Joel on software programmers

The other hard course for many young cs students was the course where you learned functional programming, including recursive programming. Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories herb caudill. The joel test is great for software development shops and for programmers that are interested in quickly evaluating a companys software development environment, but what about a joel test for actual programmers. User interface design for programmers joel on software. The comments here, on digg, and on reddit nearly a thousand in total are filled with hastily coded solutions to fizzbuzz. Jan 11, 2017 joel spolsky is a software engineer, writer and entrepreneur. Jun 25, 2001 joel spolsky joel on software has a great writing style, and some keen insights into how user interfaces work or dont work. Mit set the bar very high for these courses, creating a required course 6. Architecture astronauts and duct tape programmers are fictional characters. I would argue that a software developer is pretty the same so he takes care of testing, software design, implementing and so on. The questions are roughly based on the joel test, joel spolskys 12 questions organizations can use to find areas they need to work on and programmers use to evaluate a potential employer. For new programmers, knowing which languages and skills to learn can be overwhelming. Hes also the name behind the joel on software blog, which consistently ranks top or top ten on software mustread lists. All programmers, all people who want to enhance their knowledge of programmers, and all who are trying to manage programmers will surely relate to joels musings.

This is not a particularly highlevel book, and is a very quick read 30 minutes or so but manages to pack in a lot of useful ideas, suggestions, and warnings, with copious illustrations the pictures alone are worth. What the hell is joel spolsky going on about his essay is an incoherent rambling of multiple and largely unrelated issues. And on diverse and occasionally related matters that will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to those. In 2000 i cofounded fog creek software, where we created lots. Joel spolsky, our cofounder at fog creek software, whos now the ceo of stack overflow, wrote a very influential post on interviewing candidates for his joel on software blog back in 2000. He weighs in on the triumph of javascript, the advent of webassembly, and. Joel holds a bachelors of science degree in computer science from yale. Joel spolsky is a software engineer, writer and entrepreneur. He is the kind of programmer who is hard at work building the future, and making useful things so that people can do stuff. Before college, he served in the israeli defense forces as a paratrooper, and he was one of the founders of kibbutz hanaton.

Mar 07, 2017 joel spolsky, our cofounder at fog creek software, whos now the ceo of stack overflow, wrote a very influential post on interviewing candidates for his joel on software blog back in 2000. Well, he does cite a study and refers to the book in which this study is described, peopleware. There is no real limit on the number of letters that unicode can define and in fact they have gone beyond 65,536 so not every unicode letter can really be squeezed into two bytes, but that was a myth anyway. He is the author of joel on software, a blog on software development, and the creator of the project management software trello. All entries should already have associated articles. Joel spolsky on how the developer role has changed. User interface design for programmers avram joel spolsky. A team that fails the joel test may still make good products, but chances are itll. Programmers, of course, saw the utility of trello right away. Xsplit for recording streams and overlaying images and videos vinesauce rom corruptor.

How accurate is joel spolskys assertion that programmers. I am passionate about people, i love scalability, great user experience, thoughtful security, and elegant design patterns. What do programmers care about joel spolsky, stack. For new programmers, knowing which languages and skills to learn can be. Joel described it as useful for anything where you. In 2000, joel spolsky published his own, highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of a software team. Oct 12, 2016 the problem is, programmers hate open floor plans. He later founded fog creek software in 2000 and launched the joel on. The joel test is just an informal baseline check to quickly judge whether a place has good working conditions for programmers. Joel holds a bachelors of science degree in computer science from yale university.

Jul 04, 2018 in this talk full of humor, joel spolsky captivates and entertains the audience by talking about how how he built and grew stack overflow, and more broadly on the software industry today. Someone once said that the task of a writer is to make the famil. The ceo of stack overflow, joel spolsky, laid out some of the reasons programmers prefer their own space in an interview at the geekwire. Feb 19, 2019 programmers, of course, saw the utility of trello right away. User interface design for programmers by joel spolsky. Stupid arrogant programmers redux bored bystander 15 embed the one youre with simon. And competent programmers love and understand elegant architecture, but also know when to go into duct tape mode on order to get the job done and ship the damn product. The absolute minimum every software developer absolutely. The three things i would tell people to learn are economics, writing and c programming. Its bad enough that javaschools fail to weed out the kids who are never going to be great programmers, which the schools could justifiably say is not their problem. Joel tears apart the tropes and renders his own creed for programming, managing, and successfully. Programmers, as an audience, were an extreme afterthought.

Here is a growing list of all the software and tools that joel has ever used on stream. Avram joel spolsky born 1965 is a software engineer and writer. First of all, there is no need for a software developer today to be steeped in the entire curriculum of a university cs e. Its an excellent way to read the site in the bath, or throw it at your boss. His web site joel on software is popular with software. Oct 06, 2016 joel spolsky needs no introduction in technology startup world. On the plus side we would be able to bargain for things like fair salaries, 40 hour weeks, and overtime payment.

Im joel spolsky, a software developer in new york city. Even if it scores a perfect 10, it can still be a hellhole that is going to go. He is the author of joel on software, a blog on software development, and the creator of the project. I cant help wondering if we are missing some basic rights that most workers take for granted. The ceo of stack overflow, joel spolsky, laid out some of the reasons programmers prefer their own space in an interview at the. Ceo, stack exchange network cofounder, stack overflow, fog creek software and trello. User interface design for programmers apress, 2001 and joel on software apress, 2004. The three skills every software developer should learn techrepublic. Its pretty clear to me that just because youre hiring the top 0. Benchmark yourself as a programmer with the simple. The joel test isnt about how good the software is, its about how effective the production process is. Ease of use for nonprogrammers was the only way to get on every desk and in every home and thus usability uber alles became the cultural norm.

The programming language would have been very frustrating for real programmers, because the graphical nature didnt really give you a way to implement loops or conditionals, but would not have really helped non programmers, who, i think, are just not used to thinking in algorithms and wouldnt have understood macroman in the first place. In this book, spolsky distills his technical knowledge, wit, and years of experience. Joel spolsky needs no introduction in technology startup world. Daniel shefer writes joel on software is a collection of essays from the joel spolskys joel on software web log. Joel on software and on diverse and occasionally related. Stupid arrogant programmers redux bored bystander 15. Programmers are, in their hearts, architects, and the first thing they want to do when they get to a site is to bulldoze the place flat and build something grand. Joel on software excerpt from things you should never. Evidently writing about the fizzbuzz problem on a programming blog results in a nighirresistible urge to code up a solution. This is joel on software, where ive been ranting about software development, management, business, and the. Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories herb caudill medium. Mar 25, 2010 i agree that joel totally threw the baby out with the bathwater in the ducttape programmer defense, but lets not disparage the state of software engineering. Its bad enough that javaschools fail to weed out the kids who are never going to be great programmers, which the schools could justifiably say is not their.

In this talk full of humor, joel spolsky captivates and entertains the audience by talking. I cant help wondering if we are missing some basic rights. I agree that joel totally threw the baby out with the bathwater in the ducttape programmer defense, but lets not disparage the state of software engineering. A team that fails the joel test may still make good products, but chances are itll take much longer and the workers will be miserable. Even if it scores a perfect 10, it can still be a hellhole that is going to go bankrupt six months down the road. With a software company, the first priority of management needs to be creating that abstraction for the programmers. He is the guy you want on your team building gocarts, because he has two favorite tools.

But in addition to this he is able of leading people even a small group of. The joel test for programmers the simple programmer test. Joel on software by joel spolsky nook book ebook barnes. There are only competent and incompetent programmers. He praises pragmatism, aka duct tape programming, by presenting a caricature of the opposite complex, buggy systems built on the latest fad. Why joel spolsky was wrong about duct tape programmers. Mar 16, 2015 12 most influential books every software engineer needs to read this is a question that i get a lot, especially from coworkers or friends that are just beginning their journey as a software craftsman.

And competent programmers love and understand elegant. In november 2011, the respondents of the rprogramming study put joel s list of questions to the empirical test. Many of these articles have been collected into four books, available at your favorite bookstore. Joel spolsky joel on software has a great writing style, and some keen insights into how user interfaces work or dont work.

Industry, or, at least, the recruiterswhousegrep, are surely clamoring for java to be taught. And on diverse and occasionally related matters that will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to those who, whether by good fortune or ill luck, work with them in some capacity by avram joel spolsky. His blog joel on software is an excellent collection of articles for programmers, managers, startups and ceos. A weblog by joel spolsky, a programmer working in new york city, about software and software companies. This is a list of programmers notable for their contributions to software, either as original author or architect, or for later additions. In this talk full of humor, joel spolsky captivates and entertains the audience by talking about how how he built and grew stack overflow, and more broadly on the software industry today. Its certainly much less disciplined than other forms of engineering, but thats simply a costbenefit tradeoff that seems reasonably close to optimal. Further thoughts on diverse and occasionally related matters that will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to those who, whether by good. Looking to hire smart programmers who get things done. The cultural schism is so sharp that unix has never really made any inroads on the desktop. This is not a particularly highlevel book, and is a very quick read.

Joel on software covers every conceivable aspect of software programmingfrom the best way to write code, to the best way to design an office in which to write code. Joel gives college advice for programmers slashdot. Siemens tia portal v11, v12, v, v14, v15, v16 programmers based in the uk. Computer programmers union for a thought experiment today i was wondering what it would be like if we had a union for computer programmers. And on diverse and occasionally related matters that will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to those who, whether by good fortune or ill. According to the book, this study was done at cornell in the 1960s, and involved two groups of computer science. Joel spolsky is a globally recognized expert on the software development process. Whats the difference between a developer, programmer, and. Joel recently posted an update questioning the commonly held belief that were only hiring the top 0. Part 2 of 5 this is an old, archived forum, no longer open for new posts. Joel on software android app is an attempt to help fellow community members to access these articles on their android phone, even when they do not have an internet connection. First of all, there is no need for a software developer today to be steeped in.