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An Object Lesson in Binary Compatibility

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

A riddle for you, friends: When is changing a method from return void to return Something a breaking change? If you already know the answer, then why hadn’t you told me? Could’ve saved me a fair bit of embarrassment. Ah … Continue reading →

Posted in Open-Source Software, refactoring | 4 Comments

True Confessions, Public Shaming, and Test-Driven Development

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

Okay, I admit it. Sometimes I write unit tests second instead of first. I also bite my nails and rest my elbows on the dinner table. But when I’ve got a bug to fix, and I’ve already found the offending … Continue reading →

Posted in unit testing | Leave a comment

Using Syntax to Model the Domain

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

I’m fascinated by the small syntactic decisions that bring code closer to representing the business domain. Never mind the class inheritance examples from text books (“Dog IS-A Pet,” which has nearly never been relevant), I mean using properties, methods, and … Continue reading →

Posted in DDD | 6 Comments

Diffing Files to Avoid Easy Goofs

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

A good habit learned at my last job has saved me a lot of embarrassment and bugs (same thing): Before committing a set of changes to source control, I look at the diff of each file. Look at the changes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Microcontroller Projects and Source Code

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

Welcome, Ignite/Dorkbot Science Fair Party Goers. Here are details on the two projects I had with me at the Science Fair. I used the open-source Arduino microcontroller. Arduino programs are called “sketches.” I keep my Arduino sketches on the collaborative … Continue reading →

Posted in arduino, electronics | Leave a comment

Hello World in C, Dev Setup

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Sharon Cichelli

As mentioned, I’m learning C, and I’ve achieved hello-world, plus recursive calculations of factorials and some data structures. Whee. :) For those playing along at home, I’ll describe my dev setup. But first, an unexpected discovery: Counter to my intuition, … Continue reading →

Posted in C | 4 Comments

Dipping into C

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Sharon Cichelli

I decided on Monday that I should learn C. Cultivate a nodding acquaintance, at any rate. Louis is always prodding me to become a better craftsman, to become more proficient with my tools. So I figured I should understand my … Continue reading →

Posted in books, C | 8 Comments

Three Simple Steps to Improve Your Writing

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Sharon Cichelli

Technical books are longer than they ought to be. Most software books could be improved by shedding a tenth of their heft. It’s a product of market pressures, of course: Tech books need to get to market fast, which does … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

ReSharper Shortcut for Context-Sensitive Unit-Test Running

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Sharon Cichelli

For a keyboard shortcut to the context-sensitive ReSharper unit test runner (otherwise available via right-click > Run Unit Tests), map: ReSharper.ReSharper_UnitTest_ContextRun Edit: In ReSharper 6, this has moved. It is now ReSharper.ReSharper_ReSharper_UnitTest_RunContext.(Note the extra ReSharper in there; that’s not a … Continue reading →

Posted in Resharper, shortcut, unit testing, Visual Studio | 6 Comments

Rhino Mocks Examples, with a fix

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Sharon Cichelli

Jon Kruger created an excellent explanation of Rhino Mocks, using unit tests to demonstrate and illuminate the syntax and capabilities. (Found via @gar3t.) It needs one small correction, which I’d like to write about here so that I can link … Continue reading →

Posted in Rhino Mocks, unit testing | 10 Comments