Caffeinated Coder

I’m just relaxing after a long weekend of migrating our source control from VSS to SVN and upgrading our build server. It turned out to be a fairly sizable project due to all of our automated build scripts, so I’m glad it’s done.

So long VSS. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out!

1. Windows 7 Download Frustration – Ken Sipe provides a timely rant about MSDN download sites only working on an IE browser. I downloaded several things from MSDN this last week as I prepped a brand-spanking new build\source control server and managed to string together an impressive string of obscenities every up every time I had to switch browsers just to get the download to work. Special Message to Microsoft: Ignoring the realities of cross-browser compatibility on your corporate sites is inane and does not help promote your browser in any way!  On the contrary, it simply undermines my confidence in your ability to write decent, reliable software. Fix it before IE starts dragging otherwise decent software down with it as it continues to sink into the pit of browser failure.
2. Dvorak Keyboard: Is it Really Faster? – Jaredpar discusses the pros and cons of switching from the traditional QWERTY to the Dvorak keyboard. For several years I’ve heard urban legends about the QWERTY originally being designed to slow typists down because of the limitations of the mechanical type writer and read about programmers who claim to be faster and more accurate typists after making the switch. I even considered making ‘switching to Dvorak’ one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2009. However, after reading this post I am now inclined to postpone this move indefinitely. I’m just not sure I am willing to spend three frustrating months of lower productivity while I fumble around on the keyboard as my fingers relearn the keys. Even more importantly, I really don’t want to deal with the hassles involved in interacting with other people’s computers afterwards (i.e. pairing).
3. Limiting Code Comments Increases Productivity -  This is another post that I almost didn’t read because the topic has been done to death, however Jeffrey Palermo presents the argument beautifully and even includes before and after code samples to illustrate the point. I’m glad Jeff emphasized that nobody is suggesting that you will improve readability simply by ripping out existing comments. On the other hand, carefully naming and proper method composition always trumps comments. I can’t tell you how many stale comments have actually led me down an erroneous path because they no longer matched what the code actually did.

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