A Pragmatic Post…

While this book has been around for over 20 years, it wasn’t until this year that I finally managed to read it. I always assumed that since I was writing code on my own I didn’t need to follow any guidelines. I was wrong.

The book covers a ton of territory – some of it didn’t pertain to me – but much of it did. In fact, many of the ideas presented would be helpful for even non-programmers to pay attention to. Though, programming and software development are the focus many of the ideas are transferable to any project. Simple things like the importance of continuing to educate yourself – even if it doesn’t pertain to your current project is just one of the many useful ideas the book puts forth.

The book manages to cover a lot of potentially heavy topics with a distinctive lightness and humor. There was never a point in reading the book that I felt bogged down. In fact, it was one of the few programming related books that I had a hard time putting down.

If you are a programmer, or thinking of jumping into programming or any related field, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it. I won’t teach you how to code, but it will help you with every project you pursue after reading it.

The Pragmatic Programmer book cover
The Pragmatic Programmer book has been influencing developers for over 20 years. Click on the book if you want to purchase it. I am not selling it, nor do I get any compensation for the link.

A Focus Switch…

Since a new year started today, I decided that this page should change it’s focus a bit. I still love rubber ducks and most things ducky, but the focus is going to change to my actual work. I have been a programmer from almost as far back as I can remember (somewhat before my teenage years). In 2015, I decided to become a full time developer. I formed Ducky Planet LLC and developed and published multiple iOS apps. Many of the links on the top of this page will take you to the individual app pages if you would like to see them.

So, what does this change of focus mean? It means that starting today this page is going to focus on app development. My plan is to write a post each day about whatever comes to mind on that day. It could be anything development related from an app that I developed to a new trick that I might have learned. This in turn has the potential to help others on the same journey as I am, but more importantly it forces me to focus on app development each day.

I suspect the topic of focus is one that will be returned to regularly since it is the most difficult struggle when you are working on your own. I have plenty of ideas, but the motivation to start a new project isn’t always easy. Hopefully, this blog will help with that motivation to pursue new projects in order to come up with ideas for new posts.

Over the last couple of months I have focused more on learning new things, along with finding ways to make better use of the tools I already have. I am sure some of that will be of interest to others along the way so I will share many of them as time goes on.

But, for now. Welcome to Ducky Planet’s new focus. I hope you find it of interest and stick around!

Don