hamletdrc2

Well, it is a big list, isn't it? I doubt that the author actually uses all of these tools. Consider that the list contains Cygwin plus a whole bunch of utilities that are native Cygwin applications (Gnu Tools, Tailers, Splitters, and more).

This list left me feeling that it needs to be proctored or maintained. I don't want a list of utilities that somebody tried once; I want a list of good utilities.

Is speed /really/ the reason people don't use Groovy?

If that were true, then I think JRuby be more popular. It is faster yet remains dynamic. There are various efforts to make Groovy fast, but the ones I have seen require you to turn off some of the metaprogramming capabilities.

Do you have any examples of hue multinational companies that allow programmers to insert Easter eggs? I can't think of a single business software vendor that has Easter eggs anymore. Even MS has stopped doing it.

I do all my work in big companies and they have all been universally against humorous test data, humorous naming conventions, or an sort of Easter egg.

Cite?

Am I misunderstanding this:

"7 of the 18 Android phones never ran a current version of the OS." "12 of 18 only ran a current version of the OS for a matter of weeks or less."

That makes 19 out of 18 phones. That looks like an error. I wonder what other errors there are here?

XCode is based on the same framework as the other IDEs, so you can expect excellent refactoring, static analysis, and "code rewriting" features. Also, the version control integration of the platform is top-notch, especially for git. I use IDEA to manage all of my local git repositories, and I only use the command line now for pushing remotes and git-log (I use IDEA for the rest because it is faster for me).

Disclaimer: I'm on the JetBrains "Academy" which means they sponsor some of my speaking and stuff.

There is only one chart that shows relative numbers, such as percentages. The rest just show absolute numbers. These would be much more interesting if they provided a year to year comparison. As they stand now, they just show the population has been increasing and not much else.

If you seek out English speaking peer groups, then yes learning German will be harder. Luckily(?) for me I am one of only two English speakers in my company, so none of my friends are English speakers. My wife, on the other hand, has an almost entirely Anglo peer group, making picking up German casually near impossible.

I moved to a German speaking country about a year ago. I'm not brilliant at languages, but I've made great progress and most people are surprised to find out how little German I spoke a year ago. Here are some of my tips:

1) Use Mnemosyne every day. It is computerized flash cards based on the SuperMemo algorithm. Do not skip days. At around 2000 words memorized (9 months) the 'switch flipped'. At 2000 words you can have conversations with about anyone. Business is still hard, but smalltalk easy.

2) Read trashy literature - People, In Touch, Celebrity Rags... these are all written so 10 years olds can read it. Newspapers use bigger words and don't have pictures. Reading about celebrities is a hassle, but it helps and it an appropriate level.

3) Got kids? Turn the Wii and Cartoons to the foreign language. This makes your play time also a learning process.

4) Do Not turn your computer to a foreign language. This will cripple your productivity. I am forced to work in German on a Windows box now and it is really awful and frustrating. Not recommended at all. Not one bit.

5) German Tuesday - Deutsche Dienstag - Every Tuesday was German Tuesday. Anyone caught speaking English to me had to pay a Franc into a Jar. If I spoke English then I paid. This make my German a fun game in the office. Plus we had Bier Freitag at the end of the week. I stole this idea from an outsourcing company I worked with where Tues and Thur were English only days.

UPDATE: For those learning German, the Mnemosyne flash cards on the website are mine. If you have any issues I am glad to update or help.

It's interesting to see such a mature and well-defined process for inclusion as on open source committer. I know the Apache Foundation has some definitions of the contributor levels but, as far as I know, not as defined a process as this one. Are there other OS Projects with such defined processes?

I have heard positive things said about RubyMine from JetBrains. However, it is not free and some complain of slow project parse times at startup. Disclaimer: I do have an off and on professional relationship with JetBrains.

I have found through experience that different cultures/markets require different qualifications. In the US you can create some practical experience (home projects) for yourself and usually find a lower-paying entry level position with a smaller company. After a few years experience you don't get asked about your lack of formal education anymore (this is what I did by the way, I have a Sociology undergrad).

In London, I found that people are much more interested in degrees and pedigree. Job interviews often started with education questions first, and I feel like I was considered less valuable because of the lack of CS background (that was my opinion at least).

In Switzerland, where I am now, the people I encounter place a very high value on training programs. Scrummaster training is more valuable than Scrum experience and programming certificates are important in a way I never expected. However, the Swiss have a very strong culture of apprenticeship and "Lehrling" programs, and both shops I have worked in have many more interns than I have seen elsewhere. And the interns are often in the last phase of their Masters degree!

This is all just experiential and not very quantitative. But my answer is it depends on where you live. If you agree to work for less than the next person then I think you have a very good chance of landing a programming job.

I go back to coffee for two reasons: 1. Invariably I hit a stretch of life that requires great effort and I just /need/ a cup of coffee (last year it was a week with 2 transatlantic flights followed by a conference presentation). 2. Iced Coffee in the Summer makes life worth living. It is a true joy of life, and I always tell myself "just this one time."

The biggest risk is that someone would lie to me during an interview, I would hire them on good faith, and would later find out that they have questionable ethics. Please don't lie in interviews, it's hard enough to find good people as it is.

I give up coffee every year for at least 40 days. It takes at least two weeks to start being as productive again, but after that cooling off period my productivity begins to rise. I have more energy in the evenings and sleep less.

+1 for the give up coffee advice.

My 40 days is in observance of the Christian Lent period. I'm not Christian, but the 40 day stretch is as good of period as any to make a change in your life, and I like that I observe the same rituals of many of those around me.

The numbering is based on the "Tip" Numbers from the Effective Java book. Each tip is numbered and indexed, and it is common to use the tips during code reviews.

These are good tips for any language, not just English. I would add, "find a free daily newspaper" in the target language. Even just reading the captions to pictures for 15 minutes a day helps a lot.

I had Simon draw a monster version of the mascot from my open source project for no other reason than it was fun. For $8 it seems like a bargain for a bit of a laugh.