Archive for category Technology

Coffee Notes: A Better Word for Software Craftsman

Posted by cgrant in Career Development, Coffee Notes, Development, Technology on January 27, 2011

I ran accross this post by Krishna Kumar today discussing how the goal of the Software Craftsman is great but that programmers today don’t care. He notes that many of today’s programmers are in it for the paycheck and not interested in being the best they can be. Kumar discusses how the term Software Craftsman can be perceived as elitist and unapproachable for programmers just in it for the job. I thought this was an interesting point. We want our developers to best the best the can be but are we providing options that are approachable and interesting enough for what they are really focused on.

Krishna continues on noting that organizations need to foster this growth as well. Its one thing thing to have an interested and driven individual, its another to have an organization that fosters and nurtures growth and development rather than simply factory style, assembly line code.

Good read with multiple points. Take time to read the whole thing.

http://java.dzone.com/articles/get-better-word-software

 

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Coffee Notes: Spring & JUnit – What you Don’t Know

Posted by cgrant in Development, Java, Technology on January 26, 2011

Over on Technophile Blog, Gordon Dickens posted a couple notes on Spring and Junit. With examples and comments Gordon review 2 features in Spring. One dealing with Default Context files and the second area is spring aware context files.
Gordon discusses:

1 Default Searching of Context File(s)
1a. No File Specified
1b. File specified (without a starting Slash)
1c. File specified with a Starting Slash
1d. Multiple Files

2. Spring Aware Test Options
2a. Autowiring Beans
2b. Transactional Test Methods
2c. Profiles – Evaluating Environment
2d. Timeout, Repeating & Invalidating Context

Nice features and easy to follow examples. Head over to Technophile Blog for the full story

http://gordondickens.com/wordpress/2011/01/07/junit-spring-what-you-dont-know-about/

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Coffe Notes: Eight important books for software developers

Posted by cgrant in Development on January 25, 2011

Here’s a short list of must have books. Personally I have all the Engineering ones but process / psychology ones are new to me. At any rate this is a good list for any programmer.

The list includes:
Engineering

  • Design Patterns. Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
  • Refactoring. Improving the Design of Existing Code
  • The Pragmatic Programmer. From Journeyman to Master
  • Effective Java (2nd Edition)

Process and Psychology

  • Extreme Programming Installed
  • Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
  • Difficult Conversations. How to discuss what matters most
  • The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

For direct links and book descriptions head over and read: Eight important books for software developers by Axel Rauschmayer

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Introducing Kids To Programming

Posted by cgrant in Development, Technology on January 24, 2011

So way back in elementary school we had a computer lab that we visited once in awhile. Last night it dawned on me that those sessions were my first exposure to programming. In a flood of memories I began to recall all this.

Wait let me back up. So a few years ago a book came out, that was interesting, “Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners” I tried to walk my stepdaughter through it remotely but it was a dismal failure. I really liked the book but she had way to many issues getting things setup and she stopped before she started. Not the best intro. This weekend I was talking to my 8 year old daughter and she wanted to learn programming. Now I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so I poked around and found Small Basic. This is a fantastic tool. It’s straight forward and simple. Here’s the kicker. The first example we went through was this silly turtle drawing a box. Yep that Logo Turtle from years ago is still around.

Funny thing is it really is a great intro to programming. The discussion started with how computer language is backwards from the way we talk. We say “Show the turtle” but computers want the noun first “Turtle Show”. We quickly got to Turtle.move(50), Turtle.turn(90) and other supper complex commands.

What I was really impressed with is how Small Basic keeps things really simple. The interface is straight forward and easy to use. There is a nice inspector tool that allows you to browse through the available objects and functions to see what you might want to use.

There is also a site with recipes to work through. These modules ask you to work through problems step by step. The interesting part is that you can easily import the lesson into Small Basic by just typing in the module ID.

I know there are many other options out there. All in all this was a great introduction to programming for my daughter. She saw immediate results with very little effort. In no time we were working with variables making simple MadLib stories.

Best part is she wants me to teach her more.

OK secretly I’m hoping she learns enough so I…I mean SHE can get Lego Mindstorm sets J

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What REST is really about

Posted by cgrant in Coffee Notes, Technology on January 22, 2011

I stumbled across a break down of Roy Fielding’s thesis by Bob DuCharme. In his distillation, Bob notes what many technologists believe when first exploring REST, that REST means easily accessible via HTTP. In truth REST is much more than that. It’s a structure and pattern of interaction. It’s the HTTP Object Model. Its much more than just easy access over HTTP. Read the rest of this entry »

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