radj's blog

In one of my rabbit hole adventures on the internet, I stumbled across an article written by Eric Steven Raymond called How To Ask Questions The Smart Way. Turns out, I haven't been asking efficiently on StackOverflow and I get flak and downvotes for that. Just like reporting a bug, there's also a smart, efficient way to ask questions on the web (and avoid weird comments).

This article will be one of my first in a commentary format. Which means, I'll copy some text from the site and I'll make my comments here. I won't even go through the whole article. Just the ones I find usable in general between programmers and other professions. It's my own space, and... yeah, well, it's just like my own opinion, man. There will be more posts of this format to follow. When I feel like writing up. Ha.

In a previous project I was working on, it involved multithreading and three conditional locks. There was so much happening and so much code to read through and I had the attention span of a puffer fish. To aid myself in understanding software, I write pseudo code in a stacked notation for an easier glance of things. This is a mix of pseudo code and actual function names so I will have reference back to the actual method or variable.

I have refined it over the years and have come up with two variations. They are nothing as complex as the image I have used above. It's just something that makes me look smart.

And how I'd rather pay for a monthly premium fee than buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

I have a huge iTunes library and curated playlists into categories I deem fit. When I move to another computer, transferring my library is a pain in the place where the sun doesn't shine. Spotify just alleviates all of that for me. Here's 8 reasons why I think Spotify is great for the casual music lover.

1. Spotify is cross-platform

In layman's terms, it runs on all your devices: Mac, Windows, iPad, iPhone, Android phone, and even inside a web browser! You can take your music everywhere with you! Visit the Spotify download page to get started.

It's called Two-Step Verification simply because it verifies you twice before granting access to your account using two things: your password and something that is with you like your phone. You should enable this in all your online accounts that support it. Why? To protect yourself and your data from being accessed by unauthorized peeps even if they get a hold of your password.

Social engineering: phishing for your password

How do other people gain access to your account? They steal and then use your password. How? By social engineering. What's that? It's a broad list of mind tricks to get you to surrender your information. One rampant method is phishing.

If you're someone who is always curious about what has change in a new app update, this app is for you.

Google Play Store notifies you if there are apps that have updates and with one click, you can download & install them all. With the right settings, the updates can automatically run. The problem here is looking at the changes or what's new with an update. First, you have to click on each app, and then expand the change log per app to see details. A bit of a hassle.