Read this great article Stop checking for NULL pointers! It mentions that there are many other invalid pointers than NULL, which is the same idea I had recently with regard to foreign keys in databases.
Category Archives: Programming
Technical debt as a lack of understanding
Technical debt as a lack of understanding popped up on lobste.rs today, and I thought it was pretty good. An interesting admonition of a corporate wiki that I’m not sure I agree with… also a brief YouTube video of Ward Cunningham who invented the term “technical debt” after reading, of all people, Lakoff and Johnson, my heroes! :)
Math keeps changing
An interesting article on lobste.rs today on the JavaScript Math implementation: Math keeps changing. The comic really resonated with me: 
CSS Box Sizing
Read a good article about Box Sizing over on CSS Tricks.
In summary:
html {
box-sizing: border-box;
}
*, *:before, *:after {
box-sizing: inherit;
}
How Did Things Ever Get This Good?
I read How Did Things Ever Get This Good? today. Nice, short, optimistic piece.
How to download a web page with wget
To download a web page along with its scripts and styles etc:
wget --page-requisites --convert-links --execute robots=off https://www.example.com/whatever/
Data Visualization with JavaScript
Today I discovered Data Visualization with JavaScript. I would like to read that one, I will see if I ever find the time.
Falsehoods programmers believe about time zones
Today on r/programming an interesting article about the complexity of time zones: Falsehoods programmers believe about time zones.
What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL
This old chestnut What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL popped up on HN today.
The Surprising Impact of Medium-Size Texts on PostgreSQL Performance
Today I read The Surprising Impact of Medium-Size Texts on PostgreSQL Performance which popped up on reddit.