Morning Coffee 78

  • Ian Griffiths posts a much longer version of “Even though the runtime supports multiple languages, most programmers are only fluent in one.” (via Larkware)
  • I wrote yesterday that Pat Helland’s first post back was light on the tech talk. Luckily (for us) he takes the bus to work so he has plenty of time to write blog entries. Today’s post is his “personal opinion about how computers suck”. Money Quote: “We try too hard as an industry.  Frequently, we build big and expensive datacenters and deploy big and expensive computers. In many cases, comparable behavior can be achieved with a lot of crappy machines which cost less than the big expensive one.”
  • Steve Jones wrote that CRUD is CRAP. I agree 100%, but for additional reasons. Not only is it boooooring to write, it also delegates control outside of the service which I think is a mistake. Check out this post from Maarten Mullender who advised to do CRUD only when you can afford it.
  • MIT Media Lab has created Scratch “a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web” targeted at kids 8 and up. It’s a dynamic visual programming language that looks like Lego. Between Scratch, Boku and Phrogram I think my kids will have lots of fun learning to program like daddy does. (via GeekDad)
  • Halo 3 is coming September 25th! I foresee lots of people calling in sick that day. And the next. And the rest of the week, etc. etc. etc.