4 ms·

Professional Hacks: Tricks of the Trade

113 points by SapphireSun 17y ago

c00p3r 17y ago
“and I’m thinking of incorporating some XML functionality” - is it still 1999? =)
- lunchbox 17y ago
  "Published August 24, 2004"
  - wyday 17y ago
    The updated example would be "incorporating Cloud API".
    - jmtulloss 17y ago
      Or "rewriting the whole thing in Rails, using agile development practices, of course."
      - ojbyrne 17y ago
        That's a couple of years out of date. These days it would be more like "server-side doesn't matter, we use jquery on the front end to build a rich front end without proprietary products." Though, since I've actually said that myself, I'm not willing to admit that's a trick yet.
lunchbox 17y ago
This post was the precursor for http://www.tradetricks.org/ http://www.tradetricks.org/, which used to publish user-submitted tricks every day. Start here and click through: http://www.tradetricks.org/archives/001915.html http://www.tradetricks.org/archives/001915.html (I can't find an index page.)
shalmanese 17y ago
This is a great article and where I got the inspiration for the term Acting Sober: http://blog.figuringshitout.com/oct-28th-day-16-acting-sober/ http://blog.figuringshitout.com/oct-28th-day-16-acting-sober...
- ojbyrne 17y ago
  I know it's not quite the same thing, but I have a t-shirt (from an Irish pub) that has the great W.B. Yeats quote: "The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober."
bootload 17y ago
"... Mapmakers will often use “copyright traps,” bits of information in their maps that are purposefully wrong ..." Very true. I once had to re-do a map for this exact reason though I'm not sure the "purposeful" fit was to get the major intersection on the page or to catch people out. "... In Australia, the butchers have a secret language called “rechtub klat” ..." keew txen tuo siht yrt ot gniog.
- lunchbox 17y ago
  I think you mean "gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew" :)
  - bootload 17y ago
    "... gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew ..." Yes. I did this the first time but read the original as 'talk butcher' not 'butcher talk'.
- Oatmeat 17y ago
  From the article it appears that in "rechtub klat" the letters in a word are reversed, but the words have the same order in the sentence. So it would be: "gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew"
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - albemuth 17y ago
    He probably just did a str.reverse instead of str.split(' ').map {|w| w.reverse}.join ' '
    - bootload 17y ago
      "... He probably just did a str.reverse instead of str.split(' ').map {|w| w.reverse}.join ' ' ..." Nothing so elaborate, just in my head.
SapphireSun 17y ago
Heh, I started measuring my fingers after reading this. It's kind of mind boggling how symmetrical your left and right hand are.
gometro33 17y ago
FTA: "...the gap between software engineers and birthday clowns is almost negligible." True.

113 points by SapphireSun 17y ago

c00p3r 17y ago

“and I’m thinking of incorporating some XML functionality” - is it still 1999? =)

lunchbox 17y ago
"Published August 24, 2004"
- wyday 17y ago
  The updated example would be "incorporating Cloud API".
  - jmtulloss 17y ago
    Or "rewriting the whole thing in Rails, using agile development practices, of course."
    - ojbyrne 17y ago
      That's a couple of years out of date. These days it would be more like "server-side doesn't matter, we use jquery on the front end to build a rich front end without proprietary products." Though, since I've actually said that myself, I'm not willing to admit that's a trick yet.

lunchbox 17y ago

This post was the precursor for http://www.tradetricks.org/ http://www.tradetricks.org/, which used to publish user-submitted tricks every day. Start here and click through: http://www.tradetricks.org/archives/001915.html http://www.tradetricks.org/archives/001915.html (I can't find an index page.)

shalmanese 17y ago

This is a great article and where I got the inspiration for the term Acting Sober: http://blog.figuringshitout.com/oct-28th-day-16-acting-sober/ http://blog.figuringshitout.com/oct-28th-day-16-acting-sober...

ojbyrne 17y ago
I know it's not quite the same thing, but I have a t-shirt (from an Irish pub) that has the great W.B. Yeats quote: "The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober."

bootload 17y ago

"... Mapmakers will often use “copyright traps,” bits of information in their maps that are purposefully wrong ..." Very true. I once had to re-do a map for this exact reason though I'm not sure the "purposeful" fit was to get the major intersection on the page or to catch people out. "... In Australia, the butchers have a secret language called “rechtub klat” ..." keew txen tuo siht yrt ot gniog.

lunchbox 17y ago
I think you mean "gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew" :)
- bootload 17y ago
  "... gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew ..." Yes. I did this the first time but read the original as 'talk butcher' not 'butcher talk'.
Oatmeat 17y ago
From the article it appears that in "rechtub klat" the letters in a word are reversed, but the words have the same order in the sentence. So it would be: "gniog ot yrt siht tuo txen keew"
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- albemuth 17y ago
  He probably just did a str.reverse instead of str.split(' ').map {|w| w.reverse}.join ' '
  - bootload 17y ago
    "... He probably just did a str.reverse instead of str.split(' ').map {|w| w.reverse}.join ' ' ..." Nothing so elaborate, just in my head.

SapphireSun 17y ago

Heh, I started measuring my fingers after reading this. It's kind of mind boggling how symmetrical your left and right hand are.

gometro33 17y ago

FTA: "...the gap between software engineers and birthday clowns is almost negligible." True.