iPhone Tech Talk World Tour 2009, Hamburg

This Friday I attended the iPhone Tech Talk World Tour in Hamburg. Never having been to an Apple event before I carried some skepticism about the tech:hype ratio calibrated for the talks but in the end it was a rewarding day that proved long on information and short on hyperbole.

How High Quality Code is Like The Most Profound Science

Profound science isn’t merely useful, fundamental, accurate, or informative. Science that isn’t profound is still great and necessary, but profound science is a term I would reserve for science that has a high explanatory power with only a small number of postulates. Forceful examples include, say, Evolution, or Germ Theory. Such theories tend to be [...]

Tools of the Trade 2009

Mike Gunderloy posted his annual roundup of development tools, prompting Ruby Inside’s Peter Cooper to issue a call for field reports from the rest of the Rubyist operatives out there. Here’s my contribution to this reasonable meme.

Web Service API Design By Example

Developing for the web means, to a greater or lesser degree, being a productive citizen in a kingdom of online data exchange; and whether by formal design or organic, ad hoc growth, this means building an API.

Programming at Full Speed: Accelerating the Central Nervous System, Reducing Brain Resistance

I’m talking LoC, WPM, and eleventh hours. I’m ignoring productivity, management, and conscientiousness. Write code quicker when you need it now, and gallop through a backlog with habitual speed during downtimes.

Named Branches: Logic to the Word

Comments and self-documenting code are like brandy and cigars, the first illuminating your source (meaning both the gentleman’s soul and the source code into which he pours it), and the second imparting a blazing instance of clarity where you can taste the meaning.

Adherents debating the styles travel parallel roads in the direction of improving maintainability, [...]