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  • New patterns and middleware architecture needed for true linear scalability?

    Nati Shalom says existing tier-based middleware cannot for true linear scalablility. Instead he proposes a new middleware stack based on self-sufficient processing units that supports a partitioned/scale-out model. Pat Helland at Microsoft some years ago proposed some new transactional patterns and formalizations to be used in what he calls almost-infinite scalable systems.

  • Does specific technology knowledge matter when recruiting?

    Does technology matter when it comes to recruiting developers? Or is the way of thinking the only thing that’s really important? In a time when many job advertisements are flooded with technology buzzwords, Dan Creswell found an Amazons recruitment ad that solely focuses on thinking and understanding.

  • A case study of Apache peer/code review processes

    Peter C. Rigby and Daniel M. German have released a case study of peer/code review processes used at Apache which looks at the types of reviews, frequency of them, and other characteristics. Although some question the data collection methodology, the papers offer an interesting set of discussions comparing and contrasting various review methodologies.

  • QCon San Francisco (Nov 7-9) Schedule & Speakers Posted

    The schedule and 44 speakers (another 20 to be confirmed soon) has been posted for QCon, InfoQ's new enterprise software development conference coming to San Francisco Nov 7-9. Some of the speakers include Martin Fowler; Rod Johnson (Spring Creator); the architects of Second Life, Orbitz, Yahoo! & Linked-In; Erik Meijer (LINQ Creator); and many more!

  • Groovy as a business user language?

    With its inclusion into OpenOffice as the VBA equivalent for that suite, Groovy has an opportunity to become something that Java will never be: a tool that business power users use to customize their office suite and build workgroup applications.

  • Incremental feature search the next UI paradigm shift?

    Incremental search as a means to find features and functions within applications may be an emerging UI design innovation. Apple and Microsoft have recently tried it with a lot of praise from the community. Are we experiencing a paradigm shift in application navigation? Are the days of traversing a maze of menus and remembering convoluted keyboard shortcuts numbered?

  • Amazon adds a machine image marketplace to EC2

    Amazon continues to create more competitive advantage for its infrastructure services platform (AWS) by introducing a new marketplace which allows image producers to charge customers for the machine images they develop.

  • Gang of Four Design Patterns - Does it stand the test of time?

    More than a decade ago by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides known as the Gang of Four (GoF) published their seminal book "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software". The GoF book, which is considered the harbinger of the whole software patterns movement, has recently been criticized as no longer relevant.

  • Does software design really pay off?

    Many developers have encountered a situation where they’ve been asked to cut down on design and "just get the job done". Martin Fowler presented his doubts about this strategy and explained trading design quality for speed is illusory for projects longer than just a few weeks.

  • Article: Implementing Automated Governance for Coding Standards

    Most development organizations of a significant size have some form of coding standards and best practices. Simply documenting these standards and keeping them up to date can be a significant challenge and enforcing them even harder. Our organization has found that enforcing coding standards and best practices in an automated fashion through our build process has been highly effective.

  • Singularity: Rethinking the Software Stack

    Singularity is a Microsoft research project aimed at producing a new operating system built for dependability. Relieved of commercially viable burdens such as backward compatibility, Singularity contains many alluring ways of solving classic problems using newer programming tools and methodologies. InfoQ spoke to the Singularity team to learn more.

  • Partitioned-Iterative more appropriate for EA than Zachman, TOGAF?

    Roger Sessions claims that the most popular EA frameworks (Zachman, TOGAF, FEA, and Gartner) have failed to evolve to the needs of today's more complex development needs. Instead, Sessions proposes a 'Partitioned-Iterative' Approach that reduces complexity through partitioning an organization in smaller pieces, rather than defining the architecture for the whole company at once.

  • Java and Web Application Development: Is Too Much Abstract A Bad Thing?

    RedMonk analyst, Michael Coté, has written a lengthy opinion piece comparing Java web application development to development with frameworks such as Rails and Django. He suggests that Java applications often are developed having a "view" which is the web while other frameworks embrace the web more at their core.

  • Testing and Quality Control the only Certification Needed?

    A new certification for software developers that is neither about in depth knowledge of programming languages, nor any modelling and design techniques, was suggested by Reginald Braithwaite. Only one subject would be on the examination list - "Testing and quality control". Safety has to be the prerequisite to any software development job. For the rest marketplace will decide.

  • InfoQ Launches Architecture Community

    InfoQ has launched a 6th community on 'Architecture', the intention of which is to serve as a source for tracking change and innovation of interest to those with an architecting/design role but not specific to any of our other communities on InfoQ which currently include Java, .NET, Ruby, SOA, and Agile.

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