6 rules for programmers

            To my daughters Tina and Marie who just completed their first course in Computer Science at Stanford University.

1. KIS. Keep It Simple. Even the most complex task can be broken into multiple simple ones. A good planning and design can save you a lot of trouble down the road.

2. Document. Document. Document. The good documentation (aka comments ) distinguishes the pro from the amateur. As a rule of thumb your comments have to be at least as long as your code. I’m talking about comments within the code. User manuals, system manuals etc. are extra.

3. Test. Test. Test. There is not such thing like a working software. Working software is a software that was not tested enough. This explains the multiple versions and revisions.

4. Do not reinvent the wheel. Use other people’s work. There is plenty of software already written and available. Plan accordingly and use as much of it as possible.

5. Get organized and stay organized. Approach the software writing with the heart of an artist and the brain of a scientist. keep track of updates. Keep your old code and versions. You may end up liking your first version best after rewriting it several times.

6. Double the estimates. Use your best knowledge to make a realistic estimate about the time needed for a project then multiply it by 2 before presenting it to your boss.

Cloud and financing

If you happen to eat at a restaurant in the Silicon Valley nowadays the most frequent words  that you will overhear from the tables around you are “cloud” and “financing”. With this being the case I’d be reluctant to finance an Internet cloud venture.

King “app”

Needed to shoot fast “burst” photo shots lately at a rate of about 30 per second. First inclination was to take my expensive Panasonic SLR camera that I bought for $1,500 not that long ago.  Bummer !  The damn thing can’t shoot more than 3 shots per second. Turned to the iPone apps without much of a hope knowing that iPhone is a modest device photography wise. I was wrong. A dozen of apps popped up and out of them 2-3 looked decent based on reviews. Picked the best looking one for $0.99 investment and guess what not only it worked but the developer was  quick to respond to my questions and even modified the app to meet my requirement for  milliseconds in the time stamp. I wish Panasonic had opened their device to apps. With so much better lenses and sensors it will thrive in an open for apps world.

Welcome to the new world ruled by apps. A light bulb company announced recently that they are making a new “apps enabled” light bulb. There are rumors that Tesla Motors will release an API for people to write apps for their car. It’s a new world indeed. We the people will take over the design of our surroundings the way we like it instead of handful of engineers and designers. Small flexible developer’s shops will customize things the way we want them. Imagine asking Toyota to restrict the speed and acceleration of your Lexus when your teenager son is driving it. Impossible today. Quite possible in the apps driven world. I’m excited! How about you?

Microsoft again

In the world of personal computers there are brands that are expensive and reliable and there are others that are cheap and unreliable. Microsoft occupies a special niche –  their products are expensive and unreliable.

Watches

My grand-, grand- father didn’t have a wristwatch. He would reach for his pocket to pull a pocket watch to tell the time. I do the same several generations and over hundred years later. I reach for my pocket to pull my iPhone to tell the time. It seems that we are moving on a spiral where old things repeat at a new level.
I wish I was the first one to notice that. It was observed and well described by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels in his work Dialectics of Nature (unfinished, 1883) among others. Another example is the attempts by medieval alchemists to turn lead into gold. They believed in it and tried hard to do it. Later on the scientists denounced it as absolutely ridiculous and impossible. However at even later date the nuclear scientists did transform elements, thus closing the spiral winding. Did you notice the spiral of the evolution in your personal life. Post a comment here to share…

Recommendation for losers

Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock of TomTom the navigation devices maker to sell on June, 28-th, 2012. I believe for the right reasons. However a large article was published about two months before that by Wired magazine discussing the problems with the industry at length and predicting that the stand alone navigation GPS devices are doomed and will be extinct soon. In this regard the Goldman Sachs downgrade is late at least two months. That’s why I call it recommendation for losers.

From fantasy to reality in 10 yeras

It sounded like a fantasy 10 years ago, that our home appliances will be all connected to the Internet. It is reality now. Computers, TVs, music, thermostats, light controls, pool pumps, door locks, irrigation controls and … get this Internet connected light bulb was just announced today.