Desafinado

I'm in a situation where I understand the importance of unit testing and how TDD works, but in practice I don't actually get to do it much. The technology I'm working in isn't really testable in this way. That being…

In other trades we often speak about experience in terms of 'mastering' a trade, but in software it's usually phrased in ambiguous corporate goals like '10x productivity'. If we set aside productivity and view software…

I'm at a bit of a crossroads these days. Meta is a repulsive company and I prefer not to share any data with them or engage with their products, but there is a whole slough of distant connections I'd permanently lose…

The general gist I keep reading throughout the industry these days is that estimating tasks with story points is no longer recommended. On one side of it taking the time to make the estimate is a waste of time because…

I logged into Instagram from a browser yesterday and for the first time they offered me a modal to 'Freshen up my feed' by following a bunch of suggested accounts. Fair enough, but the kicker was that this modal forced…

We've discovered GCompris for my five year old which is pretty good for now. But I'm curious where to go when he gets a little older. I've done some searching for free games and some of the options are ok but do seem a…

I'd like to take a lengthy break from the usual social media sites but one difficult aspect of this is that I don't have a reliable website blocker on my Android phone. I find it easy enough to block sites on my Linux…

If I wanted to pick up some books on design patterns which would be considered good purchases in 2025? Is the book by the Gang of Four still relevant? If not what else should we look at?

Subject says it all. What are you listening to?

Lately I'm starting to get a level of fatigue hearing about augmented coding, and on the reverse, those who write about actually effective methods of writing software. I can't go on Linkedin without being bombarded with…

Assuming that the deletion of our accounts isn't always feasible, what are the best tools and practices out there to limit data collection from big tech?

I'm thinking both information on being a tech lead and mentorship, but I'm more interested in mentorship specifically. I've already come across The Manager's Path by Fournier which is pretty good. Any other tips greatly…

So this is the scenario: I develop a SQL object which is being used by an application developer in an app I haven't seen before. The developer is a junior and it's clear that they have a poor understanding of the use…

This is a sure sign that the company either has no idea what it's doing, or has run out of ideas and it's only viable product is a monopoly on people's contact list. Seriously. Humanoid robots? Thoughts?

I came across a book titled Modern Java EE Design Patterns recently, and it got me thinking about what else is out there for the modern Java developer. Books that have come out relatively recently and represent where…

After browsing this forum for a few years, and over a decade in the industry watching young people chase money, I want to throw this out there for devs who are new to the industry: There is more to life than money, like…

I'd think KOSA would have financial implications to big tech, but a bill protecting kids seems like a no brainer to support by all parties. So what's their reason for opposing it?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Meta (Facebook) is able to attract some of our best and brightest software developers with exorbitantly high salaries. But due to no fault of their own the company hasn't…

I was reading a software book earlier tonight that used the phrase 'technical glass ceiling', and it reminded me of an important realization I've had about IT recently: a realization about what I'll call 'the…

I've been reading lots of material on the side of my day job lately. Clean Code, Martin Fowler's Refactoring, and other similar books. Titles that look at OOP and help you make sense of complicated programming patterns.…

I've heard there's no real need to introduce kids to a PC until they're six or so. Do people here agree with that? Setting aside the obvious of keeping them away from tablets and smartphones and most of the internet,…

I'm curious to get the perspectives of both current and former employees of Meta, or the perspective of someone you know who has worked there. Many years ago I would have envisioned that working for Facebook was quite…

My wife and I are moving toward this point with our kids and I'm wondering if there is a best in class product for keeping our kids locked down on the web and away from certain sites. We may run a computer with linux,…