2 posts tagged “computer”
I recently finished reading "The Cathedral & the Bazaar". This book, written as part historic document and part hacker manifesto, compiles many of the writings of Eric Raymond, accidental revolutionary and (arguably) self-proclaimed spokesman for open source software. The book chronicles the beginnings and progress of the open source software movement through 2001, when this edition of the book was released. Eric also theorizes about the motivation behind hacker culture and why open source contributors do what they do. Many of the points made in The Hacker Attitude section totally hit the nail on the head. All in all, a very interesting read for those interested in open source software and hacker culture. The sections that make up the book "The Cathedral & the Bazaar" are also kept up to date and available online on Eric Raymond's website (http://catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/).
I just read a very interesting article over at PickTheBrain.com on the realities of productivity for "information workers". As a web developer/programmer/whatever-they-call-me-this-week, I fall into this category. One of the main points to the article is that most of us aren't mentally capable of being in super-productive mode for a solid 8 hour day. I agree. I typically get 4-5 hours of good problem-solving work done per day. That is typically in two distinct blocks of time (one early morning, one post lunch). The rest of my "work day" is spent reading/studying or (god forbid) meetings. Sitting and thinking appear as if you're not busy, and therefore, not productive. The article talks about breaking up the day with more re-energizing tasks that most people cannot do in the office. Telecommuting is presented as one solution for this. I certainly do my best work in my studio with the door shut and music blasting ... not in a cubicle, at the top of a stair case where people stop and chat loudly throughout the day.
Anyway ... an interesting read:
