This time of year, we're all very busy honoring traditions. This post is no exception (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012).
Today was
probably the first time this year that I took some time to study my blog's
Google Analytics metrics. If I keep last year's black swan posts out of the
equation, traffic seems to be comparable to last year's. The most meaningful
metrics to me are the number of subscriptions and the average time spent
reading. Both of them increased - happy about that!
The actor
model has been gaining in popularity more and more. Next to addressing more
infrastructural concerns, it can also be used as a framework for modeling and
reasoning about complex systems. Working with a team of mainframe programmers
over the last year, I observed a few similarities in how they have been
designing their systems. Actor Model in COBOL is the third most read post of
2013.
The second
most read post was Not handling edge cases, making them explicit instead.
Inspired by a talk with Greg Young at DDDX, I tried to create a narrative that
uncovered an edge case in a green field project. Instead of handling
the edge case, we use an event to make it explicit, allowing a human to intervene. This way we
can go to market more quickly, with less code, and we might even end up with
happier customers.
Number
one is But I already wrote it. In this post I shared my motivation having an
argument with a colleague about whether to dump some code that did too much.
Don't cherish your code. It's nothing but a means to an end; the side product
of creating a solution. Aim for simple and lean solutions; nobody likes bulky
software, nobody likes fighting complexity all day. Don't neglect the hidden
cost of that extra small feature you're throwing in.
Thank you for reading!