I was recently asked about who I learn from, so I threw together this list of good
places to get new ideas. Most of these are the RSS Links, not the web sites. I use
Google Reader to make sure I keep up.

Top 3

• Ayende Rahien
• Uncle Bob Martin
• Martin Fowler

.NET

• Scott Hanselman
• Jeffrey Palermo
• Davy Brion
• Udi Dahan
• Frans Bouma
• Code Better

General

• Joel Spolsky
• Jeff Atwood

Security

• Schneier on Security

Funny

• XKCD

Podcasts

• ALT.NET
• Elegant Code
• HanselMinutes
• Herding Code 
• .NET Rocks  

In my first and second post
on the idea of learning Ruby through writing tests, I showed the basics of learning
a language using the TDD tools. Since that start, I’ve found some great work others
have done along these lines that you can use to play with the skills you’re learning
and test yourself against some real problems.

First, the Ruby Koans by
Jim Weirich are a comprehensive set of ‘learning tests’ that can teach you or quiz
you on what you’ve learned of Ruby so far. Each time you pass a test, it points you
to the next thing you need to fix. Truly TDD learning!

I was a bit put off when I first found this set, since it seems so much like a shortcut,
but there’s no reason I can’t play with Jim’s tests as well as write
my own, now is there?

Second, there’s the Ruby Quiz, which
looks to be a great place to get a graduate education in your Ruby skills. The quiz
isn’t being added to anymore, but the challenges are just awesome and they have reference
solutions from people who have solved them before you. Once you’ve solved one, you
can find so many ways of learning a better way. Talk about erudition!

Rob James writes Eight
things I wish I had been told before doing my start-up. There’s some good thoughts
there for anyone who’s looking at making a company big enough for investment. #1 Invest
in People is the one that rings true for me, since I’ve spent years pursuing a model
that requires more people…on a budget that can’t afford more people.

Rob Secretlastname has a post on the Build
or Buy Decision when starting a small ISV. I found this one personally interesting,
since I’ve bought the software from him! It’s also worth noting that the initial effort
of getting a product online is probably more costly than it’s really worth. If you
can capitalize it…and if there’s a market, it’s probably better to pay someone else.

“I’ve
got an IDEA!” Who hasn’t said that. Who hasn’t heard that. Of course the idea
is the easy part. Mitch Denny shares some thoughts on getting started with SAAS as
a business (SAASAAB?)

As of now they
are for me. Apparently Microsoft has been developing heuristics to detect people who
use inexpensive practice tests and study materials. They threaten to ban you from
any further Certification or membership in their training program if you are ‘caught’
studying for their tests.

I’ve always thought the certification exams were meaningless collections of arcane–usually
marketing-centered–trivia. However, in the past, I’ve succumbed to one pressure or
another to getting a certification. I’m done now. I don’t need to give Microsoft money
for useless training, or for certificates that have never helped my income one bit.
Especially if they plan on threatening me.

The whole two-factor authentication system is a fantastic idea. However the idea of
giving a new device to every person who needs to login to my site? Well, that just
seems expensive. And given the fact that I’ve thrown out all of my grocery membership
cards and refuse to shop at those places because it makes my wallet too heavy…I
doubt that people really want to carry that stuff around.

The solution? Use the device we all have with us: our cellular phone. PhoneFactor has
a platform that does just that. It’s also free to use for an application of your choice.
You can set it up for RDP, VPN, or program your web app against it. When your users
log in, they get a call on their cell phone and have to press #. If you want to try
it out without setting anything up, try getting a free MyOpenId and
using PhoneFactor as your authentication mechanism.

Personally, I still think the barrier to entry is too high, what with configuration
and licensing and user training and edge cases where it doesn’t work…but hopefully
good technology options like this will push out the absurd technology options like
RSA keys and press the pricing down to the point where it really is everywhere and
everyone accessable. Then if we could just get Microsoft and Apple to build it into
the OS so that we really can authorize everywhere using easy tools from any provider.