Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on traits of effective programmers, the most common mobile development trap, and more. I hope you find them useful:

The most common mobile development trap
Are you considering creating mobile versions of your apps or site for your users? That’s a good idea. But, be careful: This article explains one such solution that often seems like the easiest approach…but it’s actually the worst option.

7 traits of effective programmers
What makes a great programmer? Is it simply technical skill, or do great programmers do more than write great code? This article leans toward the latter, listing 7 traits of great programmers that go beyond coding. I would also add a point to that list: I’ve noticed that the best programmers don’t feel like they’re too good to use tools that speed up the coding process. They realize that delivering great results quickly trumps all else in a development project.

Data portability should be default
Here’s a good reminder for any business considering cloud services of any type: Is the data portable? What happens to your data if the company goes under, or if you decide to switch vendors?

COBOL application development: Not dead yet
Mobile apps and cloud computing get all the hype these days, but the fact is, COBOL is still alive in the business world. No, businesses aren’t still creating new applications with COBOL, but they must find ways to keep their old COBOL code running. This usually requires integrating modern features and applications into their old COBOL applications. How? Here’s one method that delivers new features without altering the underlying code.