Key Concepts – Chad Dotson

Python Logging – Best Practices

By chad November 25, 2015Doing Things Better, Key Concepts, Programming, Software Engineering, TechnologyNo Comments

The python logging module offers a wide variety of logging options and handlers. One thing missing from the documentation is when to use each level. A quick foreword You really should familiarize yourself with the logging package. How to create new loggers (I find creating them by module very useful). …

"On The Job Training" vs "On The Job Learning"

By chad September 13, 2015Key Concepts, Programming, Software EngineeringNo Comments

A career in programming consists more of "on the job learning" than "on the job training." Training Training as something someone else teaches you to do. There may or may not be any real expectation of advancing the concepts covered in the training. The analogy would be that if you…

Not Invented Here, Not Written By Me, and Reinventing The Wheel

By chad May 17, 2015Doing Things Better, Key Concepts, Programming, Software EngineeringNo Comments

Not invented here and not written by me are both driving factors in reinventing the wheel when developing software. We limit ourselves if we do not build upon the achievements of others. - Chad Dotson Not Invented Here I'm sure everyone has encountered developers that would prefer to implement everything…

On Software Engineering

By chad March 23, 2015Hobbies, Key Concepts, Photography, Programming, Ramblings, Software EngineeringNo Comments

Spring Writing from the patio on a much deserved day off. What a day, sunny and 68 this 3rd day of spring. It sometimes makes it real hard to work inside in a windowless box. It's been a busy day of a different sort, but dang I could get used…

Make It Easy

By chad October 18, 2014Key Concepts, Programming, Software Engineering1 Comment

Building a successful product is usually complicated business. With any luck a project will have an automated deployment process. This however is only part of the equation. Another significant part would be an automated build process. Long Term Success Long term success means making it easy for new people to…

Machine Learning and the Curiosity Engine

By chad October 10, 2014Key Concepts, TechnologyNo Comments

The Future As we progress technologically, there is an increased focus on machine learning. That is a machine that is not necessarily programmed with the algorithm to solve a problem, but one that has been programmed with the ability to take a given set of input, classify it, and generate…

Comparing Node.js and Python on the Raspberry PI

By chad August 25, 2014Key Concepts, Programming, Raspberry Pi, Software Engineering8 Comments

Programming on the Raspberry Pi Python seems to be the more popular language for writing programs on the Raspberry Pi. However, it is far from the only language: Python, C, C++, Java, and Ruby are some that are automatically supported out of the box. As it turns out Node.js is…

Knowing When You've Wrote Crappy Code

By chad July 26, 2014Doing Things Better, Key Concepts, Programming, Software Engineering5 Comments

Note: This article was kicked off by one I read over at LosTechies. We write lots of code, statistically speaking some of it is what we'd deem as "crappy." If you're doing things right and progressing in your career and your understanding; your definition of "crappy code" should change over…

Isolate, Understand, Implement

By chad July 18, 2014Doing Things Better, Key Concepts, Programming, Software EngineeringNo Comments

Isolate, understand, implement: three very important things to remember when adding, modifying or replacing features on a project. The first step is to isolate the feature. Hopefully, your project is designed in such a way that once the code is isolated it is in a single place. The next step…

Presentation Is Everything

By chad August 19, 2012Doing Things Better, Featured, Key Concepts, Software EngineeringNo Comments

PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING There is something that learned over the past couple of years, presentation is everything. It is quite possibly the most important element in all we do. Presentation from the aspect of leadership can mean the difference between shared vision and unengaged worker bee. Presentation from the aspect…