April 2006 Archive

By popular demands I am publishing pictures of my JTAG, which I made to revive a wireless router some time ago. Just click on the picture below to see it in all ghetto-style glory with some explanations of my "design decisions".

You can see that it is very basic. It was made in ~3 minutes and costs ~$6 (the most expensive part was the cable — $3.99). It was assembled according to this diagram. You can find a full description of details here.

Let me give you one more definition of what computer programmers do: they design, build, and maintain complex systems. In many cases computer programs are more complex than "Hello, world!" examples. Way more complex. I am talking about the systems

• that have more branching possibilities than atoms in the universe.
  
• that cannot be verified using any formal methods in any practical timeframe.
  
• that cannot be tested with 100% code coverage in our lifetime.
  
• that cannot be completely understood in all details by their creators.
• that can handle real life requirements.