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Chiron Codex: helping software engineers become centaurs. APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Blog Archives
Episode 28: Fascinating
In which I use this hacker news discussion on Agile to ask the question: has the poacher become the gamekeeper? I definitely talked about Questioning Extreme Programming by Pete McBreen, and Ron Jeffries has a take on that book too. … Continue reading
Episode 27: High-Performance Computing and the 1950s
In which we investigate the question why are climate models written in programming languages from 1950?, the discussion some programmers had about it, and the phenomenon that programmers seem to think that everybody else’s programming work just can’t be that … Continue reading
Episode 26: more engineering please
In which I discuss whether the reaction to traditional software engineering in works like Software Craftsmanship: the New Imperative didn’t throw out significant amounts of baby with the bathwater of waterfall processes and CASE. I also mention my popular post … Continue reading
Episode 25: A Theory of Software Engineering
In fact, while this is about a theory of software engineering, that doesn’t enter until the end of the show. Most of it is an attempt to incorrectly summarise the history of software engineering through analogy to the history of … Continue reading
Episode 24: Thoughts on Swift
A discussion on whether Swift was inevitable and whether it has achieved its goals, motivated by @tolmasky’s discussion with @lorenb on the Thoughts on Flash letter. Along the way I talk about Apple’s strategic investment into Java: I’ve discussed that … Continue reading
Episode 23: Licensing Software Engineers
In which I discuss the thorny issue of whether software engineering should be a licensed profession, mostly from the perspective of the ACM’s argument against it. Also considered is how, or even if, the whole Software Engineering Body of Knowledge … Continue reading
Episode 22: Attend More Meetings
As if you couldn’t guess, the topic is that software engineers should attend more meetings. I talk about the Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule idea, why it’s a false dichotomy, and why programmers can actually get to more meetings than they … Continue reading
Episode 21: No code is better than no code
In which we recommend deleting your code. Steve McConnell’s More Effective Agile Ward Cunningham introduces the debt metaphor for bad code, and my guess is it won’t be familiar as he presented it if you think you’re familiar with the … Continue reading
Episode 20: what do we know about software engineering?
I explain the gap between episodes 19 and 20, and ask whether any of the practices we follow in software engineering are defensible. Derek Jones: Evidence-based software engineering Laurent Bossavit: The Leprechauns of Software Engineering An Apology to Readers of … Continue reading
Episode 19: How many Macs?
In which I admit to having used a very large number of Apple computers, even if I exclude vintage pieces. But actually talk about setting up a second one. The Twitter poll that started it all.
