A place where I capture raw, quick notes worth remembering.
I have this tick where I continuously check that my tools are running the latest version. I guess you could call it a form of FOMO.
Luckily, Rust has me covered with two packages which check that for me.
cargo-outdated which check that your project dependenies are up-to-date. And cargo-update which checks that your Rust executables, like cargo-edit are running the latest version.
It will even update itself!
The code I’m still ashamed of is an excellent read, reminding us of our responsibility as software developers.
It also reminded me of an experience we had with Bread & Pepper, the web agency we ran from 2009-2013. A government agency approached us to build an iPhone app where you could overlay your face on Einstein. We could have used the money but decided to be frank and tell them that the idea was ridiculous and a waste of public funds.
After a few weeks, we received the response that we were the only ones who told them the truth and picked us to continue the conversation on how to achieve their goals. We got rewarded for our honesty that day.
I tend to pay attention to the feeling of shame, its trying to tell me that I did something against my morals.
Reminder that shame is a strong indicator that you messed up. Be morally strong and avoid that feeling of shame.
An interesting 5-minute talk called Isn’t That Code Dead? where David Schnepper talks about a technique called “Tombstones.”
The simple technique where you place a marker in your code which logs if it’s ever called. After a while, you check your logs and see what markers are untouched, giving you the confidence to remove that code.
Great way to find dead code in situations where the compiler can’t help you, for example interfaces exposed on the network.
Tombstones is a simple technique which can help you reduce the lines of code by eliminating dead code.
I bought the Hands-on Rust and needed to setup my editor (Visual Studio Code) to start working on my 2D dungeon crawler. Choose Rust Analyzer and could not be more impressed with the experience.
Also impressed with some of the Cargo helper tools, like cargo-edit to manage dependencies, cargo-audit to check for vulnerabilities and cargo-expand to expand macro’s.
2021 is a great year to start learning Rust. Both the ecosystem and learning materials have reached a high level of maturity.
Ask Iwata was a quick read, a loosely connected series of short essays where I read a lot of things which resonated with me.
On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.
As you move to management, you must never loose focus on the core values of your business. It’s your role to create an environment which inspires towards those goals and that empowers your team to do their best work.
Management frameworks and processes often miss this point, where they serve the manager instead of the team.
As a manager you can never loose touch with the process of creation. It’s your job to create an environment where that can thrive.