Environment

Soda from another world

We are the proud owners of a SodaStream Crystal 2.0 and have been using the thing for about 2 months now. I have to say, it is truly fantastic to have access to unlimited carbonated water. We had been talking about getting one for a few years, but somehow never got around actually ordering one. At least every ten days or so, I’d go and buy a new crate of bottled water, which meant driving a car and hauling up the water five flights of stairs from the garage to our flat. Thankfully, those days are gone now. But here is the thing that astonished me quite a bit. I read about how the company SodaStream runs some aggressive advertising campaigns against companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. I’ve… Continue Reading…

Software development

Making mistakes: Part 1

Publish your code. This is by far my biggest mistake, and it took me roughly ten years to realize it. As it turns out, it’s responsible for a wide range of mistakes and problems further down the line. I wish our professors had told us to publish everything, but at the time programming was treated more like a craft than a science. Then of course, publishing your own code is terrifying as it is. Everyone can see it and judge you based on its quality. Your name will be all over it and the internet never forgets. That thought alone is a big obstacle and the less experience you have, the harder it is to overcome. However, it’s not so much about how everyone else will perceive your… Continue Reading…

Software development

Making mistakes: Introduction

All developers will eventually make their share of mistakes during their careers, and that’s OK. We all learn from defeat and evolve through experience. Naturally, the bigger portion of that process will happen at the very beginning when everything is new and exiting, and we tend to bite off more than we can chew. Most mistakes are temporary flaws in our skill set and will be ironed out quickly while we learn. But there is the other kind that is a little harder to shake, mostly because they are harder to figure out or are just hiding well enough. That last kind is the one I find the most interesting and the most dangerous, which is why I’d like to talk about it for a bit. I had… Continue Reading…

Uncategorized

First post

Holy cow, it’s a blog. Yes, this is the first post on my first blog. I never thought I’d have a blog, and never thought I’d want one. I sure never thought it would start with me typing ‘Holy cow’, but there you go. It started out as ‘Holy crap’ but that just felt wrong. Cows are okay. There is nothing bad to say about cows, I guess. Any ways … Why do I need a blog? To be fair, I’m not entirely sure that I really need a blog. For now, it’s more like an experiment, which I hope will help me order my thoughts and satisfy my need to explain things to people. I really like explaining stuff because I love watching that smile on a… Continue Reading…