Links: 29-07-2007

• Building A Software Team: Five ways to communicate better, Building A Development Team: Office Space, Building A Software Team: Five ways to hire the wrong person, Building a software team: Wrong! There I said it!, Building a software team: Start some traditions - five valuable notes about software teams.

Links: 28-07-2007

• epesi - it is an "lightweight PHP/AJAX based framework for development of database driven web applications". Seems to be quite interesting, so why not to try it?
• In defense of Design Patterns, Rethinking Design Patterns - notes about books "Desing Patterns. Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software", "A Pattern Language" and testability of code (how to improve it),
• Reflections on Java Reflection, Trail: The Reflection API, Java programming dynamics, Part 2: Introducing reflection - notes and tutorials about Java Reflection API and several examples.

Links: 27-07-2007

• What happened to object databases?, Debate: ODBMS sometimes a better alternative to O/R Mapping? - discussion about object databases and why or why not use them. OODBMS is quite young (since '95) and comparison it to RDBMS (which is quite old) is rather unfair. I've sometimes used OODBMS, but this was on my own (not in commercial world) and I think they are very intresting, so why not try to use them?,
• Top Ten Must Read Books for the Java Developer - worth reading this and worth reading all mentioned books. So let's read it :),
• Integrating Struts 2 + JSF + Facelets - simple way of integrating mentioned technologies,
• Dynamic and static languages are fighting again - this is distillation of interesting discussion about "fighting" between dynamic languages (Python, Ruby, PHP and other) and static languages (Java, C/C++/C# and other).

Links: 26-07-2007

• No excuse to not do unit testing, Unit testing critical for improving software quality, The Way of Testivus … or How to Complete Projects Ahead of Schedule - why unit testing is so important,
• Testing Will Challenge Your Conventions - You have to read it and thorougly rethinking it - it is very important,
• Agile Team Size - interesting distilation of discussion about size of team in agile methodologies. We can teach some valuable things from this. Worth reading!
• Code reuse highly overrated? - notice about value of existing code and why or why not reuse it.
  

useful idea

Today I've found interesting post How to learn anything about learning.

"A lot of people are afraid to ask questions because they're afraid of looking dumb. But the dumb thing is not asking questions.

If I ever get my school, the one course will be

HOW TO LEARN ANYTHING

As far as I can tell, these are the techniques used by bright people who want to learn something other than by taking courses in it. It's the way PhD's pick up a second field; it's the way journalists and "geniuses" operate; it brings the general understandings of a field that children of eminent people in that field get as a birthright; it's the way anybody can learn anything, if he has the nerve.

1. DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN. But you can't know *exactly*, because of course you don't know exactly how any field is structured until you know all about it.
2. READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ON IT, especially what you enjoy, since that way you can read more of it and faster.
3. GRAB FOR INSIGHTS. Regardless of points others are trying to make, when you recognize an insight that has meaning for you, make it your own. It may have to do with the shape of molecules, or the personality of a specific emperor, or the quirks of a Great Man in the Field. Its importance is not how central it is, but how clear and interesting and memorable to you. REMEMBER IT. Then go for another.
4. TIE INSIGHTS TOGETHER. Soon you will have your *own* string of insights in a field, like the string of lights around a Christmas tree.
5. CONCENTRATE ON MAGAZINES, NOT BOOKS. Magazines have far more insights per inch of text, and can be read much faster. But when a book really speaks to you, lavish attention on it.
6. FIND TOUR OWN SPECIAL TOPICS AND PURSUE THEM.
7. GO TO CONVENTIONS. For some reason, conventions are a splendid concentrated way to learn things; talking to people helps. Don't think you have to be anybody special to go to a convention; just plunk down your money. But you have to have a handle. Calling yourself a Consultant is good; "Student" is perfectly honorable.
8. "FIND YOUR MAN." Somewhere in the world is someone who will answer your questions extraordinarily well. If you find him, dog him. He may be a janitor or a teenage kid; no matter. Follow him with your begging bowl, if that's what he wants, or take him to expensive restaurants, or whatever.
9. KEEP IMPROVING YOUR QUESTIONS. Probably in your head there are questions that don't seem to line up what you're hearing. Don't assume that you don't understand; keep adjusting the questions till you can get an answer that relates to what you wanted.
10. YOUR FIELD IS BOUNDED WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE. Just because others group and stereotype things in conventional ways does not mean they are necessarily right. Intellectual subjects are connected every whichway; your field is what you think it is. (Again, this is one of the things that will give you insights and keep you motivated; but it will get you into trouble if you try to go for degrees.)

***

There are limitations. This doesn't give you lab experience, and you will continually have to be making up for gaps. But for alertness and the ability to use his mind, give me the man who's learned this way, rather than been blinkered and clichéd to death within the educational system."

Links: 25-07-2007

• Do Agile Methods Require Documentation? - short discussion about documentation in agile methodologies,
• The Art of Agile Development - a book about agile development. This book will be published in 2007 by O'Reilly and now it is written by Shane Warden and James Shore. We can observe process of writing this book and participate in it,
• JUnit 4.4 Released - new version of JUnit with minor improvments was release,
• Debunking myths: proxies impact performance - interesting note about proxy pattern, it's impact on performance in Spring and other (for example object-relational mappers) and about code weaving,
• Injecting into Servlets and undoing the stranglehold of web.xml - how to injecting into servlets and making webapps without web.xml,
• 5 Reasons why I think I will not use Spring - note against Spring. for me it is worth reading because we can see some lacks of Spring (or lacks of people who use Spring) and try to think how to avoid them in future,
• 10 mistakes to avoid in software development - worth reading and rethinking them.