My name is Mauricio Gomes and this page serves as a random dump for my work and thoughts. You will not find meaning here and you will not be impressed. Tread lightly.
I write software and co-founded edge14.
You can get in touch
My work:
Theme by nostrich.
RSpec Backtraces
For your sanity, include ‘—backtrace’ in your spec.opts file when using RSpec. It’ll help you a lot when you encounter a deep error in your code and RSpec is only displaying a shallow backtrace.
5 Tips to Become a Productive Coder
- Avoid distractions. Programmers are usually computer savvy and will have a variety of applications open all day. Close down your RSS reader, Twitter client, etc and stick to a few hours of solid coding per day.
- Avoid pre-mature optimization. You may not even keep the part of code you are writing right now, so why spend the effort to right it and optimize it if you will end up throwing it out anyway?
- Write DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) code where possible. Don’t get carried away though. Err on the side of code readability over DRY where possible.
- Write tests. Fixing a bug? Write a test. Added a new feature? Write a test. Don’t worry so much about TDD, BDD, or xDD. It’s more important that you write the tests rather then when.
- Write modular code. If you find yourself writing a lot of comments inside of your methods, you should probably break them up into separate methods.
That’s it. A lot of the things described may actually take you a little bit longer, but they all pay dividends. Bug fixes, re-factoring, and general maintainability will all greatly improve.
Wastrel
I just finished reading Esquire’s profile on Usain Bolt and it made me think of Anderson Silva and his recent performance in UFC 112.
I’ve watched the post-fight interview and I don’t believe any of it. Aside from some of the bad translation by his manager, the gist of what Anderson Silva said was that Demian Maia crossed some sort of line. A fight between two Brazilians commands a little more-than-average respect and Maia didn’t deliver.
Maybe Anderson believes this, but I don’t.
I think it’s simply that Anderson is bored. He’s dominated 185 and there is no one left that poses any threat. If he doesn’t knock out or submit someone in two rounds, he’s simply not interested. We’ve seen this happen last time he fought a Brazilian ground-gamer.
For prodigies like Usain Bolt and Anderson Silva, their talents are so much above their peers that they naturally give away less of their respect for that action. When this happens, the non-prodigies are always up in arms about the whole thing. They can’t believe these cocky, “new” kids aren’t acting in the same way the past greats did.
Usain Bolt’s dance after his performance in China may have been inappropriate to some and Anderson’s dancing in the ring in UFC 112 may have been viewed as show-boating by others. However, place a massive roadblock on one of these men’s doorstep and you will see their best performance. Once they give you that, you will view their dancing as well-deserved celebration.
I have been trying to explain to my youngest why this is such an exciting moment: front line soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq take personal risks, put their lives on the line. But so few politicians put their careers on the line, even though they make decisions that have an impact on soldiers. President Obama (and to some degree every Democrat who supports this bill) is putting his political career on the line. The idea that you might do what you think is right and pay a penalty has been so foreign to politics that it surprises us when we see it. I think my son is surprised to hear all this. He assumes at 12 years of age that people, especially people we elect, go to Washington to do the right thing.
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