Processing, week 4: Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
See my post of May 26, 2009 for a more up-to-date Case-Shiller Home Price Index graph.
I must admit, I’ve been extremely lazy about reading Visualizing Data or even updating this blog… but, this post should make up for it.
Earlier this week I skimmed a WSJ blog and article on the Case-Shiller Home Price Index and thought to myself “time for a graph!”
For the uninitiated, Case-Shiller tracks home prices in 20 metro areas. As WSJ states, “[the index has] a base value of 100 in January 2000. So a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home located within the metro market.”
This program graphs the history of each city’s home price index. Read more
Eckel: six hiring points
Following Java Posse Roundup 2008, Bruce Eckel wrote an excellent article outlining six things that you should test for when hiring someone. It contains the collective wisdom of the conference attendees, as articulated by Bruce, which I could not hope to improve upon.
The original points are numbered, one through six, but are not listed in any particular order. Were I to give them an order based on importance, they would be arranged as follows.
- Are you toxic?
- Can you learn? Can you solve problems?
- Critical thinking. Can you change?
- Technical knowledge.
Ok, I cheated; it’s hard to put them in an absolute order. All are important and relate to each other in some manner. All software developers — and managers thereof — should read the original!
