InfoQ Homepage Criticism Content on InfoQ
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TDD: Essential Skill or Architectural Landmine?
At JAOO '07 Bob Martin asserted: "it is irresponsible for a developer to ship a line of code he has not executed in a unit test." In this InfoQ video, Martin debated with another well respected software thought leader, Jim Coplien, on this and other topics, including Design by Contract vs. TDD and how much up-front architecture is needed to keep a system consistent with the business domain model.
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Does TDD Really Ensure Quality?
Analysis of a recent study by the National Research Council of Canada's Institute of Technology into Test Driven Development turned up some interesting observations regarding the value that this approach adds, including whether, in fact, it adds any more value to the quality process than testing after development.
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InfoQ Interview: Dave Thomas on the Joys of Life-long Learning
Guest interviewer Jim Coplien chatted with "Pragmatic" Dave Thomas at QconLondon 2007, covering everything from 'agile' publishing and academia to staying limber with code katas. Dave's career advice: Cultivate the passion of a 5-year old!
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Surprising criticism from parting Microsoft development lead
Jay Bazuzi, once Development Lead for the C# Editor, is leaving Microsoft, and he wrote some surprisingly harsh parting words for his friends before he left; things like “OO isn’t a fad” and that “It’s OK to use someone else’s code”.
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Holding a Program in Your Head
Your code: is it that stuff you store in version control or, as Paul Graham argues, "... your understanding of the problem you're exploring"? Graham has written an essay offering eight suggestions for developers trying to understand the code on which they're working - some of which seem to contradict the advice of the agilists.
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Without a Defined Process, How Will We Know Who To Blame?
"A fundamental premise of the 'train-wreck' approach to management is that the primary cause of problems is 'dereliction of duty'" said Peter Scholtes in his 2003 book on leadership. Mary Poppendieck's recent article on process, people and systems asked: "Which is more important - process or people?" and showed how Lean is an alternative to certified process improvement programs like ISO 9000.
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Retire Microsoft's Four SOA tenets?
Microsoft's Harry Pierson (a.k.a. DevHawk) suggest that Microsoft's own 4 tenets for SOA should be retired because, well, they are, in Harry's opinion, useless - at least they are not useful anymore.
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Does specific technology knowledge matter when recruiting?
Does technology matter when it comes to recruiting developers? Or is the way of thinking the only thing that’s really important? In a time when many job advertisements are flooded with technology buzzwords, Dan Creswell found an Amazons recruitment ad that solely focuses on thinking and understanding.
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Iteration Types
What is an iteration in the Agile world? How is it different than previous ways the software community has performed iterations? Are there different types of iterations, and does it matter? The ScrumDevelopment list has been recently discussing type A, B, and C sprints (sprint = iteration in Scrum terminology) as defined by Jeff Sutherland and the ideas are relevant the the wider Agile community.
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Agile, Architecture and the 5am Production Problem
What does "just enough architecture" mean? Can we agree on this? The answers from FDD and XP seem divergent. Michael Nygard, author of Release It! unravels the story of a production problem which typical Agile approaches would not have prevented, asserting that Agile teams may need to attend more to architecture, if they want to sleep through the night once it's deployed in the real world.
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Microsoft and Agile - Divergent Agendas?
Martin Fowler has questioned Microsoft's grip on leading-edge developers. MS has threatened one developer with legal action over his TestDriven.Net extension for VisualStudio Express, and MS development of an incompatible rival to NUnit has alienated many developers. Is there a widening divide between MS and the Agile community, as each pursues different a vision? Now's the time to speak up.
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If Agile is So Good, Why Isn't Everyone Doing It?
On CIO.com, Thomas Wailgum wrote about why, despite the evidence, Agile adoption remains at a steady, rather than explosive growth. He posde questions to CIO's of a number of Fortune 500 organisations in his article "How Agile Development Can Lead to Better Results and Technology-Business Alignment."
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Avid Agile Adoption Engenders an "Equal and Opposite" Reaction
An old post on "The Physics of Passion" resonates today, as the methodology argument continues: is Agile an approach worth embracing? Or just the latest flavour of corporate Kool-Aid? Kathy Sierra wrote that being accused of "drinking the Kool-Aid" can be a good thing: a sign that we're developing passionate proponents - and opponents.
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Resolutions: Integrity of Code and Conduct
At the start of each New Year, some of us stop to look backward, and actively resolve to move forward wiser than before. Scott Ambler, Liz Barnett and Kirk Knoernschild have shared with us their recommendations for working smarter in 2007, including: take a hard look at at your business objectives; equip your teams properly to maximize agility; and above all - behave yourselves!
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Debating Agility at ThoughtWorks
A lively debate is underway among the folks at ThoughtWorks... Starting with Dr. Jim Webber, noted author and ThoughtWorks' top SOA consultant, coining the term: Agile athiest. Does the rise of "Agile religion" signal that the moment has arrived to retire the "Agile" label?