Posts

The Software Industry and Computer Programmers

A google employee once wrote an article in which he said something like: "Often we would interview a programmer who had an incredible amount of knowledge on a wide range of subjects, but couldn't program Hello World in any language." It's really amazing how many people in the software industry simply know nothing about programming computers. We're talking about core technical people such as Product Managers - not people in unrelated departments such as marketing - who have big plans and strong opinions on everything related to technology, but lack basic technical skills. To put it in perspective, imagine an entire department of road planning where no one really knows to drive.

Tradeadexchange virus on Android - Only Solution

None of the other solutions online seem to work. The only solution seems to be: 1. Clear all browser caches completely (both in settings and in app info, to be sure) 2. Reset modem 3. Reset router (if different from the modem) ALL AT THE SAME TIME. The virus settles in the browser, and the modem + router. If any of the three is not clean, the virus seems to infect all three. There's no need to uninstall the browser or reset the phone.

The Flaw in AI Doomsday Predictions

  The first logical flaw in most AI doomsday prediction scenarios is the assumption that any AI will have the same instincts for survival that biological life does. The second is to underestimate man's own instinct for — and past record of — survival. The instinct for survival and procreation — and even the very idea of self or of a vast collection of cells as a single entity — is an artificial construct. It's just the software that enables the life form to maximize its ability to perform as the carrier and refiner of its genetic code. In fact, the very reason biological life forms have a finite lifespan is to allow for the continuous refinement of genetic code. Intelligence vs Survival Instincts Raw intelligence on its own is simply the ability to recognize and predict patterns. Biological life forms simply use this ability to implement their genetic programming. In fact, a number of biological species have no physical brain at all. They rely solely on their ge...

The 12 best interactive Google Doodles

Image
1. Les Paul's 96th Birthday

A more reliable interview process for computer programmers

One of the first things I noticed in the software industry, was that verbal technical interviews tended to highly unreliable. On many occasions, I had observed average performers at work clear interviews that top performers had not. The former didn’t know much about programming computers, but were very good at clearing interviews. They had the confidence and knew the answers to all the usual interview questions, which they usually brushed up on the previous day. As an interviewer from Google once remarked, some candidates were often extremely knowledgeable in interviews, but in practice, could not code the most basic programs in any language. The problem is that verbal technical interviews rely largely on communication and confidence. Confidence is normally considered a sign of ability but the two are not actually correlated. Studies have shown that mildly capable people often tend to be more confident than extremely capable people ( Dunning–Kruger effect ). But as the average perf...

A Simple JavaScript Redirect Timer

<p class="lead">If this page does not redirect automatically, please <a href="/congratulations">click here</a>.</p> <p class="lead">Redirecting in <span id="DispSec">5</span> seconds.</p> <script type="text/javascript"> TimerSeconds = 5; var TimerVar = setInterval(startTimer, 1000); function startTimer() { if (TimerSeconds < 1) { clearInterval(TimerVar); location.href = "congratulations"; } document.getElementById("DispSec").innerHTML = TimerSeconds; TimerSeconds--; } </script>

Add meta tags to a Drupal 7 view without adding or writing a module

Add the following PHP code to a new Header or Footer element in the View. $element = array(   '#tag' => 'meta',   '#attributes' => array( // Set up an array of attributes inside the tag     'name' => 'description',     'content' => 'Your view description.',   ), ); drupal_add_html_head($element, 'yourviewname_meta_desc'); ?>