Software As She’s Developed

Dynamic Java can’t come fast enough. So it’s good to see a Dynamic Java summit (via The Server Side was held by Sun,. It brought together several dynamic language heavyweights, including leads of Python (Guido), Perl (Wall), and Groovy (Strachan). A moment reminiscent of a certain April Fool’s Day announcement. Dynamic Java can’t come fast enough. […]

[Read more →]

This is the first of four “RiffCasts” where I’m riffing on the topic of agile software development. The series will contain:

** 1. Agile software development overview. Embracing change and the Agile Manifesto. (The podcast enclosure on this entry.)**

[Read more →]

YES! I’ve learned enough about audio engineering to realise I know nothing! I’ve set up a blog so I can host podcasts! I’ve added the necessary enclosure hacks to Wordpress (thanks chaps) so I can publish them! And I’ve honed an authentic Aussie accent to stand out from the crowd! So, much too long after it coulda shoulda woulda been, my first podcast is here!

[Read more →]

How cool is this? A zipcode map (via Joho) that narrows in on candidate locations with each digit you type. Especially neat in “zoom” mode. If only I had a fair dinkum reason to look up U.S. zipcodes. This is the sort of thing that excites me about technology, because it’s so far removed from anything […]

[Read more →]

Captcha stands for: “Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart”. It refers to a technology familiar to anyone who’s registered on a popular website - the “what word is shown on this image” challenge. As the “Turing test” alludes to, the purpose is to distinguish between humans and computers. […]

[Read more →]

John Mitchell discusses how rhythm applies to software development. Reminds me of perhaps the most famous experiment on human biorhythms: McClintock’s “Menstrual Synchrony and Suppression” (1975). I’ll spare you the (gory) details, but it essentially lends credibility to the old belief to that biorhythms converge when people are in close contact, have similar lifestyles, etc. While […]

[Read more →]

So I just went to download JDK 1.5 and the JDK download page includes a big fat image and download link for NetBeans. Why does Sun continue to develop and promote this? Internal politics gone mad? In the corporate world, there are several rational choices for IDE and NetBeans doesn’t feature. Those options would include Eclipse […]

[Read more →]

Google’s unassumingly clean UI sits atop mindbogglingly massive infrastructure. Clarke Ching observes that people value this simplicity, and he observes that this value may contradict the idea that people see complex things as clever. I don’t see the contradiction. A distinction needs to be made here between two qualities: Perceived simplicity Perceived cleverness How to achieve perceived […]

[Read more →]

FP! Garbles to ya! Doh, forgot this was my own blog for a second.

[Read more →]