07 Oct 2004
On a whim tonight I decided to investigate Bloglines.
Background:
I read blogs in two locations, work and home. In a perfect world, I’d like the ability to synchronize my read lists between each site. It’s a heterogeneo
us environment with linux on one side and windows on the other.
By using bloglines i’ve been able to import my list of 70 or 80 odd blogs that I actively read. I normally use SharpReader for reading on my windows box b
ut decided to try out FeedDemon because of its integration with Bloglines.
I’m hoping that the Bloglines web interface will be a suitable replacement for liferea (my rss reader in Debian). When I get home, i’ll be able to fire u
p FeedDemon and only see posts that haven’t been read at all. It will take some getting used to but looks like it could be a pretty good solution.
On another note, I’ve been experimenting with Synergy on my
dual head system at home. Although I’ve got a hardware kvm to switch one of the two displays between a linux and windows machine, Synergy allows me to do
something similar in software over tcp/ip. It’s a slick solution where I can just move my mouse cursor off the screen and onto the second machines deskto
p. The best part is that you can cut&paste text between the two machines.
Pretty cool if you ask me.
05 Oct 2004
My copy of Ted’s Effective Enterprise Java arrived today and I’ve spent a few minutes browsing some of the tips.
I’m looking forward to both using it as a day-to-day reference and eventually reading it cover to cover. From what I’ve read it appears well written with
enough examples sprinkled in to keep things interesting. I would like to post my thoughts on an ongoing basis as I work my way through it.
I’ve also got J2EE without the EJB on to go, and Code Complete 2e waiting to be finished.
Looks like I’ve got some reading to do this winter. Long live Amazon.
02 Oct 2004
I read an interesting article by Dave Astels the other day titled “Why Your Code Sucks</a
”
In it, Dave discusses numerous (6) reasons why, to put it bluntly, your code may suck.
One interesting point that is brought up, and confirmed by Steve McConnell (whose Code Complete 2ed sits beside me half read), is that code should be convi
enent to read, not necessary convienent to write.
Often times its a struggle to convince developers, even myself included, to take the extra 5 minutes so ensure a degree of readability. We don’t necessary
want novels but readilibity leads to understanding and understanding leads to better decisions being made down the road. Failing to put 5 minutes in at an
early stage could create significant backlog further down the road. Time is valuable and having to ask someone else about their code is twice as costly.
It’s a good (short) read and I’d recommend it.