavor. Well, maybe that’s painting with too broad a brush again and it’s safer to say that it should be a realist if not slightly pessimistic endeavor. (If you’re skeptical, just spend some time working on a behind-schedule software project and you’ll very quickly get in touch with your realist/pessimistic side.)

Windows 10 Updates

Windows 10 updates are a lot like US elections – often unpredictable, seemingly never-ending, and a great reason to get into heated debates and sling mud at each other.

Hold my Linux while I go make some popcorn… 🍿

Netflix

A lot of companies (Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers, etc.) are planning on launching their own streaming service within the next 12-18 months to compete with Netflix. My guess is execs at these companies looked at the profit margins Netflix was getting on content belong to their companies, started seeing dollar signs, and figured, “Hey – we can do this and make boat loads of money for ourselves!”

However, in arriving at the conclusion that they should launch their own streaming service in order to achieve massive profitability, I think these companies missed the point regarding what made Netflix so popular in the first place.

JavaScript

The great thing about JavaScript is it’ll let you do just about anything you want.
The bad thing about JavaScript is it’ll let you do just about anything you want.

Look Ma – no semicolons!

Star Wars Code Review

var luke_skywalker – Very good. The true name of the parent class came as quite the surprise. However, the way this variable is used right before garbage collection is pretty inconsistent with its use throughout the rest of the program. Please revisit.

var princess_leia – Change. Too hard to spell.

var HanSolo – Please remain consistent with CamelCase or snake_case. Feels like this variable is a bit of a rebel…

const EP7_THE_FORCE_AWAKENS – I think this one is a duplicate. How’s it different from EP4_A_NEW_HOPE (see line 1977)?