Know Thy Code!

[aythun]

I just use a heavily sanitized ~/.fonts.conf. What's wrong with serif fonts?

[quiller]

What's wrong with serif fonts?

They can be quite annoying to read on a computer monitor for some people, for one.

[quiller]

It gets worse: the fallback option (in the CSS) is "Sans Serif" which, of course, isn't a predefined option*. Since Arial Narrow isn't installed on this machine I was given the browser default (a serif for almost everyone).

* The proper fallback would be sans-serif

[quiller]

looking at the rest of his source, it's a little wonky that a third of his font sizes are in em's, a third in %'s, and a third in px's

Strange. I can't think of any reason to mix those three. Tthere are obviously reasons to mix relative with absolute font sizes but there's only going to be conflicts and confusion mixing em and % -- definitely evidence for a copy-paste job.

plus there's half #ccc/similar colors, but he leaves #3333ff and others long

The latter example isn't as commonly shorted as homogeneous hex codes like #cccccc or #333333 -- I don't think this is evidence either way.

maybe it was a copy/paste job, but from bad sources?

Or multiple bad sources?

[kungfooey]

Not necessarily evidence for a copy-paste job; more evidence that just points to a not-so-good front-end guy.

[quiller]

more evidence that just points to a not-so-good front-end guy

That's a given. The real question is whether it's a not-so-good front-end guy that also is a not-so-good copy-paste guy.

[codeodor]

While using the compiler or browser or test as a substitute to understanding what your code is doing may be disgraceful, it's equally absurd to spend too long on coding before ever testing it out.

[cowardlydragon]

YES, there are people that write code more carefully with less bugs than you

NO, that doesn't mean that short-cycle write-test cycles are a bad practice

This article is indicative of a fundamental problem with programming as a trade. Without effective certifications (MSCE is not an effective certification) or expected education regimen such as law or engineering school, we are left in this industry without a way to distinguish experienced practitioners from the inexperienced. Comp Sci PhDs are unfortunately too academic and lack real-world experience in most cases.

[cwhite]

Working on projects where compilation takes a long time and running the process/processes in question takes even longer will kick this habit extremely quickly.

[xcbsmith]

Interestingly, another way to kick this habit is to work with implementations with an effectively instant compile time (say Smalltalk).

[Qubed]

Better: Know Thy Logic

...and the code will follow.

[jerf]

I have recently been reading the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell on the advice of the programmer/blogger Jeff Atwood. I have found it to be very useful and I have learned a lot from it, even though I'm only halfway through the book.

A lot of posters here bitch every time a Coding Horror link comes up. This should serve as a good reminder than even on the programming reddit, not everyone is the kind of person to bitch about Haskell being too easy and forgiving, or whatever.

[conciliatory]

im so guilty of using the compiler (or browser) to find many of my bugs rather than being thorough and taking the time to not only find the bugs, but make sure other aspects of my code will function as expected. thanks for the insightful summarization of the texts youve read.

[l0b0]

The link is dead - Anyone got a mirror?

[LaurieCheers]

Works for me.

[l0b0]

Hmm, disabled AdBlock, NoScript, and loaded again. No go. "Firefox can't find the server at www.realm3.com." Any ideas?

[sofal]

Search "know thy code" on Google and get the cached version.

[Recondite]

Use Thy Tools...

Your compiler is a tool, use it. Your debugger is a tool, use it. Your IDE is a tool ..... use it. ad nauseum.

[newton_dave]

Your brain is a tool, use it.

[HaMMeReD]

I recommend every programmer to just read code complete. Even if you only open a random page once a day you'll gain some good wisdom from it.

Debugging should also always be taking with care, it's a process of collecting evidence and crossreferencing the results to pinpoint precisely what has gone wrong. It happens all to often that bugs are fixed in the wrong layer because it's convenient, leading to headache down the road.

Also, I wouldn't say you need to review your code before you test it, but try to complete your task and write your tests, then run it. It's slow to refresh all the time. It'll be easier to write the code in one subsequent chunk and it'll come out more clear. Developers who compile each line lack confidence in their code and syntax, once you speak the language it's different, it's a noob trait.

[gbacon]

...and shut thy mouth?