An interview with John MacFarlane. Don't use Scatterplots. Don't use Scatterplots In a series of blog posts, Gary Rubinstein attempts show that the Value Added Modelling scores recently released by the NYC Department of Education prove that VAM (Value Added Modelling) is not accurate.
However, whatever flaws VAM may have, Gary Rubinstein (henceforth GR) hasn’t demonstrated them. API Design. One of the development tasks I do most often is designing the API for a reusable component.
The components are usually for iOS (though sometimes they’re for OS X), and are invariably GUI controls or views of some kind. I’ve designed literally dozens of component APIs over the years, including for clients like Apple, and I’ve learned quite a bit about the process. I periodically release open source components too, and the feedback I’ve had has helped me put together a set of guidelines for API design that I’d like to share with you. This is an important topic, whether you’re an open source contributor, or working as part of a team on a large app, or just creating your own software. Just like the first launch experience of an app, your API is part of the first impression that a developer will have with your code, and will have a huge impact on whether they use it or throw it away.