I was frustrated by how annoying other options for digital whiteboarding were. Most cases I (and others I know) just fell back to using a physical whiteboard, or overusing words when a quick picture would do the job much better. In brief, I felt the existing apps out there didn't do enough to enhance our ability to communicate visually.

So I rethought what the UI should be to make it easier, faster and more natural to use. And here's the result. It's in Flash but is still relatively lightweight. I feel tempted to list out all the unique features, but I'd rather you give it a spin and let me know what you think.

You can see the video at: http://www.dabbleboard.com/main/video

Unfortunately some people think that means there's no point in seeking out good brushes and paint. (or worse, that good brushes and paint are an elitist myth)

Richard Feynman: "Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman".

Not a conventional biography, but Richard wasn't a conventional man either.

Hmm... I know > 10 languages. I'm not sure I could remember the exact syntax in several of those languages on the spot. Is it case, is it switch, etc. If you do this, your test is on rote memorization.

Give them a novel problem and have them solve it with a real computer and in tact syntax lookup. Then see what and how they did it and go over their reasoning. I'll hire the guy with the wisdom over the guy who can spit out syntax trivia flawlessly. Those are different skill-sets that do not predict each other.

As a data point for you, I only have feeds that provide the full article.

I take that anyone who is looking for ways to force me to pay extra attention (just to get advertising views) is not worthy of that attention.

I was about six years old when I remember thinking to myself: I have a lot of great ideas. All I need is an 8 or 10-year old to help me make them cause I'm too young.

I'm sure the ideas weren't that great, but the critical thinking is more important.

Erlang. The Ron Paul of programming languages.

My experience:

Successfully pasing a code challenge is not a good predictor of future success. However, failing to pass a code challenge is a very good predictor of future failure. Furthermore, making the test harder does not make it predict future success well.

Therefore, I belong to the "FizzBuzz" school: Make the test ridiculously simple. It should take no more than fifteen minutes to complete. If the person gets it obviously right, throw the result away and move on to more important quetsions. Do not try to deduce a lot of malarky about their programming style or ability from an obviously contrived problem.

For example, writing:

a = 5; b = 10

Does not mean they don't know Ruby well, and writing:

a, b = 5, 10

Does not mean they are a Ruby expert. And writing:

fsquare = lambda { |x| x * x }

Does not mean they are a closet Bipolar Lisp Programmer. If the program works, it's a pass, move on. If there is a syntax error or some such, who cares, move on.

But if they struggle... You need to investigate the reason for their difficulty with a simple problem.