Some blog posts that significantly changed my mind

I have been reading many websites including blogs to increase my software culture, trying to open my mind (a tough job). I picked some blog posts that have deeply influenced me and/or changed my mindset. I excluded the ones in french, my native tongue.

They are grouped by themes:

How to cook code

Bob: I like compiled languages because the compiler will check many of the possible errors for me, instead of runtime crash!

Alice: That’s interesting, but let me see your code… All your function parameters are typed string or boolean, are you so sure about this?

• Alice is right: https://codemonkeyism.com/never-never-never-use-string-in-java-or-at-least-less-often/
• Robert C. Martin is a reference (I did not say “Guru”) in software design, and points out many software design issues, one of the most important, naming: https://medium.com/ltunes/what-is-clean-code-naming-conventions-part-1-426d383eb85d
• There are too many things to learn, every developer need to choose wisely which ones to choose: https://sizovs.net/2018/12/17/stop-learning-frameworks/
• We live in a API world, however, they have different purposes and natures : https://teks.co.in/site/blog/external-apis-vs-internal-apis-know-the-differences/
• Testing is a requirement in software industry, it can have several shapes and antipatterns: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/introducing-software-testing-cupcake-anti-pattern

How to work in a team

• I used to work in companies where developers did not read or work or each other’s code, you can imagine the atmosphere when the production platform crashed: https://dzone.com/articles/4-types-of-code-reviews-any-professional-developer
• Working with a version control system can be tricky, particularly when it’s a decentralized one. This flow, known as a git-flow, should help your team working together: https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
• I often hear some colleagues saying “Agile sucks, Waterfall is more straightforward”: http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2015/10/16/Agile-And-Waterfall.html

Computer legacy and general knowledge

• A long but interesting complaint about wasting resources: https://tonsky.me/blog/disenchantment/
• Our computer world is based on many specifications (RFC, W3C, ISO…), skin-deep knowledge can lead to misinterpretation: https://haacked.com/archive/2007/08/21/i-knew-how-to-validate-an-email-address-until-i.aspx/
• Ever heard of null? That should be worth a try: https://www.lucidchart.com/techblog/2015/08/31/the-worst-mistake-of-computer-science/

DDD

• I got more and more interested in DDD, this blog post is a kind of twisted introduction to it: https://medium.com/swlh/acronyms-are-making-you-dumb-682e7fd52c86

Toxicity¹

• This crap needs to be fixed: https://blog.jessfraz.com/post/this-industry-is-fucked/