InfoQ Homepage Software Craftsmanship Content on InfoQ
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Four Decades of Software Engineering, are Changes Coming?
Jean Bezivin retraces the path that lead to our current software engineering practices and explore new avenues for the coming decade as, he notes, "there are some indications that we are currently crossing some new frontiers in technology and practices".
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Big Ball of Mud, Still the Most Popular Software Design
Big Ball of Mud, is a code jungle which is haphazardly structured, sprawling, sloppy and connected by duct-tape. Over the years we have been introduced to various guidelines such as SOLID, GRASP and KISS amongst age old, high cohesion and low coupling to deal with this Mud. However, the situation still remains bleak and Big Ball of Mud seems to be a popular way to design and architect software.
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Unique Software Degree Program Restarted
A unique university program of education in software and systems design has been restarted at New Mexico Highlands University. The program is based on experiential learning, features apprenticeships, and uses a radically restructured and accelerated curriculum. The program goal: "to produce a community of professionals capable of solving complex, "wicked," problems with computing technology.
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Software Craftsmanship Conference 2010 - Just Code
The European Software Craftsmanship Conference 2010 will be held on Oct 7th 2010 at Bletchley Park, UK. The theme of the hands-on, community-led conference is: "No talks. No keynotes. Just code."
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Software Programming as Craft
The Cutter IT Journal recently published a special issue on software craftsmanship that included articles on what it means to be a software craftsman, software engineering vs. software craft, the relationship between Agile and craftsmanship, and crafting the user experience.
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Polymath: a new IT job description
Is "polymath" a required job skill for IT professionals? The rise of cloud computing, "green" computing, ultra-large scale systems, and even SOA and SaaS suggest the answer is yes. A book by Vinnie Mirchandani has prompted a flurry of commentary on what it would mean to be an IT Polymath and why such a skill is desirable.
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State of the Practice - 2010
A number of leading authors, practitioners, and speakers in the area of software development were asked a series of common questions about the state of software development practice in 2010. The interview took place at the Better Software / Agile West concurrent conferences in June 2010.
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The Rugged Software Manifesto
Security, is often either an oversight or an afterthought for most software projects. Most development teams would rather focus on getting more functionality on the table than spend time to evade a possible security breach. In order to help developers realize the importance of rugged software Joshua Corman, David Rice and Jeff Williams founded the Rugged Software Manifesto.
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Naresh Jain Discusses "Simple Design & Testing" And The Conference Dedicated To It
"Simplicity" is a core agile tenet, particularly when it comes to software design and testing. Since 2006, Naresh Jain has been running a worldwide conference, the Simple Design & Testing Conference, for practitioners to collectively push the boundaries on the topic. Naresh tells InfoQ what's going on behind this small, but well-known conference and why he is so passionate about the topic.
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SEMAT - Software Engineering Method and Theory
SEMAT was founded in November 2009 with the bold claim that the software industry has too many fads and immature practices. The signatories promised to refound software engineering and bring it into the modern age.
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A Manifesto of Done
Alixx Skevington posted a Manifesto of Done as the beginning of a discussion thread, talking about the commitments team members make to each other about the quality of their work and clearly expressing their commitment to delivering business value through their code. Covering areas such as coding standards, usable code, unit testing and test coverage he emphasises the importance of quality work.
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Individual Rewards on a Scrum Team
In a recent LinkedIn discussion the question was asked "Should we have an individual recognition reward on a Scrum team". This prompted some intense debate with points both for and against.
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Software Katas - Practice in Public Makes Perfect
Thought leaders in the agile community are talking about software katas - where one practices specific exercises until they are memorized. Robert Martin has calls them "performance art". Lately there has been an increase in blog posts and sites devoted to katas. The latest addition: weekly screencasts at katas.softwarecraftsmanship.org.
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Empirical Studies on Software Quality Mythology
Microsoft has released a summary of research findings that challenge traditional software-engineering mythology. Can code coverage really improve product quality? Does TDD take more time? What impact does a distributed team have on quality? Are assertions useful?
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Opinion: Pair Programming Is Not For The Masses
Pair Programming continues to be one of the most debated and controversial practices of recent years. Most proponents don't falter in their praise of the benefits, but many of even these same people will admit they struggle to get pairing really going in their shops. Why? Obie Fernandez opinions 10 reasons why this might be so.