shawnps

Right, basically this. If you're shipping something new that could affect production, put it behind a feature flag so the code paths that are already live are unaffected. Continuously ship small changesets so that it's easy to roll back if necessary.

To make this process safer I usually recommend:

  1. Put all new code behind feature flags that are off by default in production.
  2. Make rolling back easy.
  3. Have extensive unit and integration tests.

Some of the deployment steps could be automated even further -- maybe the CI server automatically deploys Staging after a successful build.

See the books Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps, and The Toyota Way for more.

I subscribed to the golang-announce Google Group RSS feed in a Slack channel and was wondering why I didn't see the Go 1.17 announcement.

Early in my career I saw a large legacy project that was riddled with bugs turned around after a senior developer insisted on having unit tests. No one else believed in the value of unit testing, so he added them on his own in his free time. Occasionally another developer would push up some code that broke the senior developer's tests, and he gradually got the upper hand because he now had proof that his tests were finding real problems.

Everyone started writing unit tests, and the code broke less. Developers became more confident in deploying, and eventually most PRs looked roughly the same: 10-20 line diff on the top, unit tests on the bottom. If there were no tests, the reviewer asked for tests. It became a fun and safe project to work on, rather than something we all feared might break at any moment.

I've since started insisting on having them as well, especially when I'm using dynamically typed languages. A lot of the tests I write in Python for example are already covered in a language like Go just by having the type system.

Thanks, that makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, what's your take on the cost of the wheels? As someone who has worked in sound/lighting, are they something you wouldn't have thought twice about buying?

Genuine question -- how does adding wheels to the Mac Pro add value? I figured most people would just plop it on a desk.

Online classes can work, but it makes sense that students are frustrated by courses put together quickly due to unforeseen circumstances.

I've been a student of Georgia Tech's online Master's program for a few semesters now. They've had years to iterate based on previous students' feedback. I am learning an incredible amount for a decent price. But it is a Master's program and involves a lot of self-motivated research. Also, it costs roughly $850 per semester (if you take only one course). I'm not sure I'd have done it if it had cost thousands.

ITA used to advertise puzzles on the MBTA (public transit) in Boston and I emailed in a solution when I was a university student. Looking back, it seems like an effective way to find candidates with a sense of curiosity for problem solving.

I eventually got an offer, but chose another job. They were acquired by Google soon after, and I sometimes regret not taking it!

I don't think there's anything wrong with buying books that you intend to read in the future. I do this all the time, and when I want something new to read I pick something off of the shelf. There are worse things to buy than books.