Speaking: QCon 2010 learning slides now available

A belated thanks to everyone who came to my QCon London 2010 talk on software developers' learning. I've had some great feedback, which just goes to show that a hangover doesn't do much to dent my presentation skills! I'm glad people found the talk useful; I know it's an interesting topic, and one that programmers don't think hard about too often.

For those who wanted the slides, they are now available online here. They've got a lot of extra reference information that I didn't have time to pack into the talk. Don't eat them all at once.

The conference itself was full of very interesting stuff and, as ever, a lot of the most interesting learning happens outside of the talks themselves. The organisers did a great job.

I will be presenting an extended version of this talk (and speaking on other topics too) at the ACCU Conference in Oxford this April.

Writing: Live To Love To Learn

The latest issue of ACCU's CVu Magazine is out now. It contains the second part of my series on software developers learning: Live To Love To Learn.

This is something I've been looking into a lot recently; I've spent many hours researching, writing and speaking on the subject. Learning is a large topic (seriously vast), and the more I learn about it, the more I realise I don't know!

It's quite a lengthy article this month; looking at some basic learning facts, some interesting models of learning, and investigations into how the brain works in order to gain and retain knowledge. I hope you find it interesting and useful.

This is the 60th column in my Professionalism in Programming series. That means I've been writing these articles for 10 years now. That is a frightening thought!

I should have learnt how to quit by now...

Speaking: QCon London 2010 (this week)

I am speaking at QCon in London this week. The official details for my session are here.

My talk is entitled: The Craftsman Learns (or Learning the Craft) and it's going to be both practical and a great deal of fun. We'll investigate why software developers learn, what software developers (should) learn, and some keys that will help us to learn more effectively.

Useful stuff for any programmer who cares about their craft.

Book: 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know

The latest book in O'Reilly's 97 Things series is out now: 97 Things Every Programmer should know. I have three items in this book, and have just received my paper copy (photographic proof attached for the non-believers!).

Despite the somewhat underwhelming cover (it's now the series ident, apparently), it's actually a very well produced book. Thanks to everyone involved.

Details from the publisher's website here.

My contributions are:

Chapter 26 Don't Ignore That Error!

Chapter 39 Improve Code by Removing It

Chapter 96 You Gotta Care About the Code