@RonJeffries@mastodon.social
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

RonJeffries

@RonJeffries@mastodon.social

XP guy. ronjeffries.com/articles/bio Old, programmer for more than six decades. Early XP learner / proponent. I try to be helpful, and funny. Sometimes succeed. If something I say troubles you, I probably meant to be amusing. Call me on it. I want to learn. Pronouns he/him go best with the beard. I'll try to honor yours, and am fallible.

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RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

Perfect?
https://indieweb.social/@brianleroux/112502134696637530

paulrickards, to retrocomputing
@paulrickards@mastodon.social avatar

maintenance today. My HP 7585B stopped responding over RS-232. Diagnostics revealed a problem with the interface card. Luckily I have a spare machine that can donate a new working card!

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@paulrickards nice!

gvwilson, to random
@gvwilson@mastodon.social avatar

Why is it "the dude abides" but "the dudes abide"? Wouldn't it make more sense if it was "the dude abide" (no 's' on either) and "the dudes abides" (both)? It makes no sense.

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@gvwilson
In those days, there was a shortage of s's.

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

What if the secret of a [reasonably] happy life includes a calm, peaceful acceptance that the world is as it is? What if it's not about holding back the tide, but gently and gracefully guiding what we encounter into a slightly better direction?

1/?

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

New m4 iPad / pencil pro will not accept settings for squeeze and double tap. Odd.

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@SergKoren
Interesting idea, but no change. Where did u get that idea for the new pencil?

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

It's Not AI
I know it's a sin, but I've been trying a chatbot in conjunction with programming. Here's a brief report.
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-y023/chatbot/

jamesshore, to random
@jamesshore@mastodon.online avatar

New blog: "A Software Engineering Career Ladder."

"What I’m really doing is changing the engineering culture at OpenSesame. Culture doesn’t change easily. It tends to snap back. True change involves changing hundreds of little day-to-day decisions. That’s hard, even when people want to make those changes, and full buy-in is hard to come by... This is where the new career ladder comes in."

https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/blog/2024/a-software-engineering-career-ladder

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@jamesshore
"Work Ethic" troubled me a bit. Might like to see Humility and Pdych Safety brought way forward.

Overall, not much to object to ... and yet ... concerned that by dissecting the animal, we may have killed it. But surely I am far too intuitive.

Finally, good stuff. Just don't believe it too strongly?

jamesshore, to random
@jamesshore@mastodon.online avatar

I'm happy to announce that my Testing Without Mocks training course has returned! This is an in-person course that's ideal for people in Europe. It's taking place in Budapest, just prior to the Craft Conference, on May 28th and 29th.

I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to deliver the course again, so if you're interested, this is a rare opportunity.

https://www.jamesshore.com/s/nullables-training?mastodon

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@davenicolette @jamesshore @jasongorman
IANJ, but if I said state-based test, I'd mean a test that did things and then interrogated the state of one or more objects to see if it was correct. If I said behavior-focused, I'd mean a test that checks whether some object[s] sent the messages I expected.

SergKoren, to random
@SergKoren@writing.exchange avatar

What one thing you have forgotten that you wish you still remembered?

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@SergKoren there was this one idea I had, but I've forgotten now ...

GeePawHill, to random
@GeePawHill@mastodon.social avatar

When you quote an older source (in a positive light), and that source uses the sexist language of its era, do you do anything about that, or do you just quote it literally?

Here's a literal quote:

"The expert must find his place within the social process; he can never be made a substitute for it. Technical experience must be made a part of all the available experience."

Would you maybe bracket "his" and "he" and replace them w/non-gendered language?

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@GeePawHill I would not. They said what they said.

RonJeffries, to random
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Thoughts on the State of Things
Recent conversations give me to think about the nature of things, and our roles in this system we live in.
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-y023/system/

marick, to random
@marick@mstdn.social avatar

A theory: the software craftsmanship movement failed because it unnecessarily mixed the idea of hands-on craft learning with an authoritarian, top-down, master/apprentice structure, way too much based on medieval guild systems.

In fact, peer-to-peer learning and slightly-advanced-teaching-less-advanced are the main ways of bringing up novices. (https://podcast.oddly-influenced.dev/episodes/legitimate-peripheral-participation)

Got off on the wrong foot. Never recovered.

Agile got off on the right foot, then fell on its face. I guess that’s better?

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@PragmaticAndy @johannarothman @marick
Hm, must think about that first premise. Not that it's untrue ... but I think Agile was and is to a large degree literally and properly counter-management.

Also i seriously doubt that management can change culture, in a positive way, other than quite rarely.

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@johannarothman @PragmaticAndy @marick

Yes, those management actions would impact culture positively. And, I'm sure we agree, would improve results. Yet it rarely happens. Orgs resist change strongly.

SergKoren, to programming
@SergKoren@writing.exchange avatar

My simple implementation of FORTH running on an iPad, thanks to Pythonista.

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@SergKoren
Nice! Have you published it somewhere?

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@SergKoren
I've been tempted to do it but haven't ... yet.

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

Simulation or Sermon?
We recover quickly from a mistake last night, and get a nice histogram. I'm surely reading too much into this little simulation. Or am I?
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-y023/python/-9k410/4/

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

So I stagger sleepily into the kitchen to make breakfast, and I break an egg open, and it's a double yolk! And I'm like ha ha, rolled an S rank egg. And then I break a second egg, and it's ALSO a double yolk. And I'm like ha… ha but I'm getting a little nervous. And then I break my THIRD egg and it's ALSO a double yolk and I'm just like what the fuck?? Triple double yolk???

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc
You should either buy a lottery ticket, or hide in a closet. No telling which.

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

Interesting article by @estherschindler
on the state of "Agile" today. I hesitate to even use the term, it has been so terribly devalued.
https://www.runtime.news/agile-software-promises-efficiency-it-requires-a-cultural-shift-to-get-right/

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

Does "Agile" not work for you? Try doing what we actually said.

For best results, try XP. You know, the one that includes actual development.

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@sldrant
I have not: not enough experience trying it. Have had some good zoom sessions, but only short ones.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Do you format your own work?

No.

I'm trad published by Big Five imprints or magazines/anthologies, all of whom have production workflow that handles editing and layout to comply with their house style.

I supply the raw text, in standard manuscript format, because that's what my editors read and it's the standardized input to the publishing pipeline.

(If you self-publish, the rules are entirely different. And if I ever self-publish, I'll switch accordingly.)

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@cstross
Do you still submit on paper to be typeset, or is a manuscript at least submitted in electronic form?

Sub-question: do they still use hot lead? 😀

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@cstross
Ah, yes, Scrivener. Amazing program. Pity not to be able to stay in it: I had similar issues.

I did know hot lead was out, but maybe it'll come back after the big EMP.

Keep writing, I'll keep reading!

thomasfuchs, (edited ) to random
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io avatar

Without looking it up, what do think the distance of the Earth from the Moon is? Use a “O” and a “o” character to show it to scale, e.g.

O o

(this is not the correct answer!)

[update: added reply with answer]

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@thomasfuchs

O-------------------------------o

RonJeffries, to random
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

Weird Advice
Wherein we consider some advice given to GeePaw Hill at a recent FGNO session.
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-y023/weird/

RonJeffries,
@RonJeffries@mastodon.social avatar

@itsjoshbruce
Sure, it's not long-term viable. The thing is to disconnect our mind from database and structuring preconceptions. What is our model, really? Some kind of long string with an arbitrary number of key-value pairs associated?

What database is good for that? Or is that even the right question?

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