When an interviewer asks an interviewee for a programming job to design an object-orientated elevator control system, what are they looking for in a good answer?
posted by Artw
on Jan 30, 2013 -
8 answers
I'm slowly working through the problems on
Project Rosalind, a bioinformatics primer. Would you suggest working out each solution from first principles, or do you think it makes more sense to look up existing algorithms and implement those?
WWaBSD? [more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Jan 9, 2013 -
5 answers
I am interested in going back to school for a masters in something, but probably comp sci. I would like some advice on how to approach this.
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posted by dubitable
on Jan 4, 2013 -
7 answers
I'm working on a web app (PHP) that generates a personalized health guide based on a few user choices. The logic behind the generator is complex enough that if-then-else statements would get too nested, having too many conditions and difficult to maintain. I've been reading about rules engines, DSLs, karnaugh maps, finite-state machine, decision trees, rete networks and behavior trees. In addition to being utterly confused, I'm unsure which of these is the best approach for my app. Which one do you recommend?
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posted by Foci for Analysis
on Sep 22, 2012 -
4 answers
I can't keep living on disability. I can't go back to school. I'm not good with people. How do I find a part-time job that I can do? Are there no very-part-time CS jobs aside from freelancing?
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posted by mock muppet
on Aug 8, 2012 -
5 answers
Can you recommend a programmer a book that teaches high school maths step by step? I did maths at high scool and I was OK at it. However, fifteen years later, after forgetting almost all the maths I learnt back then, I am diving deep into the theory of programming algorithms (sorting, tree structures, graph algorithms and so forth). I find the programming straight forward, but I am struggling with the theory and proof of algorithmic time and space complexities. I am looking for a book that will cover algebra, logs, limits, inductive proof, matrix manipulation and so forth.
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posted by maryrosecook
on Jul 21, 2012 -
11 answers
I'm a software developer in my early 30s, working in the defense industry. I'm pretty happy with my job, but wondering if I should move on. I would be looking to move to the San Francisco area. My question is, how do I know when to leave a pretty good job?
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posted by anonymous
on Jun 1, 2012 -
11 answers
Need suggestions on creating an interactive map of congressional districts. I'd like to have a map embedded on my site (only Us) with zoom-able and click-able Congressional districts. When a district is selected, I'd like to display the relevant Senator & Congressman.
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posted by Raichle
on Apr 2, 2012 -
9 answers
I'm considering doing a career 180 and learning how to code. Should I do this? Do I have what it takes? What is it like to program for a living? Details within...
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posted by lukievan
on Jan 5, 2012 -
17 answers
Programmers soon learn that
“Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more months might as well have been written by someone else.”
This maxim, generally cited as “Eagleson's Law [of Programming]” (and often extended “Eagleson is an optimist; the real number is more like 3 weeks”) has been floating around the internet for ages
*. But who is Eagleson, and where did this notion originally appear?
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posted by Songdog
on Nov 14, 2011 -
2 answers
What open-source projects should I look at to see examples of great design and clear coding style?
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posted by scose
on Oct 2, 2011 -
9 answers
I am a GIS college student looking to develop my skills in programming, particularly in Python. For starters, I need to wake up my dormant math skills. What mathematics-for-programmers books, or general Computer Science books, should I be looking for?
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posted by ajax287
on Apr 10, 2011 -
9 answers
I'm a fairly recent and very inexperienced computer science graduate from a great public university, and I need some job advice. At the moment, I'd like to get into game development (specifically on the iPhone side of things), but I'm also interested in music and composition, mathematical art, animation, photography, and cinema, as well as archiving to some extent. What's a good job for me, and how do I get it?
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posted by anonymous
on Feb 10, 2011 -
15 answers
I "fell into" a programming job right out of college. It is mainly C#, quite a bit of Javascript, all within the .Net environment. I noticed a lot of jobs are very specific on technologies used (such as Struts/Java). Would it be okay to apply for these jobs? How do I represent myself?
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posted by anonymous
on Jan 10, 2011 -
14 answers
I'm a final year biochemistry undergrad, and through my internships / reading of papers / etc, I've become keenly aware that I'd like to be more conversant with computer science approaches to the field. The sheer volume of approaches and strategies in bioinformatics is a little overwhelming, though: where's a good place to start focusing my attention? I have strong maths skills, but my programming ability is limited to pecking out simple instruction sets in Python or Matlab, and my research work thus far has mostly been on isolating and characterising protein markers from serum / urine / etc.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot
on Nov 10, 2010 -
3 answers
Switching from comp sci to automotive. Is it worth it? Also, work ethics and discipline dilemmas are abound.
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posted by RaDeuX
on Oct 18, 2010 -
6 answers
Looking for some resources for explaining a programming career to middle school kids.
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posted by tantivy
on Mar 17, 2010 -
8 answers
Im a Freshman Computer Engin. Major and I want to learn more programming/logic by myself. Any books/Resources/Sample Projects you might recommend?
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posted by Javed_Ahamed
on Apr 24, 2008 -
22 answers
I want to teach myself computer science. I know that teaching myself is far from a university education on the subject, but I'd like to try. How can I teach myself? What are books/lectures/tools/websites/anything that I could use to do this? Covering everything from the programming languages themselves, to algorithms, software development, and the mathematics background necessary for this.
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posted by petah
on Jan 12, 2008 -
22 answers
Can anyone recommend a book (or online equivalent) that teaches the theory and practice of writing compilers, specifically those targeting the Microsoft CLR (ie .Net)?
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posted by Luddite
on Aug 18, 2007 -
18 answers
Is there an existing programming language with variable syntax rules that can be set at compile time/interpreter-time?
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posted by mikeyk
on May 8, 2007 -
14 answers
I have many short strings of varying lengths — between a dozen and a few hundred, most likely — and one long string. I need to write code that will find a way to assemble a copy of the long string using as few of the short strings as possible. If it's not possible to assemble a complete copy of the long string, it should assemble a copy with as few and as small gaps as possible.
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posted by nebulawindphone
on Oct 8, 2006 -
26 answers
