For quite a while I didn’t have any programming-related side projects. This was a bit of a problem when I was presented with new opportunities because, invariably, I would be asked about what kind of work I could show off. This was difficult – everything I work on at my day job is proprietary andContinue reading “You Probably Need a Project”
Tag Archives: software development
Rainfall Updates
Today Rainfall got a bit of an update – a really, profoundly basic blog. It’s as basic as it is because I built it myself with (at best) a hazy idea about the baseline kinds of functionality I wanted. It was a good lesson, for me, in just what the most basic thing that solvesContinue reading “Rainfall Updates”
Did It Rain?
The title of this post poses a question that I found strangely difficult to answer. Why would I even care about rainfall in the past, anyway? Well, if you look around the blog a bit, you probably see some photos of my bikes. Strange, for a programming blog, but there they are. The reason IContinue reading “Did It Rain?”
Expando Objects!
I recently had a need to use objects that had properties I could define or remove at runtime in C#. I’m embarrassed to admit that I actually didn’t know that such a thing existed, because I don’t usually use the language in that capacity. It generally doesn’t make sense to, either, because you lose aContinue reading “Expando Objects!”
Byte Tool
Let’s talk about developing your own tools. It’s hard to come up with an introduction to this because it’s such a pervasive thing in programming that it feels like talking about breathing. “Yeah, breathing is fun and important! You should try it yourself!” Well, whatever. Developing your own tools is fun and important! You shouldContinue reading “Byte Tool”
Bulk Adds and Entity Framework
You ever find yourself just wishing you could fire off three, four, maybe five thousand records all at once? Or even more than that? I bet you do. I found myself in this situation recently and usually I rely on Entity Framework to accomplish my data-related needs as I am firmly entrenched in the .NETContinue reading “Bulk Adds and Entity Framework”
Why Code Is Hard To Read
If you’ve been developing for any length of time, it’s likely that you’ve run across some variation on the phrase “Code isn’t for machines to run, it’s for humans to read.” Yet, we’re often also caught discussing how code is a mess, difficult to read, hard to maintain, etc… It seems that if it wasContinue reading “Why Code Is Hard To Read”
JavaScript Object Equality!
I started working on a little test utility to go along with the verbosely-named “Let’s Make Byte Buffers Easier” project. There will be a post about that soon, because it’s been an adventure and I think I’ve produced something that is at least moderately useful. I quickly realized that determining whether or not two thingsContinue reading “JavaScript Object Equality!”
Timer Thing, part 1
I think all of us, as developers, have written some kind of software that solves a unique personal problem. If you haven’t, you should. Sometimes the hardest part is finding a suitable problem of your own to solve. But even small problems can contain interesting design decisions. In that vein, I found my own suitableContinue reading “Timer Thing, part 1”
My Favorite Development Tool
I had a few requests for at least one article geared towards those just beginning to learn about development. I want to clarify: I don’t mean beginning computer science, I truly mean development. The distinction being one of “implement this boilerplate alongside some custom validation” and “implement operations on this red-black tree.” So this willContinue reading “My Favorite Development Tool”
Joe Writes Software 