Application Lifecycle Management
Better Software Magazine Articles
Evidence for Evolution What important lessons can we learn from the evolution of the programming language Lisp? Brian Marick recounts the environment that enabled its creation and recommends we incorporate some of the Lisper practices into our own projects. |
Brian Marick
March 27, 2007 |
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Know What's at Stake Everyone knows the importance of well-defined functional requirements. We want our products to work, don't we? But how many of us are paying as much attention to defining our non-functional requirements? In this historically focused feature, we learn from past mistakes the potentially disastrous results of inadequately tested NFRs. |
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The Roof Is Going to Go As one poor German tourist can attest, idioms don't translate. But Chuck Allison thinks programmers should become "native speakers" of the programming languages they use. This includes using and understanding them, idioms and all. |
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The Exceptional Exception So much more than a bucket for your errors, exceptions can be a valuable tool that lets you communicate to your clients not only that there is a problem but why and where the code failed. |
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Big, Complex, and Tested? Just Say "When": Software Development Using Presenter First Looking to bridge the gap between code and customers? David Crosby and Carl Erickson elaborate on the benefits of an approach called Presenter First, a simple technique that can be repeated as many times as needed to get the job done. |
David Crosby
January 31, 2007 |
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The Case of the Missing Fingerprint: Solve the Mystery of Successful End-of-Project Retrospectives Through this tale of a planning spreadsheet and its effect on three different projects, learn the impact a single decision can have on a project--and pick up some helpful tools like fingerprint graphs and project timelines along the way. |
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One Step Back ... Two Steps Forward A change to code that previously was working may introduce new failures. Testing for regression can catch these failures, find new problems, and identify opportunities to improve your test design. |
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Principle-driven Development Challenges are inevitable in software development, and formal methodologies may obscure the simpler, basic rules that govern quality. When faced with an overwhelmingly complex challenge, look to proven principles. |
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The Power of Low-Tech Tools The level of technology that goes into a tool is only as valuable as the service that you, as a user, get out of that tool. Some low-tech tools--such as the four that Esther Derby lists here--have a place in the technologist's toolbox, too. |
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The Ajax Balancing Act The path to Ajax has its pitfalls, but using it carefully can put you ahead of the game. Tod Golding offers some tips to help you investigate the world of Ajax solutions, technologies, frameworks, and patterns and find a balance between an enhanced user experience and a robust application. |