http://java.dzone.com/articles/productivity-killing-your
Basically, the guy is saying that he doesn't have time for deep thoughts because whenever he has some downtime he tries to fill his head with more knowledge. Which in turn is making it more difficult for him to come up with proper solutions to his problems (since these typically take some pondering).
I find that I come up with solutions to problems when I'm sitting on the throne, where, surprise surprise, I've got nothing to do but sit and think.
Sometimes I go outside and stare at the trees for 15 minutes and think about clouds, then I can come back and a lot of crap that was causing me grief solves itself.
Of course this is harder to do at the office as there is no park area within 5 blocks, thank you very much City of Pavemonton
I surf forums to clear my head... lol...
Often I find solutions, or find problems with plans sometime in the evening often when driving oddly enough...
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 10:46:53 AM
http://java.dzone.com/articles/productivity-killing-your
(http://java.dzone.com/articles/productivity-killing-your)
oops, sorry for the timesink guys! my fault...
but gotta admit, on that site there is both "helpful, thought-provoking" articles, as well as smile-inducers:
http://java.dzone.com/news/comments-are-losers-2
cf. http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2011/07/funny-source-code-comments.html
City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.
Surfing forums to clear head - I find that doesn't clear my head as I'm now thinking about whatever's on the forums. In other words, it's a distraction, not a chance to let the mind wander.
Figuring out solutions while driving - that's the point this article is basically making; when you stop trying to get more input (reading, mostly) your mind has time to wander and it starts connecting things.
Timesink - well, it was the first link off that other article from that site, so not sure it can be considered a timesink for me. Whereas TVTropes or minecraftwiki.net, I'll forget to even breathe until I almost pass out.
There's only one way to tell if a comment is useful:
It tells you what the code does not how it does it
All other stuff delete.
Also if a TODO tag has been in source code for more than a year, delete it, you'll never EVER do it.
Also, people comment out code blocks because they think they'll "need" that block later, you never will. Delete it.
Similarly, people think self-documenting code means "be as verbose as possible" absolutely not the case.
-DON'T put the data type in the name
int numberOfButts = 0; //WTF, I already know it's a number you dummy
-DON'T use the Class name in class accessors (fields, properties, methods, etc)
var circle = new Circle();
var x = circle.GetCircleX();
if (circle.IsCircleRound()) {
circle.SetCircleCircleSetting(otherCircle); //hngggggh!
}
Classes are Nouns, Methods are Verbs
if (butt.Spank()) {
person.Scream();
person.CallPolice();
}
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.
And yet we have the largest connected series of urban parkland in North America
* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton#Parkland_and_environment)Too bad it's so flipping hard to get to from downtown...
Oh yeah, best code comment ever encountered:
//drunk, fix later
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
Timesink - well, it was the first link off that other article from that site, so not sure it can be considered a timesink for me. Whereas TVTropes or minecraftwiki.net, I'll forget to even breathe until I almost pass out.
Then perhaps you haven't found geektastic things linked off the main page and/or articles like
Algorithm Of The Week (http://php.dzone.com/users/stoimen)
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
Figuring out solutions while driving - that's the point this article is basically making; when you stop trying to get more input (reading, mostly) your mind has time to wander and it starts connecting things.
So you're saying most of the people of the world would be less miserable and more creatingy if they just lowered the size of their brain cache...
Quote from: Mr. Analog on June 14, 2012, 01:46:25 PM
And yet we have the largest connected series of urban parkland in North America* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton#Parkland_and_environment)
Too bad it's so flipping hard to get to from downtown...
ummm... http://www.google.com/search?q=images+edmonton+river+valley+stairs
Have you ever, in your life, used those stairs more than once or twice?
Our waterfront development is an utter joke.
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.
Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.
Quote from: Lazybones on June 14, 2012, 02:45:10 PM
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.
Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.
I never bought that argument, particularly when you see how much patching up they have to do on the concrete nearly continuously.
Quote from: Mr. Analog on June 14, 2012, 02:49:00 PM
Quote from: Lazybones on June 14, 2012, 02:45:10 PM
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
City of Pavemonton - when they paved over Churchill Square, that's when it was obvious that city planners don't care about flora.
Given the number of events there, it was always patchy grass dust/mud pit... However more green space is always better.
I never bought that argument, particularly when you see how much patching up they have to do on the concrete nearly continuously.
They did spend A LOT on patching up the grass several times a year. I think at least with the cement they can keep the square open, rather than closing the whole thing for a couple weeks to put down new sod. Not that I was in favour of the paving. Thought it was stupid.
They could've easily put in a few raised grass terraces along the side, or small trees, or stuff like that. You know, flora.
back on topic (sorta), productivity... efficiency... coding...
Latency numbers every programmer should know
http://architects.dzone.com/articles/every-programmer-should-know
http://i.imgur.com/k0t1e.png visual depictions (reminds me of the $ think that xkcd did a while ago)
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 03:44:13 PM
They could've easily put in a few raised grass terraces along the side, or small trees, or stuff like that. You know, flora.
They'd still have to replace all the grass and plants after most events.
Quote from: Tom on June 14, 2012, 04:37:22 PM
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 03:44:13 PM
They could've easily put in a few raised grass terraces along the side, or small trees, or stuff like that. You know, flora.
They'd still have to replace all the grass and plants after most events.
Doesn't seem to be a problem at the Legislature bandshell, funny that.
Don't ask me. I just know that the grass was completely trashed at most events on the square.
Quote from: Mr. Analog on June 14, 2012, 05:01:22 PM
Doesn't seem to be a problem at the Legislature bandshell, funny that.
Don't recall ever going to any events at the Legislature... However I worked at Taste of Edmonton for a few years in a row, lots of thick lines of standing people in a very small space... the grass doesn't have a chance.
It gets quite busy down at the Ledge, though nothing like taste of Edmonton...
I just hate that they paved everything.
Great if you're a skater or a food truck though.
Quote from: Darren Dirt on June 14, 2012, 02:10:31 PM
Quote from: Thorin on June 14, 2012, 01:31:11 PM
Figuring out solutions while driving - that's the point this article is basically making; when you stop trying to get more input (reading, mostly) your mind has time to wander and it starts connecting things.
So you're saying most of the people of the world would be less miserable and more creatingy if they just lowered the size of their brain cache...
creativity -- a byproduct of divergent thinking? or of [slight] crazytown?
http://jezebel.com/5952239/?post=53583217 (insightful comment for a brief article)
I'm not so sure, sometimes it happens and novel ways of achieving tasks occurs but also sometimes getting a leg-up on some ideas branches new, more powerful ideas without having to get mired in details.
I love that at any time I can look up how anything works, and then take that into my own mind and roll it around. Sometimes I connect dots that weren't connected before, and that is the best feeling ever!!
Quote from: Mr. Analog on October 16, 2012, 10:41:54 PM
I'm not so sure, sometimes it happens and novel ways of achieving tasks occurs but also sometimes getting a leg-up on some ideas branches new, more powerful ideas without having to get mired in details.
I love that at any time I can look up how anything works, and then take that into my own mind and roll it around. Sometimes I connect dots that weren't connected before, and that is the best feeling ever!!
and stuff like this can help (surprisingly)
http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,4203.msg26317.html#msg26317
^ this post I just made helped me re-discover the above-linked cool "Random Sentence Generator" (i.e. creativity-triggerer)
Yep, sometimes all it takes is a little push!
Quote from: Mr. Analog on October 16, 2012, 10:51:05 PM
Yep, sometimes all it takes is a little push!
creativity/improvisation/"flow" MRI study -- with freestyle rappers
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/11/99-problems-but-fmri-aint-one-rappers-help-scientists-study-creativity/
I wonder how those "above the 80th percentile language wizards" would be helped/hurt if on the screen above the MRI there were regular click-results from a Random Sentence Generator? (http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,4203.msg26317.html#msg26317)
see also: TED Talk (Nov2010) "Your brain on improv" http://www.ted.com/talks/charles_limb_your_brain_on_improv.html
semi-related: funny/sad how back in the Old Days, the following could easily be a bookmarklet, and now due to security restrictions etc. it's tough to make it do its thing in all major browsers...
Spoiler
javascript:zu="http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomSentence/RandomSentence.aspx"; zs='<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd"><html><head> <title>Creativity Tool -- Random Sentences!</title></head> <frameset rows="*,*,*,*"><frame src="'+zu+'"><frame src="'+zu+'"><frame src="'+zu+'"><frame src="'+zu+'"> <noframes>HTML5 I guess?</noframes></frameset></html>';zw=window.open(''); zd=!zw?"":zw.document; if(zd){zd.open();zd.write(zs);zd.close(); self.blur();zd.focus()}
Technology is killing creativity -- confirmed by disembodied British voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_JOM-sVbKI
from "Cracked but with more learninating!" -- more Deep Funny @ https://www.youtube.com/user/thugnotes/videos