I was looking at somebody's code today (I've no idea whose), and I came across a line something like the following:

int? thing = GetSomethingOrOther();

Looks okay. Yup. Oh, hang on, what's that? There's a question mark after the int! How could that compile? Maybe it's an encoding issue or something. No, seems like a real one. Better google it. Ah, it's a nullable int. Fancy that. Well I never.

When choosing wording for software or websites, it is worth thinking about the phrasing of opposites. If you log in, then you should log out, not log off. If you subscribe, then you should unsubscribe, not cancel subscription. Buttons should be yes and no, not yes and cancel.

If it doesn't work, e.g. sign up, then consider a different phrase, such as register, which does.

Madgex, who I am currently working for, are looking to recruit some .NET developers and an information architect. They've had some rather groovy cards printed to give out at dConstruct and BarCamp (which they are hosting in their office).



If you're interested in working in the centre of Brighton, let me know.

I thought I had got away with it, but I clearly haven't. Quechup were so busy spamming people that it took 12 hours to get round to my contacts - all 395 of them. I emailed everyone in my contact list to apologise, and warn not to sign up, and the following has happened:

1. I've had lots of out of office replies.
2. I've had lots of Mail Delivery Subsystem permanent failures
3. Many people have replied thanking me for the warning, or telling me it wasn't a problem, even people I don't know at all.
4. Some of these people (who I don't converse with regularly) have used this as an opportunity to start a conversation. [If it's you, I'll get round to replying soon].
5. Someone has invited me out for a beer
6. I enjoyed the irony of knowing I've spammed a few recruiters (although I would never do it intentionally).
7. Colin blogged about it
8. I got Quechup invites from about four of my contacts. You know what that means >:-(
9. I've felt the most embarrassment, humility and anger since goodness knows when
10. Having re-read an invite, I realised that they not only spammed my contacts, they lied to them too, and worse still, lied about me; "You received this because Simon Harriyott (email@address) knows and agreed to invite you.". I guess I could sue them.

Ho hum.

I've finished my first week contracting for Madgex, and it's been all good so far. The people have been, without exception, really friendly. They go to the pub after work on a Friday, and I haven't heard anyone bitch about anyone else yet, which I love. I've worked in too many places where there's been nasty comments about people who can't hear what's being said about them. It's been quite the opposite, in fact. Several times people have praised their colleagues (including the bosses) for their skill, attitude and character.

There are some very clever and talented people there. They verticalise skills more than anywhere else I've worked, so I've met someone who designs the websites and puts them into photoshop. He doesn't do any HTML or CSS, there are other people who are expert at that, and they don't do any coding.

I like that, as although I know HTML and CSS, and write table-less designs, I don't do enough of it to know what to do with different browsers, and how to get round the various issues. I know don't have the responsibility for getting all that correct, and I can concentrate on the back-end code.

My first major project will be something very similar to what I worked on at my last contract, right down to the social issues around a particular feature. I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

Working in the centre of Brighton is brilliant. I have so many options for buying lunch, and a beach to eat it on. Any shopping I need to do is covered. Much better than Sayers Common! I've found somewhere to park that's free, which is a 10-15 minute walk to the office, so I am finally getting some daily exercise in my routine.

Lastly, there's table football. I loved playing it at Friday-Ad, as it's a great way to get to know people, and lots of fun. The table is different, so I'm going to need time to adjust. More people play too, so it will take longer to suss out their tricks and defend against them. I've not embarrassed myself with it so far.

In conclusion, I'm very happy to be at Madgex, and I'd like to publicly thank Jane for setting me up to work here. Bless you.

<UPDATE>
Sadly, Hugh didn't intentionally invite me to join Quechup. The sign-up process asks you for your email details, and then spams all your contacts. Fortunately I couldn't be bothered to complete this process, so hopefully I got away with it. My wife hasn't got the email yet, so it looks like I have. Anyway, don't sign up with these idiots, no matter how many invites you get. More details here and here.
</UPDATE>

I've just been invited by Hugh to join Quechup, another social networking site. There are similarities with MyFace, SpaceBook and LinkedIn, so there's blogging, photos, friends and friends-of-friends.

I signed up to have a look around, but I suspect I won't use it very much, as I haven't seen anything on Quechup that I don't have elsewhere. Also, anything I do post is subject to this section from the terms and conditions:

By posting Content to any public area of Quechup.com, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Quechup.com an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

They do have a good warning on the profile page:

We actively filter personal details such as full names or email on descriptions, Blogs, etc. due to the risk of identity theft. We strongly advise all members NOT put personal details in publically [sic] viewable information.

I'll judge how well it's doing by the number of invites I get over the next few months.