If I read this one more time, I will puke ...

Yesterday, I read yet another person quote Knuth saying, "Premature optimization is root of all evil". Knuth wrote that in 1974 in the era of punch cards. Over the years, I've seen this statement used to defend bloatware, slugware and complexware. I'm tired of it.

Of course, when you are prototyping, don't be concerned with performance because you are prototyping. At the same time, if there is something simple you can do to be faster, do it! That way nobody has to come back later and optimize your code.

Steve

Lots of gradients, less functionality

If you use Hotmail, you'll notice that recently the user interface has changed. It's now super cool and gradient filled. The new login is spiffy and exciting, AJAX enabled and hover happy. Here it is:

You'll also notice that if you have multiple Hotmail accounts, it's less functional. Click 'Sign in with a different account' and you get something similar to the old login:

Now you get to type the new email address in again, rather than editing the old one. Isn't that great? Microsoft, keep those gradients coming.

Steve

Armillaria Ostoyae

Sometimes I feel like I'm part of Armillaria Ostoyae, the worlds largest living thing. No surprise, it's a fungus that sneaks around underground, killing trees by the roots.

What caused this revelation? I was shown a presentation where Eclipse (and SWT by proxy) was a tiny little box in a huge diagram that resembled modern art. I know how big SWT and Eclipse are. I'm part of the fungus!

Steve