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1500 questions
127
votes
14 answers
Why isn't TDD more popular in universities?
Recently, a person here asked a basic question about how to compute in Python all permutations of elements from a list. As for most questions asked by students, I haven't provided the actual source code in my answer, but rather explained how to…
Arseni Mourzenko
- 135,365
127
votes
11 answers
How can I minimize git pain when everybody is working on master?
Our documentation team of about ten people recently moved from SVN to Git. In SVN, everybody worked on master -- a model I've always hated, but I wasn't able to bring about that change. As part of the move to Git we've agreed to fix that, but we…
Monica Cellio
- 1,337
127
votes
4 answers
REST API security Stored token vs JWT vs OAuth
I am still trying to find the best security solution for protecting REST API, because the amount of mobile applications and API is increasing every day.
I have tried different ways of authentication, but still has some misunderstandings, so I need…
CROSP
- 1,558
127
votes
16 answers
Is there any way to get faster at solving bugs? I've just had a warning from my boss
I've just been told by my boss that I will receive a negative performance review on Monday. He wants to talk to me about why I am so slow and why my bug fix rate is so low.
I love programming and solving problems but I actually do find my job really…
user90636
127
votes
16 answers
Should one check for null if he does not expect null?
Last week, we had a heated argument about handling nulls in our application's service layer. The question is in the .NET context, but it will be the same in Java and many other technologies.
The question was: should you always check for nulls and…
Stilgar
- 1,514
126
votes
16 answers
Why is 0 false?
Why does 0 evaluate to false and any other integer value to true is most programming languages?
String comparison
First of all, it may seem evident to any programmer, but why wouldn't there be a programming language - there may actually be, but not…
Morwenn
- 1,756
126
votes
27 answers
What are the worst false economies in software development?
What are the worst false economies (that is ways of saving money that ultimately cost more than they save) prevalent in the software industry and how do you combat them?
Jon Hopkins
- 22,764
125
votes
41 answers
What kind of innovative non-cash financial benefits do I offer to my developers to retain them along with a competitive salary?
Stock options don't make much sense, since the company's private. [It still does, if you are a facebook of sorts AND the regulatory system permits sites like secondmarket, but I digress.]
I could think of some:
Health benefits to parents and…
Fanatic23
- 7,493
125
votes
20 answers
How do you safely delete a piece of code that looks like it's never entered?
You've found some code that looks superfluous, and the compiler doesn't notice that. What do you do to be sure (or as close to sure as you can) that deleting this code won't cause regression.
Two ideas spring to mind.
"Simply" use deduction based…
Bradley Thomas
- 5,100
125
votes
5 answers
How to manage a copyright notice in an open source project?
I'm working on, and adding to, a GitHub-hosted project that includes this LICENCE.md (apparently the MIT licence verbatim):
Copyright (c) 2012 [Acme Corp]
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software…
Steve Bennett
- 3,429
125
votes
7 answers
What is the most effective way to add functionality to unfamiliar, structurally unsound code?
This is probably something everyone has to face during the development sooner or later.
You have an existing code written by someone else, and you have to extend it to work under new requirements.
Sometimes it's simple, but sometimes the modules…
Coder
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- 49
125
votes
14 answers
Why don't we store the syntax tree instead of the source code?
We have a lot of programming languages. Every language is parsed and syntax checked before being translated into code so an abstract syntax tree (AST) is built.
We have this abstract syntax tree, why don't we store this syntax tree instead of the…
Calmarius
- 1,913
125
votes
16 answers
Should I remove unreferenced code?
I'm working on a medium sized (100k lines) code base, it's all relatively recent code (less than a year old) and has good unit test coverage.
I keep coming across methods which are either no longer used anywhere or only referenced in unit tests…
Simon Hutton
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124
votes
12 answers
Effective Strategies for Localization in .NET
I am developing the UI for a .NET MVC application that will require international localization of all content in the near future. I am very familiar with .NET in general but have never had a project that required such a significant focus on…
smartcaveman
- 1,522
124
votes
15 answers
Why big companies use Perforce?
I heard about some big companies e.g. Google, Facebook use Perforce
Are there any reason why SVN/Git cannot replace Perforce?
user34401
- 751