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1500 questions
58
votes
11 answers

Should a competent programmer be able to come up with his own shortest path algorithm?

I'm suffering a crisis of confidence in my ability as a computer programmer. Yesterday I tried to come up with my own shortest path algorithm for a graph and after some hours I simply threw in the towel and learned Dijkstra's algorithm. Is this the…
Newbie Programmer
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58
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11 answers

A modern review of Java

I've been programming for a few years and I began in Java, and in my time I've found many different sources claiming Java to be an inferior language in some way or another. I'm well aware that each language has it's strengths and weaknesses, but a…
Ryan Stull
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57
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12 answers

Develop fast and buggy, then correct errors or be slow, careful for each line of code?

Possible Duplicates: Frankly, do you prefer Cowboy coding? Prototyping vs. Clean Code at the early stages Good design: How much hackyness is acceptable? Does craftsmanship pay off? Which is better: Coding fast, not caring about possible errors…
Francesco Boffa
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57
votes
3 answers

What is the difference between K&R and One True Brace Style (1TBS) styles?

I have read the Wikipedia article on Indent Styles, but I still don't understand. What is the difference between K&R and 1TBS?
GavinR
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57
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3 answers

Putting a programming language on your resume?

How much experience do you need in a language before you can put it on your resume? There is one language I'm in proficient in (Java) which I would definitely put on the resume but say I took I couple of semester courses in college which involved…
GTL
57
votes
26 answers

If you could only have one programming related book on your bookshelf what would it be and why?

One per answer please. I'll add my favourite as an answer.
Paddyslacker
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57
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11 answers

How many questions are appropriate to ask as an intern?

So, I just started an internship, and I'm worried that I'm asking too many questions. My mentor assigns me projects and helps me learn all the company's technologies and methodologies. However, there's so much new material for me to learn while…
Casey Patton
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57
votes
13 answers

How can we reduce downtime at the end of an iteration?

Where I work we practice scrum-driven agile with 3-week iterations. Yes, it'd be nice if the iterations were shorter, but changing that isn't an option at the moment. At the end of the iteration, I usually find that the last day goes very slowly.…
Adam Lear
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57
votes
42 answers

Most regrettable design or programming decision you made?

I would like to hear what kind of design decisions you took and how did they backfire. Because of a bad design decision, I ended up having to support that bad decision forever (I also had a part in it). This made me realize that one single design…
VNarasimhaM
57
votes
16 answers

moving from Windows to Linux

I need to reconcile these 2 facts: I don't feel comfortable working on Linux; I need to develop software for Linux. Some background: I have a 10+ years of programming experience on Windows (almost exclusively C/C++, but some .NET as well), I was a…
rincewind
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57
votes
9 answers

Hiring a Junior Developer, What should I ask?

We are currently hiring a junior developer to help me out, as I have more projects than I can currently manage. I have never hired anyone who wasn't a friend or at least an acquaintance. I have a phone interview with the only applicant that actually…
Jeremy Boyd
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57
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15 answers

When should I use—and not use—design patterns?

In a previous question of mine on Stack Overflow, FredOverflow mentioned in the comments: Note that patterns do not magically improve the quality of your code. and Any measure of quality you can imagine. Patterns are not a panacea. I once wrote…
ashmish2
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57
votes
6 answers

Functions that simply call another function, bad design choice?

I have a setup of a class that represents a building. This building has a floor plan, which has bounds. The way I have it setup is like this: public struct Bounds {} // AABB bounding box stuff //Floor contains bounds and mesh data to update…
WDUK
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57
votes
34 answers

When would someone be considered a bad programmer?

How would you consider that a programmer is bad at what he or she is doing? If possible... How should he/she improve?
Tamara Wijsman
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57
votes
7 answers

Is there a keyword or operator for "nor"?

Is there an operator equivalent of nor? For example, my favorite color is neither green nor blue. And the code would be equivalent to: // example one if (color!="green" && color!="blue") { } // example two if (x nor y) { // x is false and y…
1.21 gigawatts
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