scribbles of the perennial debugger…
Posts tagged Programming
Some note on technical debt
Aug 16th
Technical debt is a metaphor used for describing left-overs from hasty designa dn development process. The hasty process could have been a result of valid business-driven factors. However, this could be a result of unhealthy developer factors such as procrastination or myopic design tendencies. From a simplistic TODO, FIXME or my own favorite, XXX annotations, technical debt could be larger than expected. A stovepipe architecture may well be a result of such debt. An excellent architect, a dedicated team of developers, a scalable development process and a decisive resolve are the factors that will lessen if not eliminate technical debt. Been there, done that. Hope I and my friends matured enough to not fall into these kinds of trap.
Agility
Jun 21st
The Agile Manifesto:
- Prefer Individuals and Interactions over process and tools
- Prefer Working Software over comprehensive documentation
- Prefer Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation
- Prefer Responding to change over following a plan
I do admire Agile practice but here’s my take:
- People and Process has to be equal. You can’t let people go autocephalus. You need some sort of control, no matter what, and no matter hove heavy or light it is, to make sense of anything. So I give these two the equal treatment. Interaction will have to happen as mandated by the process and as a normal behavior from the people. Tools will also serve as force multiplier.
- I agree with this. You don’t need comprehensive documentation. A simple set of leading documents and API interface documentation will do. Developers is almost always capable in efficiently digesting code through minimum but informative set of information.
- Depends on where you stand… Do you do this in an open source pro-bono environment? In-house coding? Consulting? Product Development?
- Just as my take on the first, there has to be some sort of a plan and this should be followed. Of course, the plan should cater to exception mechanisms.
Boondoggle
May 30th
Trust me, this is a true word. Just look for it in Wikipedia. Anyways, I am not indifferent to this word. Been there, done that. Just worth noting that in here…
great technology
Oct 25th
imho, IT forms part of the success of an enterprise. what makes a good technology then. well, good technology is scalable, future-proof, manageable set of applications that meet the business requirements.
what makes a great technology then. the developer in me says, good technology coupled with test-driven development, continues integration, repeatable tests and automated deploy process.
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Java Rebel, a nice tool
Sep 6th
I’d like to see Java Rebel-like functionality be part of the JDK and JRE in the future. Hope Sun, like what it did for MySQL, buys Java Rebel. Imagine the productivity boost of using this tool. Couple it with the Java Debugging Interface and the Java VM Profiler Interface, it could pack real punch and make much sense.
Pax Europa
Aug 31st
Repost from Randomized!
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The European parliament must be congratulated for not following the US software patent model. Just to reiterate the evils of software patents, here are some points why it is so.
- Software is already protected by copyright, patents are not needed
- Software patents cause a high burden on the economy especially to small organizations which forms the majority of the IT industry
- Software patents are anti-competitive which results in less choice and higher prices to customers
- Software patents are impediments to the natural evolution and improvement of indigeniously created software
- Software and the process of development and innovation in the software industry is very different from that of the other industries.
One small step for Europe, one giant leap for the IT industry especially for the FSF and OSI.
