Labnotes

Published

Weekend Reading – Clarity

You're not making writing code any better

Lines of Code

Uncle Bob Martin:

Resolution: This year I will focus more on making my code easier for others to read as opposed to easier for me to write.

Step 1: Steve Losh:

attn programming languages where "parens are optional": http://i.imgur.com/3NBoTGP.png

math.js is an extensive math library for JavaScript and Node.js.

ekalinin/typogr.js is a collection of typography utils for JavaScript.

npm, binary modules, and module foundry is the first step towards easy npm native modules.

Aria Stewart:

// Errors are handled and removed here :-)


Tools of the Trade

Unify: check which unicode characters are supported by most browsers/devices, for example:

Using the 3 horizontal line 'burger' icon for your navigation? Use 2261 (≡) (95%) instead of 2630 (☰) (58%)

igrigorik/ga-beacon lets you use Google Analytics to track your GitHub repositories.

espadrine/gh-badges lets you put SVG badges on your GitHub pages.

Bill Scott highlights a pet peeve of mine, undecided signup options:

Did I sign in with twitter, facebook or google? Or maybe I created an account. Or maybe I did all four. Or maybe I don't have an acct. #sigh


Startup Life

Recruit More Engineers in Less Time looks at conversion metrics and where you should optimize:

We put together this calculator to help you plan your recruiting efforts. In particular, it highlights two variables that have the biggest impact on the time it takes to build a team: your referral percentage and your ability to close candidates.

How Medium Is Building a New Kind of Company with No Managers talks about Medium and their take on Holacracy.

The main culprits for startups' diversity problem? Investors. What happens when investors insist on pattern recognition and other fallacies, investing in more of the same:

For an industry that prides itself on innovation and “making a dent in the universe”, every time we let investors’ beliefs go unchallenged, we’re guaranteeing the future looks pretty much like the past. Except tomorrow’s winners are richer, younger and more privileged than the white men before them.


None of the Above

How many of your health supplements are actually snake oil?

Images of the computer code appearing in TV and films and what they really are wins the Interent for 2014.

This is an actual academic paper about tracking time travelers online

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