The Independent Magazine

Age : 20 Joined : 15 Mar 2008 Posts : 842

Interface Oriented Design Book Excerpt: Inheritance and Interfaces (Chapter 5)

Finding commonality among classes makes for effective object-oriented programming. Often, programmers express that commonality using an inheritance hierarchy, since that is one of the first concepts taught in object-oriented programming. We're going to go to the other extreme in this chapter to explore the difference between using inheritance and using interfaces. An excerpt from Interface Oriented Design.
By Ken Pugh

Career Paths for Programmers

The key to maintaining a good employment outlook in IT, it seems, is to move out of programming and up into more business-oriented IT positions such as systems analyst, business analyst, project manager, or systems architect. However, a computer programmer can't just decide to become a systems analyst or project manager overnight.
By John Bennett, Jr.

Success/Failure Criteria: Some Surprises

At a breakfast seminar here June 6 on "Factors for IT Project Success and Failure," Prof. June Verner of NICTA provided a fascinating mix of surprises and predictables related to her subject topic. The findings came from NICTA’s study of 400 projects in the U.S., Australia, and Chile, using questionnaires and interviews to discuss success and failure factors with practitioners.
By Robert L. Glass

Test Smarter, Not Harder

When we’re testing any software, we are faced with the tradeoff of cost and benefit of testing. With complex software, the costs of testing can grow faster than the benefits of testing. If we apply techniques like the ones in this article, we can dramatically reduce the cost of testing our software. This is what we mean when we say test smarter, not harder.
By Scott Sehlhorst

The Many Flavors of Testing (An Excerpt from Software Conflict 2.0)

Once we realize that we are committed to a future full of testing, it is worth exploring what testing really means. I would assert that there are several flavors of testing, and that all too often when we speak of testing we consider far too few of those flavors. An excerpt from Software Conflict 2.0.
By Robert L. Glass

Shifting the Burden - Whose Monkey Is It?

A new installment in the developer.* Systems and Software series, exploring the connections between general systems thinking, cybernetics, and software development. Author Don Gray applies systems thinking principles--including "balancing loops," symptomatic and systemic solutions, and "shifting the burden"--to a recurring situation with one of his clients.
By Donald E. Gray

What Is A Professional Programmer?

So what does it mean to be a professional programmer? What does it mean to be a professional anything? Some definitions simply say to be a professional is "to make money from a skill," but true professionals also have a set of qualities often described as "professionalism." In my opinion, these qualities are...
By Sarah George

Best Practices for Object/Relational Mapping and Persistence APIs

In this article I will begin with a discussion of home-grown vs. off-the-shelf persistence solutions, including areas to consider when deciding between the two, and advice for choosing the best off-the-shelf solution to meet your needs. I will also share suggestions and advice from my own experiences with O/R mapping and persistence APIs, with a focus on "best practices."
By Mario Van Damme

All developer.* Articles
.NET Exception Handling

This article presents a set of general error handling principles and illustrates them in action with a downloadable VB.NET project, including a demonstration program and a reusable .NET exception handling DLL.
By Edward G. Nilges

After the Gold Rush

McConnell posits Engineering as the ideal model for that professional maturation process, and he makes many solid arguments in its favor. Most of these points are based on the central idea of reusability. This is not just recycling the data access library you wrote for your last project...
By Steve McConnell (Review by Andy Tegethoff)

Agile Documentation: A Pattern Guide to Producing Lightweight Documents for Software Projects

Useful documentation has its place, but it should be succinct, worded simply, and presented well.
By Andreas Rüping (Review by Donna L. Davis)

Altar of Sacrifice

How many of us have, or will, sacrifice ourselves on the altar of someone else's software project? I know I have.
By Daniel Read

An Interview with the IGDA (*.ORG Series)

An interview with Jason Della Rocca of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).
By Daniel Read

An Interview with The Programmer's Guild (*.ORG Series)

An interview with Paul Hanrahan of the Programmer's Guild.
By Daniel Read

Automating Software Development Processes

Automating repetitive procedures can provide real value to software development projects. In this article, we will explore the value of and barriers to automation and provide some guidance for automating aspects of the development process.
By Tim Kitchens

Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management

One of the reasons good management is so hard to learn is that much of management takes place behind closed doors. We’re going to open those doors and allow you to see great management in action.
By Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby

Best Practices for Object/Relational Mapping and Persistence APIs

In this article I will begin with a discussion of home-grown vs. off-the-shelf persistence solutions, including areas to consider when deciding between the two, and advice for choosing the best off-the-shelf solution to meet your needs. I will also share suggestions and advice from my own experiences with O/R mapping and persistence APIs, with a focus on "best practices."
By Mario Van Damme

Career Paths for Programmers

The key to maintaining a good employment outlook in IT, it seems, is to move out of programming and up into more business-oriented IT positions such as systems analyst, business analyst, project manager, or systems architect. However, a computer programmer can't just decide to become a systems analyst or project manager overnight.
By John Bennett, Jr.

Code as Design: Three Essays by Jack W. Reeves

These essays by Jack W. Reeves offer three perspectives on a single theme, namely that programming is fundamentally a design activity and that the only final and true representation of "the design" is the source code itself.