As a software engineer, you should always be looking for the location of the next defect or at least clues that something is wrong. The problem is that most developers have been trained to wait for feedback from the QA team. In many cases, the QA team is following a script or has been trained… Read More Confusion As A Usability Defect
Some of you reading this post will know that many of my blog posts are syndicated at DZone.com. Some of you are probably asking one of two questions: Your blog content can be syndicated to a site like DZone? What is DZone? First, blog content all over the world is syndicated to other sites, even… Read More Getting Your HTML5 Fix: HTML5 At DZone
Technologists have a tendency to focus on the technologies being used during a project. Many people would use the newest or most hyped technologies in order to stay ahead, or even just to use it as a learning experience. I have been in the software development industry long enough to know that technology is not… Read More Theories And Technologies Are Not Solutions
I was first introduced to outsourcing many years ago when dealing with a client that liked using an Indian consulting company. At that time, around the late 90’s, the company was using purely waterfall development processes and agile was really just getting some publicity. My job was to translate business requirements into functions specifications that… Read More Agile And The Art Of Outsourcing
Obviously, programming is “hard” otherwise everyone would do it and making solid applications would not be so difficult. However, the expectation does not always match reality. The most basic parts of programming are not hard. If you review my old post on advice for learning a programming language, learning the basics like syntax, loops and… Read More Programming Is About Keeping Basic Skills Sharp
Lately, I have been struggling with some of the management side of projects. The concepts of estimates, deadlines and work completed do not always align in ways that make people happy. The problems with estimates and deadlines had pushed me closer to agile methods before, but not all projects can be run in the manner… Read More The Conflict Between Estimates, Deadlines And A Working Product
This is a guest post from Shannon Wagner. There, I said it. Client-facing server software is obsolete. That means we don’t need it anymore, shouldn’t be writing it anymore, and should as quickly as possible replace any of it which is currently “in the wild” with more proper and appropriate stuff. Like… “client-facing client software”.… Read More Client-Facing Server Software is Obsolete
At this point, you are probably tired of hearing how HTML5 is changing everything. Everything in web applications and even mobile applications are changing. HTML5 even lets you create a web application that works almost like a desktop application. Yes, there is a lot of hype about HTML5, especially when you consider that the specification… Read More A Simple Introduction To HTML5
As a parent, I am always looking at what my children are learning and what they like. As a software developer, I hope that my daughters embrace their inner geek one day and get involved with technology. That being said, I was wondering at what age kids should learn programming and what resources there are… Read More 36 Resources To Help You Teach Kids Programming
I love when other people write a blog post at the same time you are struggling with the problem that they describe. Today’s timely post comes from Michael Bolton on his DevelopSense blog. In “The Undefinition of Done”, Michael talks about the fact that people typically have different definitions: One issue, as I’ve pointed out before,… Read More When Do You Say A Development Task Is Really Done?
