Technicat

Topic

Engineering

A collection of 9 issues

To Program Is Human

When I worked in Silicon Valley, it seemed everyone wanted the title Software Architect. It’s a sexy-sounding title, maybe because in the movies all the cool people work in advertising or architecture firms, but in the real building world, while the architects get the glory, someone has to put

Smart Mobs

My first Epinions book review, of Howard Rheingold’s Smart Mobs, written back in 2003 (the bit about wireless games and wireless internet not working out yet is a bit dated). And I did visit Hachiko’s statue afterwards. This book made me laugh, it made me cry. And it

Electric Dreams

Although I technically majored in an electrical engineering department, I’m definitely a software guy — I’m afraid to touch my car battery, and I’ve managed to set fire to a couple of toasters. So I’m not just impressed, I’m positively intimidated by the high school youngsters

Behind Deep Blue

I’ve never been a particularly good chess player — when I played on my high school chess team, my rating peaked at just above 1700, which is, well, decent. But ever since I played and lost to my first chess computer, I’ve aspired to writing a great chess program.

For Cats Only

One way to halt the ever-rising heaps of unread books I'm accumulating is to just stop buying books. But that's not going to happen, so Plan B is to buy books that I can read quickly. Today's short read is For Cats Only, a photography book of cat trees. I

Five Design Books

I was tempted to title this Five Design Books You Should Read Before You Die, but I hate those titles, so I won’t. (Maybe Five Design Books You Should Read Before I Die would really lay on the guilt trip, though. New trend?) Anyway, someone on twitter asked for

Narcissistic Design

I often see articles on design recommending that designers employ empathy. But in today’s millennial-seeking-millenial, Logan’s Run-esque, what’s-good-for-Google-is-good-for-America, why-are-the-homeless-still-here-and-can’t-someone-please-get-rid-of-them Bay Area, that might be asking too much. So instead I suggest going with our strength, narcissism. Look at Steve Jobs. No one has ever accused him

Console Wars

The most entertaining part of Blake J. Harris’s Console Wars is the forward by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. That isn’t a knock on the book — the forward is just really entertaining banter. The rest of the book is entertaining, too, and it should be, considering the subject

To Engineer Is Human

I have some experience with the design and development process for software and semiconductors, so the layman’s typical surprise at the appearance of bugs in programs and microprocessors always pains me. Software and integrated circuits are essentially machines with thousands to millions of components — their construction and deployment is