You're doing rubber duck debugging all wrong
Happy Saturday and welcome back to the newsletter! As always, read on for some of the best software engineering insights, opinions, and news pieces from the week.
//From the Triplebyte Blog
My Guide for Rubber Duck Debugging: A Better Process (with No Rubber Ducks)
Software engineer Joseph Pacheco actually loves rubber duck debugging, but not in the way it's traditionally done. Turns out, not every adult can take seriously the idea of talking out their programming problems to a literal rubber duck on their desk. Here's a step-by-step process for how Pacheco does rubber ducking that just might change your debugging chops for good. read()
Modeling How Fire Spreads
In July, the Western United States entered the core of the fire season. (If you’re not familiar, that’s when the region experiences below-average precipitation and above-average temperatures—creating hot, dry conditions that are ideal for wildfires.) This article explains how to build a mathematical model for fire behavior, the kind experts use for fire mitigation during this tumultuous time of year. read()
No One Agrees on What DevOps Means - Not Even Employers
Triplebyte talked to an array of engineers and hiring managers about what they're looking for when they hire for DevOps roles. We found very little consensus. read()
//Around the Web
👩💼 “Ten questions I am asking companies before scheduling an interview.” It’s important to remember during a job search that just as companies are determining whether you’d be a good fit for them, you should be doing the same in relation to whether they’re a good fit for you. Web dev Ashlee Boyer has shared her own personal checklist that potential employers have to pass before she moves forward with in-person interviews and beyond. It includes small but important questions like “What is the make-up of the engineering team?” and “How often are one-on-ones?” — things that you might want to add to your list. read()
💻 Computers needing humans to program them: It was fun while it lasted. A new research project from MIT, Georgia Tech, and Intel shows how code-writing neural networks could soon be capable of squashing their own bugs — an important step for reaching the inevitable state of full robot software programmers. The new advancement was reached by training ML how to better compare good and bad code. But don’t go investigating new career options just yet. This tech is more likely to be put to work first in assisting human engineers to write code and to auto-translate outdated programming languages. read()
⌨ TypeScript gets a facelift. We were given the release candidate of TypeScript 4.0 this week, which includes things like class property inference and speed improvements. The language also got an update to its website that brings more up-to-date documentation and an updated playground. Bonus: The TS logo received the tiniest of redesigns, too. read()
💬 Should you point out bugs in a company’s product while you’re interviewing with them? There’s a fresh thread on this topic at Stack Overflow. It’s worth reading to help you figure out — depending on the specifics of a situation — whether dishing constructive criticism before you’re on the team could make you look sharp or snarky. read()
//Jobs
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