Do not pollute your code

Last week a had another episode where i realized how important it is to remove code and files u are not shure why they are there. ok i have to admit i am still living in an environment with about 500k lines of code and a coverage far away from 10%. so testing was not our strength. so it is a bit harder to know if the code is used anywhere.

but still. to pollute your source-tree with stuff you dont need anymore but are afraid to loose is a bad habit. of course you should have source control to have the security to return to a point in the past where the code existed. but dont comment dozens of lines in production-code. it makes it hard to read and probably the next time you are going to implement the commented code your u are smarter and will do it better.

as i like to say: removing old code is as nice as producing new one.

happy removing…

Favorite Tools I

I know there are a lot of tools lists out there one of the the best i found for Windows based tools is the one of scott hanselman.  but because this one is very big and has a lot of tools in it and also lacks the mac os site of stuff i decided to compile my very little own tools list:

file manager

windows: total commander (26€)

most powerful two-pane-designed eplorer substitute i know. is around a long time now and still updated. with all the good stuff we loved in norton commander (which we called "the friend" back in the days). but here is what i like most:

• obviously the two pane design
• the focus on keyboard over mouse
• instant search as you type like firefox (there are various other options to search the current filelist)
• multiple tab support
• syncronous navigation of the open panes (when developing software it is that you often have multiple nearly equal directory tree, open them both in one pane and navigate through them in sync, very nice)
• the copy/move-queue (you can add to a queue when copying/moving files)
• renaming assistant

mac os x: pathfinder (40€)

a nice replacement for the finder. no comparison to total commander but ok. i like:

• the drop stack where you can drop files and dirs
• intergated terminal
• integrated preview

editor (usually for viewing only)

my normal editor for coding is the editor in my ide (visual studio or eclipse). but for viewing textfiles or searching/replacing in them i use:

windows: notepad++ (free, os)

• fast
• multiple opened files (can remember which files where open in last session)
• can change encoding format

mac os x: macvim (free, os)

mac os clone of the glorious loved/hated vim-editor.

• vim can do everything…

image viewing

windows: irfanview (free)

• fast
• can make screenshots
• nice printing
• view exif data
• crop images

mac os x: xee (free)

• fast
• very easy interface

image editing

windows: paint.net (free, os)

• fast
• supports layers

mac os x: photoshop elements (70€)

• most features i used from photoshop i can use here
• repair brush
• scan ability
• the legendary photoshup user interface

to bee continued…

angry monkeys

today i got a copy of the book The Productive Programmer by Neal Ford seems like a great book. i will write about it when i read it more but while scrolling through it a small story got my attention: the angry monkeys. great stuff. here it is:

several years ago some scientist made an experiment. they put 5 monkeys in a cage, hung some bananas on the ceiling and added a stepladder to the scenery. the monkeys got the bananas with the ladder. in the next step the scientists sprayed the monkeys with ice cold water as soon as they touched the stepladder. so they learned not to touch the ladder what means no bananas. next step: remove a monkey and add one who doesn’t now the scene. so the monkey tried to get the bananas with the ladder. as soon as he reaches over to the ladder the other monkeys beat him up (angry monkeys). the monkeys that know the water where replaced by unknown monkeys in the next steps until not one monkeys knew why they beat up the new clueless monkey.

u see at the end none of the monkeys know why they beat up the clueless one. doesn’t this sound familiar? ever got the answer: “cause we do it that way forever?” the monkeys would say that…

so u should find a better cause for something. and when you dont know why. don’t do it!

so long basti