The Pragmatic Craftsman
:: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::
The Pragmatic Craftsman
:: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::
Dynamics of Software Development
by Jim McCarthy
ISBN 159059388X
Date Read 11/2004
My Rating
A great book for project managers! Unfortunately, I’m not there yet. 
A great list of good practices and softaware development tips. What I also liked, besides the tips, was the author’s style of writing. It’s great. Simple sentences, a lot of energy. I plan to re-read this book in a year or two.
Would you want to see the most interesting software-engineering stuff that I came across each month? What do I mean by “stuff?” Books, articles, events, and anything related to software engineering that was worth my time. I’m going to try to do that in this category.
Interesting Reads – or Readings of the Month!
Reading About Design PatternsBy Allen Holub
Allen discusses two recent book about patterns: Refactoring to Patterns, and his own, Holub on Patterns. He goes on to say that a good programmer knows patterns. I agree. I have both books on my must-read list and I ordered Holub on Patterns.
Out of Site, Out of a JobBy Larry O’Brien
Do you want to make sure that your job is not outsourced? Read this article and follow his advice.
Best Essays of 2004
Joel Spolsky is coming up with a book composed of best essays that are listed on the forum he created. Take a look. Dive into some of them. I enjoyed reading some of the essays by Eric Sink. I commented on the ones I liked.
The Pitfalls of Outsourcing Programmersby Michael Bean
There’s been a lot of talk about outsourcing. Some are against it. Some are for it. In this article, Mike tells you when you should not outsource. This is one of the best articles about outsourcing I’ve read. I totally agree with this main point: If you outsource your core, you lose competitive advantage. See the discussion as well.
Java 5by Andy Grant
I’ve read several introductory articles about the new features of Java 5.0. This one is the best. It is simple. It shows you examples. It is written well. Nice job, Andy.
How do you make your revisions of sentences, paragraphs, ideas easier to understand? Brian Marick has several tips on revision. I think they’re very good.
Do you know the differences? If not, read this short post by Johanna Rothman. You will have a clear picture after you read it.
Peer review: An author asks a peer to read, comment, and critique a work artifact.
Walkthrough: An author presents the work artifact to others.
Inspection: An author requests the services of a moderator, scribe, reader/reviewers in a formal meeting.
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Software Crafstmanship defined. Defined by nobody else but by a true craftsman himself, Uncle Bob. This entry was so good and so relevant to this blog that I had to include it in full. Read it and re-read it often. I will.
Uncle Bob’s Software Craftsmanship CornerWe will not ship shit.by Robert C. MartinJuly 15, 2003
They’re just rules, and rules are made to be broken.
Blindly following rules is a fools errand. We have enough grey matter todiscern when the rules are helpful and when they are not. We have theresponsibility to continuously measure whether the rules are helpful, orwhether they are not.
But then — there’s something else.
Something that is cold and hard, and yet simultaneously hot and blazing.Something, amidst all the compromise and ambiguity, that is neithercompromised nor ambiguous. Something that spawns and respawns the rules wefollow, and yet challenges those rules at every turn.
The still small voice; the angel’s trumpet, the grim determination, thejoyous declaration:
“I WILL NOT SHIP SHIT.”
- “I am a professional — a craftsman!”– “No matter what pressures are on me.”– “No matter how I’ve had to bend the rules.”– “No matter what shortcuts I’ve had to take.”– “No matter what the gods, or managers, have done or may do.”
– — “I WILL DO THE BEST WORK I CAN POSSIBLY DO.”– — “Anything short of my best is shit.”– — “I _ WILL _ NOT _ SHIP _ SHIT.”
For me, at least, this is what it all comes down to. I find that the rulesof XP help me to achieve this most of the time — more of the time than anyother set of rules I have followed. But rules are rules, and when they getin the way of this goal, they get set aside.
I do not set the rules aside lightly. Indeed, when in doubt, I follow them.When the pressure is on, I follow them. When the deadline looms, I followthem. I try hard not to let fear drive me.
Fear is the mind killer. It breeds idiocies like:
“We don’t have time to write tests.”"We don’t have time to program in pairs.”"We don’t have time to integrate continuously.”"We don’t have time to automate our acceptance tests.”
These idiocies are a siren’s song. Their lure is strong. Look in theirdirection and The Despair begins. All the rules will fall away.
Our core of professional pride is the cure. That something that is bothcold and hard, yet hot and blazing. It won’t set aside a rule out of fear.It sets aside a rule when *the rule* will cause you to ship shit.
Go now, the lesson has ended.
A creative person does things that have never been done before. Intelligence is the ability to learn and the ability to think. Personality traits is what distinguishes creative from non-creative people. Personality traits associated with creativity: diligent, stubborn, eccentric, reclusive, not religious, enjoys work.
These are just a few points taken from Creativity in Science and Engineering paper by Ronald B. Standler. If you want to find out more about creativity, you should read it. It’s definitely worth your time.
Do you think J2EE is complex? Do you think having many different frameworks, different APIs, and many different specifications help or hurt it? Do you think not having a single, one-way avenue for an inexperienced developer helps? I don’t. In this article, Simplifying Complexities of J2EE, Debu Panda gives you several arguments why J2EE should be simplified. I agree.
Developing Enterprise Java Applications with J2EE and UML
by Khawar Zaman Ahmed, Cary E. Umrysh
ISBN 0201738295
Date Read 11/2004
My Rating
Excellent title! But that’s about the only thing that’s excellent, the content is so so. There are better books that cover J2EE in more detail.
Struts, Spring, WebWork, Tapestry, JSF. Are you not lost yet? Do you know what they are and which one is used for what? I wasn’t so sure. Until now, that is. This easily digestible pdf document is very good. Matt Raible, author of Spring Live and a contributor to Pro JSP, does a good job explaining all of the frameworks. Plus, if you want to find out which framework has a good showing on a job board, he does a good job explaining that as well. Dive in.
I’m beginning to be a big fan of Spring: it’s lightweight, easy to use, easy to test. I see a lot of potential in Spring. Spring is what I’d like to master in the near future. I also like Struts, JSF and JSTL, but not as much as Spring. Why not learn them all? 
