In this episode from October 2016: Why it matters how quickly you create new bugs; an extension for VS2015 for editing and previewing markdown; how to write great code that’s not brilliant; Brian Krebs hit with record setting DDOS; typography for user interfaces; and, F# for the rest of us.
Sharpen the Saw is a somewhat delayed repost of a semi-regular newsletter of information I publish for the professional development of software developers. While targeted primarily at developers working with the Microsoft technology stack, content will cover a wider range of topics.
To subscribe, send me an email and I’ll put you on the list. Membership is moderated.
Techniques
Always a way to improve the code you write every day.
Why Bug Injection Rates Matter
How do you avoid death marches, churning through iteration after iteration of bug fixes in order to close in on a release candidate? The answer doesn’t lie with an increased level of manual testing, nor does it require releasing a lower quality system.
By paying attention to the bug injection rate and improving the quality of development up front, the pace of release can be increased while simultaneously lowering risk.
Software and Updates
A new or upgraded tool can be a beautiful thing.
Markdown Editor
Markdown has quickly become one of the dominant formats for technical documentation, not least because of the popularity of Stack Overflow and associated sites in the Stack Exchange Network.
This extension from the Visual Studio Gallery extends Visual Studio 2015 with support for authoring Markdown files with live preview.
Being Professional
A great developer does more than just write great code.
How to De-Brilliant Your Code
Great code is no more complex than required, is easy to read and is maintainable. This doesn’t require turning your back on design patterns nor on necessary complexity, just a commitment to writing code in the best long-term interests of the system itself.
Staying Secure
Staying safe online and writing secure systems are both harder than we think.
KrebsOnSecurity Hit With Record DDoS
The website of noted security researcher and journalist Brian Krebs was hit by a record-setting DDOS attack that reached a sustained rate of 620Gb/s of traffic. This seems to have been retribution for some of his recent reporting.
Wildcard
Sometimes the answer is random.
Typography for User Interfaces
With so much of our user interfaces being composed of text, the choice of font and layout is critical. It was evident in 1984 that the designers behind the Macintosh user interface knew this to be true. It’s no accident that the design guides for all modern platforms (both desktop and mobile) treat typography as key.
Video of the Week
Take some time to feed your mind.
F# for the curly brace developer
There is much to learn from the F# programming language. This Codemotion video by Michael Newton is a gentle introduction to this fascinating language.
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