The biggest lesson of the information age is that all media is to be taken with a critical eye, and that no information is valuable until you also understand its source. (One reason for the success of blogs: the information and the source are intimately related, so you always know where you are.) (785 Words)

Having two otherwise equivalent ways to perform the same operation is bad user-interface design, and it's bad library interface design, because the existence of the synonyms actually adds to the cognitive load of the person trying to use the interface. (937 Words)

Having two otherwise equivalent ways to perform the same operation is bad user-interface design, and it's bad library interface design, because the existence of the synonyms actually adds to the cognitive load of the person trying to use the interface. (937 Words)

Ideally, I'd hire the great Python programmer and have them pair-program with a competent Java developer. The Java developer could provide expertise on concrete things like the minutiae of the Collections classes, and the probably-frequent-at-first "no, in Java you do it this way", moments. The Python nerd could chip in with "what about this...

Ideally, I'd hire the great Python programmer and have them pair-program with a competent Java developer. The Java developer could provide expertise on concrete things like the minutiae of the Collections classes, and the probably-frequent-at-first "no, in Java you do it this way", moments. The Python nerd could chip in with "what about this...

When an engineer says something is “non-trivial,” it’s the equivalent of an airline pilot calmly telling you that you might encounter “just a bit of turbulence” as he flies you into a cat 5 hurricane. (58 Words)

When an engineer says something is “non-trivial,” it’s the equivalent of an airline pilot calmly telling you that you might encounter “just a bit of turbulence” as he flies you into a cat 5 hurricane. (58 Words)

Since the boundaries of each age are defined by the participants, you will never truly convince someone else that your timeline for a forum's decline is right, and theirs is wrong. To them, you'll either be a jaded old fogey who can't see what fun everyone else is having, or you'll be a clueless newbie who has ruined the place, damnit. (490 Words)

Since the boundaries of each age are defined by the participants, you will never truly convince someone else that your timeline for a forum's decline is right, and theirs is wrong. To them, you'll either be a jaded old fogey who can't see what fun everyone else is having, or you'll be a clueless newbie who has ruined the place, damnit. (490 Words)

Why would starting a blog help Walmart? Well, the conventional blogging wisdom is that they'd be entering into a conversation. A conversation with whom? Well, the relatively small number of people who pay attention to blogs. (419 Words)

Why would starting a blog help Walmart? Well, the conventional blogging wisdom is that they'd be entering into a conversation. A conversation with whom? Well, the relatively small number of people who pay attention to blogs. (419 Words)

Once again proving that if you reduce a problem down to a series of nonsense metrics, you end up with a meaningless result. (608 Words)

Once again proving that if you reduce a problem down to a series of nonsense metrics, you end up with a meaningless result. (608 Words)

Maybe, if there's a Web 3.0, it's not going to be about giving you cool sites to put your stuff on, but about giving you the tools to build that cool stuff on top of your own persistent, personal space on the net. (407 Words)

Maybe, if there's a Web 3.0, it's not going to be about giving you cool sites to put your stuff on, but about giving you the tools to build that cool stuff on top of your own persistent, personal space on the net. (407 Words)