Prime Directive for Software Development

A proposed prime directive for software development:
Never engage in speculative development

5 Business Lessons You Can Learn From The Hip-Hop Industry

Hip-Hop is everywhere. Like it or not, they are successful for a reason. This article give five short lessons you can learn from the Hip-Hop industry.

Invasion Of The Dynamic Language Weenies

Invasion Of The Dynamic Language Weenies is an analysis of a recent IEEE Computer article called Developers Shift to Dynamic Programming Languages by Linda Dailey Paulson.

Dynamic languages (DLs) such as Perl, Python and Ruby is all the rage these days. All the kids are using it and if you don't you are just not cool enough. This is off course not a good enough reason to use DLs for your application. Hacknot looks at the claims of productivity by DL proponents. Is there anything special in DLs that makes these claims true or is it just hype?

From experience, it seems like a lot of the productivity gain of a language comes down to the support provided by the standard libraries and the community, and less the language features themselves. It should also be clear that certain languages are more suited for specific problems.

I don't think we will have clear answers on the many issues between dynamic and statically typed languages anytime soon, but in the meantime we should encourage and promote good science and experimentation to better pin-point the advantages of a certain language over another.

Also check out the free Hacknot Book.

Paul Graham: Why to Not Not Start a Startup

Paul Graham has written a lot on start-ups recently. It is no surprise given his history as a successful internet entrepreneur and his more recent involvement with Y Combinator. His next installment is titled Why to Not Not Start a Startup.

Paul is on a crusade to convince young computer scientists and software engineers to start their own companies. The alternative is to go work for someone else, possibly in a cubicle farm. His basic argument is that students who have just completed their studies have little or no financial responsibility. They can therefore more easily afford to try to do their own thing before joining the rat race. There is off course many other pros and cons, so go read his work.

Young South Africans should be more entrepreneurial. Our country needs it badly. A major concern for entrepreneurs is still financing. We have less investors and those that are there are more risk averse and tougher on start-ups. One highlight is that the South African government is trying to promote start-ups and makes funding available. Lets hope it makes a difference.

I think if I read his work 6-8 years ago I would have been very tempted to go the start-up route. The question is actually what is stopping us, myself included, not to still do it?

Paul Graham: Microsoft is Dead

In Paul Graham's recent article Microsoft is Dead he explains why Microsoft is becoming irrelevant to start-ups. He argues that more and more start-ups are not even considering what Microsoft is doing and don't consider Microsoft as a possible partner/investor/buyer of their company.

I also imagine that many recent, especially Web 2.0, start-ups also don't use Microsoft 's development tools and platforms.

Also see his clarification Microsoft is Dead: The Cliffs Notes.

Wisdom vs. Intelligence

Paul Graham on Is it worth being wise?

Intelligent people is not always considered wise. Paul's article tries to explain why that may be.

Most intelligent people also has this insatiable thirst for knowledge. One are never happy with what you already know.

Joel on Customer Service

Joel Spolsky talks about customer service.

Founders at Work

Founders at Work - Stories of Startups' Early Days is a new book by Jessica Livingston. She is one of the partners Y Combinator, along with Paul Graham, Trevor Blackwell and Robert Morris. Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm that specialises in funding early startups. They have been behind ventures such as Reddit. Visit this wikipedia link for more information.


The book contains interviews with a number of famous IT related technology companies. The interviews with Joel Spolsky (also see Joel on Software) or FogCreek and Steve Wozniak of Apple fame is available online. The interviews are very interesting and the rest of the book looks just as good.

Memory and future thought go 'hand-in-hand'

Researchers has used imaging to pinpoints brain regions that 'see the future'. It seems that memory of past events and the ability to envision the future are related. It might therefore suggest that people who remember the past better, might be better at envisioning the future.

State-based and interaction-based unit tests

A blog entry about State-based vs. interaction-based unit testing at Simply Complex. Also follow the links in the Further Reading section.