Monday, January 26, 2009

Geeky Stuff: Software Management 101 by RandsInRepose.com


It's late and I need to get to bed but I had to post this first, if only for my own information so I know where to find it later. It's an extraordinary blog post about software management and hits on just about every problem you are likely to run into as you move from being a software developer to being a software manager:

A Disclosure by Rands In Repose

If you are in software management, particularly if you are new to the game, you owe it to yourself to read this.

Enjoy,

-BT

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Song of the Day: The Smiths - There is a Light that never Goes Out

Why on earth did it take so long for this song to be a song of the day, I hear you ask?

Well, that's a good question. And I don't have a good answer.

Here's a tidbit from Wikipedia about this song:

Many of Morrissey's lyrics are borrowed from other sources. In particular, the title of this song has been a source of wonder. One credible suggestion has been that the title is a paraphrase of what Hugh Latimer said to Nicholas Ridley as they were about to be burned at the stake as heretics during the reign of "Bloody Mary," Queen Mary I of England:

"Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."

And without further ado, here's the song!



And here are the lyrics:

Take me out tonight
Where theres music and theres people
And theyre young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I havent got one
Anymore

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people and i
Want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh, please dont drop me home
Because its not my home, its their
Home, and Im welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh god, my chance has come at last
(but then a strange fear gripped me and i
Just couldnt ask)

Take me out tonight
Oh, take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I havent got one, da ...
Oh, I havent got one

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Oh, there is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out

-BT

Clockwork Orange Dictionary


I got about half way through "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess when I discovered this little gem:

A dictionary for Clockwork orange

I had figured out some of the strange made-up words used throughout the book by myself (based on context) but found the dictionary *really* useful, and interesting - most of the words are derived from Russian words, it turns out.

-BT

Song of the Day: Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)

This is a live version, so maybe (maybe??) this won't fall foul of copyright laws and get taken down by the music nazis. Look folks, music, writing and software should be free and distributed to all - it's as simple as that.

They did a nice job filming this, it resulted in a very intimate version of the song. Bonus round: lots of nice twiddly guitar bits!



Lyrics:

Come to decide that the things that I tried
Were in my life just to get high on
When I sit alone come get a little known
But I need more than myself this time

Step from the road to the sea to the sky
And I do believe it, we rely on
When I lay it on come get to play it on
All my life to sacrifice

Refrain:
Hey oh, listen what I say, oh
I got your hey oh, now listen what I say, oh

When will I know that I really can't go
To the well once more time to decide on
When it's killing me, when will I really see
All that I need to look inside

Come to believe that I better not leave
Before I get my chance to ride
When it's killing me, what do I really need
All that I need to look inside

Refrain:
Hey oh, listen what I say, oh
Come back and hey oh, look at what I say, oh

Stick:
The more I see, the less I know
The more I like to let it go
Hey oh, whoa

Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow
Privately divided by a world so undecided
And there's nowhere to go

In between the cover of another perfect wonder
And it's so white as snow
Running through a field where all my tracks will be concealed
And there's nowhere to go

When to descend to amend for a friend
All the channels that have broken down
Now you bring it up, I'm gonna ring it up
Just to hear you sing it out

Step from the road to the sea to the sky
And I do believe what we rely on
When I lay it on, come get to play it on
All my life to sacrifice

Refrain:
Hey oh, listen what I say, oh
I got your hey oh, listen what I say, oh

Stick:
The more I see, the less I know
The more I like to let it go
Hey oh, whoa

Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow
Privately divided by a world so undecided
And there's nowhere to go

In between the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow
Running through the field where all my tracks will be concealed
And there's nowhere to go

I said hey, hey yeah, oh yeah, tell my Lord now
Hey, hey yeah, oh yeah, tell my Lord now
Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow

Privately divided by a world so undecided
And there's nowhere to go
Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
Where it's so white as snow

Running through the field where all my tracks will be concealed
And there's nowhere to go
I said hey, oh yeah, oh yeah, tell my love now
Hey, hey yeah, oh yeah


Hope you enjoy it,

-BT

Friday, January 23, 2009

Very Strange Picture, Bush -> Obama



Just for amusement..! Click the picture to see it in all its glory...

-BT

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Geeky Stuff: Some Good (and free) Advice on Developing Software


Found this today and thought it was useful, it was written "a long time ago" by internet measures but still is very good and relevant if you develop software.

Enjoy!

-BT

(PS - Rob Pike is the guy in the foreground, Brian Kernighan is behind him)

Rob Pike on Complexity

Rule 1. You can't tell where a program is going to spend its time.
Bottlenecks occur in surprising places, so don't try to second guess and put in a speed hack until you've proven that's where the bottleneck is.

Rule 2. Measure. Don't tune for speed until you've measured, and even then don't unless one part of the code overwhelms the rest.

Rule 3. Fancy algorithms are slow when n is small, and n is usually small. Fancy algorithms have big constants. Until you know that n is frequently going to be big, don't get fancy. (Even if n does get big, use Rule 2 first.) For example, binary trees are always faster than splay trees for workaday problems.

Rule 4. Fancy algorithms are buggier than simple ones, and they're much harder to implement. Use simple algorithms as well as simple data structures.

The following data structures are a complete list for almost all practical programs:
array
linked list
hash table
binary tree

Of course, you must also be prepared to collect these into compound data structures. For instance, a symbol table might be implemented as a hash table containing linked lists of arrays of characters.

Rule 5. Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self­-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming. (See Brooks p. 102.)

Rule 6. There is no Rule 6.

From the essay "Notes on Programming in C, Feb 21 1989" by Rob Pike

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Song of the Day: Tears for Fears - Mad World

Re-made recently to great acclaim by Gary Jules, this is the original version, and I'm sorry, but I think the original is better than the cover! I played this all the way through on the old youtube, and at the end there was a little bonus... not sure if it was a fluke but it took me to another good one by T.F.F... "Everybody wants to rule the world"



Lyrics:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races <-- inspired rhyming!
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday <-- the saddest line?
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen <-- maybe this is sadder?
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me <-- no, this is sadder, boo hoo!
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me <-- by now you are thoroughly depressed

-BT

Song of the Day: Blondie Double Bill: Heart of Glass and Atomic

Two classic tunes from Blondie. The first takes me back to my schooldays and the second I heard more recently when I listened to the sound track from "Bend it like Beckham". Both have that instantly recognizable and tirelessly rhythmic Blondie drum-beat.

Blondie, Heart of Glass



Lyrics:

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind <-- oh..! I always wondered what she was saying!
Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Lost inside
Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside
We could've made it cruising, yeah

Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out I had a heart of glass [radio version]
Soon turned out as a pain in the ass [album version]
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind


Blondie, Atomic



Lyrics (nothing too profound here..!):

Uh huh make me tonight. <-- ooh err..!
Tonight make it right.
Uh huh make me tonight.
Tonight.
Tonight.
Oh uh huh make it magnificent.
Tonight.
Right.
Oh, your hair is beautiful.
Oh, tonight.
Atomic.
Tonight make it magnificent.
Tonight.
Make me tonight.
Your hair is beautiful.
Oh, tonight.
Atomic.
Atomic.
Oh.

Crap, I think I ruined that song for myself by printing out and reading the lyrics, I had never really paid much attention to them until now (luckily).

Oh well. Still like the melody.

-BT

Ricky Gervais meets Tony Hart


For the Brits who grew up watching Tony Hart on the telly - here is a somewhat-recent interview that had me in stitches. Tony Hart died this week, sadly.



-BT

Nice Robotic Arm Demo

Pretty cool...

From the link:

"Evan Reynolds, 19, got his hand and part of his arm ripped off in a car accident and has since been fitted with an i-LIMB, a robotic hand developed by an Apple/Star Wars fanboy. The i-Limb was developed by a Scottish company, Touch Bionics, and has won awards for its innovative technology. The total cost including the hand itself and the fitting is about £30,000. Time Magazine named the i-LIMB as one of the Top 50 inventions of 2008."

http://pogpog.com/v/guy-gets-arm-replaced-luke-skywalker-style/

-BT

Geeky Stuff: Brian Kernighan lecture notes and stuff


You can find some of Brian Kernighan's (co-inventor of the C programming language and lecturer at Princeton) lecture notes here:

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall08/cos109/

By looking at the URL you can probably figure out how to get some of his notes for other courses, I'll leave that as an "exercise for the reader"! The stuff that I have read so far from the above link (much of which is in PDF) was very interesting and well-explained and would probably be a real help to anyone who is looking to get their feet wet in the IT world.

Enjoy!

-BT

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A good read...

Some good reading for a Sunday over a cup or two of coffee. An interview with the somewhat-famous actor Bill Nighy in The Times:

Click to read

-BT