Earnest Engineer

This presents interesting parallels of the arts to programming. Without diminishing the challenge or beauty of either. The Big Mud Puddle: Tricky Programming Concepts Aren’t : What Teachers do Wrong. Teachers use subversive language. They say things like “this is a bit tricky” before introducing a concept. It’s in the explanation of the concepts where things fall down. It's tricky should serve as a warning to pay attention, but instead it just gives people an excuse to stop paying close attention. This article doesn't do that - you'll find some lucidly explained concepts, of programming things that have oft been described as tricky. They aren't. Just pay attention and practice.

I write a lot of console apps and command line scripts or programs. I have found a pattern usage that makes it easier and neater to create these. It's an application of the Template method (see Design Patterns, Gamma et al). I divulged this favorite in a recent reply on Stack Overflow - check it out here

I liked this particular description of what makes a good programmer because it describes things about me! Really, I thought the "Appetite for learning" means a great deal - new languages, techniques, points of view all mix into the stew of ideas you bring to bear on a problem. Furthermore I loved this comment: "Lazyness. The need to spend 10 hours so that a 1 hour job can be done in 10 minutes."