I switched to http://typematrix.com keyboard about 5 years ago when my wrists started hurting. I've been happy with that decision. The unmarked one I purchased at first really made me focus in my touch typing.
One downside: When I go to a co-worker's computer with a normal keyboard I feel like I can not type.
Even as a seasoned developer I think the book has value when trying to make the case to less-seasoned colleagues that they might want to think more critically about how they are structuring their code.
I wish I could vote this up more than one point. I don't believe I have any insight I can add in a short comment that would do anything but distract from the authors point.
Also increasing the cost of any ongoing maintenance and support (and the need to charge for that support and maintenance) are the "unhedged option calls" [1] made when the idea was first expressed in code.
I'm also reminded of the joke: "How did God manage to create the world in only six days? He didn't have any installed base he had to worry about backwards compatibility with."
The first thought that popped into my mind from reading this was when is there going to be a bachelor's equivalency exam? Perhaps a new potential market for the ETS?
I agree that the public / private option makes sense to me.
However, regarding that the public option "...gives you a way to show publicly how friendly and responsive you are...", it also sometimes forces you to deal with people (competitors?) who want to use your forum to argue why your product may be lacking. There is also the occasional person who is upset that you or someone else hasn't taken up their issue that they mailed to the public list.
If you think I have any level of respect at all for community college, or the education system in the United States in general, you are misinformed.
A poorly trained ape could graduate from any community college in this country. Fact.
I had hoped you would glean from my comment: "If a Cornell grad can't find a job, and I just went to a lowly community college, I must be fucked, right?" NOT SO.
All kidding aside--and I was just kidding with my previous comment--while I think there is vast room for improvement in how people are moved through the education system I wouldn't go so far as to say I don't have any level of respect for it or community colleges in particular.
I graduated from high school two years early and started attending the local community college before moving to a 4-year university. My experiences were that yes, the day classes were like an unfortunate extension of high school, but the night classes were generally filled with people who were working during the day and serious about their time in class at night. Compared to the 4-year university, the feel was more collaborative and less competitive. In fact, one of my instructors during those community college days (Don Heidt, I'm thinking of you) was among the best I had. I still think about things that he said in class on a regular basis, and that was ~19 years ago.
So even though "a poorly trained ape could graduate from any community college in this country", I believe community colleges DO provide opportunities for students to better themselves. The problem is that community colleges, since they aren't selective, don't make great differentiators of applicants if you're not interested in trying to determine for yourself how capable someone is.
"Linux Programming Interface" is one of the best technical books I've ever read.