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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.
Blog Archives
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.
Episode 18: the pink plane
A response to my own post, What Smalltalk was not over at De Programmatica Ipsum. Some relevant links: The Booch Method Rebecca Wirfs-Brock’s books Applying UML and Patterns Also, I mentioned the Dos Amigans twitch stream, where Steven Baker and … Continue reading
Episode 17: will CPUs matter?
Carrying on from Episode 16, I wonder whether it matters that Apple switch to RISC-V next decade anyway. Sophie Wilson’s talk on the future of microprocessors Huang’s Law, saying that GPUs are improving at machine learning applications faster than CPUs … Continue reading
