Basic needs of programmers

If anyone thinks that the most important thing for programmers is the ability to code - they're wrong. Even if it is a super interesting project that involves millions of users it will fail if programmers have no possibility to meet their basic needs. And I'd like to stress the word possibility.



How many of us, programmers, were sitting in front of a computer for hours without eating, drinking or going to the toilet? Do you remember this project that you had once, when you just have to finish in three day and one test is not passing or you want to make this query run even faster that it could? Or just refactor the code before pushing it so it shines more that it needs? And you were this hacking-freelancer that will do the best project ever! Yes - a freelancer working from home.

It works completely different in the office. You start working with a coffee, water, little chitchat with everyone. You see people going one after another to the toilet, eating snacks, walking around. And then on of them brings the news: there is no running water in the builiding! OMG!! Panic!! How are we gonna pee after first three coffees? We have to go home!! Everyone needs to pee in the exact same moment! Dear God!! I didn't drink anything but maybe I'll need to pee! I have to go home! There is no water running!! NO WATER!!

Forget about programming. This is not freelancing at home, this is working in the office. Even if you don't have to pee, you will leave just because the toilet is out of order. And there is always that argument of Maslow's pyramid.

BTW. I need to pee (excrete) and I'm the only one left in the office... shit...

Khan Academy subtitles

Thanks to sharing knowledge and open-community I discovered a very badly page ranked website called Khan Academy. Of course if I had followed TED more carefully I would have known about it before.

I mentioned open-community because it was Melodie, friend from Couch Surfing, who showed me the Academy. Moreover, we found it in a paperback Creative Commons magazine... just saying that I was there because of ECOOP 2011 (programming conference) makes me dizzy. Too much knowledge sharing! I will write a summary of ECOOP soon, but let me get back to Khan Academy now.

The Academy is simply a great place to learn. One teacher, good teacher, trying to explain the magic of math, physics, biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, astronomy, economics, banking and more in a very approachable... especially math. I realize that many people know about it, but I didn't so I'm still under its influence. By now I have gained around 130,000 energy points, and 67 badges! What a great way to make humans want to learn. Shame that I cannot share my rank using some kind of a widget.

As I finished a degree in computer science, I must say that the way this guy explains math is just awesome. Anyway... there are subtitles. Everything is subtitled in English, which is a base language for others. I translated first video to Polish! I was shocked when I saw that this is the first video translated to Polish on the Academy. Ever!

We Polish people need this Academy for our kids! It should be subtitled in Polish to terminate the stagnation of our education system! OK... I don't believe in that, but it can start something, can't it? Why didn't I have a teacher like that when I was in high-school? Or better, why the hell didn't my teachers know about it? It is already 5 years old!

I think I'll write a petition to students' governments of English Philology departments around Poland. Who knows, maybe together we can translate it in one term, cause by myself I'd need 46 years to finish...

Polacy, do roboty! :)

Post.first | Learning JavaScript will be rewarded

Having access to massive amount of information about programming and doing it on daily basis makes (some) programmers want to share what they do. Thanks to blogger that is very easy to achieve.

Lately there is more and more noise about JavaScript. I believe that few programmers involved in web development still think of that implementation of ECMAScript as a additional language to have. It always was a must, but now it counts more than ever.

With HTML5 on its way to conquer client-side machines (and our minds), together with CSS3 painting brush and JavaScript as a magic wand, I realized that my skills needs to be re-prioritized.

Ruby on Rails, I consider, is a good path to follow. Having knowledge of SQL it's also a great feature while doing server-side work. But what I do (as a web developer) cannot be separated into client/server-side. There is a difference to be noticed and understood, but the big picture should contain both sides dancing together.

So I searched. Not that I was not searching before, but the emphasis changed. Lately I came across an article on InfoQ about new Javascript Frameworks Targeting HTML5.

Having in mind the upcoming Google's Chrome App Store Jo seems to be a great framework for JavaScript development. I really encourage to give it a shot and read as new ideas can light up. This is not another JavaScript framework, but something with what you can build a cross-platform web/desktop application (from DB use to GUI) using JavaScript.

Fantastic work was also done on modernizr. I was shocked by the simplicity of a thought of Faruk Ates:

We don't ask what browser it is, we simply ask: do you support (e.g.) border-radius? Do you support HTML5 Video? Do you support Geolocation? And so forth.

It makes me smile so gently. I loved the effect of opening their homepage in many different browsers. Especially in one that is responsible for neurosis in our community.

The approach of Jacob Wright from Simpli5 is also something I like. Why should bandwidth be used if you can just update your software? I would like sites that would popping up to users saying - "Hey! Your softwate is 9 years old now! Update!".

If you are like me, that you know how to do some work with JavaScript and how to use popular frameworks but do not feel like saying "Yes, I know how to use JavaScript well! I mastered it!" I recommand the book recommanded by the author of Jo framework - JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford. This is the book that many should love for sentences like:

This book will not attempt to fully describe the language. Instead, it will focus on the good parts with occasional warnings to avoid the bad. (...) If you want to learn more about the bad parts and how to use them badly, consult any other JavaScript book.

In web programming the future is now as if someone stubs the time. Paying more attention to JavaScript can soon be rewarded.

Links:

• The roots of ECMAScript
• JavaScript from the source
• What is HTML5
• Google's Chrome Web Store
• Jo JavaScript App Framework
• Modernizr - browser capabilities detection
• Simpli5 - JavaScript framework for modern browsers
• JavaScript: The Good Parts