If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly

If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly | ITworld. Programming, whether you're doing it as an open source enthusiast or because you're workin' for The Man, is an exercise in attention to detail. Someone who writes software must be a nit-picker, or the code won't work.

via Slashdot

Java String Concatenation and Performance

Java String Concatenation and Performance ~ Joey’s Scribble’s. “The quick and dirty way to concatenate strings in Java is to use the concatenation operator (+). This will yield a reasonable performance if you need to combine two or three strings (fixed-size). But if you want to concatenate n strings in a loop, the performance degrades in multiples of n.” An article that compares the speed of  4 different ways to concatenating Strings in Java.  Using  StringBuilder is clearly the fastest but it is interesting to see the range of differences. The comments to the article also mention when StringBuffer should be preferred.

via Dz0ne

DocWeb – Java API

DocWeb – Java API
“A Sun-sponsored community JavaDocs site where members: Translate JavaDocs, Offer Bug References, Contribute Notes, Provide Code Examples & Rate Community Contributions” — a new way to view JavaDocs, includes more code samples!

Software Testing Tips

Software Testing Tips | ChoosyInfo A few good tips about testing. Here is one that novices don’t often ignore. “Prepare your test cases in requirement or design phase…” (via dzone)

10 commandments for creating good code

10 commandments for creating good code « Making Good Software Good guidelines, succintly put. (via DZone)

Effective Java NullPointerException Handling

Dustin’s Software Development Cogitations and Speculations: Effective Java NullPointerException Handling An excellent article on handling and avoiding NullPointer exceptions. (via dzone)

Summer Internship Opportunity!

Interdisciplinary UBRP-CT/iPlant

As spring classes begin, please let your undergraduates know about a unique 2009 summer research opportunity for students interested in applying their computer science background to problems in plant biology. The Interdisciplinary Computational Thinking and Plant Biology Research Program for Undergraduates

(Interdisciplinary UBRP-CT: http://ubrp.arizona.edu/iplant) is a 12 week paid summer research experience (roughly $300/week) with many additional enrichment activities (http://ubrp.arizona.edu/iplant/default.cfm?id=supplement).

The program takes place at the beautiful University of Arizona campus in Tucson (http://www.arizona.edu/, webcam: http://www.cs.arizona.edu/camera/ ). Additional stipends for travel, room and board are included.

Students majoring in computer science, mathematics, management information systems, statistics, engineering, physics, or plant sciences and who are US citizens or permanent residents of the US are eligible to apply. The application deadline is Feb. 1, 2009.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow

“Programming questions, of course! As long as your question is:

• detailed and specific
• written clearly and simply
• of interest to at least one other programmer somewhere

… it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too “newbie”. Oh yes, and it should be about programming. You know, with a computer.” Looks promissing, especially for more advance development. (via Prof. Meyer)

Article info : The Accidental Complexity of Logic

Article info : The Accidental Complexity of Logic
A nice article about making decisions in code. “Much code complexity and no small number of program defects can be traced back to confusion over logical expressions and the expression of logic. Find out how you can get that complexity under control.” (via Prof. Meyer)

Pseudocode Summary

Pseudocode Summary

A good, short (one page) description of the pseudocoding process including an example. Highly recommended for all beginning programmers. (via Prof. Meyer)