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Who in the software engineering and software development fields uses Twitter to tweet about relevant happenings in the field?

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17 Answers

up vote 50 down vote

I'll probably get flamed for this but...

140 characters is hardly the format to get any real pearls of programming wisdom. Most (but not all) programming concepts/thoughts/ideas require more space to be articulated. I would follow the blogs of the list of programmers that everyone is suggesting.

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That's true, but I would suspect that these people would post some things of interest - either URLs, a blog post (theirs or someone else's) of interest, etc. – Thomas Owens♦ Sep 2 '10 at 13:54
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I find tons of good links to programming content on twitter each day. Similarly I can't remember how many times I've mentioned a programming related problem I'm having and have somebody actually send me a solution. – Jaco Pretorius Sep 8 '10 at 21:12
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Twitter is also a good mechanism to be informed of those blog posts. Among other things. – Peter Ritchie Sep 9 '10 at 13:50
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So many people misunderstand Twitter & what the real power is behind it. Often you will find wisdom in 140 chars, but more frequently, you'll find relevant links and notice trends in the industry. You'll get a pulse for everything going on if you follow the right people. This isn't even taking into account the awesome friendships you gain with colleagues you could never meet without Twitter. Twitter Rocks. – John MacIntyre Sep 25 '10 at 3:01
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It's sad how the internet has made the "I'll probably get flamed" disclaimer mandatory before expressing an unconventional viewpoint. Btw, +1. – talonx Sep 26 '10 at 5:35
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up vote 24 down vote

I maintain a list of over 2300 StackOverflow (SO) twitter accounts sorted by reputation.

I mined the latest SO data dump for all users with twitter accounts, then calculated each user's top tags based on most votes, and finally sorted the lists by user reputation.

Here is a screenshot of what the SO list looks like:

Screenshot of the twitter list

I also mined the available Stack Exchange data dumps. The list of members for this site will also appear on the next data dump.

Here is a subset that is applicable to programmers:

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@Thomas: Which is why I linked to stackoverflow itself. You don't need an account on stackoverflow to view peoples profiles and view tags. Viewing tags is nothing new if you are using this site as this site has tags too. – Brian R. Bondy Sep 1 '10 at 20:58
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up vote 15 down vote

John Carmack! @ID_AA_Carmack

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Carmack is brilliant and his twitter feed is like a window into his mind. It's fascinating. – Matt Olenik Sep 12 '10 at 3:38
up vote 9 down vote

For a quickstart, have a look to this list:
http://twitter.com/jvortmann/software-guru

You got:

  1. Kent Beck
  2. Martin Fowler
  3. Chad Fowler
  4. UncleBob
  5. Erich Gamma ..

I would then search by name, starting from the book authors you are reading.
For example: i'm currently reading Professional Android Application development by Reto Meier; Googling his name + twitter i get his twitter account.

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up vote 4 down vote

If you're a .Net/Mono developer: Miguel de Icaza

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up vote 3 down vote

These are all developers or people who post on technical topics, ordered by amount of interesting programmer-related content. The list is Mac-centric.

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up vote 2 down vote

UncleBob (Robert C. Martin)

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up vote 1 down vote

I have a little list of Programming Elite ... take the name lightly, there maybe a few on the list whom I only thought were elite, and it's by no means got everybody.

Also, the best way to find smart people to follow is to look at programmers whom you highly respect, and look at who they are following.

And if you don't mind listening to a bit of babbling, you can always follow me. ;-)

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up vote 0 down vote

It depends. Each person has his/her own specialty.

I program in ASP.NET MVC, so I follow shanselman (Scott Hanselman), haacked (Phil Haack), scottgu (Scott Guhrie), and igoro (Igor Ostrovsky). I am really glad they share their knowledge. I learn a lot from them.

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up vote 0 down vote

For Android, here are some fun ones:

Hackers, developers and tinkerers

  • Cyanogen - @cyanogen

  • XDA Developers - @xdadevelopers

  • simms22 - @simms22

  • Koush - code writer - @koush

  • Kmobs - @kmobs

  • Chris Soyars - @chrissoyars

  • Bignup412 - @bignup412

  • Franco Solari - @francoissmexy

  • Sumyunguy - @sumyunguy

  • CyanogenMod Source - @cmsrc

  • Ander Webbs - @anderwebs

  • CyanogenMod - @cyanogenmod

  • Prashant Somashekar, Droid Basement - @pershoot

  • San Mehat, Android Kernal Systems Dev - @sanmehat

  • Bart, Android freak - @amon_ra

  • Tord Fauksganger - @tordf

  • Greg Carron, developer - @pixeladdikt

  • Kyle Weller - @androidunleashd

  • Wes Garner - @wesgarner

Source on Engadget: Who should I follow on Twitter? Android edition

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up vote 0 down vote

For Java Programming: Swapnil Bhattad.

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up vote 0 down vote

As a software engineer, you first need to group whom you'd like to follow 1. Technology specific (i.e if your a java programmer/ .NET programmer/ Ruby etc etc 2. Open Source (if you're interested) 3. Tech magazines for latest in the industry 4. CodingHorror, ScottGu (because I like them!) 5. Authors/Press for latest on books 6. Enterprise level communities 7. Other interests (add humor coz it always helps to have a laugh!)

Once you group them, you can use any of the above lists (they are exhaustive) and look at who they are following. Chances are, you'll find a few interesting ones there. This way, you'll slowly build up a nice set yourself. Try to keep the number around 100+.

Here's a nice article on How To Twitter - First Steps and a Twitter Glossary

But trust me, its an ocean of information out there. I spend at least an hour a day going through all the tweets.

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up vote -4 down vote

Nobody at all. Stop browsing sites like twitter when you should be coding. Then watch your productivity improve.

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That's a bit rich, @Finnw - what are you doing on here then? ;-) – Paddyslacker Sep 2 '10 at 5:45
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Do as I say not as I do :-) – finnw Sep 2 '10 at 10:23
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Who said anyone was browsing Twitter when coding? – Thomas Owens♦ Sep 2 '10 at 13:53
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@finnw - by following e.g. @newsycombinator I've found more blogs than I'd ever see any other way. – Jeremy McGee Sep 16 '10 at 5:33
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