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Terrence Dorsey wrote: Could you (as a software developer) delete all of the code you wrote in a day and rewrite it in around an hour?
Depends, do I get to keep the comments? 
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I have lost a large part of a day’s code due to a power outage. I was so into what I was doing I hadn’t noticed the length of time since my last backup. When the power came back on, I was able to reproduce what I had done from the morning in short order. The time I had spent wasn’t simply banging out lines of code. There is generally a lot of problem solving involved in building the algorithm and testing the code to assure it works.
To me it’s a lot like a puzzle, some puzzles can take a long time to solve but once you know the answer, it’s easy and can be done quickly.
But then again, I have met some developers who are lazy, overpaid jerks... 
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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Quote: I have lost a large part of a day’s code due to a power outage.
That's why they say "Save early, save often." 
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Somedays obviously yes, especially when the day involves banging your head against a wall trying to solve a problem. Other days when your cranking out basic infrastructure or efactoring? No, not likely.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: cranking out basic infrastructure or efactoring
You factor?
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Although there would be similarities, it would be unsurprising if it came out differently the second time.
Most of the time I know what I want to do (the getting from here to there) - but one thing for sure with coding is that there are a very many yellow-brick-roads. The problem-solving time would not have to be redone.
Looking at code a day/week/month/... later, I often have a better idea on how to do something. Particularly after another jolt of Colombian Alkaloids are drained from my cup.
A full-blown Morning Person, anything I do after 1:00 PM is suspect, anyway.
Note to self: more backups more often.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Well for me there's coffee tea, Code Project, more coffee tea, lunch...
Windows 8 Metro Style App Developer
Silverlight Developer
http://farhanghumra.com
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6:30:00 a.m. Arrive at desk at work.
6:30:02 a.m. Shake mouse to wake up flat panels (they take forever to stabilize).
6:30:03 a.m. Get reading glasses and iPod out of gym bag.
6:30:06 a.m. Swap walking-around-glasses for reading glasses, cleaning reading glasses during the exchange.
6:30:35 a.m. Plug headphones into iPod.
6:30:38 a.m. Ctrl+Alt+Del to get dev machine's attention.
6:30:39 a.m. Blindly click through corporate warning dialog.
6:30:40 a.m. Enter password: <real_password><this_year's_punctuation_character><two_digit_month>
6:30:50 a.m. Yes, it does take about 10 seconds for the stupid thing to unlock.
6:30:51 a.m. Don headphones, and decided just how mellow we need to be to face what's next. Yanni it is.
6:31:12 a.m. Click on Lotus Notes in the task bar. With any luck, the only reason for the "YOU'VE GOT MAIL, BITCH!" icon in the tray is the Insider.
6:40:00 a.m. (Varies, depending on interest level in Insider) Start Visual Studio.
6:40:18 a.m. Wait for VS to load.
6:40:27 a.m. Drum fingers.
6:40:35 a.m. Now that VS is loaded, right-click on the solution and select 'Get latest version' to see what the elves have left for you, the cobbler, during the night.
6:43:57 a.m. Between songs, check to see if the 'get latest' has finished yet. Nope, continue on.
6:44:02 a.m. Ohmigod, we forgot to pour the coffee from the industrial thermos. Pour coffee.
6:45:13 a.m. Get latest has finally finished.
6:45:17 a.m. Contemplate thrashing the Visual Studio and SourceSafe teams.
6:45:23 a.m. Ctrl+Shift+B to rebuild solution. The project uses XML serialization, and the temporary assemblies used have to be recreated every time you start Visual Studio.
6:45:07 a.m. Rebuild finishes (not everything's slow around here).
6:45:19 a.m. Just as you start to work on Moron Feature 325, you remember it's Monday. Walk to lab.
6:45:51 a.m. Ctrl+Alt+Del, blindly click through corporate warning bullcrap, log in to department server.
6:46:21 a.m. Select weekly backup from Start menu.
6:46:23 a.m. Label two DVD-R's appropriately; insert first in drive.
6:46:31 a.m. Hit Enter to start the backup.
6:46:32 a.m. Return to desk.
6:46:51 a.m. Chug half of cup of coffee; refill from thermos.
6:47:19 a.m. Re-don headphones, switch iPod to Boney James, and start work on Moron Feature 325.
(a relatively long period of quiet coding ensues)
7:23:04 a.m. Remember to go back in the lab, and swap the second DVD-R into the drive for the weekly backup.
8:17:07 a.m. Coffee in cup is now cold. Chug it anyway. Refill from thermos.
8:19:23 a.m. Moron Feature 325 is completed. Oh crap, it needs help text. Tech Pubs was decimated in The Great Purge, so you're now your own help author. Fire up Madcap Flare.
8:21:02 a.m. Edit help text; Flare's pretty cool, for a help authoring widget.
8:30:01 a.m. Start build of normal user .CHM file in Flare.
8:34:48 a.m. Check normal user .CHM file into SourceSafe so it gets included in next build.
8:34:59 a.m. Start build of service user .CHM file in Flare.
8:40:17 a.m. Check service user .CHM file into SourceSafe.
8:40:19 a.m. Open status report spreadsheet, mark Moron Feature 325 as 100%.
8:40:38 a.m. Oh hurray, Lotus Notes has lit up the YGM,B icon again.
8:40:41 a.m. It's from the CLCA (Closed Loop Corrective Action) system. The bug list. Joy.
8:41:21 a.m. Service geek is complaining that a certain screen isn't updating while the machine is running. Said screen is only enabled for #DEBUG, so it's a bit of a mystery how said service geek is seeing said screen.
8:45:56 a.m. Further review shows that the aforementioned #DEBUG-only screen has been termined with extreme prejudice and replaced by The New Hotness (thanks, Will) in the new version. Update the CLCA item with this information.
8:53:32 a.m. Boss arrives in cube, wants to know status of Moron Feature 325. You claim it's done.
8:54:19 a.m. Boss tells you Moron Feature 325 has been replaced by 325A, which has major differences. 325A must be pushed back into maintenance branch as well, even though the maintenance branch doesn't include half the plumbing needed.
(period of mental instability, occasionally interrupted by sounds of glass breaking)
9:32:20 a.m. Wonder about the large damp spot on the cubicle walls.
10:31:17 a.m. Conversion of Moron Feature 325 into 325A in current version of product completed.
10:31:20 a.m. Ponder how to get 325A in to maintenance branch.
10:34:54 a.m. Still pondering. Remember that weekly backup is now done, go back to lab, store completed DVD's on spindle, and log out of department server.
10:35:07 a.m. Give server a reassuring pat to let it know it's still your favorite. Nobody likes a sulky server.
10:38:19 a.m. AHA! Plumbing required for Moron Feature 325A only requires changes to eight source files. A diff on the two sets between the current version and the maintenance branch reveals only minor differences.
10:39:02 a.m. Replace maintenance branch files with current branch files for the plumbing code. Fix minor differences (partial implementation of Moron Feature 332, which is in progress).
10:48:17 a.m. Gingerly, quietly, and with respect, port the 325A changes from the current version to the maintenance branch. Compile the maintenance branch and retest 325A. Everything works, except for the refresh button. Crap.
10:54:03 a.m. Refresh button doesn't work because a certain event isn't being triggered properly. This is a problem even in the current version. Fix the event in both versions.
11:02:01 a.m. Finish retesting maintenance branch. Update error message text for the three new messages someone added in the meantime. Start build of maintenance branch.
11:09:30 a.m. Update status spreadsheet for the New! Improved! Moron! Feature! 325A!.
11:11:11 a.m. Ponder Moron Feature 332, which seems awkward. Just as pondering gets into full swing, Drone 937 (one of your coworkers) shambles into your cube. Since they swing past the candy jar, it's not a social call.
(mutual insults, bad puns, and "whassup?"s ensue)
11:17:09 a.m. Drone 937 is responsible for implementing Dumb Idea 9224, which he wants to talk about. Damn. Less than 8 minutes until you leave to go run. Ask '937 if you can talk after lunch. After more mutual bad attitude and worse puns, he shambles out.
11:24:35 a.m. Leave for run a few seconds early, thereby avoiding the boss who has 'that gleam' in his eye.
(drag 50 year-old body through 5-7 mile run, cool-down, stretch, shower, etc.)
1:10:32 p.m. While eating lunch, boss arrives with the aforementioned gleam. 325A has now become 325G, plus a smattering of 328, 329 (parts D, E, and K), plus 333 in its entirety and OH MY GOD IT HAS TO BE DONE TODAY AND SHIPPED TO THE CUSTOMER OR WE'RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEEE!
1:17:02 p.m. Quietly finish lunch, enjoying the buzz of endorphins flowing in your brain from the run.
1:17:09 p.m. Do a quick check, and realize that Moron Features 328, 329 (all parts), and 333 are complete, except for one little bit which no one will notice. Start build of current product to do a real test.
1:30:43 p.m. Ding! The maintenance branch build is done. Since the current product build will take a little under an hour to finish, go ahead and install and test maintenance branch.
1:48:01 p.m. Maintenance branch passes Moron Feature 325A with flying colors. Oh crap! do they want 325G in the maintenance branch? Scurry down to boss's cube. Hurray! Maintenance branch only needs 325A. Heave theatrical sigh of relief.
(somnolent period of post-lunch carbohydrate crash)
2:30:41 p.m. Current version build is done. Start test of Moron Feature 325G. Damn, damn, damn! Nothing works. No hardware detection, it won't go online, f**k!
2:49:07 p.m. Sobs quietly.
3:14:49 p.m. Of all the stupid crap. Ran the current version test using the maintenance branch hardware emulator. No wonder nothing worked! Pounds head against cubicle wall, pissing off Drone 845.
3:16:02 p.m. Begin retest of current version, with proper hardware emulator. Success!
3:16:09 p.m. Update status report spreadsheet with completed 325A for maintenance branch and 325G for current version.
3:22:07 p.m. Quietly check home e-mail via web portal, to see if outside contract job has anything going.
3:29:50 p.m. 30 minutes until quitting time. What's worth doing?
3:30:18 p.m. Open solution for inhouse debugging tool, which has a couple of new features pending. This is what you do for fun, when the mainstream stuff slacks off (as if) or you need a break (always).
4:09:30 p.m. Realize it's past quitting time. Close debugging tool solution, make notes on progress on new features so that when you go back to it you remember where you were.
4:11:34 p.m. Windows-L. Go home.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Several development sandboxes have popped up online in the last year that are well worth your time to check out. Dev sandboxes allow for bug isolation, test driving new libraries, sharing programming problems, and saving solutions for later referral. These are the top four. Play all you want. You can't break anything.
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I think Microsoft developers are feeling a bit burnt right now. Let’s not forget that WP7 was a reboot, dropping Windows Mobile 6.5. To reboot once again in such a short space of time is not good news. And as for Silverlight being dropped in Windows 8, together with other plugins, only for MS to do an about face and announce that the plugin-free IE10 browser would support Flash – that’s not good news either! Microsoft is going to have to work hard to win the support of the development community.
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Sometimes I get so down in the weeds of database technology, I forget why I think databases are so fascinating to me, why I found them so important to begin with. ACID. Latency, bandwidth, durability, performance, scalability, Bits and bytes. Virtual this, cloud that. Blah blah blah. Who cares? I care. Dear lord I care. I care so much it hurts. Think of humanity and its collective mind expanding.
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VIM Clutch is a hardware pedal for improved text editing speed for users of the magnificent VIM text editor. When the pedal is pressed down, the pedal types "i" causing VIM to go into Insert Mode. When released, it types <esc> and you are back in Normal Mode. Well I'm not braggin' babe so don't put me down, but I've got the fastest little editor in town.
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Skepticism about these things doesn’t require knee-jerk Apple fandom. It simply requires an open set of eyeballs. The message I took away is that Microsoft has concluded that, ready or not, it needed to move now. There is no longer enough profit to be had selling software alone. The business model of expensive software on cheap hardware is not sustainable.
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Why do so many people see the fact that Microsoft is giving people a couple different options as such a bad thing? Then again, most of them seem to be Mac users, and they like Apple to decide for them...
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A 10" screen with a keyboard as the cover?
I think I have had one for 3 years.
It is a Netbook.
Oops. I forgot I have a hard drive in it. I suppose I should pay more for a "Surface" and not get a hard drive!
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Like nearly everyone else I’m excited by this. It’s the first real non-Apple innovation in the tablet space. Competition is good and this will hopefully spur Apple to fix some of the remaining parts of iOS that are lacking. That said, as many have noted, the devil is in the details. However reviews of Win8 have thus far been pretty mixed – primarily due to the dual nature of it being both Metro and Windows. Apple tends to do better in 2nd place. Can Microsoft learn that lesson, too?
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Microsoft has a history of abandoning its mobile users. It happened when the Windows Phone 7 transition occurred, with Windows Mobile users. How many times can a company abandon its users and still retain their loyalty? Microsoft may be about to find out. Third time's the charm?
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Hmmm. I fail to see that his arguments have much benefit in this case. As has been mentioned, the reason that owners of older handsets aren't getting WP8 is because it simply won't work on them because the technologies in it aren't compatible with older handsets. They haven't abandoned the platform though, because they are promising to bring what they can to the older phones, such as the new version of live tiles. The argument in his blog seems to be that MS shouldn't provide functionality that takes advantage of those features; and that would be game over for Microsoft in trying to offer a credible vision of an alternative SmartPhone platform.
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At first this might sound comical, but the ever-increasing power of our handhelds makes it a pretty legitimate option. It’s hard to come up with concrete uses off the top of our head, but we’re sure there’s value in being able to pull the phone out of your pocket and serve some content. This is a big hardware upgrade for Adam's webserver. The previous version was running from an Evalbot.
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Pocket Island is the result of an ambitious one year project here at Wooga with the original goal being to push HTML5 gaming into new territory and create one of one of the world’s most advanced HTML5 titles. One year later and it’s mission accomplished. Now, Wooga wants to see how the HTML5 community can use the lessons learned from Pocket Island and develop the technology forward to the point where it’s fit for mass market consumption. HTML5 is the future, but we’re not quite there, yet.
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Yesterday Microsoft held a surprise press conference in LA when they unveiled the Microsoft Surface Tablet, a product that they have successfully managed to keep under-wraps for a couple of years (I created on online poll, and of the 74 respondents, only 25 guessed correctly).
The new tablet comes in two flavours, both of which run Windows 8. The cheaper model, Surface RT, has an ARM processor and will only run newer Metro-style Windows 8 applications (Win8 has a rather strange split personality, it is almost two separate OSs in one), while the more expensive model, Surface Pro, is a bit bulkier and includes an Intel processor that will allow it to run both Metro and traditional desktop apps. Most significantly, the Surface Pro model will run all of your existing Windows software (Word, Excel, Visual Studio, PhotoShop, …)
So why has Microsoft made this bold move? It doesn’t have much of a reputation as a hardware manufacturer!
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Farhan Ghumra wrote:
So why has Microsoft made this bold move? It doesn’t have much of a reputation as a hardware manufacturer!
Because none of the existing pads uses Windows and the market grews will the laptop market wanes, I think. 
------------------------------
Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem
How do I take my coffee? Black as midnight on a moonless night.
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
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Farhan Ghumra wrote: So why has Microsoft made this bold move? It doesn’t have much of a reputation as a hardware manufacturer!
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XBox?
Their mice and keyboards are good too.
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Farhan Ghumra wrote: Yesterday Microsoft held a surprise press conference
Who was surprised?
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