#friendgineers — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #friendgineers, aggregated by home.social.
-
What does software development, a pendulum, and the genie have to do with each other? You wouldn't think much, but in fact, just like the motion of a pendulum is dependent on it's size, weight, and how hard it's poked, software development works the same way. And the genie is poking at it. Hard.
-
What does software development, a pendulum, and the genie have to do with each other? You wouldn't think much, but in fact, just like the motion of a pendulum is dependent on it's size, weight, and how hard it's poked, software development works the same way. And the genie is poking at it. Hard.
-
What does software development, a pendulum, and the genie have to do with each other? You wouldn't think much, but in fact, just like the motion of a pendulum is dependent on it's size, weight, and how hard it's poked, software development works the same way. And the genie is poking at it. Hard.
-
What does software development, a pendulum, and the genie have to do with each other? You wouldn't think much, but in fact, just like the motion of a pendulum is dependent on it's size, weight, and how hard it's poked, software development works the same way. And the genie is poking at it. Hard.
-
Who's responsible for code that LLMs generate? It's a complicated question. One the industry is still resolving. But one thing is sure. The need for good review hasn't gone away.
-
Friendgineers: Abstractions and Indirections can look like the same thing, but they're actually very different. It's never a good idea to confuse two things that sound similar but aren't
-
Friendgineers: I try to keep things simple for myself. And I try not to make too many assumptions. But sometimes I get in my own way and make things harder for myself.
-
Friendgineers: I learn things all the time and from many different places, not just my dryer. This week I learned about optimization from soap and silverware in hotels.
-
HT to @tottinge He said this way better than I can. Why, in the name of all that's good, are we still writing legacy code in 2025?
-
Friendgineers: Does practice make perfect? Maybe. But are you perfecting the right thing? That's a question we should be asking far more often than we actually do.
-
Friendgineers: Power dynamics are real and play a surprisingly large role in what gets done. Even when people with power don't realize the impact they're having.
-
Friendgineers: The internet is a great place for learning. It's also a place where you can find some REALLY bad ideas. It takes critical thinking to know if any particular idea is good or bad, IN YOUR SITUATION. Somethings though, are just bad ideas.
-
Friendgineers: I've often felt that we in the software business prioritize immediate gain over long term success. Sometimes that's needed, but in the long run, taking a long term view always pays off.
-
Friendgineers: We all agree that good culture is important. We even mostly agree on what good culture is. But how do you identify it, and how can you encourage it?
-
Friendgineers: You have the power of the pen. Writing down the impact of what you're going to do is constrains your impact, but it can also open up possibilities.
#friendgineers #docs #contraints #powerofthepen
https://friendgineers.rosenshein.org/posts/2025/06/23/ -
Friendgineers: You need to be clear about your goals and always work towards them. You also need to accept the reality that your goals may exceed your grasp. Then include that reality in your plans.
-
Friendgineers: There are lots of superpowers you want as a developer. One of the best ways to get them is to have options. That means doing the hard work up front so you have optionality.
-
Friendgineers: Genies can be very helpful. But in almost all cases, their not trying to be helpful, just doing what you say. Which makes your review of their work even more important.
-
Friendgineers: You need to remember who you're really talking to when you write code. It's NOT the compiler and it's not the reviewer, although they need to understand. It's the maintainer. Write for the maintainer. You'll thank yourself later
-
Friendgineers: How can we work faster? There are those who say AI makes us faster by writing the code for us. But really, when was the last time typing was actually the bottleneck? Maybe when you're actually typing, but it's almost NEVER the limiting factor over the lifetime of a project.
-
Friendgineers: When requirements change out from under you it is very disruptive. But did they really changing, or are we just understanding them better? Not understanding the requirements is a shared communications problem.
-
Friendgineers: We all think we're writing new code, but the reality is, in almost all cases, we're modifying existing code. How do things change if you think of how you're modifying existing code EVERY time you write any code?
-
Friendgineers: Did you know your data talks to you? It's talking all the time, but we usually don't listen to it. As part of your design process, you should start listening to your data.
-
Friendgineers: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Handling time right is hard. Not just in your production code, but in your tests as well. We have met the enemy, and it is Time.Now().
-
Friendgineers: Continuing on why software engineering is engineering, a discussion of estimates. Yes, they're hard for software. Just like they're hard for all engineers. Just another way Software Engineering is Engineering.
-
Friendgineers: Engineering is all about balancing constraints, both physical and non-physical. The domain doesn't matter. Software engineering is just as much engineering as as designing a building or a bridge.
-
Friendgineers: Move fast and break things sounds like the opposite of Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast, but what it they're opposite sides of the same thing?
-
Friendgineers: You don't necessarily expect state of the art reccomendations from a government website, but if you try sometimes, you find, you get what you need.
-
Friendgineers: You can hack together a solution. You can overengineer something and never finish. How do you balance the two extremes? What principles help you find the best simple system for now?
-
Friendgineers: You can hack together a solution. You can overengineer something and never finish. How do you balance the two extremes? What principles help you find the best simple system for now?
-
Friendgineers: You can hack together a solution. You can overengineer something and never finish. How do you balance the two extremes? What principles help you find the best simple system for now?
-
Friendgineers: You can hack together a solution. You can overengineer something and never finish. How do you balance the two extremes? What principles help you find the best simple system for now?
-
Before you can solve a problem, you need to respect the problem. The problem will help you find the solution. That applies to wetlands AND software.
-
Edgser Dijkstra is a giant in the field of software engineering. Over his career he's said a lot about the way developers go about their business, including how developers need bugs. I don't necessarily agree, but there's a lot to think about there.
-
Can you write code with zero bugs? Maybe not. Can you ship code with zero known bugs? Absolutely.
-
Deployments should be safe. Always. But what if your system is down? Is it ok to take shortcuts then?
-
The 'commons' are any shared public resource. Ostrom's book says we can share them to everyone's benefit. Can we apply this to software development?
-
If code can have virtues, then tests, which are also code, can have virtues. The question is, are there any special virtues that are unique to tests? Of course there are. Here's a few virtues which can make your tests better.
-
Friendgineers: Sometimes the problem you're staring at is the problem you need to solve right now. Sometimes it's not. Knowing which problem to solve when is critical.
#rootcauseanalysis #rca #friendgineers
https://friendgineers.rosenshein.org/posts/2023/05/11/ -
People can have virtues. So can code. In general, for better code, you maximize virtues and minimize smells
-
Friendgineers: Agency is important. In life, in work, and in play. How can we take lessons from games and apply them to work?
-
No amount of talking about doing something will get it done. To get it done, you have to do the thing, whatever it is.
#friendgineers #wellandtruly #dothething
https://friendgineers.rosenshein.org/posts/2024/01/05/ -
Friendgineers: Time is hard. When you find out about something is just as important as when it actually happened. So you need to track ALL of the details.
-
Friendgineers: You can (and often should) always break things down into smaller parts.
-
Friendgineers: Knowing where you're going and how far along the path you are is important. So is knowing where to step next. You need to balance both to get there.
-
Friendgineers: User stories are not about what to do, they're about how to add value.
-
Friendgineers: The mother of all demos happened 54 years ago today. If you ever wanted to know where it all came from, this is where.
-
Friendgineers: I thought I had written about Seeing Like a State, but apparently not. It's very easy to fall into the habit of seeing like a state. However, it's not very useful.