Non-Programming | While I Compile

Nov 22, 2013 Posted by John MacIntyre

The hidden Obamacare website code.

I just saw this video of Congressman Joe Barton questioning Cheryl Campbell of CGI about the Obamacare website’s *hidden* code. http://youtu.be/N54gSI4Aft0 It really doesn’t bother me that the congressman doesn’t understand that he’s looking at a ‘comment’, not ‘code’. And it doesn’t bother me that he doesn’t understand that it was probably commented out because of the dynamic, incremental, nature of software development with decisions being made and unmade continuously on the fly. And it doesn’t bother me that he doesn’t understand this commented code doesn’t affect compliance since it’s not functional, not displayed, and completely ignored by the computer. I can almost guarantee how this played out; An overly defensive business analyst decided to add this in as a CYA tactic. The developer added it then somebody realized it was not to spec and told the programmer to remove it. The programmer commented it out instead of removing it because they’ve seen the flip flopping on functionality like this in the past (possibly multiple times in this project). The comments were never removed (are they ever?), and it was promoted to production. Then somebody with enough knowledge to be dangerous, but doesn’t know what they are looking at found it, and pushed it through the ranks until if finally wound up being questioned in a Congressional Hearing. What bothers me is that nobody was able to clear up this misunderstanding. There was nobody to step in and say, “Hey, this is a non-issue”. It’s a non-threat. I was a little disappointed that Cheryl Campbell didn’t chime in and say “Actually, Mr. Congressman, I understand your concern, but it’s not what it looks like”, then explained what it was. Ok, she obviously doesn’t have the skills to understand or explain it, but you would think the solution architect would’ve rode shotgun to clear up misunderstandings like this. I’m also embarrassed that programmers are still commenting dead code instead of removing it. It’s not 1990 anymore, the source control tools we have are awesome, so don’t be scared to delete anything which is no longer serving a purpose, it will live in your source repo history forever. Don’t be a hack. Once it is understood this commented out code is a non-functional historical artifact of an extremely dynamic process, it could also be asked “Why was this added in the first place?”. And that would be a valid question, to which I would answer, “It doesn’t matter since that functionality... read more

Oct 4, 2010 Posted by John MacIntyre

My reaction to being named as a Canadian programmer worth following on Twitter

Yesterday John Bristowe published a list of Developers in Canada You Should Follow on Twitter. I was humbled and honoured to make the list. … actually, I was a little more excited than that, here’s a dramatization …. Watch this video on YouTube … Thanks John … I’ve been dying to use this video in a blog post.... read more

Nov 14, 2009 Posted by John MacIntyre

Thoughts grow to tweets, then blogs, then they just die

I’ll often want to Tweet something, but feel the need to explain further in a second Tweet. But something in that will need explaining, so it occurs to me that I really need a blog post. But then I realize I should probably post this as 2 or more separate posts to isolate ideas and keep them self contained and just link between them. Then I realize I’ve got work to do, and drop it till I have time … … which never comes and my thought dies having never lived. *Even this one tweet expanded into a blog... read more

Nov 11, 2009 Posted by John MacIntyre

… so I can worry about curly braces

I just wanted to take this Remembrance Day opportunity to thank all the Canadian soldiers, past & present, living & dead, along with those of our allies, for your dedication & sacrifice. Thank you for fighting for our liberties so we can worry about the more important things like; litterbugs, dynamic vs. static programming languages, and the endless irrelevant debates about curly braces. This image taken by Andrew... read more

Jul 9, 2009 Posted by John MacIntyre

2 Rules for a Happy Client while Billing Hourly

Some of my projects are a fixed rate and some are hourly. If the scope of the project is small enough to accurately estimate, risks are minimal, and nailing down requirements is practical, I may propose a fixed price. Working on fixed price projects are a piece of cake, I go home, work on it, provide periodic updates via email, phone, or in person. When I finish it I install it and give them a CD with all the binaries, documentation, and source code. However, I’ve found working on an hourly rate to be a little different than doing all the above while just counting my hours. There is a lot of distrust with hourly professionals which is only compounded with a mysterious process like software development. After all how do they know you aren’t home watching soap operas, working on your own projects, the project of another client, or even sitting on the beach? How can they tell they aren’t being over charged? The problem with trust, is even if you are honest, a false perception can still destroy the relationship. I know this too well. Once in the late 1990s I was working from home, charging hourly, and I got a call from one of the newer partners of my biggest client (only client at that point). While talking I rebooted to clean out my system* and when the system came back up it played the 20th Century Fox theme, a configuration change I thought was very cool, and he said ‘Are you watching TV?’ I said ‘No. Why?’ … Seriously, I didn’t even making the connection. Two days later I was called in for an unscheduled meeting where my invoices were questioned, I heard a lot of “we’re not accusing your of inflating your hours…”, and the next day, feeling insulted and unappreciated, I resigned. I didn’t make the obvious connection until much later. It doesn’t matter that I was under charging both in terms of my rate and what I charged for, and would never inflate my hours! It doesn’t matter, because the perception was corrupted. It was a tragic misunderstanding since I loved working there and provided a competent, yet naively discounted service. That’s when I came up with rule # 1 1. Work at the client site when charging hourly. While following this rule gave my clients assurance that I was actually working, it still left them in the dark as to my... read more

May 11, 2009 Posted by John MacIntyre

AboutMe.xml

I have a pet peeve and like most pet peeves it’s an irrelevant petty little annoyance, not quite a huge, humanity, oppressing problem.

My pet peeve is filling out the same information; name, address, city, etc… on paper forms. All that standard information at every doctor’s office, school, activity registration form for my kids, etc… I mean why do I need to keep writing this stuff? And why does somebody else have to take the time to retype it into their system?

Really! In all seriousness … what a waste of time! 5 minutes I’ll never get back, every time I start a new relationship with any organization.

But wait … I have a vision! Not a big glorious, save humanity vision, it’s more of a save each person 5 minutes of writers cramp, kind of vision. Yes! That kind of glorious vision! …

Twitter users need a Valet Key for 3rd Party Tools

I’m noticing a lot of Twitter tools requiring the user to enter their Twitter user id and password to use the tool. These tools obviously need the users’ credentials to access the Twitter API and act on behalf of the user.

But am I the only one who is uncomfortable with this? I mean, isn’t the first rule of passwords not to give them out to anybody? Isn’t it?!?!?

Instead it’s become the acceptable practice to enter it into every app requesting it! Correct me if I’m wrong …..

Finding my voice

… I do enjoy blogging, and plan to continue. I’ve got a ton of great ideas and thoughts I want to share. But basically, I appear to be in the ‘Finding Your Voice’ phase. Over the next couple months, I may try a few different styles, and see which one is the most effective. By effective I mean; first and foremost delivering real value …