Thursday, October 4, 2007  What I Learned From X That Made Me A
Better Programmer In Y  Picking up Raganwald's gauntlet.  X =
Acting classes; Y = Any programming language  Trust your
instincts. Act on the first idea that comes into your head, just
to see what will happen.  X = DJing in clubs; Y = Presenting at
conferences  Show off. The worst that could happen is that
somebody will put you down. The only way they can put you down,
if you're showing off, is by teaching you something better. So
you win either way.  X = Common Lisp; Y = Java  Objects do not
need to have any substance at all. They can consist entirely of
behavior.  Compartmentalize everything. Use simple names.  X =
The dot-com boom; Y = Rails  If you hand-code CGI, then graduate
to Perl's, you're in the position of using a framework which
automates stuff you used to do by hand. In this position, you
can program rings around people who only know how to use the
framework. The best way to use a framework is to know on a very
practical level what it