I always use source control for my coding changes, however some of my commit messages leave something to be desired. I always try to write a commit message but I often think that the change themselves should be enough to indicate what I did. I also don’t need to include who made the change or the time and date and...
For historical reasons I use Microsoft Access as the front-end for all my line of business databases. Access allows you to create an ADP file that can connect to your SQL Server database. However Office has dropped support for this, so the last version of office that I can use is Office 2010. Before I start hating on...
Am I a good programmer or a bad programmer? Here are 7 signs that might mean you are more towards the bad end of the scale. 1: You fail to plan before you start coding I am very guilty of this, I love to jump into the code before thinking. But I am slowly starting to see the advantages of sketching a few things out...
I recently saw this blog post by Brent Ozar that I thought I might discuss. Brent listed 13 questions to ask about a database before you start working with it. I am going to go through these 13 questions and expand on them based on my experiences. Is this database in production now? I think it should go without saying...
To explore Strange New Worlds, well today the NASA spacecraft New Horizons has been doing just that. This is the most detailed photograph yet of the furthest planet we have ever explored, Pluto. New Horizons was launched on 19th January 2006. It has been travelling for 3463 days (9.5 years). In 2006 we were still...
Microsoft are releasing a new operating system on July 29th called Windows 10. If you have questions about Windows 10 watch this video by Scott Hansleman . He explains how to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10 and what to expect after you upgrade. My advice to everyone is that you backup your devices before you...
On my way home from the office I spotted this little chap. In my expert opinion it is a “bug”. This particular “bug” is harmlessly sitting outside, but have you ever wondered why computer problems are often named after this little chap (and his friends)? The first recorded bug report was in 1947 when Grace Hopper...
I have heard the term Agile Software Development quite a bit, but lets see if we can define it and see if I do any of the processes involved with it. The dictionary defines ‘Agile’ as mentally quick, or nimble, or quick in movement. In 2001 The Manifesto for Agile Software Development first introduced the term agile....
I was sent a link to a developer personality test earlier. The test aims to give you a look at your developer personality similar to the famous Myers-Briggs personality test. A shorter version of this test can be found here . Myers-Briggs tells you if you are Introvert (I) or Extrovert (E), Feeling (F) or Thinking (T),...
Last night I went to a Code Dojo at Leeds Sharp (the coding user group I have started going to). A Code Dojo is a programming challenge that people work on usually in pairs. The challenge that we worked on was to code a solution to the puzzle game Sudoku. The code we worked with can be found on github. I don’t know...