Category Archives: Programming

Real Programmers Don’t Eat Quiche

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Hayim Makabee

o Real Programmers don’t eat quiche. They like twinkies, coke and palate-scorching Szechwan food. o Real Programmers don’t write applications programs. They program right down on the bare metal. Applications programming is for the dullards who can’t do systems programming. … Continue reading →

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Welcome to the Age of the Inventor Economy

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Hayim Makabee

We are now in the age of the Inventor Economy. If you want to create value, you must be able to do things that have never been done before. Any existing human creation can be learned and reproduced by advanced … Continue reading →

Posted in Data Science, Efficacy, Machine Learning, Programming, Research, Software Engineering, Startups | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My first book, published 25 years ago

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Hayim Makabee

I wrote my first book when I was 20 years old. It was the first book in Portuguese about Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). At the time I was a student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, also known as … Continue reading →

Posted in OOP, Programming | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Good Code is Adaptable Code

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Hayim Makabee

Some people find the diagram below very funny: it basically says that there is no way to write good code. Of course I do not agree with this. The diagram implies that writing well is a slow process, and that the requirements … Continue reading →

Posted in Adaptable Design, Agile, Programming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Cat as a Metaphor in Object-Oriented Software Development

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Hayim Makabee

Grady Booch is a software development guru who wrote one of the most important books about Object-Oriented Programming: “Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications“. In his book, Booch has wonderful illustrations using a cat as a metaphor for some of … Continue reading →

Posted in OOD, OOP, Programming | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Passion vs. Focus

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Hayim Makabee

I believe that software developers should have a passion for programming. In one of my previous posts, I claimed that nothing is more effective than enthusiasm. This passion should include a constant desire to learn new things and to create … Continue reading →

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Let’s Stop Having Insane Arguments About Software Development

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Hayim Makabee

Mr. Smith had a serious headache, so he went to see a doctor. The doctor told him: “I think you should get some insulin.” Mr. Smith replied: “Are you crazy? Insulin for a headache? Why do you say that?” The … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Programming | Tagged , | 5 Comments

When Machines Learn: Predictive Analytics

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Hayim Makabee

In 1983, when I was 13, I got my first personal computer. It was a Brazilian CP-500 (in the picture on the right). I was one of the first kids in my class to have a computer at home, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Data Mining, Machine Learning, Programming | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Copy-and-Paste Programming

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Hayim Makabee

I’m recently seeing lots of funny O’Reilly book covers being created by inspired programmers, but below is my favorite one. I like it because it depicts a big change in software development since the beginning of my career. In the … Continue reading →

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On the Real Danger of Quick-and-Dirty Programming

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Hayim Makabee

As in Dijkstra‘s quote above, when people criticize Quick-and-Dirty programming they are in general focusing on the negative impact in the system being developed. Software that is built following a Quick-and-Dirty approach will certainly have some serious deficiencies, which are … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Programming, Technical Debt | Tagged , , | 11 Comments