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All of David West's Content on InfoQ


Latest featured content by David West

Rachel Davies on Scrum Coaching and Women in Tech

Topics
Agile Techniques,
Agile,
Agile Education

In this interview, Rachel expounds on the differences in role between a Coach and Scrum Master. Rachel drills down into what makes a good coach and provides her take on women in technology. David asks her about her take on Agile and if Agile has reached a 10-year half-life.

News by David West

Presentation: Meeting the Challenge of Simplicity

Topics
Design,
Customers & Requirements,
Usability,
User Interface,
Architecture

This session addresses the abstract notion of simplicity, looks at why it is critical in modern UI design and answers questions: Why does simplicity matter? Is there a meaningful definition of simplicity? Why do design processes and good intentions undermine simplicity? What processes and techniques can software developers use to achieve simplicity?

Interview: Paul Hudak on Haskell

Topics
Programming,
Architecture

This interview with Paul Hudak, recorded at QCon San Franscisco 2008, begins with a discussion of when to introduce difficult Haskell concepts like monads; moves to a discussion of the philosophy of higher order programming, the success and influence of Haskell, its use in the mainstream, and concludes with the idea of teaching computer music and Haskell simultaneously.

Presentation: JQuery - a Javascript DOM Library

Topics
Java,
Scripting,
.NET,
Javascript,
Programming,
Ruby

Announcing a presentation on JQuery: a JavaScript library that provides cross-browser compatibility, Ajax and DOM services, rapid construction of interactive prototypes, and the addition of dynamic behavior to existing Web applications. The presentation introduces Jquery, demos it use, and discusses particular features that differentiate it from similar library products

Presentation: The Ethics of Error Prevention

Topics
ethics,
Agile,
Unit Testing,
Software Testing

No one wants programming errors. We have many tools to detect and correct errors in code. We also have a number of techniques we can use to prevent the introduction of errors. In this presentation, Michael Feathers t looksat error prevention while posing a number of interesting questions.

C# 4.0 "Fixes" Deadlock Issue

Topics
Compilers,
Programming,
.NET

C# 4.0 implemented a change that assured optimized and non -optimized compiles yielded consistent results. This "Fix" emphasized some design problems with locking mechanisms.

Use Cases Considered Valuable (but Optional) For Lean/Agile Requirements Capture

Topics
Agile,
Agile Techniques

Dean Leffingwell, author of Scaling Software Agility and Chief Product Methodologist at Rally, has concluded that Use Cases can be a valuable tool to model requirements for a large-scale Lean/Agile Project. Use cases are not commonly encountered in Lean/Agile (especially XP and Scrum), where stories are the requirements gathering tool of choice.

Rebooting Computing Summit 2009: Computing is Not Dead

Topics
Research,
Careers,
Community,
Architecture

Rebooting Computing Summit 2009 concluded recently and had over 250 people representing industry, practitioners, and academia convene to discuss how to 'reboot' the computer science field, since reports show that the innovation rate in our field has been declining and that enrollments in our degree programs have dropped 50% since 2001.

Sun's Future and Cloud Computing

Topics
Java,
Open Source,
Business,
Cloud Computing,
JCP Standards

Sun's recent layoffs (which are said to be affecting people working on OpenJDK, the JCP, J2SE, and desktop Java), and also Sun's recent acquisition of cloud infrastructure vendor Q-Layer, keeps alive the question of how Sun will redefine its strategic direction and choose which of its many technology possibilities it will focus upon.