Comments for Jawaad Mahmood in Tokyo

Comment on Britannica vs. Wikipedia by Jawaad

Jawaad — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:16:34 +0000

Thanks for correcting me.

I think most of the article was hidden from me because I had noscript enabled. (An attempt to stop site scrapers perhaps?)

Comment on Britannica vs. Wikipedia by greenlight

greenlight — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:37:08 +0000

A disaster? I think the Britannica article is actually longer than the Wikipedia one (1800 words for britannica vs 1200 for wikipedia)

Comment on Yuck by Jawaad

Jawaad — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:29:56 +0000

I am a strong proponent of breast feeding. I was breast-fed.

However, I am very much opposed to any and ALL advertisements that turn the sacred act of child-birth into a gimmick to sell records. This advertisement offers to let you produce a baby with a member of AKB48, a singer/dancer idol-group in Japan.

The lady in question is 17 or 18 years old and is presenting herself as breast-feeding in order to make money from nerd-men desperate to cop a feel. It imposes sexuality over a natural and completely non-sexual act.

I haven’t thought it out too much past my initial “Yuck”. I’m sure when I do, I will sound more coherent.

Comment on Yuck by Billy Z.

Billy Z. — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:24:36 +0000

Yuck what? Both my children were breastfed and it’s probably one of the best things the ex ever did– as a matter of fact my pediatrician has officially stated that it was breastfeeding that save my oldest from a possible food allergy.

Comment on It’s hard to take Android seriously with bugs like this. by Jawaad

Jawaad — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:46:55 +0000

No doubt iOS has its doozies!

My first reaction when faced with the problem I had was to think “Apple loves us, Google hates us”, but then I remembered how complicated and difficult it was to export my app to my device for testing.

The main stain on Android development is the emulator, but then again, it is so easy to export to your phone that it is a petty complaint.

Comment on It’s hard to take Android seriously with bugs like this. by greenlight

greenlight — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:22:01 +0000

Too bad Radar is private or I’d have tons of these to link to for iOS

Comment on Galaxy X S2 Initial Thoughts by Jawaad

Jawaad — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 10:25:35 +0000

Hey Janos,

Yeah I really understand where you are coming from. On one hand, programming for Android is a dream because of the lack of the complete Apple lockdown. I love using Intents / Services, they are easy to grok and add to my toolbox. I already knew Java, hence bring it up to speed for Android was simple (especially with some help from Eclipse).

On the other hand, you have to deal with the actual phone. The browser is.. acceptable, but often times leaves strange artifacts on the screen. The animations are jerky, unclear. It’s not always obvious where to get the best program to resolve an itch, and the google store is a headache in of itself.

I want to try out these Android 4 phones, but I doubt they will be a match for the simplicity of my iPhone or iPad 2.

Comment on Galaxy X S2 Initial Thoughts by Janos

Janos — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:53:09 +0000

Give it some time. You’ll learn to hate it more I liked mine for many days before it started to drive me MAD. I love working on Android and really don’t like working on iPhone. But overall my 2-year old iPhone functions way better than my this year’s model Android. Sad but true. Our best option is still to root for Android though.

Comment on Got my kindle! by Micco

Micco — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:41:33 +0000

うらやましいです:)

Comment on [JP] To My Fellow Japanese Programmers… by Dryad

Dryad — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:12:09 +0000

はじめまして。
翻訳された元の記事を読ませていただいた者です。

ある日本の企業で働いていますが、Mahmoodさんの現状分析には概ね同意見です。
ただ、日本語のドキュメントが整備されたフレームワークがあったとしても、それが問題を解決する助けになるかは、少々疑問です。

なぜなら、問題を抱えているような日本企業では、効率の向上よりも「リスクがないと信じられること」が何よりも重要視されるからです。

もちろん、当たり前ですが、「リスクがない開発」というものはありえません。実際には、あちこちに責任を分散させる（多重下請け！）ことで、リスクを見えないようにしているだけです。
しかし、「リスクがないと信じられる」ようにするためには、どれだけ開発効率が下がろうと、どれだけ潜在的なコストを押し上げようと容認されますし、その方が会社内でも高く評価されます。
そのような文化においては、「新しいこと」や「変化」というのはリスクの塊であり、全力で避けるべきもの、ということになります（どの企業も、スローガンの中では「変化に対応した新しいIT」と言いますが）。

私は、解決策は二通りしかない、と思っています。一つは、「新たなフレームワークの使用にリスクは全くないこと」を上司に信じさせること。もう一つは、非効率な開発をしている企業がすべて市場に淘汰されること。

悲観的に過ぎるでしょうか？結局は、技術の課題ではなく、会社文化の問題なのだと思うのです。あるいは、そうした文化的な問題を乗り越えるような、何らかの（開発のための技術、という意味での）技術的革新が必要なのかもしれません。