Nosce next door

I really enjoyed Gile’s latest post to come out of last weeks Madison Ruby Conf on the topic of using test driven development for your javascript.   The writing is on the well folks, time to get used to writing tests for your javascript.

From his post:

Nonetheless, if you’re not writing your JavaScript TDD, you’re out of your fucking mind. It’s just so fucking EASY, and it’s such a quirky language with so many pitfalls. Writing JavaScript without tests is like having sex without a condom, except worse, because it’s the wiggiest language out there, and it can turn on you at any second, so it’s more like having sex with a rabid orangutang without a condom during the act or a taser to subdue it afterwards so you can make your escape. Look, just write fucking tests when you write fucking JavaScript, OK? Seriously, what the fuck. 

Nonetheless, if you’re not writing your JavaScript TDD, you’re out of your fucking mind. It’s just so fucking EASY, and it’s such a quirky language with so many pitfalls. Writing JavaScript without tests is like having sex without a condom, except worse, because it’s the wiggiest language out there, and it can turn on you at any second, so it’s more like having sex with a rabid orangutang without a condom during the act or a taser to subdue it afterwards so you can make your escape.

Look, just write fucking tests when you write fucking JavaScript, OK? Seriously, what the fuck. 

Here’s a quick video showing how easy it is. The video uses CoffeeScript but everything in it translates very, very easily and directly into JavaScript; all you do is add punctuation. By the way, I wrote a lot of the code and the tests in this video while sitting in the audience of this testing talk. It’s so easy you can do it without even fully paying attention to it because you’re also busy listening to somebody tell you how allegedly impossible it is. 

If are not familiar with Giles work, by all means, go familiarize yourself with it.

Corey Haines has posted a video of a recent presentation that he gave on the topic of what it takes to be a software craftsman.    If you write code and you are not familiar with Corey (you should be), check out his site on being a journeyman software developer.

From today’s 37 Signals SVN Blog

I’m not going to lie. I was never a Microsoft fan. Not even when I was using Windows (that I begrudgingly moved to after the Amiga). But at least you used to have some awe and respect for the gorilla that was Microsoft. Bill Gates might have been an evil genius, but at least he was a genius.

Now contrast this to Steve Ballmer. Who’s certainly no genius and calling him evil is to belittle evil. He has turned the gorilla into a buffoon. And frankly, it’s sad. Gone are the feelings of rage (except when they patent troll people for being web apps) and left is pity.

None of this is new, of course. Ballmer has be running Microsoft for more than a decade now, but when you don’t hear from the guy directly for a while, it’s easy to get lulled into the belief that he’s probably running alright. Not.

See this video from D8 of Ballmer babbling about “productivity is going to be important, consumption is going to be important”.

Now contrast this with Steve Jobs speaking about a much, much tougher issue at the same conference:

Jobs is lucid and reasoned. Ballmer is… Hell, I don’t even know how to describe it. He’s all over the place. No clear definitions, just randomly running his mouth. Compared to Jobs, I think it’s charitable to call him pathetic.

Jobs needs worthy opponents and Ballmer isn’t it. Look at this chart of Microsoft’s market value from the Gates to Ballmer hand-over:

Now look at this picture of Apple stock since Jobs returned:

It matters who’s at the top. It sets the company tone. Microsoft is undoubtedly full of very smart people, but as long as they are being run by Steve Ballmer, they’re going to be shackled by his ineptitude.

I wish Microsoft had their evil genius back.