InfoQ Homepage Design Content on InfoQ
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Leverage Points: places to intervene in a system
A key decision for software architects involves where and how to introduce change into a system in order to effect a desired change. Leverage points are those places where micro changes can result in macro results. Twelve categories of leverage point are identified along with concerns about the changes.
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Explaining Refactoring to Management
How can one explain the importance and value of refactoring to people in management who have never coded? How can one justify the expense of slowing down code delivery?
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.NET and Azure Samples Showcase .NET Technologies Used in a Layered Architecture
Serena Yeoh, a Microsoft consultant and a contributor to Microsoft pattern&practices Application Architecture Guide, has created a Layered Architecture Sample for .NET 4.0 which was later ported to Azure, showcasing various .NET technologies (WPF, WCF, WF, ASP.NET, ADO.NET EF) used in an architecture based on the Layered Architecture design pattern.
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Polymath: a new IT job description
Is "polymath" a required job skill for IT professionals? The rise of cloud computing, "green" computing, ultra-large scale systems, and even SOA and SaaS suggest the answer is yes. A book by Vinnie Mirchandani has prompted a flurry of commentary on what it would mean to be an IT Polymath and why such a skill is desirable.
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The Top-Down vs Bottom-Up SOA Debate Revisited
A long standing debate in the SOA community about top down vs. bottom up approaches to SOA resurfaced recently, after open source ESB maker MuleSoft announced the release of a management console said to support their bottom-up approach to SOA management philosophy.
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Object Oriented Programming: The Wrong Path?
In a QCon London 2010 interview with Joe Armstrong, the original developer of Erlang, and Ralph Johnson, long associated with Smalltalk, OOP, and Patterns, the question of whther we've gone down the "wrong path" w.r.t. object orientation all these yearrs. Both interviewees suggest that we have, but this is due to flaws in the implementation of object ideas and not the ideas themselves.
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Ambient Computing; Emerging Applications
Projects at the Santa Fe Complex illustrate that practical applications of ambient computing research are at hand. Ambient computing is primarily concerned with interface and interaction issues that arise in ubiquitous computing environments.
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iPhone Antenna Problems Pose Alternative Interface Design Questions
Problems with the new iPhone4G antenna again raise questions about interface design for small devices. This article briefly recaps some of the problems posed by phones and similar devices and points to some potential alternative interface solutions.
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Naresh Jain Discusses "Simple Design & Testing" And The Conference Dedicated To It
"Simplicity" is a core agile tenet, particularly when it comes to software design and testing. Since 2006, Naresh Jain has been running a worldwide conference, the Simple Design & Testing Conference, for practitioners to collectively push the boundaries on the topic. Naresh tells InfoQ what's going on behind this small, but well-known conference and why he is so passionate about the topic.
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The Decision to Refactor
Refactoring is the process of changing a software system in such a way that is does not alter the external behavior of the code yet improves its internal structure. The idea of improving an already written code is appreciated in most Agile teams. Continuous improvement is is something that these teams strive for. However, improving the already existing code involves time and money. Is it worth it?
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Wireframes or No Wireframes
The adage "A picture is worth a thousand words", is sometimes forgotten in the Agile world. At least, this is what many designers on Agile teams believe. In some teams, designers are required to create small increments of the design and this process does not necessarily produce the best results. For other teams wireframes are considered to be bureaucracy which gets in the way of development.
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Joshua Kerievsky Introduces "Sufficient Design" To The Craftsmanship Discussion
Software Craftsmanship has been a hot topic as of late. Joshua Kerievsky posits a possible counter-perspective to the underlying "code must always be clean!" ethos of the craftsmanship movement; something he calls "Sufficient Design". Learn about what Joshua means, and hear thoughts also from Bob Martin and Ron Jeffries on Kerievsky's ideas.
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Top Usability Books for Programmers
Most programmers would strive hard to build a robust product with Agile practices and clean code. However, the focus on usability leaves much to be desired. This is despite the well known fact that a good user interface design can spell the difference between acceptance of a software product and its failure. If the end users do not like the UI then the product has little chance of success.
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Agile Architecture - Oxymoron or Sensible Partnership?
A number of commentators have been talking about the perceived dichotomy between Agile techniques and architectural thinking. This post investigates some of the tensions between Big Up Front Design (BDUF) and You Aint Gonna Need It (YAGNI) thinking and looks at how the two approaches can in fact work together in complimentary ways.
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CodeRush Xpress for C# and VB for Visual Studio 2010
Microsoft has decided to continue licensing CodeRush Xpress for free for developers using the non-free editions of Visual Studio 2010. Developer Express has released the beta version of CodeRush 10.1.1, containing features related to code selection, code navigation, class/field/variable declaration and refactoring.