The solutions are not simple and quick. But could yield results over long term. I have practiced this. As an ex-copywriter I have had my writing critiqued by creative directors many times. So I state this as someone who learnt a little about written communication.
- Review material written by non-native speakers. Look for cultural anachronisms, cliches, grammatical errors etc..before all this one has to ensure if the message is functionally correct. Provide feedback. Can't emphasize how important this is. Everybody wants to be good at communicating. So tell them why you find it wrong. That would become a guideline to be followed.
- Suggest what material they should read to become proficient in using your target language. Reading good literature and comprehending it, somehow deepens ones understanding of how to use a language.
- Let them practice. More pointed feedback you give along with opportunities faster they learn. Expecting progress without this is just wishful thinking. You should not blame the other person!
Brilliant! Been following Prismatic/Bradford for a while now and thought you would not share your 'Graph' library.
If one has not stumbled upon specific use cases like disparate data sources, custom/widely varying transformation logic between these data sources and more then it might be difficult to appreciate your contribution. Thanks for this..even if not right away I hope to utilize it for our startup!
I write my own blog. My readership is minuscule but it takes to my idiosyncrasies. And often challenges my opinions. What more could I ask!
Language should be the last reason why one does not communicate. An idea holds itself regardless of which language its written in and with what finesse.
And like you I guess I too shift from philosophy to poetry to tech without missing a beat. It does restrict your reader base a lot but again, if your style can accommodate all these perspectives, I dont see why you could not talk about all that catches your fancy.
For me its all about keywords. To start with some phrase that captures the essence. Then to move on to the peripheries of the subject. Then to bring in the context within which I search for that topic. By that time I have usually found what I want...
Procrastination is usually a sign of not being engaged with whatever is in front. Laziness that vanishes with Guitar Hero, or any other interesting activity, is not laziness.
Ubiquitous availability of information is the first step. Then comes consistent data formats. And then the tools to slice, dice and weave shimmering insights. And then maybe, just maybe, act on that insight.
Someones got to pay. May be other revenue streams subsidizing the open source work. But its naive to believe that support & services alone can sustain a software producer.
Imagine would Red Hat be able to sell its version of Linux for the cost that it does if it were to produce the whole thing? Remember the guy who contributes to the overall effort cannot live on air and water. Could be large corporations(IBM, Sun) or the State(any country with strong social security, free education etc), putting the money to support the people working on open source.
A worn out, moth eaten copy of Lord Byron's complete works. It took me almost a decade to outgrow the influence. Especially the poem Manfred, and the soliloquay at the beginning!
The Sanyasin - Satprem. I walked the streets of Chennai not knowing what the hell was happening, while reading this. Magical, mystic..anyone who has ever held any spiritual notions should read this...
Last Temptation by Nikos Kazantikakis, what can I say..every word has drilled through me!
Ka by Roberto Calasso, this made me confront my own culture and religion like no other.
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.
Godel, Escher & Bach - Douglas Hofstadter. Barely made it to 4th chapter but that alone has shattered opinions I held about my style of thinking.
And Sri Aurobindo...almost everything that he has written touches me like no other. It was like coming home after being in exile. Not that I understand anything but...
And of course Don Box's talk on DDJ about the origins of .NET!
The demo is nice. That said, SQL Server had a language processing plugin which could translate normal text to a SQL query, this was back in the days.
Which languages do you support?