Author Archives: Graham

About Graham

I make it faster and easier for you to create high-quality code.

Wristwatches in the Future

Posted on 2014-06-16 by Graham

[Int: Moscone West convention center third floor ballroom. A presentation is taking place.] So that was an update on our existing products, which I’m proud to say have never been stronger. Now I’d like to talk to you about our … Continue reading →

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Reflections on “Is TDD Dead”

Posted on 2014-06-15 by Graham

The first thing I noticed that I needed to change as a result of watching the Is TDD Dead? series is that I started out with a defensive mindset. If I believe in the dogma of a rule, then presumably … Continue reading →

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On a re-read you realise this isn’t really about Swift

Posted on 2014-06-03 by Graham

It’s a bit early to have formed an opinion on a recently-announced programming language, but as the requisite number of people have asked what mine is (i.e. at least zero) I thought I’d type and see what happens. Rules in … Continue reading →

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It doesn’t take an Oracle to see that coming

Posted on 2014-06-01 by Graham

Today has largely been brought to you by nostalgia brought about by this article, reporting on a get-together of former Sun Microsystems employees. I have never been a former Sun Microsystems employee, and of course now I never will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Java, UNIX | Comments Off on It doesn’t take an Oracle to see that coming

Is TDD Dead? My questions

Posted on 2014-05-28 by Graham

These are my questions for parts 5 and 6 of Is TDD Dead?. I’d like to start by thanking the panellists for publishing their discussions. TDD the Principle Kent and Martin, why is it that you practise test-driven development? What … Continue reading →

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The lighter side of open source

Posted on 2014-05-26 by Graham

In a recent post I talked about the apolitical, amoral nature of open source software and how it puts the interests of a small programming class before the interests of the broad collection of people who interact with programmers’ output. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, economics | Leave a comment

I use mocks and I’m happy with that

Posted on 2014-05-21 by Graham

Both Kent Beck and Martin Fowler have said that they don’t use mock objects in their test-driven development. I do. I use them mostly for the sense described first in my BNR blog post on Mock Objects, namely to stand … Continue reading →

Posted in code-level, OOP, TDD, TDiOSD | 1 Comment

One meeellleeon

Posted on 2014-05-14 by Graham

A teacher recently asked her computing class if there was any question they would like to ask me. One of the students came up with a question: how could they make a million pounds? I think my answer would be … Continue reading →

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Open Source and the Lehrer-von Braun defence

Posted on 2014-05-09 by Graham

Tom Lehrer’s song about Wernher von Braun is of a man who should not be described as hypocritical: Say rather that he’s apolitical. “Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department,” says Wernher … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy after a fashion, Responsibility | Leave a comment

It’s just like English

Posted on 2014-05-06 by Graham

Fans of the RSpec tool for writing tests will be familiar with its English-like(fn1) syntax for describing tests, which looks like this. describe StrawMan do context “when interpreting a test in RSpec” do it “is written in plain English” do … Continue reading →

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