My first article!
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I finally did it. I finally wrote something! After a discussion earlier this month, I was interested to see if I could provide anything of any use. After reading and criticizing a few articles, I thought I should try and put one together so at least I know the effort involved. So, here it is. Interfaces In Action[^] That was tougher than I actually expected and I'm not actually happy with the end result as much as I would have liked to have been. But now I understand how difficult it is to stay on topic, without knowing what your audience is thinking, and how difficult it is to come up with a practical example that is also small scale.
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I finally did it. I finally wrote something! After a discussion earlier this month, I was interested to see if I could provide anything of any use. After reading and criticizing a few articles, I thought I should try and put one together so at least I know the effort involved. So, here it is. Interfaces In Action[^] That was tougher than I actually expected and I'm not actually happy with the end result as much as I would have liked to have been. But now I understand how difficult it is to stay on topic, without knowing what your audience is thinking, and how difficult it is to come up with a practical example that is also small scale.
Well done, and interesting! Yeah, it's basic, but I learned something. My first (and only) article was crap, and justly deserves its proud place in Purgatory. But I'd been enjoying CP for some time and felt guilty about contributing nothing. I had a small task I wanted to automate at work to save the accountant - my boss and the VP - a few dozen hours each month translating figures from one system to another. Not being proficient in any modern language I selected VB as one that any fool can fumble through, plowed through a brute force implementation of my solution, and after presenting it to the boss decided to publish it. Thankfully, no one chose to lambast me for my awful article, and it has been properly laid to rest in peace all these years without even snoring. The boss loved my app, by the way, even though I discovered a basic flaw in it that I never bothered to fix. You're quite right - it is harder than it looks to write a proper article, though I've always found it easy to write technical material. Generally, an author has some idea about the audience, an estimated skill level, interest area, educational background, and such. Here, one has no idea who to target the article for, and what to expect of the response. We have the whole range here, raw tyro to old master, and one never can tell when a dumb article might draw the attention of a pro who will verbally decimate the project. Happily, the pros here are truly professional, and will restrain themselves from berating a beginner who is trying hard. Thanks... that was an excellent introduction to the uses for an Interface, and I had been wondering what all the noise was about. It's much clearer now. :-D
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
modified on Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:28 AM
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I finally did it. I finally wrote something! After a discussion earlier this month, I was interested to see if I could provide anything of any use. After reading and criticizing a few articles, I thought I should try and put one together so at least I know the effort involved. So, here it is. Interfaces In Action[^] That was tougher than I actually expected and I'm not actually happy with the end result as much as I would have liked to have been. But now I understand how difficult it is to stay on topic, without knowing what your audience is thinking, and how difficult it is to come up with a practical example that is also small scale.
Took a quick glance through it, and it looks like it is very nicely done. Good job. Perhaps add a simple project for beginners to download and check out. PJC
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Took a quick glance through it, and it looks like it is very nicely done. Good job. Perhaps add a simple project for beginners to download and check out. PJC
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer "Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon "Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
Ha! I knew I was missing something. That article submission is a process! I had uploaded the file, but neglected to insert the link. All is well now. And thank-you for the feedback, I appreciate it.