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1500 questions
241
votes
15 answers
Why was Tanenbaum wrong in the Tanenbaum-Torvalds debates?
I was recently assigned reading from the Tanenbaum-Torvalds debates in my OS class. In the debates, Tanenbaum makes some predictions:
Microkernels are the future
x86 will die out and RISC architectures will dominate the market
(5 years from then)…
Robz
- 1,653
240
votes
9 answers
Is it normal to spend as much, if not more, time writing tests than actual code?
I find tests a lot trickier and harder to write than the actual code they are testing. It's not unusual for me to spend more time writing the test than the code it is testing.
Is that normal or am I doing something wrong?
The questions “Is unit…
springloaded
- 2,153
239
votes
14 answers
How can a code editor effectively hint at code nesting level - without using indentation?
I've written an XML text editor that provides 2 view options for the same XML text, one indented (virtually), the other left-justified. The motivation for the left-justified view is to help users 'see' the whitespace characters they're using for…
pgfearo
- 944
237
votes
33 answers
Will high reputation in Stack Overflow help to get a good job?
In a post, Joel Spolsky mentioned that 5 digit Stack Overflow reputation can help you to earn a job paying $100k+. How much of that is real?
Would anyone like to share their success in getting a high paid job by virtue of their reputations on Stack…
Shamim Hafiz - MSFT
- 4,155
237
votes
17 answers
Torvalds' quote about good programmer
Accidentally I've stumbled upon the following quote by Linus Torvalds:
"Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about
data structures and their relationships."
I've thought about it for the last few days and I'm still…
beyeran
- 1,052
235
votes
25 answers
How do I prevent Scrum from turning great developers into average developers?
I found this also happened in my team although he may have exaggerated the situation a little bit.
Scrum is a way to take a below average or poor developer and turn them
into an average developer. It's also great at taking great developers
and…
Qiulang 邱朗
- 3,297
233
votes
31 answers
Why do ads for s/w engineers always say they "offer a fast-paced environment"?
Who wants to work in a fast-paced environment? Not me! I want a civilized environment where people have a sense of balance. Higher quality work gets done that way and work life isn't full of stress and anguish.
Chuck Stephanski
- 1,401
233
votes
15 answers
New developer can't keep up with branch merges
I am the new developer - this is my first programming position.
My issue is this: We use git - I cut a branch from our develop branch, then I start working on the minor task I've been assigned. It's very slow, because I'm inexperienced. By the time…
K--
- 2,539
230
votes
9 answers
Why do people hesitate to use Python 3?
Python 3 was released in December 2008. A lot of time has passed since then but still today many developers hesitate to use Python 3. Even popular frameworks like Django are not compatible with Python 3 yet but still rely on Python 2.
Sure, Python 3…
Ham Vocke
- 2,467
230
votes
19 answers
Why is naming a table's Primary Key column "Id" considered bad practice?
My t-sql teacher told us that naming our PK column "Id" is considered bad practice without any further explanations.
Why is naming a table PK column "Id" is considered bad practice?
229
votes
8 answers
When do you use float and when do you use double
Frequently, in my programming experience, I need to make a decision whether I should use float or double for my real numbers. Sometimes I go for float, sometimes I go for double, but really this feels more subjective. If I would be confronted to…
Jakub Zaverka
- 2,439
228
votes
6 answers
How much should I be using 'let' vs 'const' in ES6?
I've been writing a lot of ES6 code for io.js recently. There isn't much code in the wild to learn from, so I feel like I'm defining my own conventions as I go.
My question is about when to use const vs let.
I've been applying this rule: If…
callum
- 10,467
228
votes
8 answers
'import module' vs. 'from module import function'
I have always been using this method:
from sys import argv
and use argv with just argv. But there is a convention of using this:
import sys
and using the argv by sys.argv
The second method makes the code self documented and I (really) adhere to…
Santosh Kumar
- 2,351
227
votes
3 answers
Why doesn't HTTP have POST redirect?
HTTP redirects are done via HTTP codes 301, and 302 (maybe other codes also) and a header field known as "Location" which has the address of the new place to go. However, browsers always send a "GET" request to that URL.
However, many times you…
Saeed Neamati
- 18,318
227
votes
12 answers
Strategy for keeping secret info such as API keys out of source control?
I'm working on a website that will allow users to log in using OAuth credentials from the likes of Twitter, Google, etc. To do this, I have to register with these various providers and get a super-secret API key that I have to protect with pledges…
Ripped Off
- 3,757