Software Engineering

88 articles · all categories

8 articles from 2022 · show all

September 2022

If it works together, it lives together

Wherein I use LEGO to talk about organizing your code for ease of use

Why others' code is hard to navigate

Some people like to organize code in files and folders and neat categories. Others love search. When they work together, that's the challenge.

August 2022

Move your business logic into data

The quickest way to simplify a complex function with lots of logic is to turn it into data. A lesson from production

July 2022

You don't *have to* build it sloppy to go fast

My favorite mistake to make when I'm in a hurry is to think that I _have to_ build new features the sloppiest way possible. Find the quick fix and move on. But that's not true.

What makes a great software engineer?

In 2015 a group of researchers asked 59 experienced engineers at Microsoft "What makes a great software engineer?". Here's what they found.

May 2022

Writing software is like kicking a can

Writing software is a playful process of exploration and discovery. Like a game of kick the can on a Sunday walk.

The Italian foods theory of bad software design 🍝

Spaghetti code – unstructured Ravioli code – too structured Lasagna code – layered wrong Minestrone software – unclear domains

April 2022

Code Review Practices for Refactoring Changes

Do you review refactoring pull requests differently than you do others? An empirical study of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform, says that you do and finds 6 common criteria.