Roundup: effective pairing, technology addiction, Ken Thompson, the first program, and burn parties
Aug. 24, 2018
How to pair program effectively - Elena T
https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2018/02/06/how-to-pair-program-effectively-in-6-steps/
Some good suggestions on how to get comfortable coding together with a pair.
Technology addiction - Lawrence R
https://medium.com/s/story/how-do-we-stop-technology-addiction-c0c081b8c970
A short article detailing what elements and concepts make up technology addiction (e.g variable rewards, vanity metrics etc) and charting some of the causes from software, hardware and human behaviours. I got distracted and checked other things about 5 times whilst trying to read this.
Why you shouldn't trust Ken Thompson - Elena T
https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/breakfast-bytes/posts/why-you-shouldn-t-trust-ken-thompson
Interesting article about the absolutely sneaky path of introducing the "Ken Thompson Hack".
What Did Ada Lovelace's Program Actually Do? - Elena T
https://twobithistory.org/2018/08/18/ada-lovelace-note-g.html
I'm a big fan of this blog, after reading about Where Vim came from. This time it takes you on a trip through time to explain how "the first program ever written" works.
Burn parties - Henry T
https://brandur.org/fragments/burn-parties
Apparently Heroku have a ceremony called a "Burn Party". It's a super short article so I won't ruin it for you. I found it while reading in pursuit of production minimalism from the same blog.
Track of the Week - Martyn E
I almost got to see Gil Scott-Heron live in Liverpool. As we waited outside the venue, ticket in hand, it was announced that he was still high in the sky and would not be performing that evening. I’m still not sure what was keeping him in the air, a late flight or drugs, but it was a shame. If you haven’t (or even if you have) go and listen to the album “Pieces of a Man” right now.