What part of software development do you wish was "fixed"?
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Let's say you had a genie in a bottle that could make your daily developer life slightly better. What would it be? I think about this a regularly and it's not necessarily things like "A better IDE" or "a faster computer". Often it's things like - A TODO list that thinks like I do - A means of managing source code reviews simply - A set of templates that actually work - Something that will scan my setup & tool/component versions and fix it all up (Python, for example, is a nightmare) - Something that will actually help solve those Nuget / .NET DLL reference issues - A way to emergency fix my code using my phone (hey - sometimes I break things properly and I'm not near a computer when the screaming starts) - Something that warns me when a package I'm including (pip, npm, Nuget) has an issue (security, use of a bad library, deprecated soon etc) without needing to do anything (I want a popup notification) I could go on, but I'd love to hear your wish lists.
cheers Chris Maunder
- Have all software devs magically realize their build scripts can be hard to read too and they shouldn't hack or overdo them without documentation - Have all build scripts magically be able to warn a dev when a link dies or a project vanishes (or back it up automatically) - Have libraries/programs magically all start being backwards compatible unless there's a very strong reason not to (e.g., security issues) - Have all software magically clearly indicate where every file it needs is, even if the author forgot to make a specific error message - Have hiring managers evaluate candidates on skill instead of bullet points - Prefer to train managers from inside rather than hiring them in - A cross platform C/C++ GUI library that can compete with Winforms on C# and is easy to set up - Have all software magically detect everything that it needs to make it work and spit out an easy to follow report (even for non-devs) saying exactly what you need to install and where so that anyone can set up their PC like that. Including things that the dev already had set up without noticing. - Have the industry be one that learns from itself rather than saying "this time is different, we're going to start over without the legacy cruft" and then smashing headfirst into the same mistakes solved years ago. - Have every interface that takes something that already exists and rearranges / presents it in a different form (e.g., OOP layer over procedural API) clearly indicate what the abstraction is and what problems it solves / makes easier in the old API
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I'd add Microsoft's Remote Desktop App (available for Android and iPhone). Not as good as logging in with a PC, but they did cleverly set it up so the phone screen functions like a laptop touchpad rather than trying to make touches pass through as clicks. It's much more usable than I expected.
:) I have the privilege/luxury of not having to support anything Windows. ;P
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Let's say you had a genie in a bottle that could make your daily developer life slightly better. What would it be? I think about this a regularly and it's not necessarily things like "A better IDE" or "a faster computer". Often it's things like - A TODO list that thinks like I do - A means of managing source code reviews simply - A set of templates that actually work - Something that will scan my setup & tool/component versions and fix it all up (Python, for example, is a nightmare) - Something that will actually help solve those Nuget / .NET DLL reference issues - A way to emergency fix my code using my phone (hey - sometimes I break things properly and I'm not near a computer when the screaming starts) - Something that warns me when a package I'm including (pip, npm, Nuget) has an issue (security, use of a bad library, deprecated soon etc) without needing to do anything (I want a popup notification) I could go on, but I'd love to hear your wish lists.
cheers Chris Maunder
Next big thing a holographic keyboard - fixes your emergency debug problem. Or Peter Hamiltons mind machine interface.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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- Have all software devs magically realize their build scripts can be hard to read too and they shouldn't hack or overdo them without documentation - Have all build scripts magically be able to warn a dev when a link dies or a project vanishes (or back it up automatically) - Have libraries/programs magically all start being backwards compatible unless there's a very strong reason not to (e.g., security issues) - Have all software magically clearly indicate where every file it needs is, even if the author forgot to make a specific error message - Have hiring managers evaluate candidates on skill instead of bullet points - Prefer to train managers from inside rather than hiring them in - A cross platform C/C++ GUI library that can compete with Winforms on C# and is easy to set up - Have all software magically detect everything that it needs to make it work and spit out an easy to follow report (even for non-devs) saying exactly what you need to install and where so that anyone can set up their PC like that. Including things that the dev already had set up without noticing. - Have the industry be one that learns from itself rather than saying "this time is different, we're going to start over without the legacy cruft" and then smashing headfirst into the same mistakes solved years ago. - Have every interface that takes something that already exists and rearranges / presents it in a different form (e.g., OOP layer over procedural API) clearly indicate what the abstraction is and what problems it solves / makes easier in the old API
I think we should just start with solving World Peace and then start looking at that list. It'll be easier...
cheers Chris Maunder
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I've been called a shim before, but not professionally. I've only ever understood it as 1. A slim chunk of material used to space two things or otherwise wedge them into position 2. A (usually dodgy) adapter or interface unit of some type 3. An anti-trans slur. I'm assuming #2 here? maybe between developers and the people at the company that sign the checks?
Real programmers use butterflies
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I think of them as being interfaces, kind of like that guy in "Office Space" whose sole job was to take specifications and hand them to the developers.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Let's say you had a genie in a bottle that could make your daily developer life slightly better. What would it be? I think about this a regularly and it's not necessarily things like "A better IDE" or "a faster computer". Often it's things like - A TODO list that thinks like I do - A means of managing source code reviews simply - A set of templates that actually work - Something that will scan my setup & tool/component versions and fix it all up (Python, for example, is a nightmare) - Something that will actually help solve those Nuget / .NET DLL reference issues - A way to emergency fix my code using my phone (hey - sometimes I break things properly and I'm not near a computer when the screaming starts) - Something that warns me when a package I'm including (pip, npm, Nuget) has an issue (security, use of a bad library, deprecated soon etc) without needing to do anything (I want a popup notification) I could go on, but I'd love to hear your wish lists.
cheers Chris Maunder
I'd wish that all my co-workers had exactly the same coding style as me. ;-)
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I think we should just start with solving World Peace and then start looking at that list. It'll be easier...
cheers Chris Maunder
Borders are obsolete; get rid of them. Problem solved.
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so many things. a final end to source dependency hell. a big undo button that lets me unhose my dev machine after I destroyed it. a shiny object I can distract clients with when I won't have the deliverable they want, when they want it. :-D
Real programmers use butterflies
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Let's say you had a genie in a bottle that could make your daily developer life slightly better. What would it be? I think about this a regularly and it's not necessarily things like "A better IDE" or "a faster computer". Often it's things like - A TODO list that thinks like I do - A means of managing source code reviews simply - A set of templates that actually work - Something that will scan my setup & tool/component versions and fix it all up (Python, for example, is a nightmare) - Something that will actually help solve those Nuget / .NET DLL reference issues - A way to emergency fix my code using my phone (hey - sometimes I break things properly and I'm not near a computer when the screaming starts) - Something that warns me when a package I'm including (pip, npm, Nuget) has an issue (security, use of a bad library, deprecated soon etc) without needing to do anything (I want a popup notification) I could go on, but I'd love to hear your wish lists.
cheers Chris Maunder
write once, run forever. beyond bug fixes and such, I would love platforms to stabilize to the point where if I write a solid working code base that it could withstand 40 years of running if needed without any weird hacks to keep them going. seems today software life span is measured in months before replacement/upgrade is necessary, maybe I should go back to embedded stuff
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so many things. a final end to source dependency hell. a big undo button that lets me unhose my dev machine after I destroyed it. a shiny object I can distract clients with when I won't have the deliverable they want, when they want it. :-D
Real programmers use butterflies
'source dependency hell' oh, that's what I call my life. Thank you for naming it. :)
Charlie Gilley <italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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I'm afraid that ship has sailed. The penultimate example:
Screen: "Press ANY Key to continue"
User: "I can't find the ANY key""The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Many years ago, my dad was responsible for coming up with his division's budget. We're talking late 60s here (at IBM no less). This was the most stressful part of his year, as every edit required the budget to be completely re-typed. After a couple of years of misery, he had an epiphany, "My company makes computers. What we're doing is stupid." So off he went, taught himself Algol (I think that's correct), and wrote "the budget program." Day 1 of release a guy calls him: him "your program doesn't work....." dad "What's it doing?" him "It's just blinking at me.." dad "Did you enter your name?" him "Yes" Dad ... thinking hard... "press return" him "hey! it's fixed." Unfortunately, newer more modern versions of "a user" have been released.
Charlie Gilley <italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Let's say you had a genie in a bottle that could make your daily developer life slightly better. What would it be? I think about this a regularly and it's not necessarily things like "A better IDE" or "a faster computer". Often it's things like - A TODO list that thinks like I do - A means of managing source code reviews simply - A set of templates that actually work - Something that will scan my setup & tool/component versions and fix it all up (Python, for example, is a nightmare) - Something that will actually help solve those Nuget / .NET DLL reference issues - A way to emergency fix my code using my phone (hey - sometimes I break things properly and I'm not near a computer when the screaming starts) - Something that warns me when a package I'm including (pip, npm, Nuget) has an issue (security, use of a bad library, deprecated soon etc) without needing to do anything (I want a popup notification) I could go on, but I'd love to hear your wish lists.
cheers Chris Maunder
I would like a way to defeat and disable McAfee's Adaptive Threat Protection, which our IT department force-installs on all of our PC's. Any process that writes a file that looks remotely executable gets scrutinized and routinely obstructed. Visual Studio compiles are broken when they generate manifests and insert them in executables. It takes multiple tries to get past the McAfee scanning interval. I have to do a lot of my installer development on our build servers (which don't run McAfee). I was working on an installer on my development box recently using Inno Setup. I compiled it and ran it under the debugger. The installer window appeared for a couple of seconds, and then disappeared. The Inno Setup IDE was gone as well. When I looked, the installer executable AND the source file were also missing. Essentially the executable that was being written along with every file opened by the process that was writing the executable were closed and deleted. Not placed in a quarantine folder where it could be recovered, but deleted.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Borders are obsolete; get rid of them. Problem solved.
Are you trying to start another of those HTML5/CSS pissing contests that turn into witless whining about obscure typography issues?
Software Zen:
delete this;