Simon Willison's Weblog: computers

What computers do Google engineers use when doing heavy programming?

2013-11-23T17:12:00+00:00

My answer to What computers do Google engineers use when doing heavy programming? on Quora

Loads of people at Google use Macs. Google as a company is way too smart to stop using a good product just because it is produced by a competitor.

Tags: google, programming, quora, computers

Is there any reason for a new programmer to choose C# over VB.NET (or vice versa)?

2012-01-03T10:40:00+00:00

My answer to Is there any reason for a new programmer to choose C# over VB.NET (or vice versa)? on Quora

My understanding is that VB.NET was mainly created to help make existing Visual Basic programmers more comfortable with the transition to .NET

So if you aren't already a VB programmer, you would be much better off learning C# from the start.

Tags: csharp, programming, visualbasic, quora, computers

What company had the first API?

2010-10-11T15:27:00+00:00

My answer to What company had the first API? on Quora

They weren't the first to have an API, but Flickr were the first consumer web site that really pushed the concept in my opinion. They originally promoted it as "you can always get your data back if you want to", but they then greatly benefited from the ecosystem that grew up around it.

Tags: apis, flickr, programming, technology, quora, computers