Topic: Software Development
Joel and Jeff sit down with Robert Martin aka "Uncle Bob", and discuss software quality, the value of software engineering principles, and test-driven development.
Anne Thomas Manes joins Phil and Scott to discuss whether Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is dead. In addition to talking about why people are bad at architecture, she reviews examples of concrete architectural practices and makes it clear that spectacular gains come from spectacular efforts.
Javier Solter talks about the importance of measuring the health of any cloud solution that might be entrusted with the running of mission critical applications. He talks about the problems inherent in the current generation of cloud computing offerings and why comprehensive, transparent performance and health monitoring is necessary. Solter goes into detail on how his company has been monitoring Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine and how this can help both the cloud consumer and the cloud provider.
Andy Singleton is an entrepreneur who has long studied and practiced the art of distributed software development. Influenced by the open source and agile movements, he has arrived at some startling conclusions about how to manage commercial projects. Among them: don't interview people, don't estimate schedules, and don't spend time in teleconferences. In this conversation with host Jon Udell he explains why not to do these things, and what to do instead.
Joel and Jeff sit down with Michael Lopp, aka Rands, to discuss how a geek manages other geeks, the dangers of working remotely, the pitfalls of offshoring, and some techniques for continual learning.
Aaron Iba joins Phil and Scott to discuss EtherPad, a real-time collaborative text editing tool currently in beta. In addition to giving details about EtherPad, Aaron talks about how it uses AppJet as a platform. He gives a great deal of technical background information and reviews the future of the product.
From the Greeks to the geeks, everyone loves to complain says former Sun chief open source evangelist Danese Cooper as she uncovers the role of whinging in the open source ecosystem. She paints the current state of open source cooperation and delivers a snapshot of beneficial directions for the community to adopt. Danese references the Helsinki Complaints Choir, Billie Jean King and baseball in relation to FOSS development in this conference talk.
Phil Long is on a five-year mission to find out more about how technology can enhance active learning. In this conversation with host Jon Udell, he reviews lessons learned from MIT's TEAL (technology-enabled active learning) initiative, and discusses the related work he and his team are doing at the Center for Educational Innovation and Technology at the University of Queensland in Australia.
Joel and Jeff discuss database design and the shell game of performance, the value of short, focused presentations, and the importance (or not) of a prestigious degree for software engineers.
Allen Hurff tells the inside story of the creation of the MySpace platform, the genesis of OpenSocial. Hurff discusses MySpace's focus on developer relations and the APIs available and gives some clues to future enhancements. He emphasizes the balance required to provide powerful developer tools without compromising the user experience.
