Task: as a breadth developer, I need to analyze a set of VB6 legacy applications and enlist all stored procedures invoked per subroutine per application. Is this a task for a breadth developer? Let’s consider this criterion: if the number of...

There is the notion of breadth developer, which encompasses the attitudes of the practical mindset: How can I do such and such task in a straightforward way? For example, I need to analyze a set of VB6 legacy applications and enlist all stored procedures...

The subject matter of « software engineering » has been of enormous interest to me since youth. As usual for novel things, in the beginning it represented the most advanced form of professional thinking and behavior in software. The reason...

Phillip G. Armour, in his work The Laws of Software Process: A New Model for the Production and Management of Software , proposes that software is a mean for the preservation of knowledge as have been the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the brain, tools...

I attended a wonderful talk about me: being wrong . That is, the talk was about a persistent trait of we humans.

Creative thinkers and great designers often share a scientific view of life. Scientific thinking has propelled technological inventions. Technology repeatedly has been of great help for mankind; software technology is key, as Bjarne Stroupstrup has said...

The event La Ciudad de las Ideas occurred in the city of Puebla, Mexico, 11-13 November 2010, included a debate between theists and atheists. In a format similar to the debate occurred during the same event of the year 2009. Does the universe have a purpose...

Watts S. Humphrey , founder of the Software Process Program at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and recipient of the National Medal of Technology, has passed away Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 . He wrote extensively about software...

I have heard through many years that a certification-based curriculum is very, very important for those who want to be considered competent. I have tried hard to understand this perspective. I have been told the importance resides in the fact that business...

Often I hear phrases or calls, on the part of people in a hierarchical position in an organization, such as the following examples. I listen to them either directly or endorsed by such persons: "By questioning we are open to critical positions that...

Taylorism* still has strong mental roots in the endings of post-industrial era; hence, many still try to reason about the creation process of software-based business solutions in terms of an old-manufacturing mindset: trying to characterize analysis,...

Latest Microsoft Application Architecture Guide is available from the following hyperlink: Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition This is a good resource to consider when thinking about the design of concurrent and distributed software...

A normal and healthy situation in a team of peers is open communication. This is precisely what is expected in an agile team: The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation...

Browsing the Internet is like going alone outside, like walking on the streets of cosmopolitan urban centers of today. Where you can find very good things to your own good or disturbing events can find your way. This post is open to the world of Internet;...

I have waited some years for this work to be published, it is out there now: The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. An agile practitioner could find this useful because (1) one basic insight in the history...

Finally, there is work on software theory on the hands of programmers (most of them), it is the Software Engineering Method and Theory (SEMAT) initiative . There is a meaning for the word ‘theory’ as in “In theory, there is no difference between theory...

How do you know if all this about Agile is not a scam? How do you know if all of it is about a whimsical fashion? Are there not enough cases of sophistry in History by which people have been fooled to put their resources in the hands of swindlers? (Sophistry...

The minds behind The Standard C++ Programming Language have been much influential to my own thinking since many years. I am glad they continue their thinking .

Alternate title: Cognitive dissonance in software design. How to know if a design process is help or hindrance for good decision making? As the design activity consists of a myriad of decisions, all the way from idea to released bits and back, the...

The category of this post is Personal and is all about Technical Readiness, my own one. Analysis, synthesis (design), communication, specification, abstraction, logic, assumptions, generalization/specialization, objects, properties, behaviors, classification...

Writing software for my own—or my kids—use and delight is almost always a fun and successful endeavor, if expectations are not well managed, I throw it away, no problem. Likewise, when programmers write software for their own use, there are more chances...

The act of writing demands some skills from the writer, skills of the intellectual kind. Of course, the demand varies accordingly to the type of writing among many other factors. Writing texts for humans, from blog posts to literature, is challenging...

What is the idea behind SQA? If SQA stands for “Software Quality Assurance”, then I hardly find a project team member not under that cap —in a team with agile principles, values and practices, that is. If SQA stands for “testing” (validation and...

For a hint, see the The Standish Group CHAOS Report summary: CHAOS Report Summary 2009 "These numbers represent a downtick in the success rates from the previous study, as well as a significant increase in the number of failures", says Jim Crear...

I have observed, time after time, an author or renowned professional share or publish her opinion about something, said, in time T1. Many people listen to that opinion —with accuracy or with misinterpretation— and then take that view for granted. Moreover...