If you follow the evolution of software development on Internet, you may have the impression that every new development is Web based and that the main areas of concern are whether you should develop new application with Ruby on Rail or if you should choose Flash rather than Ajax for the interface. However, if you ask developers, you may find that the Web is not as ubiquitous in their work as you may think.
Even if 66% of the participants develop the majority of their new applications with a browser as the interface, there is still a large portion of developers that are working today for operating contexts that are outside the Web world, like embedded software or Windows applications.
Get the full results of this poll here
Wednesday 23 May 2007
Thursday 17 May 2007
Software Development Articles
Some of the last interesting additions to our directory of software development articles:
* Smells to Refactorings
This handy cheat sheet maps code smells to their likely refactorings with corresponding page references to source material contained in the books Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler and Refactoring to Patterns by Joshua Kerievsky.
* Invasion Of The Dynamic Language Weenies
A critical and humourous look at the increased usage of dynamic (interpreted) languages for Web applications.
* Bare-Naked Languages or What Not to Model
Domain-specific language (DSL) technology was introduced at Microsoft as part of the software factories methodology. While DSLs are useful as stand-alone languages, placing them in the context of a software factory makes them more powerful and helps avoid some common pitfalls in applying the technology. This article explains how DSLs fit into the software factories methodology and how using the methodology can help DSL developers avoid some common pitfalls.
* Smells to Refactorings
This handy cheat sheet maps code smells to their likely refactorings with corresponding page references to source material contained in the books Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler and Refactoring to Patterns by Joshua Kerievsky.
* Invasion Of The Dynamic Language Weenies
A critical and humourous look at the increased usage of dynamic (interpreted) languages for Web applications.
* Bare-Naked Languages or What Not to Model
Domain-specific language (DSL) technology was introduced at Microsoft as part of the software factories methodology. While DSLs are useful as stand-alone languages, placing them in the context of a software factory makes them more powerful and helps avoid some common pitfalls in applying the technology. This article explains how DSLs fit into the software factories methodology and how using the methodology can help DSL developers avoid some common pitfalls.
Thursday 10 May 2007
Agile Autumn for Methods & Tools
I am currently preparing the Autumn and Winter issues and I have recently had the chance to get the cooperation of some agile practitioners:
Rachel Davies that has participated to the creation of the Paircoaching.net association of agile consultants will provide an article on agile retrospectives. I am very happy to collaborate again with Rachel after its article on Agile Requirements published in the Fall 2005 issue.
Jens Norin will write an article on a lean approach to configuration management.
Tamara Sulaiman will look on the value angle of agile projects with experience gained working on Earned Value Management in agile projects
Stay tuned for a Methods & Tools Autumn edition full of practical and expert knowledge.
Rachel Davies that has participated to the creation of the Paircoaching.net association of agile consultants will provide an article on agile retrospectives. I am very happy to collaborate again with Rachel after its article on Agile Requirements published in the Fall 2005 issue.
Jens Norin will write an article on a lean approach to configuration management.
Tamara Sulaiman will look on the value angle of agile projects with experience gained working on Earned Value Management in agile projects
Stay tuned for a Methods & Tools Autumn edition full of practical and expert knowledge.
Tuesday 8 May 2007
MySQL Waits for an IPO
The "M" company of the LAMP acronym has increased its revenues to about $ 50 million in 2006 up from $34 million in 2005. According to a speech given by CEO Marten Mickos at the recent MySQL conference, the company is also close to breakeven, even if this is not a specific goal. MySQL earns money by selling supports for its database product.
MySQL is the dominant player of the open source database market and its strength has forced Microsoft and Oracle to offer free basic versions of their own databases. MySQL has been a target for Oracle when major editors were looking to acquire open source companies like JBoss, now part of Red Hat. Oracle didn't get MySQL but acquired InnoDB, the editor of one of the transactional engine behind MySQL. To justify for the IPO, MySQL's CEO declared that some customers will deal more easily with a public company with open accounting. This could also provide funds to acquire other companies. Both MySQL and Zend (the company behind PHP) are de facto managing the products that are the foundations of many Web sites. I think this will be the best interest of Web developers that these companies stay independent. In this case, an IPO could make it easier that they would be acquired by a competitor, depending on the attitude of the new shareholders.
MySQL is the dominant player of the open source database market and its strength has forced Microsoft and Oracle to offer free basic versions of their own databases. MySQL has been a target for Oracle when major editors were looking to acquire open source companies like JBoss, now part of Red Hat. Oracle didn't get MySQL but acquired InnoDB, the editor of one of the transactional engine behind MySQL. To justify for the IPO, MySQL's CEO declared that some customers will deal more easily with a public company with open accounting. This could also provide funds to acquire other companies. Both MySQL and Zend (the company behind PHP) are de facto managing the products that are the foundations of many Web sites. I think this will be the best interest of Web developers that these companies stay independent. In this case, an IPO could make it easier that they would be acquired by a competitor, depending on the attitude of the new shareholders.
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