For most modern software applications, the developer doesn’t have to think much about hardware integration. Many hardware components the software comes in contact with—displays, pointing devices, keyboards, cameras, mobile device GPS receivers, etc.—have application programming interfaces (APIs) or are represented by standard interfaces built into the operating system.
One of the cool things about being a software developer is there’s always something new to learn. New programming languages, new frameworks, new development methodologies, new techniques.
“Digital transformation” isn’t just a buzzword anymore.
Some companies treat it as a buzzword and nothing more. They talk about digital transformation without having any real digital transformation initiatives. These are likely the same companies that talk about their “disruptive technologies” that aren’t disrupting anything.
But an increasing number of businesses are recognizing the value proposition of digital transformation. They’re putting meaningful resources into actual digital transformation projects.
Once upon a time, computer programming was done in “machine language;” the low-level instructions that told the computer’s processor exactly what to do. At a somewhat higher level was assembly language, which hid much of the processor-level instructions but was still painstaking, easy to mess up, and hard to debug. Both levels were also specific to a type of processor; programming a computer with a different manufacturer’s processor meant learning a whole new language.
In mathematics, a radical is the symbol used to indicate the square (or cube, or other) root operation. In chemistry, a radical (sometimes called a “free radical”) is an atom, ion, or molecule that has an unpaired valence electron, and thus is highly reactive. In politics, a radical is one who subscribes to extremist viewpoints. In youth culture, something radical is just far out, dude. Except their way to hip to go to the trouble of pronouncing all those syllables, so radical is just “rad.”
In one of the many memorable scenes from Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, heroes Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect find themselves on Earth, circa 2,000,000 BC, in the company of a large population of middle managers, hairdressers, management consultants, marketing people…in short, the “useless” third of their home planet who were sent to colonize Earth. In a committee meeting, they discuss the difficulty they’ve had in inventing the wheel. Ford Prefect, exasperated, exclaims that it’s the “single simplest machine in the Universe,” to which a marketing person replies, “All right Mr. Wiseguy, if you’re so clever, you tell us what color it should be.”
