InfoQ Homepage Design Content on InfoQ
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Leverage Points: places to intervene in a system
A key decision for software architects involves where and how to introduce change into a system in order to effect a desired change. Leverage points are those places where micro changes can result in macro results. Twelve categories of leverage point are identified along with concerns about the changes.
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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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The Top-Down vs Bottom-Up SOA Debate Revisited
A long standing debate in the SOA community about top down vs. bottom up approaches to SOA resurfaced recently, after open source ESB maker MuleSoft announced the release of a management console said to support their bottom-up approach to SOA management philosophy.
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Ambient Computing; Emerging Applications
Projects at the Santa Fe Complex illustrate that practical applications of ambient computing research are at hand. Ambient computing is primarily concerned with interface and interaction issues that arise in ubiquitous computing environments.
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iPhone Antenna Problems Pose Alternative Interface Design Questions
Problems with the new iPhone4G antenna again raise questions about interface design for small devices. This article briefly recaps some of the problems posed by phones and similar devices and points to some potential alternative interface solutions.
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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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Agile Architecture - Oxymoron or Sensible Partnership?
A number of commentators have been talking about the perceived dichotomy between Agile techniques and architectural thinking. This post investigates some of the tensions between Big Up Front Design (BDUF) and You Aint Gonna Need It (YAGNI) thinking and looks at how the two approaches can in fact work together in complimentary ways.
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What Color is your Backlog?
At the recent SDC conference in Wellington Prof Philippe Kruchten delivered a talk titled “What Color is Your Backlog”. The thrust of his talk is about bringing a focus on architecturally significant aspects of software into Agile projects, along with delivering the functional components of the system. He uses a color metaphor to illustrate the importance of addressing four types of work.
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Should We Define SOA Non-Principles?
In addition to well established principles and anti-principles, Steve Jones’ new post introduces the notion of non-principles of an SOA implementation and explains why they are important.
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Emerging Industry SOA Best Practices
A new MITRE whitepaper documents a variety of best practices and key characteristics for a successful SOA implementation.
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SOA Design: Is it about Contracts or Service Implementation?
A new Steve Jones’ post “Why contracts are more important than designs” discusses an important issue, service contracts, explaining why more time should be spent designing the services contracts.
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Decoupling Your Application From Your Dependency Injection Framework
Dependency Injection has become a much more accepted and accessible approach in recent years, driven by many factors including increased popularity in SOA, TDD, and many other factors. With this has come increased usage of Dependency Injection frameworks. Bob Martin advises, with examples, applying a decoupling approach between your application code and your Dependency Injection framework.
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Business-Driven SOA
A new whitepaper from the SOA consortium defines business driven SOA and the role of business architecture in its implementation. It also repositions business architecture from a collection of artifacts required for implementing IT solutions to a comprehensive approach to the entire business design.
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Practical Advice for SOA Implementers
In his new post, Ganesh Prasad tries to describe the most complex issues of an SOA implementation and provides recommendations on how to solve them.
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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.