I'd nearly forgotten how much work an article is
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Marc Clifton wrote:
You have such an interesting attitude. Why is that?
Because I have been around for 40 years. Oh yes I am jaded. I used to think like you but the reality is that they want you to crank out code.
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesJimmyRopes wrote:
Because I have been around for 40 years.
In the industry, or total years of life? I'm 51, been programming since I was 12. What I hear is a lot of bitterness. Yes, working in this industry has left me rather jaded, but there are definitely some gems that I have enjoyed, but people and jobs. Marc
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PJ Arends wrote:
guess posting a message in the lounge about it would be a good way to get it noticed
Don't even think about it. :suss:
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
JimmyRopes wrote:
Because I have been around for 40 years.
In the industry, or total years of life? I'm 51, been programming since I was 12. What I hear is a lot of bitterness. Yes, working in this industry has left me rather jaded, but there are definitely some gems that I have enjoyed, but people and jobs. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
In the industry, or total years of life?
In the industry.
Marc Clifton wrote:
What I hear is a lot of bitterness.
Yes it is reality hitting a former optimist in the face.
Marc Clifton wrote:
Yes, working in this industry has left me rather jaded, but there are definitely some gems that I have enjoyed
Me too but they are few and far between. For the most part people pay you to code what they want, period. What you think is, at best, just your opinion. Good luck with that!
The report of my death was an exaggeration - Mark Twain
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Published another one! Started life as an answer to a question in the forums, and it still took 5 days to get it right as an article, despite being mostly the same material with some additions - I admit that fighting the article submission wizard took a goodly chunk of that - but it's a relief to get it out. Is it just me, or is getting the words right a lot, lot harder than the code? Anyone else find that?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
Depends on the article. My latest two on SQL certainly took more time in writing the words than writing the queries. Together they took me about 100-150 hours to write. The one before that, A Look under the hood of the .NET Framework, took a lot longer. I wasn't familiar with the stuff I was writing about and actually getting the code right was harder than getting the words right. I would spend hours getting the code right and looking up each and every opcode on Google and MSDN and then simply write down what I had done for the last few hours. I also did that article in both VB and C#, which also took quite some time to get right (both languages had to compile to the same IL). And yes, a lot of time does go into fighting the submission wizard, unfortunately... :sigh:
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OriginalGriff wrote:
Is it just me, or is getting the words right a lot, lot harder than the code?
Absolutely, and what makes a person a professional developer (in my opinion, but it's also widely cited in the community) is the ability to put the code into words. So congrats! [rant]What really amazes me though is how little people give credit to that skill -- if you've never tried writing an article, you really have no basis for understanding. It's something I find amazing in how glossed over the article/book publishing skill is when interviewing at a company.[/rant] Marc
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Published another one! Started life as an answer to a question in the forums, and it still took 5 days to get it right as an article, despite being mostly the same material with some additions - I admit that fighting the article submission wizard took a goodly chunk of that - but it's a relief to get it out. Is it just me, or is getting the words right a lot, lot harder than the code? Anyone else find that?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
I am a .NET trainer, so I'm very precise about the words I use in article and the one that my trainee use. I'm used to that, and I was not before. (A C++ programmer, that, in C#, calls a "field" an "attribute" is a cardinal sin for me. The reverse is true.) Also, I use Windows live writer to write, and post-edit the article to make it works in the wizard. Writing article in the wizard in unproductive. If it is hard to put things into words, I tend to search for flaws in my own understanding. Everytimes I write an article it results in major refactoring of my project. Somehow, the human language catches flaws and semantic errors in my code better than the compiler. Writing seems harder because it catches different type of errors your machine can't detect. You don't have to write though. Just buy a rubber duck, works also for other purpose than debugging.
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I am a .NET trainer, so I'm very precise about the words I use in article and the one that my trainee use. I'm used to that, and I was not before. (A C++ programmer, that, in C#, calls a "field" an "attribute" is a cardinal sin for me. The reverse is true.) Also, I use Windows live writer to write, and post-edit the article to make it works in the wizard. Writing article in the wizard in unproductive. If it is hard to put things into words, I tend to search for flaws in my own understanding. Everytimes I write an article it results in major refactoring of my project. Somehow, the human language catches flaws and semantic errors in my code better than the compiler. Writing seems harder because it catches different type of errors your machine can't detect. You don't have to write though. Just buy a rubber duck, works also for other purpose than debugging.
I used to use one of my bosses as a rubber duck when I had a complex problem. Since he was about as technical as my cat it worked fine, for me. For him, I think it made him feel "involved"... ;)
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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Published another one! Started life as an answer to a question in the forums, and it still took 5 days to get it right as an article, despite being mostly the same material with some additions - I admit that fighting the article submission wizard took a goodly chunk of that - but it's a relief to get it out. Is it just me, or is getting the words right a lot, lot harder than the code? Anyone else find that?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
ALL THE TIME I answer questions on an almost daily basis on Lidnug (The LI UG I help run) , and time and time again I think to my self, gee that would make a great blog post, or a great CP Article or similar... but guess what... It never ends up getting written. My new years resolution this year was to start blogging properly again, at least once a month. I've already broken that resolution. at least however, it's not a 100 page book.... oh wait... I have another of those coming up sometime in the future too... Rats. Guess I'll have to invent that auto article writing code sooner than I thought then. Shawty :-)
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ALL THE TIME I answer questions on an almost daily basis on Lidnug (The LI UG I help run) , and time and time again I think to my self, gee that would make a great blog post, or a great CP Article or similar... but guess what... It never ends up getting written. My new years resolution this year was to start blogging properly again, at least once a month. I've already broken that resolution. at least however, it's not a 100 page book.... oh wait... I have another of those coming up sometime in the future too... Rats. Guess I'll have to invent that auto article writing code sooner than I thought then. Shawty :-)
Peter Shaw wrote:
Guess I'll have to invent that auto article writing code sooner than I thought then.
Well, I hope you're going to write and article on it! :laugh:
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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Published another one! Started life as an answer to a question in the forums, and it still took 5 days to get it right as an article, despite being mostly the same material with some additions - I admit that fighting the article submission wizard took a goodly chunk of that - but it's a relief to get it out. Is it just me, or is getting the words right a lot, lot harder than the code? Anyone else find that?
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
Explaining what you did is the hardest part, I sometimes write articles (for my employer) and they almost always end up taking me a full day worth of work, despite the fact that what I write about is something I already did for a customer.
CEO at: - Rafaga Systems - Para Facturas - Modern Components for the moment...
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Peter Shaw wrote:
Guess I'll have to invent that auto article writing code sooner than I thought then.
Well, I hope you're going to write and article on it! :laugh:
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
Yea I am.... just as soon as I finish writing that new web app I'm on with to get 48 Hours out of a 24 hour day :java::java::java::java::java: and yes... that is a signal that copious amounts of caffeine WILL be needed. :-D
