iface thoughts | Thoughts on software development and related, by Abhijit Nadgouda

Jun 27, 2009

Probems Or Symptoms?

It has often happened with me that what I considered was a problem was only a symptom of the real one. For the user, the symptom is usually the problem itself. That is why it is all the more important for a problem solver to sift through the symptoms and arrive at the underlying problem. One of the differences between the symptom and a problem is that the symptom will usually be more about the environmental factors and external systems. This includes those problems that occur intermittently are not easily reproducible. Instead of giving up on them, acknowledging a deeper problem and investigating a wider area might lead us to the real problem.

Jun 23, 2009

Psychology in Design

Jeremy Keith has great inputs on designing with psychology in mind. Though he talks primarily about Web designers, it holds true for most of the software application designers as well, or anyone who gets a chance to create an environment. A lot of times designers limit their exercises to observing and studying their users and design accordingly. What they miss is how do they want to change that behaviour through their design to get the desired effect, whether it is better productivity or higher revenue.

Jun 16, 2009

Optimizing Code For Reading

Juergen Brendel’s advice about read-optimizing your code is useful. Developers’ love-hate relationship with documentation spans a wide spectrum. You will meet developers who look at commenting as an effect of poor programming and also those who think that all code should be documented. Factors that I use to decide the level of documentation are the domain and the audience for my code. In-line comments can be effectively used for things that cannot be conveyed by code at times - the rationale behind design decisions and the problem the code is trying to solve.

Jun 12, 2009

Web2.0 Is Now English

The one millionth word in English dictionary is Web2.0, defined as “the next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you”. The unfortunate part is soon that next generation is soon going to move on to something else, and continue further. The phrase Web 2.0 itself has been confusing. Its popularity is born more out of marketing than anything else. It was already bad enough that it was exposed to the people, and I think it is a disaster that it is part of the English dictionary now.

Jun 5, 2009

Programming And Technology Bylaws

Bill presents a nice list of programming and technology bylaws. Many feel that these are not effective in the practical world. But I see their proof almost everywhere. For example, almost every conversation with a client turns out to be an ideal example of Amara’s law. A good read, and at times a good guide of the non-engineering aspect of programming and technology.

Jun 1, 2009

uzbl - The Stripped Down Browser

I am trying out the uzbl browser for last couple of days. It follows the unix philosophy to strip down a browser of everything else other than visiting the web sites. Everything else, even the management of cookies, bookmarks, history and downloads is outsourced to external scripts. It departs radically from the other browsers by using vim-like modes to make it keyboard heavy. So much so that you will not find any menus, icons or buttons. [Continue]

May 29, 2009

Case For C++

C++ has been at the receiving end in recent times about neither being a good low-level language nor being an effective high-level one. It is said that there is no case for C++ in today’s programming world. I agree that with evolution of programming languages, applicability of C++ is narrowing down, but it has still not vanished. Hypertable has a nice explanation of why C++ was chosen over Java. The rationale is specific to the context, but it is a good indication that C++ can offer a good combination of low-level control and high-level language features in memory and processor intensive applications.

May 27, 2009

The Whys Of Requirements Specification

One of the biggest gaps in the requirements discovery and specification, and solution design is formed because the whys are not communicated to the solution developers. The requirements specification usually talks only about what the solution should do. There is nothing that tells them why it is so. When their decisions are not aware of the underlying reasons, they can work against the overall benefit and at times make the solution a failure. Here are some things that I think should be communicated to the solution developers: problems and pain points in the current system priorities of requirements business constraints other non-software components, like processes and skills rationale behind important decisions A lot of businesses do feasibility studies but they are not shared with the developers. [Continue]

May 22, 2009

Universal IE6 CSS

Andy Clarke has a new solution for dealing with IE6 incompatibilities - Universal IE 6 CSS. The idea is to serve simple design with great typography for IE 6, without layout. The Web developer community is trying various approaches to get rid of IE6. Andy focuses on serving readable content to an IE6 user instead of spending effort on trying to get everything to work in IE6 or completely blocking them away. I think its a great solution for public content sites, something that will save a lot of effort and still serve the IE6 user. [Continue]

May 19, 2009

Facebook Will Accept OpenID

OpenID just got one of its biggest promoters - Facebook. Facebook had joined the OpenID Foundation Board a while back. But unlike other OpenID supporters, Facebook accepts an OpenID to let its member use the site, by becoming a OpenID relying party. There are some interesting things to note from Luke Shepard’s interview. Inside Facebook: Luke, why is Facebook integrating OpenID support? [Continue]