Hi looks like you've been shadow banned as this comment was dead, and your previous comments look OK (nothing spammy) so not sure what happened there but thought I would let you know.
I would propose that when you create a library, you think of other programmers like web designers think of end users. In addition to simplicity of the API, efficiency of the code, and proper encapsulation, you think, "How can I prevent users of my library from making mistakes?"
It's not an accusation that the author of strftime didn't have this mindset. Rather, it's to say that we should be more mindful of studies on human behaviors against programming APIs.
The author of strftime had no idea it would be diddled with some crazy ISO C bullshit that will take up nearly every letter in the alphabet. Please, let us not drag the strftime author into this; that author provided a simple, mostly clean formatting mechanism with mostly mnemonic codes: save for a few gotchas to watch out for like %m versus %M.
You can spend time on homework in many ways: Getting your children to think about problems from different angles; Understanding where they struggle and should spend more time; Understanding where they are fine and let explore on their own; Learning how to set the appropriate guidelines to foster good study habits.
It is amazing how even two kids from the same parents can vary greatly in personality and how they learn. It takes time and energy to find the best way to nurture each child.
Oh yeah, and it feels good too. Remember that time when you spent hours explaining something to your kid and he suddenly got that "Eureka!" look? It's hard to quit that.
my family would often chide me for using "big words"...
The truth is, I was just trying to relate something I'd learned...
That sounds terrible. You are not allowed to be yourself around your family. It must've been especially tough for a kid.
However, keep in mind that communication goes both ways. If the way you speak and carry yourself bothers your audience, then you should change the way you speak around them.
As an immigrant, I have thought about this a lot. Changing the way I speak isn't necessarily, as Holden Caulfield calls it, "being a phony". I can speak a completely different language in order to relate my thoughts to different peoples. It's not a stretch to choose different english words to help my partner understand me.
I do! While the kids were watching TV, I was sitting next to them coding a personal project. As I was scrolling through documentation on the web, sometimes it was just easier to use the touch screen than to use the trackpad. I remember thinking to myself, "Whoa, I didn't think I'd use the touchscreen on this laptop".
If I had my quiet space with an actual keyboard and a mouse, I would not use the touch screen. But I no longer have that luxury and I found myself appreciating the touchscreen on my laptop.
Whatever estimates the nuclear power industry made in Germany, they're argued to be insufficient, so they're capping the upper liability limit for these companies. The government's own stress testing suggests there will be a shortfall that'll ultimately be picked up by taxpayers.
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-utilities-buy-ou...
How about the mess that long term storage in Germany is in ?
The salt mine Assen that they put some nuclear waste in is now flooded. Getting the nuclear waste back out will cost several billions. I don't think they will even do it.
So they risk contaminating ground water. That alone can be a cost of several billion.
And even if they do clean it up they are back to square zero in their quest for long term storage.
Truth is that no one really knows. Deep storage is one alternative, but 100.000 years is a long commitment. Breed reactors might reduce that to 1000 years, but it's still a commitment.
You're citing a self-interested source. That's a nuclear industry trade association. Sort of like asking the Tobacco Industry Association about the healthfulness of cigarettes.
The "without telling anyone else" part is potentially the problem.
Imagine you committed time and energy to build a decent system - not perfect, but most people are ok with. You feel a sense of ownership on this system. Then one day, a coworker of your tells your manager that he has built a new system in his off time. He also made a conscious decision not to discuss the effort with you. How would that make you feel?
Yeah. As I've gotten older I've cared less and less for "my code." If the new effort is demonstrably better than the existing system, then I'm happy. Who cares who wrote the old stuff, this is better.
The problem, of course, is that often the new system is not better, it's just newer. Sure, it may be simpler and easier to understand, but is that because it is an inherently better solution, or is that because it doesn't deal with all of the the real-world conditions that the productions system has grown to support over time?
Even then re-writing is often a good thing. You can re-approach the problem domain with all the insight you've gained building the old system.
Ideally there would be good enough tests of the old system that if the new system passes the same tests, then there's high confidence that it will perform correctly in production too. That way we get the benefit of being able to refactor or reimplement entire subsystems while still having almost the same assurance as the old system.
I would suspect that the new system doesn't handle the corner cases. Its easy to say "I can rewrite reddit in a couple weeks" but there are lots of details.
> I would want to know if the new system is going to make everyone's lives easier.
If it's a large system designed by a person on their own in a corner, without interaction, without feedback on features and usability? ... it's unlikely to and I would be rightly wary.
I have however seen existing systems that have pain points that everyone complains about but no-body has the time for fixing, until someone finally takes a few days out to experiment with something different, and sometimes the results are excellent. But IMHO that's not exactly a "rewrite".
It very much depends on who that person in the corner is. I've seen junior devs waste a lot of time doing this. However, I have seen one or two examples of a senior dev solving a real pain-point that wasn't getting fixed within the system, for one reason or another.
Right; for me the determining factors between the two cases are:
1) It is a known pain point, so the problem has been discussed. Probably a lot. The pain is the reason for the code, and if there's a new tool involved, that's additional not a main reason.
2) it's usually a technical task - for example something related to faster, more reliable deployments. This means that the requirements are already well-known by the engineer, and that it probably hasn't been addressed yet as it's hard to tie to a business benefit.
3) Experience of the engineer. Senior devs are more likely to chose a good target.
Yeah, I feel like going and redesigning parts of the system that are usually other peoples' area would result in some interpersonal problems at the least.
I'm sure the dev ops people will be happy I converted our automation from Chef to Puppet, you're welcome!
> I feel like going and redesigning parts of the system that are usually other peoples' area would result in some interpersonal problems
Assuming this is done during free time and you're presenting the solution in a respectful way, then that's their problem, not yours. If you perceive this is going to happen within your team then there is already something wrong. There isn't enough trust and cooperation in working towards a common goal. Every solution should be openly presentable and scrutinizable by every team member.
If you suggest an idea, completed or not, and someone is offended by that, it's not your fault. It is a consequence of your actions. And, I'd argue it's not your responsibility to care for others' feelings to such a degree.
Some people may disagree. I don't know how they can survive. They must feel they are constantly walking on eggshells, wondering how people will react to whatever they say.
http://china.caixin.com/2020-02-05/101511802.html