On software developers...

In a recent interview, Bjarne Stroustrup (the man behind C+) said the following::

"I think [making computer languages easier for average people] would be misguided. The idea of programming as a semiskilled task, practiced by people with a few months' training, is dangerous. We wouldn't tolerate plumbers or accountants that poorly educated. We don't have as an aim that architecture (of buildings) and engineering (of bridges and trains) should become more accessible to people with progressively less training. Indeed, one serious problem is that currently, too many software developers are undereducated and under-trained."

There are a few more gems like this in his interview, most certainly worth a read. Most experienced software developers would agree with much of the above statement. I however would add that computer languages should be designed to aid/improve productivity of a trained developer. This does not mean that they are easier.

One of the greatest improvements in productivity in a team development environment is the concept of a garbage collector. This is one aspect that C++ does not provide, and hence when using C++ for a solution it is best to have developers that are familiar with this limitation. Also, managers would need to understand that the benefits of C++ come with a very well known trade-off ... developers are just not as productive. When working in a team, it is important to know that the reference to an object/structure that you have been provided is safe as long as you use it -- developers being humans make mistakes and in a dead-line constrained environment you only need a few weak developers before it starts to get rather painful.

Apple iPhone & Apple TV - Initial thoughts...

I was very very curious like a lot of geeks about what the Phone would look like. So having seen the information presented from Apple, here are my initial thoughts...


- A touch-panel interface is quite risky, and will restrict the range of people that will buy this. The panel will get smudgy, I do not know how one can get around that. Until I use it, it will be hard to really understand or appreciate if it will actually work.

- It runs OSX .. an O/S designed to run a computer. I will have to assume that they will have re-worked quite a few bits to get it to fit into a phone. The real question is what they ended up sacrificing to get OSX to fit in a phone that small.

- 3 months after it is released, we will know if it will be a massive hit or not. But, I suspect that Apple will have to re-work and/or re-engineer many aspects of the phone over the next 6-12 months.

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- Apple TV will be a hit (as predicted in my previous blog posting). The speed at which people will take it up may not be fast initially, but it will accelerate over time. The fact that you cannot record TV Shows on this device is a really interesting omission. I also think Apple will drop the price of this thing over time as they mass-produce.

Overall, very skeptical on the iPhone interface, I want to really use it before making a call on this one. Apple TV is very sleek and a lot of people will buy it.