Original source of `(seed * 9301 and 49297) % 233280` random algorithm?

If you search for examples of creating a seeded (pseudo)Random number generator, you will run into stuff like this (specific example http://indiegamr.com/generate-repeatable-random-numbers-in-js/):... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Function Key Has Taken Over

As y64 can see, f4nct56n 36c2 5s enab3ed 6n 0y c60*4ter. have n6 5dea h6w t6 t4rn 5t 6ff. a0 6n a w5nd6ws 1/ c60*4ter. d6n't see a f4nct56n 36c2 2ey 6n 0y 3a*t6*. tr5ed t6 f5nd he3* 6n h6w t6 d... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Co-worker renamed all of my queries [closed]

I don't know if I should be very irritated or what. I single handedly built over 300 queries for a large database, and developed a naming convention so I could find them later. No one else in my of... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Should we use dependency injection to get the current date?

A few days ago I stumbled upon a silly "problem" that made me reflect about encapsulation and OOP design.I have a class called User that has a method hasMinimumLegalAge() that checks if ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Which languages support operators as first-class citizens?

Which programming languages support operators as first class citizens? eg: Return an operator (+, -, =, ==, etc.) from a function, or store within a variable. | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Why does:nth-child() in CSS start from 1 instead of 0?

Why does :nth-child() iterate from one instead of zero? As shown in this example. Why does it select the first element and not the second when p :nth-child(1) | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

When are enums NOT a code smell?

DilemmaI've been reading a lot of best practice books about object oriented practices, and almost every book I've read had a part where they say that enums are a code smell. I think they've misse... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 2 years ago

Research on software development productivity with valid metrics?

I guess this is 2 questions in one:What would be accurate metrics for a language or a framework's productivity?Is there any research that relies on such metrics?What Metrics?Current (and Brok... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Why are there no PUT and DELETE methods on HTML forms?

HTML4 / XHTML1 allows only GET and POST in forms, now it seems like HTML5 will do the same. There is a proposal to add these two but it doesn't seem to be gaining traction.What were the technical or | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

What are the advantages and disadvantages to using your real name online?

As a programmer, do you see any professional or other advantage in using your real name in online discourse, versus an invented handle? I've always gone by a single username and had my real name | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Can mutation of object-graph be represented efficiently with immutable states?

I am practicing using of immutable object in C++. My personal goal is representing generic object graph (in heap) with sequence of immutable graphs.Building the multi-version graph itself isn't t... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

What is negative code? (2010)

I was reading the Wikipedia article on Douglas McIlroy and found a quote that mentions "The real hero of programming is the one who writes negative code."What does that mean? | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Why are errors named as “Exception” but not as “Error” in programming languages?

I've been thinking about that for quite a while actually. I am not a native english speaker myself but still I have years of programming experience and I always asked me this. Why is it named as | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

What Is Wrong with the Unlicense?

I have often heard that I should not use the Unlicense because of issues regarding putting things into the public domain. However, I do not understand why this would be an issue for the Unlicense. ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Ken Thompson Hack (1984)

Ken Thompson Hack (1984)Ken Thompson outlined a method for corrupting a compiler binary (and other compiled software, like a login script on a *nix system) in 1984. I was curious to know if modern | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Do we still have a case against the goto statement?

Possible Duplicate: Is it ever worthwhile using goto? In a recent article, Andrew Koenig writes: When asked why goto statements are harmful, most programmers will say something like "becaus... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 3 years ago

Adding a new developer just before deadline is horrible. But what is not?

Imagine a project is assigned to a team, deadline is estimated as 8 months. After 6 months it becomes apparent the project will most certainly not be complete on time(e.g a law changes or a hidden | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Null: The Billion Dollar Mistake

This come with a debate with my colleague that I'm using null as an object initial state.type Value = Node | nullconst [value, setValue] = React.useState<Value>(null)function test(v: Valu... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

When to Use a Parser Combinator? When to Use a Parser Generator?

I've taken a deep dive into the world of parsers recently, wanting to create my own programming language.However, I found out that there exist two somewhat different approaches of writing parsers: | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Why was the Itanium processor difficult to write a compiler for? (2015)

It's commonly stated that Intel's Itanium 64-bit processor architecture failed because the revolutionary EPIC instruction set was very difficult to write a good compiler for, which meant a lack of ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

How do I prevent Scrum from turning great developers into average ones?

I found this also happened in my team although he may exaggerated the situation a little bit. Scrum is a way to take a below average or poor developer and turn them into an average developer. ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

How was the first assembler assembled?

I am reading the book The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles, which contains projects encompassing the build of a computer from boolean gates all the wa... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Is musical notation Turing complete?

I'm wondering, is music notation language Turing-Complete?My first thought is that there are loops in musical notation, but there is no way to write conditional branches, right? I'm not a music... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Did the Gang of Four Thoroughly Explore “Pattern Space”?

Ever since I first learned about the Gang of Four (GoF) design patterns, at least 10 years ago, I am having the impression that these 23 patterns should be only a small sample of something much lar... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Why isn't TDD more popular in universities?

Recently, a person here asked a basic question about how to compute in Python all permutations of elements from a list. As for most questions asked by students, I haven't provided the actual source... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

What work intervals are more productive: short or long?

Which sessions of work are more productive for programming: short (<= 30 minutes), mid-length or long (>= 2 hours)? In which cases? (Consider coding new functionality, doing small modifications, | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Please help – stuck with recursive speculative display list algorithm

Well, I've been hammering away on this for about a week now with no practical progress because I can't find mental fluidity with the concepts I'm trying to wrangle. I'm Officially Stumped, and would | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Criticism and Disadvantages of Dependency Injection

Dependency injection (DI) is a well known and fashionable pattern. Most of engineers know its advantages, like:Making isolation in unit testing possible/easyExplicitly defining dependencies of a... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Why is JavaScript not compiled to bytecode before sending over the network?

My problem is that you'd often see that JavaScript is actually being transported over the web with all the useless stuff that doesn't need to be there -- Comments, particularly those containing lic... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

In TDD, should I add unit tests to refactored code?

While refactoring my code using Test Driven Development (TDD), should I keep making new test cases for the new refactored code I am writing?This question is bases on the following TDD steps:Write | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Can a closed-source programming language survive?

A friend has written a programming language. It has a syntax reminiscent of SGML. He has written an interpreter for it, and an IDE. He and his colleagues use it in-house as a server-side language. ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Is source code generation an anti-pattern?

If something can be generated, then that thing is data, not code.Given that, isn't this whole idea of source code generation a misunderstanding? That is, if there is a code generator for something, | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 4 years ago

Stateful vs. Stateless Architecture

I have been learning about stateful apps vs non-stateful, but I am still a bit confused on this topic.For example, let's say I have an app running on Node where users are assigned to random rooms... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Why do some functional programming languages use space for function application

Having looked at some languages for functional programming, I always wondered why some fp-languages use one or more whitespace characters for function application (and definition), whereas most (al... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Why can't the IT industry deliver projects as quickly as in other industries?

After watching National Geographic's MegaStructures series, I was surprised how fast large projects are completed. Once the preliminary work (design, specifications, etc.) is done on paper, the | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

How do we go from assembly to machine code

Is there an easy way to visualize the step between assembling code to machine code?For example if you open about a binary file in notepad you see a textually formatted representation of machine c... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Why do game developers prefer Windows?

Is it that DirectX is easier or better than OpenGL, even if OpenGL is cross-platform? Why do we not see real powerful games for Linux like there are for Windows? | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

When should you call yourself a senior developer?

Possible Duplicate: Whats the difference between Entry Level/Jr/Sr developers? I'm curious what senior developer means because apparently the definition doesn't mean what I thought it would. I... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Which hashing algorithm is best for uniqueness and speed? (2012)

Which hashing algorithm is best for uniqueness and speed? Example (good) uses include hash dictionaries. I know there are things like SHA-256 and such, but these algorithms are designed to be sec... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

What is the career path for a software generalist?

A question on software specialties inspired this question.How valuable is a software generalist compared to a specialist? When I say generalist, I mean someone who can take a project from | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Why Do Game Developers Prefer Windows

Is it that DirectX is easier or better than OpenGL, even if OpenGL is cross-platform? Why do we not see real powerful games for Linux like there are for Windows? | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Why are the macOS and iOS coordinate systems different?

In iOS, the coordinate (0, 0) means the top left corner. In OSX it is the bottom left corner.What is the Apple's rationale or technical advantage of this coordinate system? | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Worst coding standard you've ever had to follow?

Have you ever had to work to coding standards that:Greatly decreased your productivity?Were originally included for good reasons but were kept long after the original concern became irrelevant?... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

What's your strongest opinion against functional programming?

Functional programming is one of the oldest programming paradigms. However it isn't used much in the industry compared to more popular paradigms. But it have largely been emphasized in academia.W... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

How not to suffer from ideologists when you're a pragmatic person?

I'm a pragmatic person (I think I am. But then again, Jon here has an interesting point ). Sometimes, the most simple solution to a problem to get the job done is the one that fits best for me, if ... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Does learning a functional language make a better OOP programmer?

As a Java/C#/C++ programmer I hear a lot of talk about functional languages, but have never found a need to learn one. I've also heard that the higher level of thinking introduced in functional lan... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

Pimpl pattern vs. Interfaces

I see a lot of source code which using PImpl idiom in C++. I assume Its purpose is to hide the private data/type/implementation, so it can remove dependence, and then reduce compile time and header | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 5 years ago

How do you write unit tests for code with difficult to predict results?

I frequently work with very numeric / mathematical programs, where the exact result of a function is difficult to predict in advance.In trying to apply TDD with this kind of code, I often find wr... | Continue reading


@softwareengineering.stackexchange.com | 6 years ago