Coding Horror on coding quantity vs. quality.
It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories. […]
- Stop theorizing.
- Write lots of software.
- Learn from your mistakes.
From this you can plainly see that the rise of iterative/agile development methodologies is a natural evolution; improvements only come from practice and learning from your mistakes.
It puts me in mind of something my company’s IT Director recently said: “If you got past the interview stage, you’ll never make a stupid mistake in this office. You’ll make mistakes—granted—but you’ll learn from them, and grow stronger.”
Scientific American’s Getting Duped: How the Media Messes With Your Mind educates us on two important fallacies used to undermine arguments.
Statements made in the media can surreptitiously plant distortions in the minds of millions. Learning to recognize two commonly used fallacies can help you separate fact from fiction.
[…]
One common method of spinning information is the so-called straw man argument. In this tactic, a person summarizes the opposition’s position inaccurately so as to weaken it and then refutes that inaccurate rendition.
via Mind Hacks
The Flynn Effect is the gradual rise of the average IQ over generations, and the reason why IQ tests are periodically renormalised to reset the average to 100: an average IQ in our generation equals a higher than average IQ a generation or two beforehand. Or does it?
According to new research it appears that the Flynn effect is in reverse—or is at best correcting itself.
The researchers surmise that the performance decline is due to “some qualitative change in the emphasis on abstract reasoning and problem-solving [within the educational system] or a decreased emphasis on speed”.
This isn’t new, of course, and was noted almost two years ago with this interesting comment:
Does this mean we’re becoming less intelligent? Probably not. It likely reflects the fact that the skill set of population is changing and that we become practised at different tasks at different rates as modern life develops.
via Mind Hacks
BBC Ouch! on the strange gift of sign language names.
When a sign name is given to you, it’s special. A bit like losing your deaf virginity. It’s thought up after an intense period of observation, when people have worked out firstly whether they like you enough to give you one (a sign name, that is), and they’ve taken all your habits and mannerisms into account to find a name that best sums you up.
Given examples are Hand-Rubber, Waffle and Splasher.
via Mind Hacks
Mixed-up, mangled expressions; foreign-language faux pas; confused and confusing terms; commonly mispronounced words - they’re all explained in Common Errors in English by Paul Brians.
The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I’ll leave to linguists the technical definitions. Here we’re concerned only with deviations from the standard use of English as judged by sophisticated users such as professional writers, editors, teachers, and literate executives and personnel officers. The aim of this site is to help you avoid low grades, lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of amusement at the way you write or speak.
It’s available on Amazon, but when it’s available free online and is updated regularly, why buy? The supplementary pages are also worth a look (non-errors, more errors, and commonly misspelled words).