Marco Dorantes' WebLog

"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes" -Edsger W. Dijkstra

Gerald M. Weinberg

One of the finest thinkers on computer software development has passed away on August 7, 2018....

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/11/2018

Reading and digesting classical authors

‘You just narrated part of my story exactly! But there is a second part of my story that led to my...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/04/2018

After 18 years posting

My posts might be no longer welcome in this MSDN blogs site. If that ends to be the case, then...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/24/2018

Beauty

There is beauty in computer programming and software design!!! What a wonderful professional...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/29/2018

Thought and direct experience

Being wrong, and become aware of that, are two different instances of reality. For me, the...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/25/2018

«IT Doesn’t Matter» reloaded

Given the rate of time, effort and cost against actual delivered quality value of a particular...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/11/2017

The growth of a feature - Twelve years later

The original «The growth of a feature» post is about twelve years old. Yet, the history of iterative...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/08/2017

Art vs Work

Software design & computer programming is my art, not my work. That’s why my trend is to enjoy...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/17/2016

Blog change

I will post further reflections on business value with software development and on the reflective...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/04/2013

Reflective developer

...or why I see no authority in traditional certification exams? I have followed authority and I am...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 09/02/2013

Aesthetics in software design

Designing software, like many other interesting activities, involves both science and art [Knuth74]....

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/23/2013

Inspiration for test-driven design?

What could possibly inspire someone to take test-driven design (TDD) more seriously? I can only tell...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/25/2013

Egoless architecture

What is architecture? Which could be the shared properties among diverse schools of thought and...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/01/2013

Good programming styles

A presentation by Bjarne Stroustrup, creator of C++, about good programing styles. This presentation...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/10/2013

Empirically controlled?

The creation of software-based business solutions, also known as application development, could...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/08/2013

Further steps in theoretical groundwork for software development

Time ago I posted about the obsolescence of some theories for project management (The underlying...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/31/2013

Architecture and empowerment

How bad could organizational hierarchies be for the advance of professionalism in the business of...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/09/2012

Measure of trust

Building trust is precisely what I look for when I think about adaptive development in general. We,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/22/2012

Dark Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Take 2

In addition to this: Do you think that instead of "We are uncovering better ways of developing...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/10/2012

Dark Manifesto for Agile Software Development

For those interested in answer a survey or questionnaire by Giancarlo Succi and Andrea Janes:...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/10/2012

Sugar-free C# – Part 2: Iterators 1

Task: as a breadth developer, I need to analyze a set of VB6 legacy applications and enlist all...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/09/2011

Sugar-free C# – Part 1: Introduction

There is the notion of breadth developer, which encompasses the attitudes of the practical mindset:...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/01/2011

Is all of software engineering dead?

The subject matter of «software engineering» has been of enormous interest to me since...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/04/2011

To what degree it is my ignorance?

Phillip G. Armour, in his work The Laws of Software Process: A New Model for the Production and...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/04/2011

Being wrong

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

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/31/2011

Creative thinkers and science

Creative thinkers and great designers often share a scientific view of life. Scientific thinking has...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/22/2010

Which Science?

The event La Ciudad de las Ideas occurred in the city of Puebla, Mexico, 11-13 November 2010,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/30/2010

Watts S. Humphrey

Watts S. Humphrey, founder of the Software Process Program at the Carnegie Mellon Software...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/31/2010

What does it mean to get an Agile certification?

I have heard through many years that a certification-based curriculum is very, very important for...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 09/17/2010

Good intention alone

Often I hear phrases or calls, on the part of people in a hierarchical position in an organization,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/26/2010

Software development process is about flow

Taylorism* still has strong mental roots in the endings of post-industrial era; hence, many still...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/18/2010

Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition

Latest Microsoft Application Architecture Guide is available from the following hyperlink: Microsoft...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/15/2010

Debate is welcome in adaptive thinking

A normal and healthy situation in a team of peers is open communication. This is precisely what is...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/05/2010

The Zen of Architecture

Browsing the Internet is like going alone outside, like walking on the streets of cosmopolitan urban...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/11/2010

Una introducción al pensamiento crítico

Una introducción al pensamiento crítico Por Steven D. Schafersman. Enero 1991....

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/02/2010

The Design of Design: Essays from a Computer Scientist

I have waited some years for this work to be published, it is out there now: The Design of Design:...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/10/2010

Working on software theory

Finally, there is work on software theory on the hands of programmers (most of them), it is the...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/23/2010

What is agile development?

How do you know if all this about Agile is not a scam? How do you know if all of it is about a...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/08/2010

More on the C++ mindset

The minds behind The Standard C++ Programming Language have been much influential to my own thinking...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/11/2010

Human-oriented software design is error-oriented

Alternate title: Cognitive dissonance in software design. How to know if a design process is help or...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/11/2009

My Technical Readiness

The category of this post is Personal and is all about Technical Readiness, my own one. Analysis,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/26/2009

Product owner

Writing software for my own—or my kids—use and delight is almost always a fun and successful...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/30/2009

Writing

The act of writing demands some skills from the writer, skills of the intellectual kind. Of course,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 09/30/2009

SQA — Are you–really–making sure that quality is present?

What is the idea behind SQA? If SQA stands for “Software Quality Assurance”, then I hardly find a...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/30/2009

Philosopher

Bertrand Russell 1/3 Bertrand Russell 2/3 Bertrand Russell 3/3 Ludwig Wittgenstein Contra Socrates

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/22/2009

Where are we -as industry- about delivering business value to customers?

For a hint, see the The Standish Group CHAOS Report summary: CHAOS Report Summary 2009 "These...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/22/2009

Is there such a thing like a method of design?

I have observed, time after time, an author or renowned professional share or publish her opinion...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/15/2009

Central piece of code as a cornerstone for a tool

Sometimes, the idea of a tool could gravitate around a very simple piece of code, an enabling...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/08/2009

The importance of doubt in software design

The acts of exploring and discovering which start from simple doubts —kind of ‘I am not entirely...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/30/2009

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