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During OOPSLA 2007, InfoQ interviewed Markus Voelter asking him about creating software architecture documentation. Many people mention UML when they are asked about software design documentation, but Markus has a different take on that. He thinks that we should be using models which can be processed with tools which can validate or invalidate them.
Architecture is often described non-tangible in Word documents or entirely technology-driven. Both are bad, but what can be done? Markus Völter describes how to evolve a language around your architecture, a formal language that as a side effect ends up being a good base for generating important parts of the system.
An essential glossary of new terms and concepts introduced in EJB 3. The glossary demystifies buzzwords like (IoC), Configuration by Exception, POJO, POJI, Dependency Injection, Embeddable Object, Interceptors, and more. This glossary will constantly be updated.
Several new resources are available for the software architect. Simon Brown and Kevin Seal have made available a set of guidelines for creating software architecture documentation. Mike Kavis also put together a framework to help guide the architect in dealing with the change that new architecture can bring.
Sandcastle is a Microsoft tool used to create MSDN like API documentation by reflecting over the source code assemblies and adding the XML comments included in the code. A new version of Sandcastle has just been released on CodePlex.
Rails 2.0 is out - but some of the standard books and tutorials haven't been updated to this version yet. Trying to learn about Rails with a Rails 1.2 book or tutorial, but running Rails 2.0 is bound to cause some frustration. We look at the best approach to tackle this.
Ruby 1.9 has just been released, bringing a host of new features and improvements. Speed improvements come from the new YARV VM, concurrency features were updates with native threading and Fibers, and language changes such as a new Hash literal syntax tighten the language. We take a look at some of the features and where to find information about Ruby 1.9.
API design affects all developers. Some APIs are a pleasure to work with, others are annoying and yet others are downright frustrating. But what's makes the difference? Which qualities make one API easy to use and another hard? The ACM Queue recently published an article by Michi Henning about API design; an article that analyzes these aspects.
Some believe that agile methods do not require (or cannot support) documentation of any kind. Ian Cooper examines this belief against the Agile manifesto and against specific agile methods.
