Why Automated Testing is Important – Part 2

Posted in: Software Development, Craftsmanship, Software Development, Development Processes, Software Development, Quality Assurance & Control, Software Development

In Part 1 of this series I described the characteristics that make up a good Automated Test. Here in Part 2 of this series I will explore all of the benefits you will enjoy by creating those good tests and why the time spent on making good tests is a no-brainer investment.
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Why Automated Testing is Important – Part 1

Posted in: Software Development, Craftsmanship, Software Development, Development Processes, Software Development, Quality Assurance & Control, Software Development

The adoption of strategies and tools, both in Agile and traditional teams, has been patchy – some teams and communities have embraced it, but many organizations still perceive it as a burden that just slows down development. Those that see the writing and execution of tests as an additional, costly and separate task from development have missed seeing some of the main benefits of an expertly manicured test suite.
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Bad Code, Craftsmanship, Engineering, and Certification

Posted in: Software Development, Craftsmanship, Software Development, Development Processes, Software Development, Leadership, Software Development, Quality Assurance & Control, Software Development

Robert C. Martin, during his keynote at QCon London 2010, tried to figure out why there is so much bad code written. He offers advice on writing good code talking about a bad code example, Boy Scout rule, functions, arguments, craftsmanship, TDD, , pairing, small cycles, patterns, engineering, , and other elements contributing to qualitative code.

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Robert-C.-Martin-Bad-Code

iPhone Development for Java Programmers

Posted in: Software Development, Architecture & Design, Software Development, Development Tools, Reviews

A friend brought this book to my attention recently. As an experienced enterprise developer who has recently added Objective-C to his toolkit of technologies to solve problems with, I was happy to see a book so close to my heart. I have started (but not yet finished) reading this one and so far it seems well worth the read for those of you who want to also add Objective-C to your skillset.

How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Posted in: Consulting & Entrepreneurship, Software Development, Leadership

One of the best TED talks I have seen in a long time. Simon Sinek talks about how companies like Apple can be so successful when compared to their competitors.

Ward Cunningham on Technical Debt

Posted in: Software Development, Craftsmanship, Software Development, Development Processes, Software Development, Quality Assurance & Control

In this video Ward reflects on the origins of the term Technical Debt and how it has been misused and misunderstood over the years.

JavaOne 2010 Call For Papers

Posted in: Software Development, Software Development, Training

The likelihood that we will be blessed with a JavaOne conference in 2010 just got a whole lot better.
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Oracle Doesn’t Mention Java – Does It Matter?

Posted in: Software Development, Database Technologies, Software Development, Development Tools, News, Software Development, Open Source

The following image is available on the website currently (original URL):

For me personally the 2 biggest questions about the whole deal have always been What happens to ? and What happens to ?

has always been open source and has been creeping slowly towards open source over the last few years.

Can really kill either of these technologies if they chose too? Probably not outright, but they could certainly damage their reputation and support. People can fork code bases and start again, but it would take time (many years) to build back up to the flagships they are today.

The above image from is interesting in that it does call out but does not mention at all.

Perhaps sees more value in than and is attempting to protect it better. Or perhaps believes needs less protection than , after all, much of the debate over the / deal has surrounded and not .

Wednesday is the day when some of these questions will hopefully begin to answered.

Why do you think called out and not ?

Scrum Anti-pattern: Outlier Pigs

Posted in: Software Development, Development Processes

In the Pig and Chicken analogy for Scrum participants (Jeff Sutherland explains Pigs & Chickens), the Pig is the one who is required to make the biggest commitment and put his proverbial skin in the game. For the Pig, it is an all or nothing proposition. They either meet their commitment or they do not, there is no gray area. However, many teams fail to get this level of commitment from their Pigs, or don’t even ask for it in the first place. This is the genesis of the Outlier Pig.
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So Long And Thanks For All The Glassfish

Posted in: Software Development, Database Technologies, Software Development, Development Tools, Software Development

Well, it seems almost official now, will get it hands on and the and communities (among others) will need to hold their breath and wait to see what kind of chaos this might cause for our industries.

James Gosling (the father of ) has long been publishing related images on his internal blog. He has now posted his very last one.

The best comment I saw so far was “So long and thanks for all the Glassfish”.

You can read the original post here.