Hoards of Darkness

Microsoft is doing their second round of interviews in AU at the moment. Recently I have been contacted by two of my HIT8099/HIT8197 students from last semester and they both have 2nd round interviews in Sydney next week! Fantastic news. I hope they you guys go well.

Anyone else picked up an interesting .NET job after doing HIT8099 or HIT8197? Let me know what you are up to.

Another Job

One of my past student recently contacted me looking for some .NET graduates. His company is expanding, and looking to take on some more .NET people. Unfortunately this isn't the best time for me as semester is about to start, but if your are looking for a job with .NET have a look at http://www.roadhouse.com.au/Content.aspx?topicID=235. I know for a fact that some very talented people work there...

Definition of the week

Yesterday I read a very interesting statement:

"A class is a pointer to an object"

I think this definition really describes the relationship between classes and objects quite well for some languages. The language in question was Delphi. In Delphi, just like Java, C# and Visual Basic .NET, a class type would be referred to as a reference type. What does this mean? A variable of this type is a reference to an object, not the object itself. Or in other words, a class is a pointer to an object. If we could define an object, a class would just be a pointer to that type i.e.

PersonObj = object
...
end;

Person = ^object;

Another Job

BOSS Software International is advertising two new junior developer positions. You can get the details from the link above.

The problem with ...

The problem with languages like Java and C# is that you need to understand many things in order to create any kind of solution. Using these languages implies an object oriented solution, which in turn implies an understanding of objects. Objects are created by combining data and functionality, so objects implies an understanding of these concepts. Dont get me wrong I use these languages, and I am quite capable of creating elegant oo solutions. I just think that before you start using objects it would be good to have a strong understanding of data and functionality (i.e. sequence, selection, repetition, and functions and procedures). This is way Algorithmic Problem Solving, a new subject I am working on, will be focusing on these concepts and not introducing objects until near the very end.

Objects are important. Objects are good. But there is no need for objects first.