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Month: October 2016

Tips for Debugging Code without F-Bombs – Part 2

This post is a continuation of my previous tutorial about debugging code in which I discuss how preventing bugs is really the best way of debugging.  In this tutorial, we’re going to cover more debugging techniques and how to avoid bugs.

Types of Errors:

Ok, you’re testing frequently, and using good coding practices, but you’ve STILL got bugs.  What next??  Let’s talk about what kind of error you are encountering because that will determine the response.  Errors can be reduced to three basic categories: syntax errors, runtime errors, and the most insidious intent errors.  Let’s look at Syntax errors first.

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Why Musicians Make Good Analysts

I recently read Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave by Bill Franks of Teradata and in the book (which is going on my recommended reading list) he has a section about the ideal analyst.  While I am admittedly very biased on this one, Mr. Franks makes a very good point that in many instances the best analysts have a musical or other creative ability in addition to math and computer science skills.  In my experience, the best data scientists that I’ve worked with all have had some creative side to them–be it music, art or whatever.  Thus, here is my case why play an instrument is perhaps some of the best preparation to think like an analyst.

Musicians are trained in ETL

This may seem out of place, but consider what happens when a musician receives a piece of music to play for the first time.  Most musicians will read through the sheet music and either sing through it via solfege, or otherwise mentally convert the written notes on the page into a mental version of the music. Every musician has their own method, but basically, they’ll transform the notes on the page into a mental version of the music.  

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