What follows is from an actual job opportunity that was presented to me. It has been edited for brevity and to remove identifying information. I also cleaned up typos and broken grammar (recruiters apparently never read these things before sending them to candidates).
Job Title: Architect
Responsibilities:
As an iOS software developer, I am often asked whether "we" (a team I'm working with, or someone I'm advising) should avoid using Objective-C and instead use a higher-level or easier-to-learn programming language. In general, my answer is "No". The rest of this post explains why.
A bit …
I read a lot of science fiction (SF) in my adolescent and teenage years, but I got bored with it in college, and stopped reading it. Actually, I didn't get bored, I got annoyed with it. At the time, I couldn't describe exactly what it was that was annoying me …
I learned to touch-type over 30 years ago, on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I'm a fast and accurate typist, compared to most programmers. I've always considered typing to be a basic skill that all programmers should take seriously. What goes on in your head is more important than how fast …
Stack Overflow is an amazing resource for computer programmers. I've asked a lot of questions there, and answered a lot of questions there, and I've found the answers to lots and lots of questions that someone else has already asked. Participating in Stack Overflow has been great.
However, there have …
When reading descriptions of how software is produced, I often wonder what role programmers play. Programmers used to be the people who made software, but now a lot of other people are involved and claim credit for doing the work.
There has to be an "architect" who guides the overall …
Matt Gallagher's "User interface strings in Cocoa" post is good for its overall purpose (telling people how to use NSLocalizedString()), but I especially like this little embedded rant:
A quick swipe at almost everybody: UTF-8 has been around since 1993 and Unicode 2.0 since 1996; if you have created …
The Apple Store is a great place to go if you want to play with new Apple products or get help at the Genius Bar. But if you go there to buy something, the experience is confusing and humiliating.
Everyone knows how the process of buying something at a store …
I'm writing this the night before the Oscars, but that is not why I'm writing. I only saw three of the films nominated for Best Picture: The King's Speech, True Grit, and The Social Network. While I enjoyed The King's Speech and True Grit,, I haven't thought about them since …
I like most of Apple's products, but iTunes is a very dark corner of the Mac universe.
For example, here is what you have to do to download updates to your iPhone apps: