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1500 questions
113
votes
30 answers

How old is "too old"?

I've been told that to be taken seriously as a job applicant, I should drop years of relevant experience off my résumé, remove the year I got my degree, or both. Or not even bother applying, because no one wants to hire programmers older than…
Dori
  • 3,820
113
votes
15 answers

Should I point out spelling/grammar related mistakes in someone's code?

While reviewing a co-worker's code, I came across some spelling mistakes in function names and also grammatical errors like doesUserHasPermission() instead of doesUserHavePermission() in function and variable names. Should I point these out to him…
Rahul
  • 2,119
113
votes
3 answers

Should cookies be used in a RESTful API?

I'm specifically interested in how users perform authorized / authenticated operations on a web API. Are authentication cookies compatible with the REST philosophy, and why?
113
votes
14 answers

Should I avoid private methods if I perform TDD?

I'm just now learning TDD. It's my understanding that private methods are untestable and shouldn't be worried about because the public API will provide enough information for verifying an object's integrity. I've understood OOP for a while. It's my…
pup
  • 1,712
113
votes
4 answers

What's The Difference Between Imperative, Procedural and Structured Programming?

By researching around (books, Wikipedia, similar questions on SE, etc) I came to understand that Imperative programming is one of the major programming paradigms, where you describe a series of commands (or statements) for the computer to execute…
113
votes
13 answers

Why is C not considered an 'object-oriented' language?

It seems that C has its own quasi-objects such as 'structs' that can be considered as objects (in the high-level way that we would normally think). And also, C files themselves are basically separate "modules", right? Then aren't modules kind of…
Dark Templar
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112
votes
11 answers

How should I organize my source tree?

I am an individual developer working, largely, on web-projects (W/LAMP) and, at times, on C/C++ (non-GUI) projects of about average scale. I often struggle with structuring my source-code tree. In fact, usually, I don't complete a project without…
check123
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112
votes
14 answers

How can I maintain code quality without SCM?

I am working in a governmental institution. The technology being used here and the methods for developing software are quite old fashioned. They have tons of storage space but no appropriate space to keep and maintain applications that are used to…
Vlad
  • 1,011
112
votes
14 answers

How do I deal with a counterproductive scrum team?

Backstory: I have been working as part of this team for the past three years and in this time we have had three different Scrum Master who have all run things differently. Because of this change in Scrum Masters and their way of running the show, it…
user42401
112
votes
1 answer

If I fork a project on Github that is licensed under MIT, how do I handle the attribution and copyright notice?

If I plan to fork an MIT project and significantly modify and rename it, how do I handle the copyright notice above the MIT license on the main License file. Would I list the original author and my company, or just the original author? What are my…
David
  • 1,889
112
votes
15 answers

Are deadlines Agile?

For clarity, a deadline is: A time limit or deadline is a narrow field of time, or particular point in time, by which an objective or task must be accomplished. From wikipedia My whole software development career I have been doing "Agile" which…
stevebot
  • 2,013
112
votes
7 answers

Why are the and tags deprecated?

This question came up in one of my college classes. The professor only gave the answer that it was more descriptive, but it seems as though and are rather explicit in their meaning and is easier to type than and . What were the…
112
votes
14 answers

How can I really master a programming language?

I know that learning a language, you can simply buy a book, follow the examples, and whenever possible try the exercises. But what I'm really looking is how to master the language once you've learned it. Now I know that experience is one major…
cprogcr
  • 661
112
votes
90 answers

Stuff every programmer needs while working

I've been tasked with creating a fun and relaxing environment, one thing I know that I want is ergonomic mice and keyboards, others have suggested exercise balls and bands. What is it that every programmer needs while working? What might not be…
112
votes
39 answers

Why are zero-based arrays the norm?

A question asked here reminded me of a discussion I had with a fellow programmer. He argued that zero-based arrays should be replaced with one-based arrays since arrays being zero-based is an implementation detail that originates from the way arrays…