We’ve revamped most of the app to make it cuter, neater and more usable. So, next time you need to catch a bus in Bilbao, don’t hesitate and download BilbaoBus.

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The Clean Coder

By Robert C. Martin

The Clean Coder is a kind of sequel to the famous Clean Code published in 2008. This sequel is a 200-pages-self-help book for programmers that’s sprinkled with biographical material. By and large, the mantra is: read this book and you’ll learn how to be a true professional programmer. To achieve that goal, the author shows a kind of ethic code for “true” developers in a world of sloppy programmers. The most remarkable aspect of the book is that is rather focused on psychology than in practical or technical stuff. Therefore, there are whole chapters dedicated to topics such as: when/how to say No to pushy managers, coding mental-state, etc.

I do support the idea of acting always as a professional no matter if you’re an entrepeneur, an employee working for a large company or a freelancer. One should have always in mind that every mistake we make has consequences and there’s no free lunch. However, I find the approach of this book is a little unreal, the programmer is presented as a kind of medieval knight or so.

To sum up, there are highs and lows in this book. While I enjoyed some chapters like “how to say no” or “how to estimate”, others are pretty much useless, like “Coding”, “Mentoring, Apprenticeship, and Craftsmanship” or the one about teams and projects which, to my surprise, is 4 pages long (!?). The reading is agile and even enjoyable but don’t expect to much and it won’t disappoint you. Usually I’m not very keen on this sort of books, but every now and then, I read one because we all have something to learn or get better at.

This is recent interview with Robert C. Martin:

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The Art Of Start

By Guy Kawasaki

This is an entrepreneurship guide that explains what it takes to transform an idea into a succesful startup company. The book describes the different difficulties any startup has to deal with. It tackles subjects such as: the business plan, the bootstrapping stage, funding,… We could say that it focuses mainly on IT companies although the general principles are valid for almost any company. The book is easy-to-read, does not ramble and is peppered with a pinch of entrepreneurial philosophy which is always encouraging when you’re about to choose the red-pill. I found particularly interesting the chapter about raising capital….valuable advice from someone who lives in the Valley and knows very well what it’s all about.

There are hundreds of books about running a business. I chose this one basically for the author: Guy Kawasaki. I first knew him when I read the foreword of Presentation Zen, and I thought that a guy that can write a so awesome introduction, must have lots of smart things to say.

To sum up, the book is good and sometimes brilliant. It’s not overly optimistic which is always welcome; can’t bear those stupid books that make you believe everything is possible if you try it, when we all know it doesn’t work that way.

This is a talk by Guy Kawasaki at Stanford University:

You can watch the rest of the videos here.

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Although most of them may be considered a must-read, I’ve found particularly interesting the one about Riptide GP where the guys of Vector Unit describe the process of porting a 360 xBox game (Hydro Thunder Hurricane) to the Tegra 2 platform. Hot topics such as funding, monetization and piracy are also addressed in the write-up . Definitely a good read!

Postmortem: Vector Unit’s Riptide GP

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It’d have been virtually impossible to find the leak without a tool like MAT. Moreover, a good understanding of the different types of references (strong, weak, soft…) and the concept of Dominator Tree  also help.

When I’ve got a little more time I’ll write about the whole process I went thru (if anyone is really interested please let me know)… but meanwhile, this is an invaluable resource if you find yourself in a similar situation and don’t know how to start:

Good luck with your leaks!

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More?  Here.

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Moreover, I’ve co-founded a new development studio named Quoders.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of something great…

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Previously (early September), we were visiting the South of Spain (this time we chose Cádiz region). Thanks to the good weather, we could confirm that the sunlight makes Cádiz different from anywhere else we’ve ever been. And we also realized that Almadraba tuna is one of the most delicious fish you can taste.

Now it’s time to back to work. Memories remain…

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Básicamente se centró en explicar su faceta de Business Angel (concepto que para mí era un misterio hasta ese momento) y los criterios para seleccionar proyectos a financiar. Adicionalmente dió un repaso a los sectores online que más futuro les augura de aquí a 3-5 años: Juegos para Facebook, Redes Sociales de nicho, Clasificados, Clubs de Compra, etc.

Sin duda no será el último evento de este tipo al que asista, ya que la parte de negocio es algo que a la gente técnica siempre se nos resiste De la conferencia me quedo con algunas  reflexiones que me llamaron la atención:

• Las ideas no valen nada, lo que tiene valor es la ejecución de esas ideas.
• “Los Business Angels no financiamos sueños“.
• ¿Quieres ser Rico o ser Rey?

Por cierto, para los que os queráis acercar por Bilbao, el 19 y 20 de octubre tiene lugar en el BEC el Emprende2010 cuyo programa está repleto de conferencias y charlas más que interesantes.

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