security

Should We Forget IT Security?

In the last months, a high number of security flaws has been reported. Starting from bugs in the management of SSL/TLS protocol (Apple [https://while2.ghost.io/indentation_matters]

working life, personal

Insanity And 4 Other Bad Things

> The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Some say this sentence has been first pronounced by Benjamin Franklin, others attribute

horror code, optimization needed

Horror Code - Why?

When I have found the following snippet, I spent several minutes trying to understand if I was missing something. while (x >= 0) { x--; y--; } I have only a question:

security, open source, embedded, shell

ShellShock: Impact On Average People

In the previous post [https://while2.ghost.io/shellshock_what_ive_understood], I've written about the ShellShock vulnerability in a general way. Now I want to talk about

security, open source, embedded, shell

ShellShock, What I've Understood

Disclaimer: I'm not a security specialist; if you are running a webserver, please consider asking a qualified technician. If last week you have been to Mars, maybe you

development, C, C++, style

0 Errors - 0 Warnings

Are you one of those that don't care about warnings when compiling? Well, if you write Yoda conditions[1] like the following, probably you are: if (2 == foo)

development, C, C++, style

C++ And goto Don't Match Together

As you can see by reading this blog, I'm a fan of goto [https://while2.ghost.io/goto_is_your_friend] when used in an appropriate way. Unfortunately

project management, development, motivation

All You Need To Know About Software Development

While I was reading this (long) article [http://www.targetprocess.com/articles/speed-in-software-development.html], I've felt like all the different pieces of the puzzle in my head go

working life, personal, motivation

You Are Not A Programmer

So you write code every day, maybe in a nerdy language like C or even in assembly. And a company is paying you for this job. When someone asks you

personal, open source

Authors In The Open Source World

Last week, Seth Godin wrote another great post [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/08/end-of-summer-book-roundup.html] . This time the argument is the difference between companies and authors. No

Windows, usability, Microsoft

Back To The Past

In three weeks the new Windows 9 (or whatever will be its name [Update: it's Windows 10]) will be unveiled. There are some rumors about its features but

working life, personal, reliability, applications

Reliability First - Applications

What does reliability mean in computer science? Speaking about an application, how can we say it is reliable? I don't know if there is a shared opinion but

personal, horror code

Horror Code: The Matryoshka Functions

Some years ago, when I was a Windows developer, the maintenance of a big project has been assigned to me. My job was to fix a couple of minor bugs

development, working life, personal

Write and Rewrite (and Make it Better)

I'm not comparing myself to Hemingway, but, when I write a new piece of software, for me it works the same. I usually write code in a quick-and-dirty

development, algorithms

Speed Up Your Searches

Usually, in Computer Science classes, sorting algorithms are studied in depth. The reason is quite simple: they are widely used and can be applied to several contexts. Moreover they represent

development, working life, blogs

Ideas Are Not Enough

Today, Seth Godin in his daily post [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/07/if-you-cant-sell-it-you-cant-build-it.html] wrote about something that is essential for me: the importance of going from

Linux, tips, development

[Linux] How to Define a Path for Shared Objects

In Linux, the predefined paths for shared objects (.so) are /lib/ and /usr/lib/. During normal usage this is OK but sometimes it's necessary to specify other additional

project management, working life, music

Cleaning Up the Path in 5 Easy Moves

The idea for this post came during last weekend while I was cleaning my house. In fact, this activity is made by several parts: some are funny (like using the

Linux, terminal

[Linux] 2 Alternatives to Standard Terminal Emulators

Nothing to complain with gnome-terminal: I've used it for years and I can say that it does its dirty work very well. But lately, too often I need

team management, books, history

Battles and Management

Have you ever read War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy? It's a great book with many stories wrapped up with History. It takes place in Russia during the

development

Elegance Doesn't Pay

I didn't know exactly how Unicode strings are encoded in UTF-8 format until I've read this post [https://blog.jcoglan.com/2014/06/17/utf-8-its-what-strings-are-made-of/] by

development, tips

6 + 1 Tips to Write Easily Extensible Code

As promised in the post The 0 Ohm Resistor [https://while2.ghost.io/the_0_ohm_resistor/], here there are some suggestions you may find useful while developing a new

working life

We Have An Opportunity!

Speaking about my developer job, to me the word "opportunity" means only four things: 1. with few changes to a project, we can sell something to a customer

development, C, C++

Power and Control

This video is a perfect representation of the Pirelli's slogan "power is nothing without control". You can have the fastest car in the world but if

development, working life, specifications

Missing Things

People talks about things they consider important to communicate and not about what they think is implicit. This is normal: life is too short to lose time speaking about things