InfoQ Homepage Quality Content on InfoQ
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When is Ok to Break the Rules
In “Just Ship Baby” Kent Beck, author of the JUnit Framework, reminds us that the point of all the Agile processes and practices is to produce shipping software. If they’re getting in the way of shipping software – then perhaps you need to break the rules.
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JProbe 8.0: The Java code, memory, and coverage profiler is back
Quest Software recently released JProbe 8.0, a Java code, memory, and coverage profiler. While JProbe has been one of the leading Java profiling tools since the late 1990's, JProbe 8.0 aims to help Quest regain the leadership position in the profiling market with new Eclipse integration and a more competitive price point.
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Gallio .NET Test Automation Platform
Gallio is an automation platform targeting .NET test frameworks. Instead of each test framework creating its own toolset, including an automation API and test runner, Gallio seeks to provide a neutral, extensible platform with tools and automation services that can be leveraged by any test framework.
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PartCover: New Open Source Code Coverage Tool
PartCover is beginning to fill the void left by NCover. Both SharpDevelop and TreeSurgeon have integrated PartCover to provide code coverage.
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An Agile Developer's Responsibility
What is a developer's responsibility when a customer asks for a quick and dirty solution? Should they listen to the customer and take the short cut because, after all, they are paying the bill? Should they instead always do what is technically the "best" option in their opinion? Or is there a middle road that should be taken?
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Debate: Scaling teams up in productivity rather than in personnel
Larger team size prevents from adopting the whole range of language abstraction tools and puts constraints on productivity. Reg Braithwaite believes that tools should not be tuned to the size of the team. He advocates for building teams around the tools and keeping them small. It appears however that team growth is often inevitable. What can be done then to maintain quality and productivity?
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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.
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Accurate Estimates - the ultimate oxymoron?
Amit Rathore questions the value of real time task based estimates in the planning and execution of software projects, taking a lean stance on what they bring to the software delivery party.
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Tackle Testing Debt Incrementally
Technical debt can shorten a product's life. But when technical debt mounts, it can be difficult to see how to pay it off. In her StickyMinds column, Johanna Rothman explains practices to help teams start paying off that debt - thereby easing their product's development and maintenance for a long time.
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Ken Schwaber: Sacrificing Quality should be an Executive Management Decision
At Agile2006, Co-founder of the Scrum methodology Ken Schwaber argued that as professionals we should not accept business requests to sacrifice quality in order to meet timelines, and if quality does need to be sacrificed such a decision should be made by executive management and reflected in the financial statements of the company.
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Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick Two
Ron Jeffries is at it again. Always on the lookout for a great opportunity, he has made an unparalled online offer: send me your money and I'll send you (some kind of) software :-D
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Security and Reliability Techniques Revealed for Agile Teams
Agile methods such as Extreme Programming (XP) and Agile Unified Process (AUP) do not explicitly address security and reliability, yet these are issues which are often critical to your success. It is possible to address these issues, and more, on software development teams while still remaining agile.
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Rolling Rocks Downhill - in Installments
Clarke Ching has just published more chapters of Rolling Rocks Downhill, his "business novel" in the tradition of Goldratt and Lencioni. He's writing in an online "fishbowl", looking for reader feedback: a rather Agile thing to do. In chapter 21 Steve contemplates working iteratively from the start of the project - just like they do in product development. But he's got one niggling doubt ...