Blog Archives

In which I posit that software freedom is a small part of a bigger picture. Free Software Foundation Free Software Foundation of Europe Software Freedom Conservancy Electronic Frontier Foundation [objc retain]; Just Consequentialism and Computing (paywalled; accessible link) Use the … Continue reading →

This episode is about technology, culture, community, and career. No links because it’s mostly a personal history and there’s only so much self-promotion I can fit in one episode. That said! If you enjoy this podcast and would like to … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →