[Programming] Crucible code-review system

At work, we use a great code-review system called Crucible (by the makers of the Jira bug tracker and Confluence wiki).

To use it, you simply click a line of code. A text box appears, allowing you to enter a comment. The author is notified with an email.



Crucible is great because it makes code reviews easy: just click on a line, and enter your comment.

Another good thing is that it makes code reviews non-threatening (and efficient). I'm not saying that face-to-face code reviews should never be done. But using an asynchronous code-review system is convenient: you review the code at a convenient time, at your own pace. For some reason, the tone of any criticism of the code remains constructive and respectful.

[Programming] Understanding the "this" keyword in JavaScript

My colleague asked me how to know what the "this" keyword refers to in JavaScript. It's a bit different from other languages.

First, the rule: When you invoke a function on an object, "this" refers to the object. When you invoke a function by itself, "this" refers to the global object (the window object).

Now for some examples.

Creating an object in JavaScript is easy:

    var food = {};

Let's add a function to this object:

    var food = {
        getCalories: function() { alert(this); return 300; }
    };

    food.getCalories();

When we call food.getCalories(), "this" is the food object, because we are invoking the function on the food object.

But check this out:

    var getCals = food.getCalories;
    getCals();

Here we invoke the function by itself, i.e., not on an object. "this" is the global object (i.e. window), because we are invoking the function by itself.

Now look at this:

    var automobile = {};
    automobile.getCalories = getCals;
    automobile.getCalories();

Here we've created an automobile object, and added our function to it. "this" is the automobile object, because we are invoking the function on the automobile object.

Thus, "this" is a dynamic quantity – it is not cast in stone when the function is defined, but refers to the current object that the function is being invoked on.

Trillions to 1

Just the other day I was thinking, if, 31 years ago, the two gametes from which I was formed - those two first cells of me - differed in location by a millimeter, I would not be here today. Someone else would be in my place, someone looking very similar, but it would not be me. I would have never awakened to life, but would have remained non-existent. Someone else - a pseudo-Jonathan-Aquino - would have grown up with my family, attended my school, fallen in love with computers, contributed to society - in my place. All without me knowing it; I would never have been born into reality. I would have remained dormant.

The chances of those two first cells meeting were astronomically low - 1 in trillions. And going further back in time, through the generations, the chances of events happening in just the right place and at just the right time to result in this one meeting of cells: very unlikely. If anything had been slightly different - a rainy day instead of a sunny one, for instance - another Jonathan Aquino, not I, would be living this life.

Yet here I am. Trillions to 1 that I should not have been granted a shot at this life. I'm very lucky.

Videos of Great Speeches: I Have A Dream; JFK's Inaugural Address

Footage of a couple of amazing speeches:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream
• JFK's Inaugural Address

[Programming] The Proper naming pattern: Extract the guts of foo() into fooProper()

Often in programming you will have two versions of a function: one that serves as an outer shell, and the "real" function itself. Suppose you have extracted the guts of addAttachment() into addAttachment2().

A difficulty confronts you: What do you call the new function? addAttachment2() is a lousy name.

A wonderful adjective can help us here: proper. We would call the new function addAttachmentProper():



The function proper is *the* function, the one that does the work. I live in Victoria, but not in Victoria proper (the central part of the city). "proper" is a convenient term to denote The Actual Function.

More examples:

• iconUrl() and iconUrlProper()


• broadcast() and broadcastProper()


• url() and urlProper()


• delete() and deleteProper()

DIY Hand-Bordered Correspondence Cards

Crane's sells some very nice hand-bordered correspondence cards, but at $20 + shipping + tax for a box of 10, they're not cheap.

But you can do almost as well by taking a 4x6 index card and applying a border with a felt marker. Just lay a sheet of paper beside the edge of the card (to make a clean border edge), find a marker with the desired color, and fill in the border.

Another song: Dolor Sit Amet

Here's another song I made using Audacity and a couple of instruments. It's a passionate love song / waltz, called Dolor Sit Amet.

Song I made using Audacity

Here's a song I made using Audacity and a bunch of instruments: Experiment 1.

Useful widgets for Google Desktop sidebar

I turned the Google Desktop sidebar back on, because there are a few widgets that I thought would make my life easier. They definitely help.

At the top, there's the time and date, day, and a mini calendar.

Below that is a large yellow notepad - this is the most useful widget. I often need a place to jot down information, and to refer to it. This notepad widget is always visible, and doesn't cover up any other windows.

Just below that is a little purple calculator widget called easyCalc. You can type in arithmetic expressions. It's not the greatest - the numbers are tiny, and it behaves a bit wonky sometimes - but it does the job.

Nice bookmarks you can print out

If you ever need to print out some bookmarks, these three by Jan Brett are quite nice.

jEdit macro: Toggling between proportional and monospaced fonts

Here's a jEdit macro to toggle between a nice proportional font and a not-bad monospaced font:

if (jEdit.getProperty("view.font") == "Franklin Gothic Medium") {
    jEdit.setIntegerProperty("view.fontsize", 19);
    jEdit.setProperty("view.font", "DejaVu Sans Mono");
    jEdit.propertiesChanged();
} else {
    jEdit.setIntegerProperty("view.fontsize", 22);
    jEdit.setProperty("view.font", "Franklin Gothic Medium");
    jEdit.propertiesChanged();
}

I like jEdit's choice of macro language (Java). And you can assign a keyboard shortcut to any macro (I'm using F9).

5beeps.wav - Useful replacement sound for calendar apps

Don't you hate how Outlook's Reminder window is buried under your other windows, causing you to miss appointments?

Solution: Change the Reminder sound to this more noticeable set of 5 beeps: 5beeps.wav. Change it in Tools > Options > Advanced Options > Reminder Options > Reminder Sound.

It's an unobtrusive yet noticeable alert sound. Useful for other applications as well.

(Based on the public-domain beepdoub.wav sound.)

QuickSlide: Create slides from your browser's address bar

Here's another little site I've been working on: QuickSlide. It lets you create good-looking slides using your browser's address bar.

For example,
http://quickslide.ning.com?q=QuickSlide<div class="subtitle">Simplicity. Power.</div>


You get a nice dark backdrop, and centered text at a good size.

You can also add a picture – one of the built-in leaf images, or an image of your own:
http://quickslide.ning.com?q=<img width="450" src="leaf1.png">Improvements


http://quickslide.ning.com?q=<img width="300" src="leaf2.png"><br />Music


To add a reflection to an image, use class="reflect":
http://quickslide.ning.com?q=<img width="300" src="leaf4.png" class="reflect">Reflection


If you use YubNub, you can generate slides using the qsl command. Here's a slide that shows a random number:
qsl { random 100 }


QuickSlide source code

[Programming] Unused Variable Detector

Presenting the Unused Variable Detector. Paste code into the box, press the button, and you will be given a list of variables that aren't used. Works for many different programming languages. Source code.

Trying out the Maxthon browser

Trying the Maxthon browser again. I've loaded down Firefox with web-development extensions, so it's nice to have a zippy browser for regular use.

One cool feature of Maxthon is Split View. I often want to see two websites side by side.

Firefox Bookmarklet for Making Webpages Easier to Read

On many websites, the text is tiring to read because it is too small and too closely spaced:



If you use Firefox, try dragging the following booklet to your Bookmarks Toolbar: Legiblize.

Now, whenever you encounter a page that it is hard to read, click the bookmarklet. It will increase the font size, increase the spacing, and change the font to Palatino.



This is much easier to read on my monitor. Adjust the font and font size to taste.

Four Learning Styles

The book Teach What You Know has an interesting list of four learning styles:

• Purpose-Driven learners need to know why something is important before they begin to learn about it. While you are teaching away, they are trying to figure out why the topic is important. Once they have an answer, they will give you their attention.
• Just The Facts learners don't care so much about the big picture – what's important to them is the steps to do the job. They want you to skip the fluff and just tell them the main points.
• Contextual learners seemingly ask you about everything except the topic at hand. "OK, let's get back on topic," you say gently. But that's how contextual learners learn: by seeing the connections to things on the periphery.
• Out-of-the-Box learners are ornery devil's advocates. "What if we took a totally different approach and try this?" they ask, to your chagrin. "What would happen if that part failed?" Out-of-the-Box learners learn by pushing the limits of knowledge, by asking about hypothetical situations.

In the book, these styles are called: Why learners, What learners, How Does It Work learners, and What If learners.

Update: The book's author, Steve Trautman, sent me this helpful clarification:

Hi Jon

Thanks for posting about my book. I wanted to offer a slight correction. I’d say you’ve mixed your “contextual learner” with your “out of the box learner.” The hallmark of a contextual learner is needing to see the relationships between the components in a situation. For example, they like to see an org chart and job descriptions so they know how the people fit together. They like to see a site map to know how the grounds are laid out and they like to have information about external factors like competition or seasonal issues. They’re the ones who need to see the “big picture” in order to learn.

Otherwise your paraphrase is good.

The other note you might want to share is that since not everyone learns the same way, we need to be a little tolerant of the differences when we’re the teacher/mentor – adjusting for the learning style of our apprentices rather than making them adjust to us.

Hope this helps.

All the best

Steve Trautman

www.peermentoring.com

Subversion Time-Lapse View 1.6 Released

SVN Time-Lapse View 1.6 has been released. It has the following improvements:

• Remember Password checkbox
• Repository Browser dialog, added by Kim Tiedemann. The Browse button will open the file dialog or Repository Browser dialog as appropriate, depending on whether you specify a filename or URL.
  

Using text-to-speech to listen to online books

An even better way to learn from online books – if you are an audio learner like me – is to have them read to you. I just bought the high-quality AT&T Natural Voices for $35 (including a Windows program that lets you paste in text to read). And I've heard that Mac OSX Leopard has a pretty good built-in voice called Alex.

Here's an MP3 excerpt from Teach What You Know: A Practical Leader's Guide to Knowledge Transfer Using Peer Mentoring. The text is from the O'Reilly online book (shown in my previous post); it's being read aloud by AT&T Natural Voices.

The voice is easy to understand, and the information sinks into my brain easily. I like this way of learning.

Firefox O'Reilly Online-Book Legiblizer

I find O'Reilly's online books to be hard to read. The font is too small, and the lines are too close together.

Here's a bookmarklet that increases the font size, increases the line spacing, and changes the font: O'Reilly Legiblize. Drag it to your Firefox toolbar, then click it while reading an O'Reilly online book.

Before legiblizing:



After legiblizing:



Much better.

(Font, font size, and line spacing can be adjusted to taste.)

Quote from Zinsser's "On Writing Well", Chapter 4: The Audience

"Another question will occur to you: 'Who am I writing for?' It's a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You are writing for yourself."

–William Zinsser

Programming: Method names: Statistics for the JDK

Here are some statistics on method names in Java 1.5 (method signatures, method names). By analyzing code of reasonably high quality like the JDK, we can derive rules of thumb for good, standardized function names. Useful for any language.

Number of methods in JDK 1.5:

    80818

Most common method names:

   1304 toString            
   1219 run                 
    663 equals              
    496 hashCode            
    440 actionPerformed     
    439 getName             
    383 contains            
    352 accept              
    320 remove              
    285 reset               
    280 get                 
    278 getCharacterEncoding
    277 paint               
    261 read                
    258 add                 
    256 write               
    224 main                
    216 close               
    213 clone               
    204 getValue            
    199 getType             
    193 next                
    191 createUI            
    189 size                
    175 clear               
    168 getPreferredSize    
    167 print               
    159 init                
    152 newEncoder          
    152 newDecoder          
    150 propertyChange      
    145 update              
    140 historicalName      
    134 getMinimumSize      
    130 debug               
    120 translate           
    119 setValue            
    116 set                 
    116 put                 
    110 getEncoderIndex2    
    110 append              
    107 isEmpty             
    107 getInstance         
    104 initialize          
    103 getMaximumSize      
    102 getBorderInsets     
    102 error               
    102 dispose             
    101 writeObject         

Most common 1-word prefixes:

  19984 get       
   5449 set       
   3555 is        
   1604 to        
   1534 create    
   1441 visit     
   1180 add       
    776 remove    
    707 write     
    642 update    
    532 mouse     
    501 hash      
    500 check     
    477 new       
    471 has       
    468 print     
    449 action    
    412 read      
    374 install   
    357 parse     
    330 paint     
    302 uninstall 
    294 handle    
    260 put       
    258 init      
    252 process   
    223 next      
    223 find      
    220 end       
    217 load      
    217 build     
    202 can       
    198 make      
    195 do        
    171 window    
    166 type      
    161 start     
    159 compare   
    157 fire      
    152 property  
    141 impl      
    140 historical
    140 clear     
    138 contains  
    137 jj_3      
    121 code      
    116 draw      
    109 show      
    109 focus     

Most common 2-word prefixes:

  626 getAccessible
  308 getCharacter 
  229 getPreferred 
  223 getDefault   
  190 getMinimum   
  183 getIcon      
  175 getClass     
  163 getSystem    
  160 getMaximum   
  130 getMax       
  129 getEncoder   
  128 getBorder    
  127 getFile      
  117 getLast      
  115 getDecoder   
  109 getNode      
  109 getInput     
  105 getNext      
  105 getCurrent   
   89 getType      
   89 getLocal     
   88 getColumn    
   88 getAttribute 
   87 getFont      
   82 getComponent 
   80 isValid      
   80 hasMore      
   78 getRow       
   75 visitType    
   75 getJvm       
   74 getElement   
   73 getData      
   72 getParent    
   65 getNum       
   62 getUser      
   62 getProperty  
   61 getMenu      
   60 getText      
   59 getStandard  
   57 visitConstant
   57 getNative    
   57 getContext   
   57 getActual    
   57 addLayout    
   56 setDefault   
   56 getSelected  
   55 getError     
   54 getDocument  
   54 getContent   

Most common 1-word method names:

 1219 run       
  663 equals    
  383 contains  
  352 accept    
  320 remove    
  285 reset     
  280 get       
  277 paint     
  261 read      
  258 add       
  256 write     
  224 main      
  216 close     
  213 clone     
  193 next      
  189 size      
  175 clear     
  167 print     
  159 init      
  145 update    
  130 debug     
  120 translate 
  116 set       
  116 put       
  110 append    
  104 initialize
  102 error     
  102 dispose   
   96 start     
   96 match     
   95 parse     
   94 eval      
   91 trace     
   83 create    
   83 compare   
   81 encode    
   72 finalize  
   71 flush     
   68 stop      
   68 insert    
   60 copy      
   57 check     
   55 render    
   54 matches   
   52 delete    
   50 process   
   50 name      
   47 skip      
   46 show      

If you want to conduct your own analysis, view the JDK 1.5 method signatures and method names.

Programming Book: The Little Schemer

I'm having fun going through a computer-programming book called The Little Schemer. It consists of dozens of exercises that you solve using little snippets of recursive code. It definitely has the feel of a game - Sudoku moreso than Call of Duty.

The key to enjoying this book is to not get hung up on the non-code questions. The book is written as a list of questions and answers, and it's frustrating to try to answer the non-code questions because they are often unguessable:

Q: Is that bad?
A: You must beware of shadows

Quickly read through the non-code questions and answers. But try to answer the code questions - that's the stuff that's fun and interesting.

Q: Write fun? with set? and firsts
A: (define fun? (lambda (rel) (set? (firsts rel))))

You'll find pencil and paper to be too slow for this stuff; a text editor is more convenient. But you need not bother running the code through a compiler - the answers are given on the same page.

RSS feed of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica

Here is a daily RSS feed for the Summa Theologica. It gives you one article a day, and takes 8½ years to finish.

Better than spending $165 on the 5-volume set.

GridNote - A grid of sticky notes

GridNote is a webpage of sticky notes that you can use to jot down things you need to remember (like a timesheet log, or restaurant prices, or calorie counts).

GridNote uses a cookie to remember your notes - no database is involved, so your privacy is protected. Source code.

These sticky notes are perfectly laid out for you. If you've got a third monitor or some extra screen real estate, try putting GridNote there.

Current Ergonomic Setup

Here's the ergonomic setup that's currently working for me.

1. Keyboard: Kinesis Advantage ($300). These used to give me pain in my palms, until I started using SmartGloves (item 3). I like how this keyboard puts Ctrl and Alt on the thumbs instead of the pinky (which, if overworked, can lead to Emacs Pinky). I've also found the Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard ($80) to be good; unfortunately it locates Ctrl and Alt at the pinky.

2. Trackball: Kensington Expert Mouse ($150). Using a mouse gives me various aches. This trackball doesn't, for some reason.

3. SmartGloves ($100). Keeps your wrists from bending backwards (pronation), by means of a hard foam strip down the back of your hand, and a beanbag under your palm.

4. Forearm support: rolled up towel ($0). Inexpensive way to prevent forearm pain, especially with the 1.5"-tall Kinesis keyboard.

5. Table, 26" high. This is a good height for me, as it keeps my elbows at right angles.

6. (Not shown) Good office chair with back support ($150).

Programming Books and a $200 Amazon Gift Certificate

I received a $200 Amazon gift certificate and here's what I got:

• Implementation Patterns ($34) by Kent Beck. Tips for maintainable code. Should be a fun read.
  
• Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture ($43) by Martin Fowler. Web presentation, concurrency, O/R, distributed objects.
• Pro JavaScript Techniques ($30) by John Resig (jQuery creator). I'd watched a video of one of John's talks, and liked what I heard. I've read another JavaScript book (JavaScript: The Definitive Guide), and look forward to learning JavaScript best practices from this book.
• Why Programs Fail: A Guide to Systematic Debugging ($58) by Andreas Zeller. The priciest book of the bunch. Looks like it's written in an engaging way. Hope to expand on the debugging techniques I learned from Debugging: The Nine Essential Rules.
  
• jQuery Reference Guide ($31). jQuery is the new kid on the JavaScript-framework block, so I'd like to learn more about it.

Books which, alas, didn't make the cut:

• Domain-Driven Design $44. Many reviews complained of its verbosity.
• xUnit Test Patterns $45. Too long (900 pages).
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs $70. I should read this sometime.
• Code Complete 2 $30. Read the original Code Complete some years ago. Wonder if the new edition merits a second reading.
• Programming Pearls $30. A favorite of James Gosling and Tim Bray.
  

Programming Resources: Smalltalk Tutorial, PragProg Appendix, Searching Blogger Profiles

Programming-related resources I'm checking out:

• Squeak by Example (PDF). Book-length Smalltalk tutorial. Smalltalk is a fun, quirky, OO language/environment.
• Pragmatic Programmer (book) Appendix A: Resources. Lists interesting programming resources: Tcl, Mozilla source code, comp.object FAQ, Z Shell, JavaSpaces, Emacs . . .
• Joel on Software (book) It's about time to read this again.
• Search Blogger profiles to find people interested in X and Y: http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:blogger.com/profile+catholic+software&hl=en&filter=0 . Useful for finding people for your highly specific social-networking group (like the Association of Catholic Computer Programmers). Even better, set up a Google Alert so you are notified about matching profiles.
• Homepage Usability (book). Jakob Nielsen's critique of 50 homepages.
  
• Refactoring to Patterns (book). Good synthesis of the ideas from two important books: Refactoring and Design Patterns. Can be a bit hard to read sometimes – I'm glad that examples are provided.
• Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed (book). I'm not currently coding in .NET, but Devin mentioned to me that WPF is "Microsoft's new way of doing UI and tying it to logic and is very powerful". Hoping to glean some ideas.
  

Association of Catholic Computer Programmers

I would like to announce the founding of the Association of Catholic Computer Programmers, which unites two great interests of mine (and of many others, I hope).

If you are a Roman Catholic who counts The Pragmatic Programmer, Design Patterns, and Refactoring among your favourite books, come join the ACCP at http://accp.ning.com/

PHP Regular Expressions: Recursion, Named Capture

Here's a PHP regular expression for matching *nested* parentheses (e.g. blocks of code):

    ((?:[^()]++|\((?1)\))*)

The ?1 is a recursive reference to the regex marked by the outermost parentheses. It is a feature of the PHP regex engine.

See Jeffrey Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions, 3rd ed., p. 476, "Recursive reference to a set of capturing parentheses".

Another potentially useful regex technique is "named capture":

    ^(?P<protocol>https?)://(?P<host>[^/:]+)(?::(?P<port>\d+))?

Here you can use either $matches[0], $matches[1], $matches[2] or $matches['protocol'], $matches['host'], $matches['port'].