Monthly Archives: March 2009

New media same as the old when it comes to getting facts wrong

Posted on March 27, 2009 by patrick

Once again “new” media reporters on blogs has proven no better at getting facts right than “old” media reporters. Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch gets a cheap laugh at a proposal to “ban black cars” by the California Air Resources … Continue reading →

Posted in environment, political, random silliness, rants | Leave a comment

Cry me a river

Posted on March 26, 2009 by patrick

[Crossposted from my comments over on Fred Wilson's blog] Sorry Fred — “Financial McCarthyism” ? McCarthyism was tarring the innocent with innuendo to ruin the accused lives. What is happening now is anything but. AIG, Merrill Lynch, Bank Of America, … Continue reading →

Posted in political, rants | Leave a comment

Code Review #8: When to comment

Posted on March 16, 2009 by patrick

The last ? in a series of posts about commenting. See “the why”. See “not commenting is career threatening”. And the comment that started this off! This post should have really been the second one I wrote. The first post … Continue reading →

Posted in code review, management | 1 Comment

Why and when to wrap external library classes

Posted on March 16, 2009 by patrick

At some point, every developer starts using an external library. They then have to decide if that external library should be wrapped in their own custom interfaces and classes. If the external library would be pervasively imported in throughout the … Continue reading →

Posted in code review, hibernate, technical | Leave a comment

Interfaces vs. abstract classes

Posted on March 14, 2009 by patrick

Sigh … some people just don’t get it…. Interfaces rock! Below is my comment from stackoverflow.com, a question about how to handle the “interfaces v. abstract classes” interview question in an interview. First, the “only one super class” answer is … Continue reading →

Posted in code review, technical | Leave a comment

Third person in the room

Posted on March 14, 2009 by patrick

Passion is a wonderful thing. When someone is “wrong” about a subject that you care passionately about, it is natural to argue with them and try to “prove” to them that they are wrong. Don’t. Mentally step back. Look around. … Continue reading →

Posted in how to, management, marketing, political, starting a company | Leave a comment

Code Review #7 – Comment the “why” not the “what”

Posted on March 4, 2009 by patrick

[This post continues the response to Mike.] Clean “good” code is good but not enough. Code needs comments — but the right kind of comments. “What” comments are useless and the most quickly out-dated. An example of a what comment … Continue reading →

Posted in code review, management, technical | 6 Comments

Not commenting code is dangerous to your career

Posted on March 4, 2009 by patrick

There is this myth that code can be self-documenting and that comments are not necessary in good code. Michael recently comment on an earlier blog post advocating the idea of self-documenting code. “Self-documenting” code is a career-damaging concept, because: Your … Continue reading →

Posted in code review, management | 3 Comments

Grow your own rockstar

Posted on March 4, 2009 by patrick

I have interviewed hundreds of people, technical and otherwise. I have managed a few as well. Most interviewers do not realize that there is no “best” candidate on an absolute scale. The rockstar at Google may absolutely fail to fit … Continue reading →

Posted in career, management, starting a company | 2 Comments