Programming insights to Storytelling, it's all here.
There is a story about a man who was walking around all day with his donkey. At mid day he was tired and decided to nap under a tree. Only, when he looked in his bag, he had forgotten the rope to tie the donkey to the tree. If he slept, he risked waking up to a missing donkey. A stranger passing-by saw his frustration. "Why don't you pretend to tie the donkey with an invisible rope?" the stranger said. "The donkey will not know the difference." So the man, who was too tired, followed the stranger's advice and fell asleep. To his surprise, when he woke up, the donkey was still there by the tree. He then decided to continue on his journey, but the donkey wouldn't move. Try as he may, the donkey just refused to move. So he went around the tree, untied the invisible rope, and the donkey finally followed.
I was working on a web app recently and I noticed that every time I clicked on a link, I couldn't tell if the next page was loading or not. On desktop browsers it was obvious enough with the browser queue, but not so much on mobile. So I decided to add a loading bar to let the user know.
If you count just the lines of code, CSS is probably the language I type the most in. Yet, it is also the language I share the least about on this website. So this is an attempt to fix that. I created a set of three state buttons that you can customize to your liking.
There is a moment in programming where you have to make the transition. From incompetent to competent, from worst to better, from junior to, well, less junior. Unfortunately there is no specific time when it occurs. For some it comes very early on, for others it comes very late. Some never even experience it. But the realization comes suddenly and often it is followed by shame. That moment is when you realize that you are the problem.
Only others can use the word "Smart" to describe you. They have to do it with their own will, in their own time. You can't force it. The smarter you feel, the more you want to use it. As you perform great deeds, the closer it comes to your lips. But you know you can't use it, because the more you want to say it, the less it describes you. And when you say it, you are no longer smart.
A few years ago, a meeting was held about an issue the QA team was facing. The JIRA work-flow had become too overwhelming. It was tedious to create the hundreds of sub-tasks that sometimes accompanied each feature development. The summer was approaching, so the decision was made to use the resources from the summer internship programs to snatch one of those under graduate and have him build a new system, independent of jira, to solve the problem.
Developers use the word crud to describe a very simple project. For example, Stackoverflow is just a crud, I can build it over the weekend. Facebook is just a crud, I can build it over the weekend. Even Snapchat is just a crud, I can build it over the weekend. In a sense, it is true. But as the project grows in importance, so does its complexity.
What happens when you can't work anymore? If you work at a company and your department is crippled because you were sick, it is a sign of bad management on their part.
The more I focus on one project, the more I find it appealing to start this cool new thing in the back in my head. The further I get into the technical details of this difficult task I am working on, the easier the other idea in the back of my mind seems.
I'm not one to make resolutions every new year, but I often find myself asking others about their new goals for the year. Every year, I send wishes for fortune, success, or just a better life without putting much weight behind it. It is a courtesy or just the standard holiday greeting. But if there is one thing I want to wish to others and myself and actually mean it, it will be to make this year a year of personal responsibility.
