Hal Helms On Web Development - General

Adobe v. Apple Misses an Important Point

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:08:00 -0400

Well, the internet is roiling with accusations, conspiracy theories, cross-complaints -- you name it -- regarding Apple's much ballyhooed smackdown on Adobe's Flash. I found this comment to be particularly telling: "The iPad is an anti-technology device targeting consumers who are too lazy/stupid to use or want a keyboard or mouse or stylus. Why should a website focusing on tech-savvy people modify their code to play along with the silly-ass marketing scheme Apple plays making its airhead users _think_ they're some kind of pioneers?" Let's stipulate that Apple is not too fond of Adobe. Why? Who knows. And it was particularly cold-blooded of them to let Adobe develop their Flash-to-iPhone technology, dropping this bombshell only a few days before the release of CS5. Let's stipulate, in fact, that Apple is bristling with its own power -- and is using it with shocking disregard for what other members of the tech community think. But we techies miss an important point that Apple does not: computers are too damned hard for normal people to use. In the tradeoff between power and ease-of-use, techies will always choose power. Apple really does seem intent on making a computer "for the rest of us" -- and that means that power must/will be sacrificed to make the device(s) simple to use. And reliable. And having a decent battery life. Does Apple's decision to cut Flash off at the knees make sense? It depends on whose interests you're thinking of. Is it good for you and me who crave all the power we can get? No. But is it good for the vast numbers of people who just want a computer that works and are frustrated by the unintended side effects of power run amok? Reluctantly, I have to say yes.

What We Can All Learn From Ben Nadel

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:36:00 -0400

Most of you will be familiar with blogger extraordinaire Ben Nadel. Ben recently posted about a fundamental misunderstanding he had about jQuery event objects. There's something very important to be learned about how Ben approaches problems. [More]

Why You Should Ignore Google's Interview Questions

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:28:00 -0400

A recent article in "The Business Insider" here reveals some of the questions Google uses to interview applicants. Google's smart, right? So, we should emulate Google? [More]

I'd Rather Feel Right Than Be Right

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:29:00 -0400

Recently, I was reading a post about how Perl blew it (here-- and why it's lost its viability as a web language for new projects. Many of the comments were savage in their response. Yet, ask any non-Perl person and I think they'd agree that Perl no longer has the luster for writing web apps it once did. Given that, why the extreme reaction to what seems a fairly obvious point? [More]

Regression to the Mean...Spirited

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:44:00 -0400

Malcolm Gladwell is a fabulously successful journalist. He's written blockbuster books: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What The Dog Saw. I find them both interesting and entertaining. Gladwell delivers a product that provides value and he's reaped the appropriate rewards. A heartwarming tale of success, no? Not so fast, grasshopper... [More]

A Secret: Managing the "Exacting" Client, Refire

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:08:00 -0400

Yesterday, I inadvertently made public a draft of an unfinished post I was working on. You can read the first part of the post here. Today, we finish the story. [More]

No, THIS is the Right Way to do it

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:29:00 -0400

Al: Agile development rocks. Bob: No way. Agile sucks. while 1 == 1{ Al: Rocks Bob: Sucks } Poor Al. Poor Bob. Poor us. Now, this isn't a post about how wonderful Agile is or how bad it is. It's not really a post about Agile at all. [More]

Orthopraxy

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:42:00 -0400

Try googling "quote simplicity" and "quote complexity" and you'll find some wonderful thoughts from people like Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Christopher Alexander, and Charles Mingus on the virtues of simplicty and the perils of complexity. But it seems the way of things that they often start out simple and accrue complexity. [More]

Glad THAT's Over, But ...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:36:00 -0400

Well, I finished that monster prototype, with much credit to my coding partner, Maciej. I figured that over 11 days, I worked 165 hours. Whew! Yesterday, we gave the presentation to a large multi-national corporation. To my relief and gratification, they were very impressed. Which leaves me, now, with only one small problem... [More]

On Not Going to CFUnited This Year

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:18:00 -0400

On Saturday morning, I had to tell Liz Frederick, organizer of CFUnited that I would not be able to attend. I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones, but the decision was a simple, if not easy, one. [More]

The Fetish of Free

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:50:00 -0400

fetish: \�fe-tish 1a: a material object regarded with superstitious or extravagant trust or reverence. 1b: an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion I just finished reading Chris Anderson's book, Free: The History of a Radical Price. It's quite good. While listening to the book (it's available...for free...at audible.com), I couldn't shake the sense that, for many, "free" software has become a fetish, to the great harm of us all. [More]

Concluding an Experiment on Pair-Programming

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:08:00 -0400

Over the last eight days, my colleague, Maciej, and I conducted an experiment in pair-programming. The experiment was inspired by a terrific piece on pair-programming by a highly-respected Java guru, Elliott Rusty Harold. (You can find his article here.) I've done pair-programming in the past, but never rigorously and so wasn't sure whether my affinity for it was justified. Today we concluded the experiment and discussed what we thought of it. [More]

Dancing With the Devil: A First Meeting with a New Client

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:54:00 -0400

"We have a 3.00 at Maduro's with a new prospect for a big job," my partner told me recently. The word, "Maduro's" caught my attention: it's a cigar bar just minutes away from our office. I get to do a sales call while smoking cigars? Cool! [More]

Event-Driven Programming: Why?

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:09:00 -0400

Yesterday, we looked at some simple server code that is called by events generated on the client. We saw that the server returns an EVENT property in its response -- but that my example never uses it. Today, we're going to see how that is used -- and why I think EDP is a BigDeal(tm). [More]

Event-Driven Programming and Loosely Coupled Software

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:07:00 -0400

Recently on the CFOO Google group, someone commented on a statement I made regarding MVC for web apps. They were scandalized that I verbally rolled my eyes when Brian mentioned MVC frameworks. What? Hal Helms is dissing MVC? Well, yeah. [More]