One prove that a good user interface design is needed in all aspect of life :
I got a post of comment regarding my previous blog about web developer skill, it said that I have to put valid source reference URL for every quote that I post. Hmm... I did doing it from start, but due to my personal recklessness, i put the reference,as hyperlinked text, not a raw URL, on the lefthand side of the under the quote body, as oppose to the convention to put it right justified to be more identifiable as cross reference.
Aside from the fact that the commentary is actually a bit biased since it comes from a friend of mine who is a web designer who refused to learn programming :)) , this case in general is a good example of user interface intuitiveness and formal convention, so beware, for everything that touches human, it should be simple but carefully crafted for full usability...

Sedikit tentang skill dan pilihan pekerjaan :

...

Of course, that’s a ludicrous thing to suggest. HTML and CSS are
foundational technologies of the Web, and no-one is suggesting that web
developers shouldn’t have to know them. In fact, a “web developer” who
didn’t know HTML and CSS has no right to the title.

But here’s the thing: JavaScript is just as foundational as HTML and CSS.

Now, granted, when I first got into this business JavaScript was
something of a red-headed stepchild; 99% of all the JavaScript deployed
on the public Web was devoted to making images change when you rolled
your mouse over them, and the other 1% was written by scary people who
called it “DHTML”.

But now… now it’s 2006, and we’re slowly realizing that those

“DHTML” guys were really onto something. The rich interaction
possibilities opened up by JavaScript are being recognized for what
they are, and have even spawned a whole raft of new buzzwords and new
toolkits. And even though it was always technically that way, we’re
coming around to see (or, in some cases, being dragged kicking and
screaming into seeing) that the Web really is based on three
technologies: HTML for structure, CSS for style and JavaScript for
behavior and interaction.

Which means that here and now, in 2006, if you call yourself a “web developer” you have absolutely no excuse for not knowing JavaScript. And if you don’t know JavaScript, you have absolutely no right to call yourself a “web developer”....

The B-List: Django and AJAX

Kalo dipikir-pikir ini sama dengan :

• Web designer yang gak bisa nulis HTML kalo gak ada Dreamweaver
• Photoshop artists yang gak bisa bikin drop shadow kalo gak ada plug in nya
• Jagoan 3D Max yang gak bisa bikin walk cycle tanpa Character Studio
  

Huehehe... Memang sih teknologi seharusnya mambuat kehidupan lebih mudah, tapi coba deh... yang gw sebutin diatas itu kan bener2 konsep dasar...
ie :

HTML itu text file yang bisa diedit bahkan dengan text editor sederhana seperti Notepad, asal kita tahu ,biarpun sedikit, tentang tag dasar HTML

Bikin drop shadow di Photoshop ? hmm... gw berani taruhan, anak2 design keluaran baru itu gak ada yang tahu apa itu "CHOP" alias "CHannel OPeration"... inget, jaman dulu photoshop gak ada layer, cuma
bisa multiple channel mask, itupun kalo udah banyak makin berat karena memory PC standard jaman dulu yang cuma 16 meg ( segitu juga udah bisa jadi kebanggaan :P )

Walk cycle ? waktu gw masih jadi 3D animator, character animation could boost you up to the top of the food chain ... timing, timing, timing... rigging, skinning, bla bla... even the basics could take considerable effort and time to learn fully... sekarang, klik sini, drag sana, klik klik klik... jadilah makluk itu jalan dengan penuh keluwesan... jadi inget waktu multiped plugin buat softimage dirilis, semua orang langsung rebutan pengen bisa pake...

I mean, I couldn't care less if you say "no time to learn" or "as long as the job done"... but IMHO, good knowledge on basic concepts is a MUST... i don't know about you, but for me, it saved me a whole lot
of valuable time , producing better results with less work, and most of all, I don't get dependent to my tools...

imagine this ( or don't, because this happens nearly daily these days ):

"I wan't this logo to have drop shadow"

"errr... sorry sir, this PC is only being used for preview only,
it does have Photoshop installed, but without drop shadow plugin...
please, give us more time, let's setup another meeting later then "

"???"

Interesting and maybe good for geeks :)
The Art of Unix Programming

Interesting :
Peril of Java Programming School
Blub Programmer

Before you start your quest to become a Jedi programmer, remember these small things :

• Most language have end of line delimiter, like C, C++, C#, java, PHP and many other C like languages, use ";" ( semicolon ) to mark end of line then telling the compiler to treat subsequent strings as new statement. Even the masters can forget this from time to time, but it's a good habit to make sure you hit semicolon after typing a complete statement.
• Matching bracket, wheter it's curly bracket "{}", or any other brackets "( )", "[]" always make sure that they come as pair... No bracket should live alone :)... hints : everytime you need to type a bracket, type as pair, then move back your cursor to type in and fill in the space between the two...
• Some languages has it's own quirks, and sometimes not too obvious for uninitiated ones, like Python, it uses "tab" to specify blocks of statements... so if in most other languages you put tabs for readability and make your codes aesthetically beautiful, then in Python, you could actually get error if you don't tidy up your codes...
  
• Make comments... put comments, any comments on any functions, or any parts of the codes that you deem important... may not be meaningful at the time you write the code, but it will be after sometime and you need to review your own code... Well, don't bother about other people, just do it for your own sake, that will be enough...

Another thing is, if you code doesn't generate error the first time you run it, then must be something wrong with it :) could be the error suppression is working or simply because you only type in an example from the book as is... come on, be more adventurous, add more code, try those built in functions, use those weird syntaxes... the more you try, the more you gain...

So you want to be a computer programmer...
Ok, first, choose your first language to learn, most modern programming language has powerful features yet easy to learn, like good old Basic with its modern incarnation ( Visual Basic, or Gambas in Linux world )
for the daring souls, try choose Pascal, C, C++,C# or Java as your first language, and if you can survive, then you're on the way to become a true Jedi ( hehehe... )
for those who really, really want to make money fast from programming, try web programming... PHP will be a nice choice for a start... the syntax is much like C, and if you can get into advanced PHP then you can easily start learn C.. although this learning path ( PHP to C ) is not recomended in formal school for computer science and the fact that C is the first language to learn there, but hey, I ain't talking about taking programming school here ...
For those adrenaline junkie, choose Assembly, not really sure if chicks love it if you say "I like extreme sports, I program in Assembly"...
Anyway, for any language you have choosen, keep in mind that there's no ultimate language that can solve all problems.
Another rule of thumb is : Good programmer must learn another language at least one new language a year...
Happy coding :)