Comments on: Ten commandments for developers

By: Ruud

Ruud — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:34:35 +0000

Another one, don’t make the size of your program too big. I’ve seen hp printer drivers which are nearly half a gigabyte: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=3690646&prodNameId=3690647&swEnvOID=2093&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=lj-62183-2

Seriously you guys, wtf?

By: Xavier Morera

Xavier Morera — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:30:58 +0000

I totally agree with you. The ones I specifically hate are:

- Windows trying to reboot your computer all the time, or rebooting without asking and losing your files (I know you can deactivate this feature, just that I forget until I lose something meaningful and then hate Windows Vista)
- Adobe PDF is as blotated as it can be!!!! It sucks, and it has security issues too.
- Photoshop annoying “allow check for updates that makes vista ask for permission to elevate – I know, deactivate, just that I forget until it hits me)
- And the king of all annoyances, HP printer software which wants to take over my ENTIRE computer. I just want to print!!!!! A lot of people ask me for help because they can’t figure out how to install their hp software. That is because it is soooo god damn hard to install something that wants to take over your entire computer. Let me do a simple printer install, I don’t want your suite that controls every little thing my computer does.
- Same thing with real, bloated software sucks

By: Howard

Howard — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:10:23 +0000

Re (1)

a. Take Visual Studio (any version).
b. Load a reallllly big solution (anything like 100k lines of code etc.)
c. Use the rename feature on the name of a parameter of a public function
d. Watch your VS freeze for several minutes
e. Marvel at how the cancel button is completely pointless

By: 10 Commandments for Programmers | Odd:

10 Commandments for Programmers | Odd: — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:25:22 +0000

[...] is a great post by Damien Guard – “The Ten Commandments for Developers” although the post is directed mainly at client application developers the basic philosophy [...]

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:40:30 +0000

Adhere to the platform , i hate it when firefox ignores windows settings for language and location.

By: Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:19:47 +0000

Amen! The updates of updater software seem to be the newest annoyance trend.

By: Damien Guard

Damien Guard — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:24:15 +0000

@Jon Davis:

1. Allow immediate termination

Not just of applications, but of actions.

2. Leave start-up alone

When a PC is starting up who knows what the user wants to do. They might be in a hurry, with a low battery. Loading up isn’t a little overhead, it’s a lot when 5-6 of them are grinding this disk to load their files etc. whilst the OS is doing the same. Auto-updates should check silently in background on app launch or use the windows scheduler. They should absolutely not have a background task running.

[)amien

By: Effectize

Effectize — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:19:22 +0000

89 Ways for You to Become the Coolest Programmer in the World…

Since there are dozens of posts on becoming a better developer, but no single post with all the advice you need, perhaps, you’ll find this short guide useful.
1. Learn the Skills You Need

Learn the programming basics

“The goal of this guide is to b…

By: Jagad Guru

Jagad Guru — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:45:47 +0000

Nice list. My number one is – don’t install crap I didn’t ask for and don’t try to trick me into it. Thinking of the Java install where clicking Next, Next, Next starts adding bits of OpenOffice to your system. And no, if I wanted to install the Google toolbar, I would go to google and install it!

By: Billigflug

Billigflug — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:50:06 +0000

Great list, dude. There is so much developers should aspire to. Unfortunately there are too much chaotic developers.

By: Seth Morris

Seth Morris — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:45:26 +0000

Regarding “inappropriate questions,” I agree with the principle, but the example is not great. “Do you want to more or copy files from this zone” appears in a potentially destructive case; it’s the prompt that sucks. I see this prompt when copying images to the hard drive, an operation that does save data from the internet onto my machine and could be dangerous in some cases. The prompt should warn me that it’s allowing drag-and-drop of internet data without future warnings this session.

Also, I assume the commenter’s complaint about no HIG for Windows was a joke. The Windows design guidelines have been freely available (and updated for new UI habits) since at least Windows 3.1. It’s people who decide that Windows users need to be “upgraded” to Gnome or Mac or OpenWin UI (or the other way–using Mainsoft and seeing Windows UI on an OpenWin Sun was as unpleasant to those users as the OpenWin widgets on Windows were to me) or designers who make up their own UI just because they want to who hurt users.

By: AnkhSVN 2.0 Feature » Auto reload files and projects » Sander's blog

AnkhSVN 2.0 Feature » Auto reload files and projects » Sander's blog — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:13:41 +0000

[...] Automatic reloading fits in nicely with commandment #4 and #5 from the Ten commandments for developers [...]

By: BelHard

BelHard — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:38:37 +0000

Thanks for such deep analysis. And it seems I’ve never seen so many comments for a professional post. I’ve sent the link to the intranet site of my company. Hope our project managers will pay attention.

By: Technology Story» Blog Archive » Website You Shouldn’t Have Missed

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:11:14 +0000

[...] – Ten commandments for developers [...]

By: Jonic

Jonic — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:36:26 +0000

Another one that falls under the “keep noise to a minimum” category: Splash screens..

F**k. Right. Off.. I know what the program is called.. I started it up..

I especially don’t want to see anything from programs that I asked to start with the OS.. I don’t want to see or hear a thing until I actually request that a program shows its face..