Netphase » programming http://blog.netphase.com for a connected world Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:40:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Web Session Patent Awarded http://blog.netphase.com/2007/06/03/web-session-patent-awarded/ http://blog.netphase.com/2007/06/03/web-session-patent-awarded/#comments Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:48:03 +0000 scottned http://blog.netphase.com/2007/06/03/web-session-patent-awarded/ I just found out that the U.S. Patent office issued patent number 7,188,176 naming me as primary inventor for an “Apparatus, system, and method for maintaining a persistent data state on a communications network”. I’m pretty stunned. I did the work for this back in 1998 for Priceline and they filed for the patent in 2000. So, I guess I’m now “officially” an Inventor.

]]> http://blog.netphase.com/2007/06/03/web-session-patent-awarded/feed/ 2 Stiff asks, great programmers answer http://blog.netphase.com/2007/02/12/stiff-asks-great-programmers-answer/ http://blog.netphase.com/2007/02/12/stiff-asks-great-programmers-answer/#comments Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:37:27 +0000 scottned http://blog.netphase.com/2007/02/12/stiff-asks-great-programmers-answer/ I ran across this questionairre last summer. It’s one of those cool ideas that can probably only be done a handful of times (maybe only once). Anyway, this guy sent 10 questions to some of the most famous / interesting programmers he could think of and actually got responses.

Some of my favorite questions/answers:

Q: What do you think is the most important skill every programmer should posses?

A: Written and verbal communication skills. You’ll never make it very far as a programmer in any field unless you can get your ideas across to people effectively. Programmers should read voraciously, practice writing, take writing courses, and even practice at public speaking. (Steve Yegge)

A: A strong sense of value. The ability to ask yourself the question: Is it worth doing what I’m doing right now? So many programmers seem to waste oceans of time on stuff that just doesn’t matter. And not enough on the stuff that does. (David Heinemeier Hansson)

Q: What do you think makes some programmers 10 or 100 times more productive than others?

A: The ability to restate hard problems as easy ones. (David Heinemeier Hansson)

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