Software-Technology – Page 9 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Managing Humans: Biting & Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

By Scott J. Pearson | August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Software engineers stereotypically have the personality type to stay behind their desks and not socialize too much. Their coding skills, so the story goes, facilitate their contribution to the company, not their finessing of humans. However, if they are ever promoted to a manager, they quickly have to pivot to understanding how to get their needs from subordinates who don’t always seek after managerial social approval. Not everyone is successful with this transition, but once…

Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, & Students

By Scott J. Pearson | April 24, 2022April 24, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Since Gutenberg, fonts have spent a lot of effort at perfecting how words appears on print. However, in the last several decades, screens have taken over. Thus, there has been a subtle shift in paradigms. For example, humans read text on screens typically further away than print; thus, designs for screens need to have a larger font size. To explore these nuances, Lupton (an established expert in typography) and her students at the Maryland Institute…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Personal Life & Unlock Your Creative Potential

By Scott J. Pearson | April 9, 2022April 9, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In the last few decades, computers and the Internet have provided humans with new access to untold masses of information. Humans are just now catching up on how to use this information for our own good. The technology needs to make our lives easier and more productive, not less so. Fortunately, first-time author Tiago Forte points the way to use these tools to aid creativity. In book form, he teaches a method that he’s shared…

Software-Technology

PHP Web Services: APIs for the Modern Web

By Scott J. Pearson | February 22, 2022February 22, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

I use a lot of web services in my work – both accessing others’ data and sharing my own. Upon embarking on these projects, I never had a formal introduction to APIs. In typical developer fashion, I just dove into the deep end and only then learned to swim. However, some of us don’t learn that way and require a written tutorial. Even those of us who do dive in without reading the print first…

Presentation Software-Technology

On Web Typography

By Scott J. Pearson | February 19, 2022February 19, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Typography, or the science of fonts, has always been an important vehicle to communicate ideas. Printing presses used typography to achieve mass communication. In the age of Internet instantaneity, nothing has changed much as good fonts continue to be central means to convey concepts with the masses. Unfortunately, many users still default to a few common fonts like Helvetica/Arial or Times New Roman. In this book, Santa Maria seeks to free designers – and also…

Society Software-Technology

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America

By Scott J. Pearson | January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

As a professional software developer and researcher, I have mixed reactions towards this book. On the one hand, it points out very valid concerns and complaints about how Internet technologies intersect with contemporary society, particularly with the political classes. On the other, I found myself repeating over and over to myself, “But that’s just how technology works!” As such, this book is a good conversation starter for an issue that needs broad discussion in America.…

History Software-Technology

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

By Scott J. Pearson | November 27, 2021November 27, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Hiding secrets (i.e., cryptography or the science of encryption) has become an increasingly important topic in the modern Information Age. It’s not just the stuff of the military and diplomacy. We cannot communicate secrets like credit card numbers over the Internet without it. In this book, dated around the turn of the millennium, Singh shares the history of encrypting messages. He begins to forecast its impact in the twenty-first century while noting exciting trends in…

Management-Business Psychology Software-Technology

No More Teams! Mastering the Dynamics of Creative Collaboration

By Scott J. Pearson | November 21, 2021November 21, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

I wanted to read this book because I frequently saw it cited in contemporary business and management books. It talks at length about how to foster creative collaboration through the use of technology. It presaged a vision of a workplace with abundant computerized interactions. More impressively, it did so without foreseeing most of the impact of the Internet. Of course, the technologies described in this book are dated. Indeed, most of them are now in…

Software-Technology

Designing Secure Software: A Guide for Developers

By Scott J. Pearson | October 9, 2021October 9, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Software security is an important yet neglected issue. Most developers will immediately recognize its importance because, with the Internet, so much of the computing infrastructure (the “surface”) is vulnerable to attack. Yet it’s simultaneously neglected because it relies on mastering the unknown – an unsurmountable topic. Reviewing security issues in one’s own code is often a painful process, much like reading an editor’s notes on one’s own writing. Into this ongoing conversation, Kohnfelder, a developer…

Religion-Philosophy Software-Technology

The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger

By Scott J. Pearson | September 26, 2021October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries can be as much of a problem as a help. As an instrument, it can make mass killing much easier. Indeed, nuclear bombs enable the world to potentially destroy itself in less than an hour. Yet technology can enable human flourishing as well. For instance, I develop software professionally that I hope will help my domain (medical research) advance. How are we to understand technology, a concept as…