programming

digital distractions

Submitted by domesticat on 6 February 2009 - 6:43am

Jeff and I have talked off and on this week about work distractions. I've been having a lot of them lately, and it didn't hit me until a couple of days ago that they had something to do with my level of frustration at work.

My job situation dictates mental agility. To handle it properly, I must be able to repeatedly switch tasks, thought processes, and often even styles of work on very short notice. Write a press release, then debug a server configuration. Study up on how new software works, then whip out a graphic. Write code. Answer phones. Pitch in on troubleshooting calls if I know the answers and our hardware person isn't free.

The problem is that not all of these are short-attention-span projects. I'm really there to write code, and therein lies the rub. Libraries are not typically havens for programmers, so the mindset is foreign to anyone outside the IT department.

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If programming languages were religions

Submitted by domesticat on 17 December 2008 - 9:51am

This morning's topic of discussion in the sysadmin chatroom led me to If programming languages were religions

C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.

...and it builds from there. Normally I'd dish linkfood like this up at solecist.net, but y'know, sometimes I just like to keep you guys guessing.

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