Always worth seeing what Kay has to say. The slashdot thread has its moments as well. How Heraclitus would Design a Programming Language. CowboyRobot writes “Developer of Smalltalk Alan Kay has an interview on ACM Queue where he describes the history of computing and his approach to designing languages. Kay has an impressive resume (PARC, [...]
I'm running a bit behind these days. That makes it a bit ironic that my most recent column at Enterprise System Journal looks at the topic of project management. The column actually appeared last week and looks at project management from a minimalist perspective. Jim Powell, my editor there, decided to title it A Swiss [...]
If you are curious about how interesting the world turns out to be, here are two great articles to add to your reading list. A Master Equation for All Life Processes?. In “Life on the Scales,” Science News recently wrote that some simple mathematical equations, known as quarter-power scaling laws, can explain the metabolic rates [...]
Fantastic and fascinating editorial turning the purported 'logic' of intelligent design against itself. The only drawback, of course, is that ID is only superficially about logic, so this isn't an argument that will carry any weight with anyone who finds ID appealing. Intelligent Design's idiotic designer. Cory Doctorow: A fantastic editorial in this weekend's NYT [...]
My latest column, Improving Systems: Forget Architecture – Look at the Buildings, is up at ESJ. This one was inspired by Steward Brand’s excellent How Buildings Learn; What Happens After They’re Built. It riffs on Brand’s work to reflect on what we might learn about building better systems.
I’ve certainly been guilty of this kind of approach at multiple points throughout my career. The best techniques I’ve encountered for dealing with these challenges are the “contracting” conversations that Peter Block advocates so strongly in his excellent Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. Regardless of which side of the table you [...]
Another great essay from Paul Graham. What You'll Wish You'd Known. Paul's advice to high school students. [Paul Graham]
More insights from Tufte on how to be an intelligent consumer of data. At the same time, you would do well to take Tufte's observations with at least a grain of salt. The tools of rhetoric precede those of data analysis by more than a few centuries and Tufte is a master of both. Tufte [...]
This struck a chord. I make no secret of being cursed with curiosity and it has come close to killing me a few times both metaphorically and literally (there was that high voltage probe on a Hewlett Packard scintillometer back in high school that wasn’t quite properly grounded). Curiosity is not something greatly respected in [...]
One driver can vastly improve Traffic. Traffic Waves [via Marc's Voice, Smart Mobs, Werblog] Science hobbyist William Beaty claims: “Sometimes one driver can vastly improve Traffic” The basic principle is to “bring space into congested traffic” by slowing down and maintaining a large safety gap in front of you. Not only is this much safer [...]
