TL;DR: #define CHECK(val) NSAssert((val), @#val) // Then use: CHECK(/* something (hopefully) true */); Long version: iOS made the the somewhat bizarre choice that dereferencing a null pointer is not an error. The program just ignores that line and keeps going. Now this causes fewer crashes (yay-ish), but when I developing I’d really like the programContinue reading “Adding an Assertion Macro in Objective-C”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
MongoDB: The Definitive Guide 2nd Edition is Out!
The second edition of MongoDB: The Definitive Guide is now available from O’Reilly! It covers both developing with and administering MongoDB. The book is language-agnostic: almost all of the examples are in JavaScript. Upgrading from a previous edition? If you have read the first edition, the new edition covers a lot of new material (itContinue reading “MongoDB: The Definitive Guide 2nd Edition is Out!”
First Two Weeks at Google
I’ve been at Google two weeks now and I’m loving it so far. My team is great and the work’s very interesting, but I can’t talk about what I’m doing, so: There’s a ton of orientation stuff new employees have to do, which hasn’t been much fun. There was a scavenger hunt (which is theContinue reading “First Two Weeks at Google”
Stock Option Basics
Here’s what I wish I’d known when I started working at 10gen. Disclaimer: don’t take this as financial advice, consult someone who actually knows what they’re talking about before making any financial decisions, this is for entertainment purposes only, etc. Also, the numbers used below do not match any startup that I know of, they’reContinue reading “Stock Option Basics”
Recruiting in all the wrong places
A recruiter had an email exchange at me the other day. It started with the standard recruiter email: Hi Kristina, How are you enjoying 10Gen? Any interest in going to something earlier stage? I’m working with a client in <field I’m not interested in>. Obviously the specificities of that are fascinating. Let me know ifContinue reading “Recruiting in all the wrong places”
The Google Interviews
When I was a college senior I applied for a job at Google. During the in-person interview, the interviewer asked me to find the median of an infinite series of numbers and I just stared at the board, having no idea what to do. Every idea I came up with that was reasonable for aContinue reading “The Google Interviews”
Guide to Tech Interviews
I’ve been interviewing people for programming jobs for five years and I’ve recently gotten a look at the interview process from the other side. Here are some suggestions for acing tech interviews. Read Cracking the Coding Interview (available for free from here, Google Play, and various other places). It is incredible, it basically covers everyContinue reading “Guide to Tech Interviews”
Intro to Fail Points
This is probably exclusively of interest to my coworkers, but MongoDB has a new fail points framework. Fail points make it easier to test things that are hard to fake, like page faults or network errors. Basically, you create a glorified boolean called a fail point, which you can turn on and off while mongodContinue reading “Intro to Fail Points”
Got any advice?
I was interviewing an potential summer intern yesterday (hey college students, apply to be an intern at 10gen!) and at the end she asked me, “I’ve never been interviewed by a female programmer before. Do you have any advice for me, being a female in a computer science?” I had no idea what to tellContinue reading “Got any advice?”
The Snail Crawls On…
A bit of housekeeping: I’ve changed domain names, now this site is kchodorow.com, not snailinaturtleneck.com. Old links should still work, they’ll just be permanent redirects to the new domain. Please let me know if you come across any issues! Why the change? kchodorow.com sounds more professional and is shorter. Also, I’m after fame and gloryContinue reading “The Snail Crawls On…”
Kristina Chodorow's Blog 