2007NOV221237
Top 10 Software Engineering ideas
"... Each new generation doomed to re-discover basics ..."
Got pinged by Ed Yourdon today checking if I had some of his books in photo of a bookshelf (I did, 'Structured Analysis'). [0]
I come across this particular presentation (Top 10 Software Engineering ideas) on Yourdons website. It's an interesting report because it takes a similiar approach Tim O'Reilly used to define Web 2.0. Analyse the current market and draw conclusions from them. [1] What I particularly like is the themes overlayed on a map with published book images used to support the problems. [2]
One idea that immediately sticks in my mind as being a bit odd was the theme of code re-use. Programmers are notorious for perpetuating "Obsolete culture" in the hope that re-using code can save them time ignoring the possibility the code they are going to re-use is crap. [3]
"... Programmers become so familiar with code reuse that they often copy existing techniques even when they aren't actually copying code ..."
Cooper gives a great example of how Amazon 1-Click was implemented by engineers as 2-Click as an example of this approach. I'm not sure how useful this advise is when you are in a startup and have to build new tools. [4], [5].
The presentation can be found here:
- google doc (requires permission, yuk) ~ docs.google.com/Present?docid=dd2trp3s_42cwb9js&fs=true
- pdf (19Mb) ~ www.yourdon.com/downloads/CompAidTopTenJAX.pdf
- bonus Interview (200Kb) ~ www.compaid.com/caiinternet/ezine/edyourdoninterview.pdf
It makes an interesting read because it puts a lot of disparate ideas Yourdon has covered in his various books to a modern (web2) context.
Reference
[0] Yourdon, Ed, "Modern Structured Analysis, 1989, ISBN 013598632X"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yourdon
[1] O'Reilly, Tim, "Web 2.0 definition, 'What is Web 2.0?'"
www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is...
[2] You can see this on slide 13, point 7, "Reuse is Important" in the PDF.
[3] Cooper, Alan, "Inmates running the Asylum, CH8 An Obsolete culture, Reusing code pp 106-109.
safari.oreilly.com/0672326140/ch08
[4] I wouldn't mind reading more on this particular point Yourdon makes because her mentions "Don't just re-use code; also design, specs, processes, plans, budget templates etc." I'm not sure what Yourdon means by this.
[5] Cooper, Alan, Ibid, P108-109.
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2007NOV221237
Top 10 Software Engineering ideas
"... Each new generation doomed to re-discover basics ..."
Got pinged by Ed Yourdon today checking if I had some of his books in photo of a bookshelf (I did, 'Structured Analysis'). [0]
I come across this particular presentation (Top 10 Software Engineering ideas) on Yourdons website. It's an interesting report because it takes a similiar approach Tim O'Reilly used to define Web 2.0. Analyse the current market and draw conclusions from them. [1] What I particularly like is the themes overlayed on a map with published book images used to support the problems. [2]
One idea that immediately sticks in my mind as being a bit odd was the theme of code re-use. Programmers are notorious for perpetuating "Obsolete culture" in the hope that re-using code can save them time ignoring the possibility the code they are going to re-use is crap. [3]
"... Programmers become so familiar with code reuse that they often copy existing techniques even when they aren't actually copying code ..."
Cooper gives a great example of how Amazon 1-Click was implemented by engineers as 2-Click as an example of this approach. I'm not sure how useful this advise is when you are in a startup and have to build new tools. [4], [5].
The presentation can be found here:
- google doc (requires permission, yuk) ~ docs.google.com/Present?docid=dd2trp3s_42cwb9js&fs=true
- pdf (19Mb) ~ www.yourdon.com/downloads/CompAidTopTenJAX.pdf
- bonus Interview (200Kb) ~ www.compaid.com/caiinternet/ezine/edyourdoninterview.pdf
It makes an interesting read because it puts a lot of disparate ideas Yourdon has covered in his various books to a modern (web2) context.
Reference
[0] Yourdon, Ed, "Modern Structured Analysis, 1989, ISBN 013598632X"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yourdon
[1] O'Reilly, Tim, "Web 2.0 definition, 'What is Web 2.0?'"
www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is...
[2] You can see this on slide 13, point 7, "Reuse is Important" in the PDF.
[3] Cooper, Alan, "Inmates running the Asylum, CH8 An Obsolete culture, Reusing code pp 106-109.
safari.oreilly.com/0672326140/ch08
[4] I wouldn't mind reading more on this particular point Yourdon makes because her mentions "Don't just re-use code; also design, specs, processes, plans, budget templates etc." I'm not sure what Yourdon means by this.
[5] Cooper, Alan, Ibid, P108-109.
next >>>