Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ugly mess

so if you visit my blog, please leave a comment. I like to know that people are reading and it helps me stay in touch with friends.


I feel pulled in a million directions right now. I wish life was a bit more simple sometimes. Even though I enjoy the complexity. I think one of the things that makes programming fun for me is that I spend my time sorting and straightening out twisted lines of logic. When I have done a good job, everything is left in good order, tidy and accessible. When I have done a bad job, things are so jumbled that the application starts to show unpredictable signs of instability. Basically the logic becomes disorganized and consequences start to build upon each other in unpredictable ways.

One of the holy grails of programming has been the concept of black boxes. This enables us to put a bunch of logic in a black box, and then use it as a chunk without having to worry about the details. Think of a kitchen appliance. You don't have to know how the electronics inside work, you just turn the kettle on and the water heats up, then it turns itself off and you pour the water out.


That's what I spend my day trying to do. Making a "kettle" that you don't have to wiggle the power cord and tape the lid down with duct tape and you don't have to hold it upside down to get the hot water out.

Click to use Google to search public code for:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, at least your job doesn't involve ROACHES!! BLECH! However, feel safe and secure that your computer knowledge far outweighs mine....so....keep up the good work on those pesky kettles.

A Naughty Mouse said...

I read your blog. I'm glad you like solving complicated problems. Now, I give you my life. Fix that, buddy!

Anonymous said...

Donde esta new blog??

A Naughty Mouse said...

Blog man, blog!

A Naughty Mouse said...

too busy with the new girl to blog???