This column focuses on the nature of software development teams and the organizational characteristics that produce high-performing teams. It discusses collaboration as a distinguishing feature of successful teams, how to create an environment that fosters collaboration and motivation, and how to provide incentives for team members.
Gary Police
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/sep05/pollice/index.html
200509Just as design patterns provide a way to communicate concisely about desired software practices, antipatterns provide the equivalent advantages for communicating undesirable practices - and here’s a set of common antipatterns to get you started.
An antipattern is a classified bad design; in other words, it is the opposite of a design pattern that suggests good design. Antipatterns present bad solutions in a manner that makes it easy for concerned persons to understand the underlying problems and their consequences. While it is important to know design patterns, I believe it is equally important, if not more so, to understand antipatterns.
Puneet Sangal
http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/29162
200509In recent years, static analysis has become a viable technique for finding bugs in large software systems. Modern static analyzers have been used to find hundreds of bugs in the Linux kernel and many large commercial applications without the false alarm rate seen in previous generation tools such as lint. Static analyzers find bugs in source code without the need for execution or test cases. They parse the source code and then perform dataflow analysis to find potential error cases on all possible paths through each function. No technique is a silver bullet, and static analysis is no exception. Static analysis is usually only practical for certain categories of errors and cannot replace functional testing. However, compared with traditional QA and testing techniques, static analysis provides a way to achieve much higher coverage of corner cases in the code. Compared with manual code review, static analysis is impartial, thorough, and cheap to perform regularly.
http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=9776/ddj1123701770062/
200509Discover the key concepts of the Service Data Objects (SDO) architecture and the power and flexibility it provides. SDO architecture is gaining wide popularity among the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) community and architecting Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) environments. It addresses the need for heterogeneous data integration in a world where IT solutions are becoming more complex and distributed.
Jean-Louis Marechaux
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-sdoarch/
200509A recent discussion with colleagues from my university’s business school and computer science department focused on identifying the most critical knowledge for software developers. My computer science colleagues’ perspective was quite interesting. They acknowledged that once a software developer has managed to climb into a second- or third-level management position, maybe an MBA wouldn’t be such a bad idea. But for the most part, they held the strong belief that anyone smart enough to be a computer science graduate must be able to easily pick up this “business stuff” on the side.
Warren Harrison
200509How many times have you heard something to the effect of “Now that’s beautiful piece of work?” I heard it often when I was an undergraduate. In fact, I distinctly remember Dr. Homer Austin using a phrase like that to describe the Fibonacci sequence.
After graduation I became a computer programmer, not a mathematician. With that, the word “beautiful” dropped from my professional use, if not from my professional vocabulary entirely. Still, one thing that was made very clear to me in school was that beautiful solutions were good solutions. Applying that to software development begs the question - what is “beautiful code”?
Matthew Heusser
http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=9776/ddj1122411683430/
200509A significant determinant separating successful projects from failures is project management style. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Walker Royce argues that steering leadership is better than detailed plan-and-track leadership.
Walker Royce
200509Wouldn’t you just love to create code that becomes easier to work with as the project matures rather than more difficult? It seems that no matter how much care you take, sooner or later, your code will become a maze. The bigger the project, the worse this problem gets. How many times have you started a project with a near-perfect design only to see it unravel once coding starts?
Test-driven development (TDD) alters the process of writing code so that change is not only possible, but desirable. Development revolves around three basic activities: writing a test, writing code to pass the test, and refactoring the code to banish duplication to make it simpler, more flexible, and easier to understand.
Will Stott and James Newkirk
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/04/ExtremeProgramming/
200509“Context” is the setting within which any statement is interpreted or any claim is verified. Reusable software is never actually reusable in every setting. There are constraints on the environment in which that software will be usable but often they are not stated explicitly. Even more often, the extent of the context is not known. In this issue of Strategic Software Engineering I will examine the strategic importance of context and some ways to manage its effects.
John. D. McGregor
http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2005_09/column4
200509Another Java Web framework? Seriously? Well yes, actually. And what’s more, a bunch of developers like it. A lot. Kevin Taylor, a well-known Java blogger, posted a survey to find out what frameworks people were using. Cocoon? Struts? Tapestry? Turns out the most popular answer was a relatively new open source framework: Wicket.
Why do we need another Web framework for Java? Well, the developers at Wicket (as well as Wicket proponents) say that Wicket is a unique combination component model and easy HTML interface. They claim that Wicket offers: * Simplified state management with friendly back-button interaction. * Easy HTML integration with clean code separation. * IDE flexibility: HTML users use Dreamweaver or similar tool, Java developers build and unit test with their favorite IDE. * Easy code reusability.
Drew Falkman
http://javaboutique.internet.com/reviews/wicket/
200509This book brings together dozens of proven patterns for creating use cases that more accurately reflect real requirements, are easier to translate into working systems, and are simpler to maintain. Utilizing these patterns, architects, analysts, engineers, and managers can leverage decades of hard-earned knowledge to achieve far better results, far more quickly.
The authors carefully describe how each pattern works, what problems it is intended to solve, and the consequences associated with using it. All patterns are supported with detailed examples and platform-independent class models that demonstrate how they may be realized. All constructs and diagrams reflect the current UML 2.0 standard. This book also includes an insightful use-case primer that will be indispensable both to novices and veteran modelers seeking to become more effective.
Gunnar Övergaard and Karin Palmkvist
http://www.awprofessional.com/title/0131451340
200509Wat zijn nu de echt kritische aspecten van mijn software-ontwikkelingstraject? Hoe verhouden product en proces -kwaliteit zich tot elkaar? Hoe kan ik de gewenste producteigenschappen borgen in het ontwikkelproces? Hoe beheers ik de kwaliteit van software op een praktische wijze? Sluit mijn ontwikkelproces wel aan bij onze bedrijfsdoelstellingen?
De Masterclass Kwaliteit van Software van CIBIT | SERC speelt in op problemen die vaak spelen bij de ontwikkeling van software, zoals het te laat opleveren van software met te veel fouten, de oorzaken en mogelijke oplossingen en biedt kennis en ervaring van de nieuwste methoden en technieken rond de kwaliteitszorg in de ICT.
http://www.cibit.nl/site.nsf/page/opleiding_architectuur_masterclass_kwaliteit_van_software
200509Het Landelijk Architectuur Congres (LAC) is het platform waar gebruikers, leveranciers en vertegen-woordigers uit het onderwijs en wetenschap op het gebied van architectuur elkaar ontmoeten. Het LAC geeft een overzicht van de ontwikkelingen op architectuurgebied zodat de toepassing van architectuur professioneler en daarmee effectiever wordt. Naast deze inhoudelijke component is het LAC de bijeenkomst waar netwerken ontstaat en om netwerken uit te breiden.
Het LAC vindt plaats in op 23 en 24 november 2005 in het Nieuwegein Business Center (NBC).
Na het succes van het 1e Nederlands Kampioenschap ICT-Architectuur wordt in 2005 wederom het NK georganiseerd. De winnaars van het 2e NK ICT Architectuur worden op 24 november tijdens het LAC 2005 bekend gemaakt.
http://www.lac2005.nl http://www.nkictarchitectuur.nl
200509Hoewel al vele malen doodverklaard, is Cobol aan een nieuw leven begonnen. Wat betreft operationele kosten en performance is de taal nauwelijks te verslaan door modernere programmeertalen en -omgevingen. Vandaar, na vele jaren, weer een themanummer over Cobol.
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