How to handle divide by zero in a language that doesn’t support exceptions?
Mathew Foscarini asks: I'm in the middle of developing a new programming language to solve some business requirements, and this language is targeted at novice users. So there is no support for...
View ArticleHow to implement a self-destruct feature into free trial software?
theGreenCabbage asks: I am interested in implementing a free trial version to my existing software. I plan on having the trial last 14 days. Upon the 14th day, my software would prompt the user to...
View ArticleWhy is multiple inheritance so abhorred?
Panzercrisis asks: I've always liked the idea of having multiple inheritance supported in a language. Most often though it's intentionally forgone, and the supposed "replacement" is interfaces....
View ArticleWhy is it so hard to make a Java program appear native?
user3150201 asks: Most Java applications don't look the same as C/C++ applications. Swing might have been designed on purpose to have a distinctive look. SWT for example tried to look native and...
View ArticleKeep a programming language backwards compatible or fix its flaws?
Radu Murzea asks: First, some context (stuff that most of you know anyway): Every popular programming language has a clear evolution, most of the time marked by its version: you have Java 5, 6, 7 etc.,...
View ArticleShould you go forward with a project if the code isn’t clean?
solidsnake asks: I'm a beginner Web developer (one year of experience). A couple of weeks after graduating, I got offered a job to build a web application for a company whose owner is not much of a...
View ArticleIs there a benefit to compiling your code as you go?
CaptainCodeman asks: I recently had a job interview in which they gave me an hour to write some real code. It wasn't a huge amount, probably less than 100 lines. After about 45 minutes, I compiled, ran...
View ArticleShould I break up code commits?
durron597 asks: I was naughty. Too much "cowboy coding," not enough committing. Now, here I am with an enormous commitment. Yes, I should have been committing all along, but it's too late now. What is...
View ArticleAm I being taken advantage of during the job application test?
CodeWarrior asks: I am looking for a job and have applied to a number of positions. One employer responded. I had a pretty lengthy phone interview (perhaps more than an hour) and they then set me up...
View ArticleShould I follow the normal path or fail early?
jao asks: From the Code Complete book comes the following quote: "Put the normal case after the 'if' rather than after the 'else'"Read full article Comments
View ArticleWhy is software OS specific?
user139929 asks: I'm trying to determine the technical details of why software produced using programming languages for certain operating systems only work with them. It is my understanding that...
View ArticleWhy throw early and catch late?
here asks: There are many well-known best practices about exception handling in isolation. I know the "do's and don'ts" well enough, but things get complicated when it comes to best practices or...
View ArticleHow do you avoid being forked into oblivion?
Den asks: As recently reported, "Xamarin has forked Cocos2D-XNA, a 2D/3D game development framework, creating a cross-platform library that can be included in PCL projects." However the founder of the...
View ArticleHow to manage accidental complexity in software projects?
davidk01 asks: When Murray Gell-Mann was asked how Richard Feynman managed to solve so many hard problems Gell-Mann responded that Feynman had an algorithm: Write down the problem. Think real hard....
View ArticleWhy was the first compiler written before the first interpreter?
anguyen asks: The first compiler was written by Grace Hopper in 1952 while the Lisp interpreter was written in 1958 by John McCarthy's student Steve Russell. Writing a compiler seems like a much harder...
View ArticleHow do I remember what I was working on and why several months ago?
TheIndependentAquarius asks: I was working on a project three months ago when suddenly another urgent project appeared and I was asked to shift my attention. Starting tomorrow, I'll be heading back to...
View ArticleWhy is polling accepted in Web development?
dennis asks: I am currently working on a Ruby on Rails project which shows a list of images. A must-have for this project is that it shows new posts in realtime without the need of refreshing the Web...
View ArticleIn a dynamically typed language, is it a bad idea to return different data...
Daniel Kaplan asks: I come from a statically typed language background (Java). In Java, you have to return a single type from every method. For example, you can't have a method that conditionally...
View ArticleClient-side coding: How to prevent malicious use?
Gaz_Edge asks: Over the last few years, the trend for client-side (browser) applications has really taken off. For my latest project, I have decided to try and move with the times and write a...
View ArticleShould commit history be used to convey critical information to developers?
rjzii asks: During a meeting regarding the rollback of a third-party SDK from the latest version, it was noted that the SDK developers already announced in the commit history that the latest version...
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