 | from David Bolton
So I published Challenge 28 (still one day left to get 27 in- hint!) and then some of the far too clever readers pointed out that the challenge may not be at all challenging. It's Challenge 25 all over again.. Don't ask. So I'll tinker with 28 and if that fails then I'll throw it out and replace it with a better one. Have a good week. Mine can only get better!
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In the Spotlight | Programming Challenge 28
Only one day to go for Challenge 27 so get a move on! Here's Challenge 28, which may need amending. Write a program that works out the optimal number of trucks and fuel depots to move a large quantity of fuel across a thousand miles of desert. That's it, but there are a few constraints. There are costs for moving trucks (full and empty) and for setting up fuel depots. You can read all about it at the link below.
| | On Programmer productivity
If you work as a programmer, have you ever tracked how exactly you spend your week hour by hour? Here's a breakdown of mine for a typical 40 hour week, I.e. not one when I'm supporting users which is every 6 weeks. - Meetings: 4 Hours
- Interacting with Colleagues : 4 hours
- Web Browsing: 1 Hour
- Work Phone Calls: 1 Hour
- Coffee/Toilet Breaks: 2 hours (Does not include lunch breaks)
- Emails:4 Hours
- Supporting Users: 2 Hours
- Programming: 20 Hours
- Wasted Time 2 Hours
Just half my time or less is spent programming, and some of that time is documenting or creating sql queries as well as coding and debugging. Wasted time is all the time that's hard to account for, such as 30 seconds bouncing a ball off another developer, personal phone calls, buying cakes from supermarket, signing leaving card, checking personal email on iPhone, etc. Those figures are typical for me except when I'm facing deadlines and then it's hunker down and probably get programming time up to 30 hours a week. It's not surprising though that the main problem with programmer productivity is interruptions. If you're concentrating on a problem and get interrupted, it's believed to take 5-10 minutes to regain your concentration after the interruption. I use headphones and music to signal to my colleagues that I'm busy. What do you use?
| Illustrated AES with Stickmen
Encryption can be a complicated subject but developer Jeff Moser decided to simplify explaining it. He got out a pen and after reading up on the subject came up with A Stick Figure Guide to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) plus accompanying C# code to help study it. The AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) was the winner of a competition to produce a replacement for the DES (data Encryption standard0 which had become crackable due to advances in computing power and better mathematical techniques. It looks like it might take quite a few more years before the same is true for AES. The big worry is that some genius mathematician might come up with a break through perhaps in factorizing large numbers. It hasn't happened yet so for now we can all sleep safe.
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