Tip to become a successful software engineer.

 This post is a follow up to Derick’s great post. I could not agree with his view point any more., but it struck a chord with me.  There is more to it. To actually call yourself a software engineer you need to take into account a few aspects of what an engineer should do.

You’re Not Paid To Type

Typing code into a code editor or text editor is not what a Software Engineer is paid to do.  At least, it is not the primary reason this profession exists.  Yes, part of the job is to write code in any number of languages and platforms. As Derick pointed out, it is more then writing code, it is about writing tests, and making sure the code you do type works as designed and can be easily maintained.

All that being said, the actual act of typing is simple and quick.  There is training in keyboard typing and methods to increase how many words per minute one can type. So, does typing more code constructs per minute mean you should to get paid more money?  If you turn out more code then the engineer sitting next to you, have you created more value?  See where I am going with this.  Typing is easy, and typing the wrong code is really easy.  I have seen organizations that are fearful of missing deadlines and dates. Its so unhealthy that the developers think they need to start writing code NOW, but they don’t really know what they are supposed to be creating. They do know what to create in the general sense, but they rush intp writing software without knowing most of the details.

You are paid to THINK, so start doing that

So, my main point of this post is that Software Engineers are paid to Think.  You are paid to think about what is the correct code to create, how is should be constructed to lower the total cost of ownership.

If you only change one thing about the way you work this year try this.

  If you normally get your requirements verbally, trying writing them down.

Write down your requirements or technical plan in the easiest manner possible. That could be on a whiteboard, you could annotate a screenshot of an existing screen, you could use pencil and draw the changes to a print out of a screen shot.  Just do something in terms of thinking about what needs to be done before you start typing.  If you do write down what you plan to do, you can actually communicate it to other developers. You can have someone else review it and think through the problem.  You can also show it to the person who will decide if you created the correct software, imagine getting some feedback on what you want to build before you mess it up?

The two most valuable ways I have found to write down what needs to be created are Screen Mockups and Sequence Diagrams. Now, I have been in the web space for a long time, so if you are not creating websites, or web applications, you may find that there are better ways to write down what you need for your particular design problem.  Either way , try to write it down. If you are writing mockups today, then add a sequence diagram for the more complicated problems and see if it helps.  I know it helps me and the developers I work with.

Posted by Eric Hexter 

Facebook‘s annual hacker competition opens for registration

 Social networking giant Facebook has opened registration for its third annual Hacker Cup, set to begin from January 25.

The top prize will be $ 10,000 (approx. Rs 5.5 lakh) as against $ 5,000 (Rs 2.75 lakh) last year and as many 25 of the best hackers will be taken to Facebook's headquarter in USA, a statement said.

The Facebook Hacker Cup is an annual worldwide programming competition where hackers compete against each other for fame, fortune, glory and a shot at the coveted Hacker Cup.

"The competition will be held in two rounds starting with an online qualification, out of which 25 of the best hackers are then flown by Facebook to their headquarters inMenlo Park, CA," Facebook said.

"The preliminary round will be held between January 25 and February 16 while the onsite final round is scheduled for March 22-23, 2013.

Contestants will be judged on accuracy and speed as they race to solve algorithmic problems to advance through up to five rounds of programming challenges," it added.

Last year, the Hacker Cup attracted 8,000 participants from 150 countries, with the winner- Roman Andreev, hailing from Russia, Facebook said.

"Hacking is core to how we build at Facebook. Whether we're building a prototype for a major product like Timeline at a Hackathon, creating a smarter search algorithm, or tearing down walls at our new headquarters, we're always hacking to find better ways to solve problems," Facebook said in its Hacker's Cup page.

Facebook said that those who registered for a previous year are automatically registered for the competition year, however, they still need to check their information is up-to-date.

Nokia to transfer 820 jobs to TCS, HCL Tech

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokiasaid it will cut over 1000 IT jobs, including 820 employees who will be transfered to HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services, as part of an already-announced restructuring.

It said 300 jobs will be cut altogether, and that most of the reductions would be in Finland.

HCL Tech has recently entered into a long-term, global IT infrastructure management outsourcing services agreement with Nokia. The scope of this engagement includes datacenter, network management, end-user computing services and cross-functional service management across Nokia's global IT infrastructure operations. As part of this engagement, HCL will be deploying its MTaaS and MyCloud solutions. HCL has also been delivering global service desk and desktop management outsourcing services for Nokia since 2009.
TCS has been operating in Finland for about 10 years, servicing clients such as Nokia Siemens, ABB and Telenor.

The job cuts are part of Nokia's plans to cut 10,000 jobs, including 3,700 in Finland.

Nokia will offer employees affected by these planned reductions both financial support and a comprehensive Bridge support programme. These are the last anticipated reductions as part of Nokia's focused strategy announcement of June 2012.

The majority of the employees affected by these planned changes are based in Finland. Nokia is beginning the process of engaging with employee representatives on these plans in accordance with country-specific legal requirements
.

http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Nokia-to-transfer-820-jobs-to-TCS-HCL-Tech-16743?mailer_id=1412&utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=TG_batch&utm_campaign=digest_news_2013-01-18&email=rmuthukumarece89@gmail.com&activity_name=tgdailynews_2013-01-18&dt=&auto_login=cm11dGh1a3VtYXJlY2U4OUBnbWFpbC5jb21AIyRAIyQzNjM3OTJAIyRAIyQxMzU4NDU1NzMw&src_type=autoLogin

Open-access activist and internet hero Aaron Swartz dies

Internet activist and programming star Aaron Swartz has died, his family has confirmed, committing suicide in New York while facing a potential $1m in fines and up to 35 years in prison over federal charges around computer hacking. Swartz died on Friday at the age of 26, his uncle and his legal team independently confirmed to MIT’s The Tech.

The programmer was integral in creating RSS, and created a company that later merged with popular internet destination Reddit. However, more recently he was investigated for hacking JSTOR, the subscription-based journal service, and extracting its database with the intention for public release.

Swartz was a vocal open-access campaigner, and had form in turning to hacking when demands for public data went unheard. In 2008, he wrote software to extract and collate information from the Pacer directory of federal judicial documents, the NYT reports, in protest of the service’s $0.10-per-page fee for retrieval. Swartz’s app snagged around 20m pages using free library accounts.

The government opted not to press charges, but Swartz was less lucky after breaking into JSTOR. Then, he physically breached security, installed a laptop running custom software, and pulled 4.8m documents from the database. Although JSTOR did not pursue the hacktivist itself, US attorney Carmen M. Ortiz didn’t feel so accommodating, and Swartz was indicted back in July 2011.

For more on Swartz – and the impact his work on free-data, and the world he leaves behind – we’d recommend Lawrence Lessig’s piece “Prosecutor as Bully.” BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow also has a must-read tribute to Swartz, including information on the organization, DemandProgress, Swartz helped establish. Finally, Swartz’s partner, Quinn Norton, has a piece that’s well worth reading.

Open-access activist and internet hero Aaron Swartz dies is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear. 

Source:http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Open-access-activist-and-internet-hero-Aaron-Swartz-dies-16700

New Facebook app to allow free voice calls to friends

 Facebook is preparing to launch a new feature for its Messenger app which allows users of the social networking site to place free voice calls tofriends.

The feature is so far available only to smartphone users in Canada and is buried within the latest update to the app, but it will eventually allow users to make free internet voice calls, known as VoIP calls, to any Facebook friend.

Experts are saying it represents an attempt by the world's largest social network to dominate the social world by taking on the default calling function in mobile phones, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The new feature comes at the same time as Facebook Messenger rolled out a new feature worldwide which allows users to record and send a voicemail-type message to friends.

Working in a similar way to video messaging in the company's Poke app, users press and hold a red record button, speak their message, and it appears in line as part of the conversation.

TechCrunch writer Josh Constine imagines a range of uses for the function, from messaging while driving to recording the waves lapping at a beach to send to friends.

However, its addition to the Messenger app seems merely to make it an 'even more complete app' he writes, adding that he expects video messaging to soon be added as well.

One-tenth the size of the US, but with very similar demographics and mobile usage trends, Facebook is using Canada as a testing ground in advance of rolling out the feature in other markets, the paper said.

By clicking the 'i' icon in the top right of a conversation in the most recent update to Messenger, users reveal a 'free call' button which allows them to contact any friend also within the test region.

However, while Facebook is not charging users for the service, the call is not technically free since it will use data on users' existing mobile plans.

TechCrunch said that the move into voice messaging and VoIP can be seen as an attempt by the social network to take on the default, mobile network operated calling function on smartphones.

Internet emits 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide

 Internet and other components of information communication and technology (ICT) industry annually produces more than 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, and is expected to double by 2020, a new study has found.

Researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) and Bell Labs explain that the information communications and technology (ICT) industry, which delivers Internet, video, voice and other cloud services, produces about 2 per cent of globalCO2 emissions -- the same proportion as the aviation industry produces.

In the report published in journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers said their projections suggest that ICT sector's share in greenhouse gas emission is expected to double by 2020.

They have also found new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce their carbon footprint.

The study said that controlling those emissions requires more accurate but still feasible models, which take into account the data traffic, energy use and CO2 production in networks and other elements of the ICT industry.

Existing assessment models are inaccurate, so they set out to develop new approaches that better account for variations in equipment and other factors in the ICT industry.

They describe development and testing of two new models that better estimate the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Internet and telecommunications services.

The researchers suggest, based on their models, that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.

10 enemies of being a good programmer

FOI...

This article discusses the habits which would need to be avoided if a person wants to become a good programmer.

Introduction and background

The information technology is not a new term now. For a common person, this is the field which guarantees good money and life (in the context of INDIA). People working in this industry are looked up-to and generally considered intelligent than others. 

After working for quite some time in this industry, looks like the above points are coming very close to being a myth.

Definitely this industry has been life changer for many and also big employer, foreign currency grabber but by large it would be interesting to know what’s the reality at ground level.

Many would comment that the quote about intelligence is overrated and this is just another industry with revenues in dollars helping for mammoth turnovers.

The common minimum ingredient of this industry is a programmer (or a developer or coder) who is the one writing the programs which are supposed to make things happen. As in every field of life, there are good programmer and bad programmers. The other hot topic in this industry is whether this industry possesses chunk of good programmer or not. Many wouldn’t agree.

So, what makes a good programmer? This is debatable point and to make things simpler, let’s see this the other way round i.e. discuss the top 10 enemies which can prevent oneself from becoming a good programmer.

Objective

To know about the DONT's if anyone wants to become a good programmer.

Description

Programming world is a confusing world. There have been so many languages, technologies, platforms, infrastructures to choose from which doesn't make life of a programmer easy even though they are supposed to. In the scenario where business needs are outscoring the engineering practices, the programming has become a real complex thing increasingly challenged by time and budget. There has been lot of research into software metric to measure the performance and quality but it still not straightforward to categorize programmers and probably say who is good or bad. Following are list of points which if we can ensure while programming, would definitely result in better code quality, better planning and better professional life. These points are picked up from real incidences which always keep happening with considerable frequency and it is observed that such incidences leads to poor quality, performance and higher costs. These points are not just related to technical skill but rather the attitude, awareness, behavior.

1. Is it computer or my program: When something goes wrong there is a tendency to term that it must be something wrong with computers or something else other than me? It’s funny but it omnipresent statement one hears. Barring few cases, it’s always the program doing something wrong rather than computer. If we take environmental, infrastructural attributes into account while programming we won't end of saying this. This is the biggest enemy.

2. Its working on my PC: This is probably mostly used age old statement and many have encountered it umpteen times. It is hard to believe but it happens all the time that the programs work well on developer’s machine but fail after deployment... Do we program for our own pc or our programs are intended to run only on the developer’s machine? Surely not and this is caused by insufficient programming skills and not enough knowledge of working environments, necessary settings etc.

In most of such cases, mostly the programmer has forgotten to update the deployed environment with some settings/ configurations, some component missing etc. rather than anything else.

3. Finger pointing: I have just changed it but I didn’t cause this error, it must be somebody else who might have worked on the same stuff. This is a statement one would hear all the time and it’s generally the first reaction one would hear when asked about some error or fault. In reality, something is changed and the original functionality is also lost then these statements are made. This is quite intriguing that something is changed and before a change things were working and still the programmers say this. This depicts the lack of ownership as well as understanding and escapist attitude. Given the complexity and difficulty to find the facts, many are encourage saying this.

There is a small remedy to overcome this and which is the practice of performing unit testing and take my word, life would be easy.

4. Skipping the validation of user input: While programming for user interactive applications / programs, one tends to skip the validation of user inputs under the assumption that he has coded for it and it shall work. The minimum check which is like confirming the data entered in GUI doesn’t exceed the data type and lengths defined in the database. No wonder, many of the defects and also the program crashes arises out of lack of such validation.

It is better to always ensure that the data types and lengths on GUI matches with the ones defined in data source and also it handles the common pitfalls which can spell doom for hackers. 

5. Not estimating (or planning) the work or tasks: Most of the programmer (especially junior ones) has urged to jump into coding without estimating the work. Estimation is just not important from planning perspective but it gives an opportunity to revisit the scope as the estimates are bound to scope.

There might couple of tasks challenged by time and/or budget which can be performed well without estimates but not     all. Whatever may the work or tasks if it is estimated, then it ease out planning, controlling and monitoring and also         given an avenue for asking the help before it is too late?

6.   Swallowing the exceptions: Exception handling is still a mystery for many programmers and when he/ she don’t know how to handle the exception or there is lack of good exception handling mechanism, the exceptions are swallowed means not action is taken after the occurrence of such exceptions or errors.

     Today's programming languages offers far more sophisticated mechanism in the form of try-catch-finally. This           swallowing mostly results into application crashes putting programmers into awkward position.

7.   Blindly copying and pasting: In today’s internet era, everything is available on internet and code snippets are not exceptions to this. With super-efficient searches, it is possible to locate code snippet which can do one's job.  

   

Probably it can't be called wrong to copy such code snippets and use but unfortunately the usage is always coincided      by blindly copying or retrofitting which results into partial solutions not taking into account the existing scenario. Also      one has to remember that such code snippets needs more rigorous testing than your native code to make sure that it      is doing what is needed. Another example is copying from code samples or others code which generally skips the understanding curve resulting into inferior quality software and it is also difficult to change such program and   maintain too. So copying and pasting is unavoidable but it would be better to invest some time to understand what it is doing and what is expected to be done and perform this with sound judgment.

8. Not being latest: The technology paradigm is characterized by the continuous changes and improvements. While working hard and long, many programmers are not able to synch them up with such changes and improvements. This may result in inferior solutions or far more time investment than could be justified. Also there are many changes happening on software engineering front where new methodologies like Agile, XP are introduced which can address many pertinent challenges in development life cycle.

9.  Lack of Documentation/ comments/standardization: No denying the fact the programs are written to be executed by computers but they are also written which could be understood by others. Many programmers shy away from writing enough comments or documentation which can help others about why, how and when something is done. Essentially this makes other programmer not attempting to understand and write something which would add to confusion. There are many instances of coding horrors, coding mess, coding chaos which have one thing in common and i.e. lack of documentation and standardization. Essentially the programs shall be human readable.

10. Speed well than accuracy: This is a trap for even the proven programmers. Many programmers think that the programming is 100 ctr races and one has to be lightning fast to win this race and in the process the quality, accuracy is sacrificed. This catapults into more work (many would want this for continuity of their business) which is not good of one looks at cost and time. Accuracy could attain more priority and speed with accuracy could be the motto.  

Summary and Conclusion

This topic is exhaustive and complex to discussed and addressed on one write-up. Still these 10 point are put forth to touch base the perennial challenges in software industry. There may be more apt points and detailed discussions but hope that this write-up could help to bring some really interesting practices to the fore.

Source:http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article2098-10-enemies-of-being-a-good-programmer.aspx