Posts for December, 2007

Dec 31, 2007

Following Up On Giving Away Of Code

My effort to explain why giving away your code is not dangerous evoked a lot of response. I think the analogy there partly worked but also fell in the classic analogy trap. An analogy can be used to highlight only certain aspects, but you are using one thing to explain another. [Continue]

Dec 30, 2007

Testing Windows With Linux Eyes

We have read many accounts of how Windows users were disappointed by Linux. The EasyGeek is turning the tables this time. While as a Linux fan it is quite entertaining to read it, the biggest fact to accept is that both of them are different. [Continue]

Dec 29, 2007

The Death Of Netscape

Michael Arrington notes that AOL is going to pull the plug on Netscape development. Also, the Netscape team now recommends the Netscapers to continue with Mozilla Firefox. A leader once in browsing, the Netscape browser can be considered to be one of the early disruptions. [Continue]

Dec 28, 2007

Neither Gathering Nor Eliciting, It is Discovering Requirements

Of course, a name is just a name, but it helps in explaining the tasks involved to clients. One of the most important foundational tasks of software development, or any development for that matter, is to understand the need. The software industry has kept changing the names given to these tasks - requirements gathering or data gathering or requirements elicitation. [Continue]

Dec 26, 2007

Design Is Inevitable

In one of my discussions with a friend I mentioned that, irrespective of the domain, I am spending more and more time on the design. Which made my friend wonder if we could skip designing, thinking that it will reduce the time required to do the task. Can we eliminate design? [Continue]

Dec 24, 2007

What Is Good Code?

Reginald Braithwaite is in search of what really matters in good code. I am sure many programmers are in the pursuit, so take time to read the entire piece. Another view, the one I am promoting here, is that it isn’t about removing symbols, it’s about communicating something about the underlying relationships. [Continue]

Dec 24, 2007

Weave - Taking Mozilla Beyond The Browser

Mozilla has announced Weave, which I think is the first true step by Mozilla to go beyond the browser. One important area for exploration is the blending of the desktop and the Web through deeper integration of the browser with online services. We’re now launching a new project within Mozilla Labs to formally explore this integration. [Continue]

Dec 21, 2007

W3C v/s Developer Community

W3C again finds itself fighting the Web designer and developer community. It seems to have started from Andy Clarke’s call for reorganizing the CSS Working Group. Andy raises a concern that browser vendors, which compete with each other, will act in good interest of collaboratively developing the new CSS standard. [Continue]

Dec 20, 2007

Acid2 And Browsers

Acid2 is a nice way to test the standards compliance of a browser. What is not nice is that most of the popular browsers did not pass it. Surprisingly, this is changing fast. [Continue]

Dec 19, 2007

Code Has Two Customers

Jeff Atwood asserts that it is important to get the public interfaces right before worrying about how the code looks. Somehow I got a feeling that quality of the code and its working were being posed against each other. They need not be. [Continue]