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programming

Is 8GB of RAM Enough for Programming in 2026?

One of the most common questions that I see online about choosing your next programming laptop, is about just how much RAM do you really nee

What people learning to code usually get wrong

The early stages of learning anything are one of two things. They are either exciting, as you are constantly learning new things and being b

How To Be A Better Programmer

Being a programmer can a fun and rewarding career. Particularly in the later stages when your experience has grown and you have more freed

Sketching Your Code On Paper

Just as an author sometimes requires a quick brainstorm in order to get his/her thoughts in order, so do programmers require something simi

What is "black-box code" and why it's important

The concept of black-box modeling isn't anything new in the software developer world. It essentially comes down to hiding the comp

A Quick Roadmap To Learning To Program

There are a million and one ways to learn to code nowadays. Everything from a formal college education, to books, to free online classes to

20 years later, is programming still a fun job?

The very first line of code that I ever wrote was back in 2003 sitting at home while still in High School on a PC that had less storage than

Will Carbon lang eventually replace C++?

In July of this year (2022) at CPP North Conference, we heard the announcement of a new programming language dubbed Carbon (or Carbon L

Why should you "obfuscate" your code

The technical definition of code obfuscation is to transform a working piece of code into a difficult to read and decipher logical equivalen

Server-side pagination vs client-side pagination

Pagination is a vital UI/UX element that is usually overlooked by many developers. It makes navigating through data easier, but it comes at

Learning To Fail Gracefully

A while back I wrote about the beauty in failing. It's almost like an art really. And it's unavoidable. Things will fail regardless of how

Programming In Cubicles Vs Open Floor Plans

There are main 2 ways that you'll be working in an office environment if you're a programmer. And that's either in a cubicle, which we've s

My Most Difficult Programming Task To Date

YouTube ads and Instagram posts make coding seem like a fun sticker filled evening with excellent cups of coffee and gorgeous scenery's of

How to not get bored while coding

Sure, the reds, blues, and purples on the IDE look like a ton of fun, but there comes a time when stying a nav bar for 2 hours just isn't a

What is 'feature creep' and the problems it brings

If there is one thing that programmer's love to do, it's to code new and exciting things. They love designing them, implementing them, test

What to Expect at Your First Programming Job (2025 Guide)

You just got your first programming job and you are both excited and terrified at the same time. And rightly so as software engineering p

Are Coding Bootcamps effective?

Coding bootcamps are quickly growing in popularity among younger people not interested in the 4-5 year college route and in older people wh

A brief look at infinite loops

Most programmer's will encounter an infinite loop or two at some point in their careers. Whether it is intentional or not is entirely..

Keeping up with technology as a programmer

Technology is rapidly changing these days as the number of developers and companies increases at a surprising rate. It definitely makes sen

The most difficult part about programming

Recently I rediscovered an old project on my hard drive that had some potential to change the world (maybe). It was a year old project that

What does a programmer do exactly?

This question will have a completely different answer depending on who you ask. If you ask a front-end developer, then programming will rel

This is why you need side-projects

In 2008, when I first began my professional programming career, I was tasked with working on a relatively high traffic website performing v

5 reasons to make your code more readable

The programming world is relatively split on whether more focus should be placed on code readability versus code complexity. As someone who

Learning to code is going to get harder

We have more resources today in terms of documentation, guides, video tutorials, and how to's than at any other time in human history. We ar

This is why programmers are so important

To those new individuals entering the programming job world currently, thoughts and ideas of high paying salaries, high tech sounding titles

College degree vs coding bootcamp and which is right for you?

This is one the most popular question that I get asked from people looking to get into web development.Should I go to college for 5% of my h

What is "no-code" and how it affects programmers

A programmer's main job in their career is to write 'code'. To create variables, functions and looping mechanisms to accomplish some form of

3 reasons you might be struggling as a programmer

Many of you have been trying to learn to code for weeks, months or even years and as soon as you feel like you are getting somewhere and thi

Why pair programming works

Coding for the most part is a one person job. Many lines of code, many modules, but you can only work on one module at at time by yourself.

3 things to do to get better at coding

Another decade in the books and as we close out the year, we are all hopefully looking for ways to improve our skills in the year to come.If

Are programmer's becoming obsolete?

No doubt you have seen the ads online for the latest "no-code" web development tools, such as WebFlow, and wondered if programmer's were bec

What is the best way to improve your coding skills?

The answer to this is always an unpopular one, both because it's the obvious answer and because it's difficult to follow through on. But sim

Your first month at your first programming job

If you remember your first day in high school, or any school, it's alot like that. You don't know anyone or where anything is. There's alot

5 tips to help you land your first programming job

Whether you just finished college finally after 4 years of hard work, or maybe you just completed a 6 month coding bootcamp, or even ma

3 tips for the self-taught programmer

Learning anything in life is challenging. Whether it's skateboarding, writing, painting or coding. You don't know what you don't know and be

Perks Of Being A Programmer

Aside from the ever increasing job market in the technology sector that sees no end in sight, there are quite a few perks to being a softwa

Learning Every Programming Language

In my early programming years, I had this strange pull towards every new programming language that was hitting the scene. I would begin to

The Next Generation Of Programmers

Online coding classes are all the rage this year. In lieu of attending a university for 4 years to earn a degree in order to become a softw

When To Use Code Vs When To Use SQL

Just recently I spent a few hours attempting to make an overly complex SQL query into a reality. From the beginning, it didn't really feel

Notepad Is The Most Useful Programmer's Tool

You may never notice it, as you shortcut your way across your keyboard with Winkey + R => "notepad", but you use it more than anything else

This is why programming is hard

Many people are getting into programming nowadays, for various reasons. Some fear that the machines will one day gain control and so they a

Why Programmer's Don't Make Great Designers

If you're a programmer, then at some point you've had to design and style something on a website. And truth be told, you probably thought t

Picking Your First Programming Language

Many people will have you believe that language A is better than B, is better than C. And if you're new to programming, you might be inclin

My Experience With Pair Programming

For the most part, programming is usually a one man/woman job. You get your task, and you fire up your IDE and you get to work. You miss a

Computer Science For All May Not Be The Right Answer

Recently the President proposed a 4 billion dollar plan that would enable public schools to teach computer science courses to everyone from

Taking The "Science" Out Of Computer Science

Studying Computer Science in college is unusually difficult. I say unusual, because 80% of all that science concepts taught will probably o

The benefits of coding in Vanilla JavaScript

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of coding everything by hand. Using plugins or 3rd party libraries is always last on my list

How To Become A Full Stack Developer

Full stack developers are hard to come by nowadays, just ask any hiring manager at most companies. Even myself, working for a startup, I pe

Can Your Learn To Program From A Book

I've read one or two programming books in my day. Around 20 I would estimate, both in college and after. And I can't remember what's in mos

Can Programs Write Other Programs

We always hear about this "doomsday" scenario in the near future. Where programs will learn to write other programs. Where for loops will e

Looking Beyond Computers In Computer Science

The definition of Computer Scientist has changed many times during the past century. Even more so now with the popularization and novelty o

Sharing Is Caring, Your Code

To many programmers, their code is like their legacy on this earth. Or like their children. You pick the metaphor. Their legacy/child that

How To Be A Healthy Programmer In 2017

This is the year that you shed a few pounds, quit that stressful job or take that long awaited vacation in some remote island where your bo

How to Become a Programmer

Try googling the same query and I bet you’ll see dozens of answers to it! “Should I read every answer?” Do you have enough time? What’s gre

This Is Why You Should Be Learning PHP

As a .NET developer for the past decade it is a bit odd that I would go out of my way to talk up PHP and to try to create a case for using

How has programming changed during the past 15 years?

I first began "programming" in 2002 during my senior year in High School. I chose Python as the language of choice, mainly because it was th

Why you don't need more than one programming language

More is usually better, right? More cookies, is noticeably better than less cookies. Unless those cookies are bad. In which case, nobody wan

Do you need to be good at math to be a programmer?

Ideally, you should be familiar with mathematics in whatever field you find yourself in life. At least to the extent that it makes sense to

5 Handy Tips For Learning to Code

Whether you're a computer science student, an aspiring self-taught developer, or a coding boot camp student, mastering the craft of programm

5 things that will make learning to program much easier

Learning to code professionally is in general not the easiest task that you can take on. In the past it might have been a simpler time. You

How to improve server response times

Performance and optimization are important for generating a good user experience on any website. Aside from ensuring that you have properly

How to build a personal finance app in 2022

Personal finance apps, which can also be referred to as money management or budgeting apps, are: Primarily mobile apps that connect

How To Hire PHP Coders: An Updated 2022 Manual

PHP is used virtually everywhere online. In fact, 77.5% of all websites in the world are built using PHP. It’s probably the most popular pro

Can you get by with just 1 programming language?

No doubt this is one of the most popular questions asked on the internet regarding programming. Just how many programming languages should a

Coding interviews are broken and not getting fixed anytime soon

Programming interviews often times get a bad reputation for being highly stressful and overly complex when they don't need to be.

5 EDC Gifts For Programmers for the Holidays

If you're a programmer/developer/gamer/etc then there's a good chance that you have a desk full of random gadgets lying around. At least I d

The Art of Code Comments: Writing Clean and Effective Explanations

Have you ever looked at a piece of code that you wrote eons ago and wondered what you were thinking? Or even wondered if it actually worked?