This is part two of a publicly available article. It has been posted here with permission from the original author.

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About the Author:

V. B. Velasco Jr is a senior electrical and software engineer at a small biotech company that provides ELISPOT readers, immune monitoring services, and serum-free media.

The following is part one of a publicly available article.  It has been posted here with permission from the original author.

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And why not?  It sounds a lot better than “computer programmer,” and it looks much better on one’s business card.  Unfortunately, it’s often inaccurate.  Engineering is, after all, the application of sound technical principles to develop systems that are robust, efficient and elegant.  I’ve found that a great many software engineers can develop working programs, but do little or no real engineering design.

Does this sound harsh?  Perhaps, but I’ve also found it hard to deny.  I’ve encountered very few software engineers, for example, who have clean, crisp and readable coding styles—an essential element of elegant software design.  I’ve also encountered a preponderance of cryptically written functions, clumsy software abstractions and bizarre spaghetti code.  To my dismay, I’ve discovered that even among computer science graduates, many reduce object-oriented programming to the mere use of private data, public functions and object instantiations.  It’s enough to break a teacher’s heart.

Now, I won’t go so far as to say that most programmers write spaghetti code.  That would not be fair.  However, I do think that relatively few programmers have a deep appreciation for the artistry of software development.  That’s not to say that they’re ignorant of such things; not at all.  Rather, it’s more that the engineering aspects of elegant code design are all too often neglected.

(To be continued…)

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About the Author:

V. B. Velasco Jr is a senior electrical and software engineer at a small biotech company that provides ELISPOT software, colony counters, and serum-free media.

Here is a list of lindy hop moves that I need to practice and master.
Swingout from the open and closed positions
Lindy circle
She goes
He goes
Outside turn
Rollaway
RJ  (I think my instructor is using the wrong terminology here)
RJ with a turn
RJ with follow-through
Texas tommy
8-count tuck turn
Reverse swingout
This strange unnamed “pretzel” move
Basic dip
Dip with a turn
Another dip where the woman almost sits on the guy’s lap
Handpress with no turn, a single turn, or a double turn
Hip catch and hip catch with a turn

Whatever happened to Karen Austin?

A quick look at her IMDB entry shows that she’s now 54 years old and still acting.  Wow.  That’s especially impressive for a woman, since their marketability as actresses tends to go down as they age.

She was more than just a pretty face with beautiful eyes.

I can’t forget this very annoying woman at my gym.

I attend this cardio workout class every Saturday morning.  One day, she showed up and took up a spot in one corner at the front.  Instead of following along with the moves though — marching, grapevines, lunges, and the like — she kept twisting and dancing in place, occasionally letting out with a big “Whoop!” to the music.

Yeah, she was annoying.  However, I figured that she might be intimidated by some of the moves, even though they weren’t very complex.  So after the class, I walked over, welcomed her to the group, and asked if she needed help with any of the moves.

Her response?  In a sing song voice, she said, “Oh, no.  I just like doing my own thing.”

Lady, if you want to do your own thing, stay at home.  What’s the point of joining the group if you’re not going to follow along?

BTW, the same goes for this other fella who never follows along with the group either.  I can understand not being coordinated, and I can understand not being in shape.  At the very least though, try to roughly follow the moves, for pity’s sake!  If you keep making up your own moves, and if you fail to move in the same direction as the rest of the group, then you should probably join another class.  Either that or make up your own routine.

There’s a great article about people who read their PowerPoint slides to the crowd when giving presentations.  The author rightfully asserts that this is an insult to one’s audience.  It’s also a sign of poor preparation and/or an inability to communicate effectively.  I’d even argue that it frequently indicates a lack of mastery of one’s subject matter.

One reader reported that according to a survey he conducted, 73% of presenters rely on the slides to remind them what to say.  Now that’s horrible.  I don’t mind it when the slides help prompt one’s flow of thought or serve as occasional reminders, but you have to be better prepared than that.

Most small companies aren’t very clever when it comes to writing their advertising copy.  That’s why it’s always a pleasure when I come across one that actually puts some quality thought into their ads and marketing flyers.

Consider this company, for example.  Their website copy needs improvement; however, their marketing materials were clearly thought through very well.  Look at the downloadable copy of their line of colony counters, for example.  I thought that the slogan they came up with was clever and had a lot of impact, but without being overly cutesy.

This is an interesting new series on the Cartoon Network. Not bad, but it does have some rough spots.

I like their imperious take on Aquaman, though I think that they’ve gone a bit overboard in that regard.  I also like the way they depict Green Arrow, and I especially like the way they gave little Speedy some significant airtime.  Their characterization of the Blue Beetles hasn’t been bad either.

On the other hand, I absolutely detest the way they depicted the Elongated Man.  The voice they gave him was utterly atrocious as well.

The following statement from another acquaintance is also worth repeating:

“My husband swears a lot and it’s really getting old. Shit, damn, ass and an emphatic fuck (she dreamed!) don’t bother me at all. But he CONSTANTLY uses fucker, cocksucker and motherfucker. If you say cocksucker or motherfucker when you drop a piece of bread or burn your finger, you’re tapped out. There really isn’t much worse that you can say. What if you get hit by a car, or your house burns down, or someone shoots your dog? You’ve already used up the worst words. Believe me, I can swear like a trucker IF PROVOKED, but overusing curses just makes one sound unintelligent, like you can’t think of a smart thing to say. It’s like getting into a physical fight (unless you are in danger, someone is attacking you or a loved one, etc.) Gee, I really have nothing intelligent to say, I think I’ll just punch this guy or say fucking cocksucker because my pills fell on the floor. When you swear a lot, you rob the words of their impact and you just sound like an impatient, short-fused ass. When you hear it every day, it gets old really fast. “

An acquaintance of mine made the following comment recently. I think it’s worth repeating.

” Swear words are a net minus for society and we’d be better off without them. They are definitely lazy. One could, I suppose, have an academic debate of whether they’re theoretically useful for “escape valve” or “code switching” purposes. In reality, it’s gone way past that point. There are now a lot of people who spout profanity in every single sentence they use, for no reason whatever except that they can’t be bothered to speak English correctly.”